Now I need to think on how to explain this without mom freaking out.

"HENTA! WHAT HAPPENED?! Where were you?!"

Well so much for that.

I spent the last twenty minutes shuffling between the back alleys and main streets, pushing through the crowd as I headed to the more quiet apartment complexes. I cleaned up my face with a water bottle in my backpack before going into my house, but I think I must have started bleeding again.

"Just out. Last day of school and all and I kinda lost track of time." All true, since I was on the floor in agony for a good hour.

"You're bleeding from your nose."

Ah, yeah. Called it. "Must have scratched it from inside, but yeah you don't need to worry or anything."

Mom huffed before yanking me inside and giving me a hug. Still didn't stop the irritation in her voice. "As if I don't constantly worry about you. Nearly dying twice on me, I don't think you have many (or any) friends, average grades…"

"Feeling the love here."

Mom let go in a huff before giving me a small bonk on the head with a hand chop. "Point is, I'm allowed to worry. Now come on, you nearly missed dinner."

We made our way through the hallway after I took off my shoes at the door, tossing them into a wall cubby. I met mom in the kitchen a few steps away where dad clearly overheard everything by acting like he heard nothing. "Oh hey, when did you get here?"

I shook my head in exasperation but gave him a smile. "Several hours ago, clearly."

"Ah, those detours are a pain."

Mom gave us a glare as I sat down and started eating my dinner, dad and I pretended not to see. Well might as well fill them into the only interesting thing about school I know they want to hear. "So we got a bit of a lecture at the end of the day about picking our high school. I gave it some thought and figured I'd give U.A. a shot."

That got my dad to choke on his water and my mom to look at me as if I said I wanted to become a male stripper to her face. Come on, whats so weird about mentioning this? It's clearly the best high school one can apply to.

Mom decided to talk first. "Hanta, you know your grades aren't the best to get into a school like that, right?"

Again with the grades! Come on, I always been a B student even in my other life if I can believe the weird memory dreams. I'm just lazy and want to do the least amount of work, sue me.

"Beside," Dad joined in, "Isn't that a hero only school? You trying to shoot for being a hero or something?"

I shrugged a little. "Not exactly, they got general courses but I do think I want to try for the hero course-"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Mom interjected by throwing herself over the table in a panic, "you're just not built for that kind of life! I mean your quirk just isn't made for that kind of thing. 'DeckMaster' only makes those weird playing cards. And its not like I seen you train yourself for that kind of thing-."

Yeah, I named my quirk over the really old failed brand name that Magic was going to be, the one you see on the back of every card back in my old life. I thought it was a cool homage to something these guys would never know. And not training myself? What, she thought I punched my punching bag and jogged for fun? Well let's shoot this down now. "Actually… I found out I can tap into the energy of my cards. And I have been working out. That's why I got that punching bag for my room among other things."

"…Card energy? What?"

I scratched my head. Yeah, I could have worded that better. What was I trying to get with that? "N-Nevermind that, I just want to prove to all of us that I can do this. Let me show you. Please."

My parents looked at each other before looking back at me nodding. "Sure thing kiddo." Dad said, "While I'll support whatever you want to do, being able to see what you think could work would do a lot to help out your mom and me with any concerns."

I push my half eaten dinner aside.

"Okay. This is some stuff I learned and practiced to myself for a long time." I lifted my left elbow and drew seven cards from the slot. "The whole thing is based on unwritten rules that I'm figuring out as I go. First, to use any card I need to gain some energy, or mana as the terms say on my cards, to do so."

I put down a black looking card.

"I'm not sure if I'm actually getting this mana from somewhere else or if my quirk is just unlocking it for me to use."

A thin purple outline wrapped around me, and mom caught that as clear as day. "What is THAT? How come you never shown this off before?"

I coughed into my hand to stall, thinking of my answer. "Well, you freak out."

That earned me another chop on my head. "Yeah, I do. And knowing that you can protect yourself in any capacity would have went a LONG way to help you know? Brat." Mom muttered.

"I'm sorry! Gosh. Anyways, when I add this energy, I feel weighted down. I'll play this card next, It'll fill two types of energy at once: green and white." Playing that land, that aura around me did slow transitions between purple and a green/white film. I was already feeling it, my breath is getting a bit heavier.

Dad looked at me with concern. "You okay? Can you do… whatever it is you're doing?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I been practicing this much for years now. Anyways, I can do a max of three 'mana' to stack on. Given my cards… well a lot is going to be locked away but… Okay this part I'm just guessing on. I never tried this before that I can recall but…"

I picked a card out from my hand; "Lets try Cankerbloom."

Then all hell broke loose.

Mana sucked away from my person to the card, causing it to dissolve in wispy green streaks of energy and reform in front of me by overlaying the energy over and over much like a 3d printer would, which also meant it formed on top of the table next to my parents. The creature that came out looked like a human sized morel-like mushroom, the entire top shaped like a net with a green glow emitting from the inside. Metal hexagonal plates of gold and porcelain covered the body in patches dripping with a mucus. The horrific part was the withering mass of flesh that made the bottom of its body, eight lanky long roach like limbs with humanoid hands protruding from it. Four held up the creature standing, the other four idly reaching into the air.

We all stared at it with wide eyes.

Then Dad screamed, flipping backwards in his seat as he pushed himself away with shock.

The table broke, unable to hold the creature's weight.

I shouted as the gravity caused it to lurch to me.

Mom shrieked, grabbing a nearby chair and swinging it over her head onto the Cankerbloom.

"AAAAA" - "AAAAA" - "AAAAA!"

Outside in the approaching twilight, the streets were alight with red and blue flashing police cars. Mom, Dad, and I were sitting on the curb, I felt the heat on my face knowing I caused this commotion.

The dog headed officer asked me again. "Okay, lets just go over this one final time for the record. Neighbors called because they heard screaming and I quote 'bloody murder' from your home. Was anyone harmed?"

I lowered my head. "No." Nothing beyond the initial heart attack at least.

"Okay. The result of this was?"

"Just a bad surprise on my part." One thing I learned from my classmates and other adults, quirk usage in public is illegal and might be questionable in private. You got to leave that out to make things simple. The police already know, but it's the best way to cover yourself to make it ambiguous.

"Gotcha. No harm, damage to each other, or to anyone else?"

Fucking police, a small part of me growled, always trying to find issues to build a case.

Dad spoke up. "It's nothing sir. We're all fine and we apologize for the disturbance."

The cop looked at us and gave us a warning before leaving with a few other policemen that were around. I sighed with relief, realizing being a potential hero might be a bit… sticky to say the least. Just another thing to work on personally.

"So what was that thing back in the house?" Mom started poking my side in irritation. "Last I checked, you made cards. Not the stuff of my nightmares."

"I… just… only…." Okay how the hell does one explain this? "…Quirks are weird?"

Dad nodded to that. "Quirks are definitely weird. Could be a mutation into an energy quirk-."

Mom shot him a look. "No armchair hypothesizing right now. You," she pointed to me, "Talk. How long could you do this kind of thing?"

I scratched my head in thought, the buildings away from my parents looking particularly interesting at the moment. "I guess… as long as I had my quirk? At the very least the energy bit."

Dad let out a whistle.

"Koga!" Mom was clearly getting tired of it but dad raised his hands in peace.

"What? A little kid keeping a secret about their quirk like that? Come on, that's a lot of restraint right there."

"Anyways," I continued, "This was my first time actually casting anything. Usually I just… try to see how much energy I can build up but I never really went too deep into it. This is the first time I ever used it to bring out a creature that I can recall." I didn't feel any extra drain or stress on myself either, or at least any way that's noticeable like with stacking mana. Maybe that's something that's exploitable?

Mom shook her head. "Great. Great! My baby can bring monsters into existence. He's going to be profiled for the rest of his life-." But Dad quickly hushed her.

Wait profile what?

"So…." Dad was calming mom but looked at me. "You said you're going to shoot for U.A.?"

I nodded, still trying to understand how this Quirk of mine could profile me.

"I think you should try and go for it. One hundred percent." Mom gasped but he continued before she could interject, "Listen, of course apply to other schools as well since getting into the top school period is going to be hard. Yet I don't doubt you got a lot of potential to share. With your quirk, I have no doubt you could be the greatest hero ever IF you can use every bit of it safely, and going there is the best option there is. I want to see you grow, no, THRIVE and who knows? Maybe you'll be stronger than All Might."

Dad snickered when he earned a smack on the back of the head from mom. "Damnit, don't put that level of stress on him either. Hanta, I… Honestly I don't want you to be a hero. I want you to have a boring yet safe desk job that gets you a lot of money. Honestly though getting into a hero program overall may bit easier than that, unfortunately. If you really think this… untested part of your Quirk can do it then fine, but you better make sure first. Find a place that's quiet and for the love of all things good make sure you can control whatever you do with it. Be SURE before diving head first into all this."

That's… yeah, pretty smart. And kinda obvious but I guess I am reaching a bit with the potential until I see it for myself. "Yeah, I'm going to practice. I have to, I hear the entrance exams could be brutal but I got time. I'll start tomorrow, right away."

My parents gave varying amount of enthusiasm in return. "Just be careful. Now let's go back inside, I'm going to need to buy a new table online."

It was a new day as I took to a morning jog. I watched as the apartments gave way to more city as I went, careful to not bump into anyone and to take the long way around as things got more congested. So many people, so many oddities. Giant lizards, women with spiders for hair, teens that are on fire, and so many people that looked normal but weren't.

'Each and every one of you want to be heroes.' How many of you want or wanted the same thing?

Occasionally there were robberies or acts of violence that happened around me. Everyone either slows down to stop and gawk at the "show" or run as fast as they could. I tended to just hang around long enough, jogging in place or using it as a rest point.

Imagine, living in a world where this kind of stuff is so commonplace that an average Joe can more or less gauge how safe it was to watch a crime in progress? At least it tends to box in the criminals but the Heroes get impeded too. The police don't even make much of an effort unless something major goes down and that's just to help keep the public back. Almost feels like the entire police force has been relegated to the importance of meter maids.

I won't lie, it gave me a bit of a grin. I saw visions of another life where police brutality was a thing, rather unthinkable here but I do question if the heroes did anything similar. Sure, everyone wants to be like the pinnacle of justice like All Might yet we are only human after all….

I shook that thought away as the latest robbery was wrapped up by the local hero The Hammer. He was like Magneto if Magneto could only control hammers.

"Haha! If hope you all are ready to get nailed for your crimes!" Shouted the odd man in a giant hammer costume, juggling floating hammers around him against a group of thugs with… shark mutations.

Listen, I can summon creatures from trading cards. I'm not going to judge.

…Much.

I continued my jog until I entered the same abandoned warehouse I was at yesterday, not bothering to look around this time around. Okay, it wasn't a smart thing to do but heroes are deciding to wander around close today and I had more important things on mind as I walked through the dusty shell of a building, navigating around discarded metal bars, chunks of concrete, and long forgotten stacks of pallets. I got things to cast!

"Okay. I can bring out creatures. I can bring out totally horrific looking creatures. Yeah. Let's practice. No problem." I near whispered to myself as I shook out my hands from the jitters. I hopped on both feet for a moment before drawing the cards from my left elbow slot. "Okay, better follow the rules that I can remember. I draw seven… okay. I activate a land…"

Going through the motions, tapping into mana was still pushing me down. It was the same feeling you'd get by pushing your arm through a vat of syrup.

"I can do this. I can do this!"

I was so focused on myself that I didn't see the shift in the shadows in the distance of the warehouse. A few figures emerged near some discarded crates, and so was the hit that came out of nowhere that hit the side of my head. My vision spun and skull throbbed as I fell on one knee. No attention was paid to the cards dropped or relinquishing my grip on the mana to find the source of the attack.

"Who-what…"

Oh man, that stung. I shook myself to get the cobwebs settled.

"Well well well, we got ourselves a trespasser!"

"Doesn't seem like he can handle our vibes."

"This is the perfect way to let loose before our debut!"

I looked at the source of the voices, hand up at my elbow ready to draw a card but paused once I saw the three who walked out of the shadows.

I blinked a few times.

Blink.

Blink again.

Was that knock to the head still messing with me?

The men were dressed in sequin suits, green, blue, and red. They looked like they came from a damn disco. They even had huge afros, except the front half of their heads were shaved save for a few small balls of hair like a thought bubble trail. The green one had the tail end of that hair bubble style go along the left side of the head, the red one to the right, and the blue guy had his hair trail down the middle.

And they all had sunglasses.

Who wears sunglasses while they sit in the middle of a dim building?

I stood back up, no longer feeling weak but certainly weary at these unique individuals. "And you are…?"

The three grinned at each other, and Hanta overheard them whisper "Okay, just like we rehearsed."

The boy made a motion to draw a card.

Nothing.

Wait what? Hanta tried to feel around, force out a card, anything at all but he couldn't feel a thing. Did their attack do something to me?!

One of them pulled out a way too old looking boombox and pressed play, filling the room with a disco beat.

"In the middle of the night, when the mood is right, or anytime its way to quiet we're going to make some noise-."

I couldn't stop my face from looking at them incredulously. Are these goons really introducing themselves WITH A DAMN DANCE NUMBER?! I kept feeling for a card, then for the ones that were dropped but they already dissolved. Okay, I got some weirdos who think they're currently hot shit and doing a full on introduction and I got nothing.

The three continued ignoring me entirely as they got too much into themselves. "We're the Bad Thoughts, we're comin' atcha, we're comin' atcha, 'cause we're the Bad Thoughts. We're the Bad Thoughts. We're comin' atcha, Bad Thoughts, Bad Thoughts- OW FUCK!" The Green one dropped the whole routine as I lobbed a loose piece of rock at his head.

The other two gathered around him, guarding his body from another stone toss. "The hell is wrong with you man? We're getting our whole thing down. You don't just -ow -ow STOP IT!"

I kept pelting them with whatever random shit was at my feet. "You attack me first and you think you got any right to complain that I'm fighting back? Are you for real?!" Another bit of chipped off concrete went flying.

"Okay, you asked for this! Get ready for the Bad Thoughts!" The green member threw his hand forward and a neon multicolored ball flew forward. I stared at the weird ass ball of doom as it hit my head again, knocking me flat on my ass and leaving me a ringing in my ears as a prize. Rolling over on the floor to dodge some more of the blasts, I ran to some corner cover nearby.

"Fuck fuck fuck, come on, where the fuck are my cards?!" I slapped my elbow but it refused to give up the goods. Right, whatever. I can deal with this. Grabbing a discarded metal bar from the floor, I thought this would be good enough for self-defense bat when that wannabe gang gets close.

A few more colorful (presumably) mental quirk blasts splashed against the wall.

"Get out here and get a proper beating for being on our turf!" One of them shouted

I waited, but they seemed to be content with hitting the wall. What were they waiting for?

-crack-

I heard a step behind me but it was too late. Another quirk launched by the Green 'thot' hit me square on the head, sending me into a dizzying spin. Damnit! I was distracted and somehow they managed to flank me.

"I'm going to do what you tried to do to me and crack that mind open. Get ready for some bad thoughts."

Following that was a dizzying green light.

Then black.

I was falling. I was falling down an endless void. Was I dead again? Wait, did I even really die before? Now that was a question.

"Heeheehee." That voice of the Green Bad Thought echoed all around me. "Get ready, I'm going to break you from the inside-."

He was cut off. I didn't mind that, god their voices were annoying. Like the Bee Gees but whiny. Being trapped in your own mind though, that was a problem. So how was he going to "break me?"

Everything pulsed. I didn't know if this was what the goon had in mind, but I discovered soon it was going to get pretty close.

Over the last ten-ish years of my life, old memories trickled in. General stuff. Enough.

All of a sudden, DECADES of info and memories flooded in. Image after image, moment after moment, day, week, month, year, all of it flashed through my minds eye. I wanted to scream in this breathless space but couldn't. All of it was suffocating, drowning in memory. I always knew something was weird about me, something off, something… lacking. But I didn't want to find out like this. My self, who I was, who I am, collided and fought.

Who was I?

WHO WAS I?

A man out of time? A boy out of middle school? A hero wanabe? Someone jaded? I saw my old life and all I wanted then was to see the world burn, chaos, to wipe the slate clean, all because I thought it was entertaining. One with a problem with authority when I could get away with it.

That's NOT WHO I AM!

I'm Hanta!

…right?

BAM

I was so rudely awakened back to the world of the living thanks to a kick to the face.

"Haha, yeah! What an introduction! Let's take out the trash now!"

Oh, okay. Thanks for removing me from my internal crisis of identity for the next five minutes you gave me asshole. So I did the first thing I could think of, something that I wouldn't have ever thought of before.

I rolled over and donkey kicked the closest enemy in the groin, which happened to be the green guy again. Sucks to suck. I sprinted off as his pals was distracted with the guys now high pitched screams of pain.

Okay, I just need to leave now-

And I felt my elbow involuntarily vibrate. Huh?

I reached for it and drew seven cards.

"Are you fucking serious. Now? Do I have a cooldown timer for this?! Whatever, I was here to practice so let's do it."

I looked at my hand and tossed out a white mana land. Immediately I could draw a card. I heard those goons shouting, they were getting closer. Thirty seconds, I could draw another card. Okay, one mana and I can still somewhat move and cast this. This could work.

"Okay, lets see how this works. I cast Skrelv, Defector Mite!"

The mana left my body into the card, dissolving into white wisps and creating the most disgustingly large bug I ever seen. The size of a small 7 pound dog, a porcelain horned eyeless head was attached to a twitching meat and sinew potato of a body much like a size scaled-up tick.

Gross, but hopefully effective.

The Blue and Red goon finally ran to where I was and froze seeing this alien thing in the middle of the room. Good, don't take a step closer.

"The fuck is even that thing?"

I decide to take initiative. "Skrelv, attack them!"

Both of the goons jumped back, arms raised and clearly not wanting to get near to this thing. As for the all mighty Skrelv, my loyal summon, it just stood there. J-just move. Do something. Anything!

The blue one turned to the red. "Heh, must just be like an illusion."

"He got me. Now lets get him."

Well fuck again.

My arm buzzed and I drew another card, once again feeling weighted down by the regenerated mana I cast earlier. "Skrelv, GET THE BLUE ONE PLEASE!"

Releasing a terrifying hiss like a Canadian goose, it dashed forward and bit the guys leg. "OH MY GOD IT'S ALIVE?! GET IT OFF ME!"

The blue dressed man fell backwards kicking and screaming at the rabid mite, green flecks coming from the creatures mouth. Saliva? Who cares. The two thrashed at the mite as I drew my next card after a minute. Red mana source cast, but I can't do anything else. I try moving back, but it's reduced to a casual walking speed into another room. Possibly the large lobby from what was the warehouse proper.

With a final kick and a death scream from the alien summon, the red goon turned to me while the blue one retreated. His teeth ground together as his glasses slid down his nose. "You think this is FUNNY you PUNK?! Well theres no worse thought than the one THAT BURNS!"

Flicking his fingers forward, a wide stream of fire came out heading to me. Shit, this crook was going to cook me alive! I fell backwards, keeping a grip on my hand and mana as the flames went overhead. My elbow vibrated, allowing me to draw another card.

Mirrex; A card that's a blank check to any kind of mana, exactly what I needed.

"Okay, lets try a more beefy boy. I cast Migloz, Maze Crusher." The mana within me drained into the card, letting me enough time to jump back up and run a distance before it regenerated but Damnit there's no exit here! Was I turned around at some point?

Behind me the card cast decayed and reformed, taking a shape that grew and grew. The smell of burning timber polluted the air as a monster made of ever burning charcoal and steel formed, each wisp of mana stitching together to make this beast. Twice as large as a normal man, hands exactly like clawed anvils to equally large arms forcing the creature to bend over like a gorilla on its knuckles, it snarled under its helmet reminiscent of a black knight.

This guy is massive! I-I wonder how the stats of a trading card changes things for them. Does he need to wait too after being cast? It's… in the rules after all. And there's no way I'll go against the rules now. At least not until I know where I can get some wiggle room.

"No, no no!" The Red Thought member glared at the giant creature. "Your one trick with the tick was enough, I'm going to burn you good!" He threw both hands forward, building up heat between his fingers. "Let's see you handle this hotshot!"

The man released his quirk, it sounded like a rocket taking off blasting the creature Migloz with everything he got. Intense flames completely covered the summon, I couldn't even look at the direction with how intense the heat was. "HAHAHAHA! SEE? YOU'RE GOING TO GET-."

Migloz charged forward, not weighted down by its own freakish appendages at all as it bat the man out of the way with one of its girthy arms.

Aaaaaand that's a rule. Attack a creature, get attack in return.

The charging monster shook the building, the impact of the rammed man caused the wall he landed against to quake farther. The Blue and (struggling) Green Thought staggered in at some point, looking at the creature with shock.

"Fuck this shit. Fuck this shit!" The green one fell backwards. "I-I thought we were going to be the next number one gang but I can't handle dealing with whatever that is!" Still, he tried lobbing his mental ball quirk at Migloz only to have it be completely shrugged off.

The blue guy glared at the summon and me, as if I was the one to start all this trouble. "Okay kid, I think it's about time to take down the house. Yuto, get Keisuke and get out of here. Now."

I watched as the green suited guy managed to run (in pain) to his red partner and got the two of them running for a far exit. The Blue Suit slammed his foot to the ground causing the room to shake and it only intensified as he moved into a groove.

"Hope you dig the quirk kid, cause I'm going to dance you to death with the sweet vibrations and bury you here. See ya!" He kept his groove as the walls buckled and roof started to collapse, I looked around but backed into a wall far from any entrance as the doors were steel and blocked on top of it. Even if I dropped my mana and dead sprinted to a door, this place was coming down fast.

"Shit, shit! Migloz… get me out of here!"

Chunks of the building crashed all around me, made even worse by the giants stampede heading right at me. Oh shit. Asking for something like that isn't something you can do in the game. It's either attack or block. Did I screw up? Did I break another rule?

I didn't have time to continue that line of thought as one arm punched through the thick wall of the warehouse, the other unceremoniously flinging me out as well. I soared until my back hit the next building down the street, left gagging as the air was pushed out of me and dropping my mana concentration. Any card I might have had in my hand now completely dissolved as Migloz was buried under the crumbling building.

Using the wall to stand up, I coughed and winced as a new pain bloomed in my chest.

I think something broke.

I tenderly pressed my chest and let out a hiss. No, not broken yet but damn it hurt like a bitch.

I'm too old for this-

…wait, no I'm not.

Ugh. Right.

I heard the sound of distant sirens and saw some bright colors moving in my peripheral vision. Must be heroes. As much as I want to stay and file a report (do I though?) being caught out here would really damage any chance I could have into getting into U.A.

Illegal quirk usage? Check. The government would rather you wait the tense amount of time it would take for a hero to arrive where every second matters.

Destroying private property? Check, though I'm not sure who owns the land wanted the building before it was destroyed or who would even want to move in to this part of town that's usually neglected.

Damage to persons? Self-defense can be damned if you end up using a quirk, even if you're innocent. Sometimes the law can be backward if the daytime quirk law shows I occasionally see when at home sick the last few years meant anything to go by.

With weak legs I walked using the wall to support me until I got my breath back proper. I just had to move until I wasn't easy to spot. Good thing I tended to wear grey clothes, you tend to blend in with the urban sprawl like that. Maybe not the best choice in the hero hopeful but I never was one for the flashy look.

…Must be the other "me" I got to thank for that.

Once I was far enough to get into any trouble, which happened to be a dirty alley, I collapsed on my butt and closed my eyes, huffing the entire time.

That was more of a workout than I bargained for, but damn if I didn't learn from it.

With a heavy sigh I put my hands to my face, head was throbbing as much as my chest.

"Okay… guess I got some things I got to mentally unpack. It's just- I really didn't need this. Am I really Hanta or am I just some imposter?"

Who or what was I?

A month came and went. I got the invite to test myself at U.A. officially, so I tried to study up on things while working out without aggravating my chest. Basic laws, refresh on what I learned in middle school, just things I thought they will ask for on the entrance exam. Of course I was shooting for the hero course, same as everyone else so I figured it was the safest bet. Even if I fall short, I can still get into general studies so whatever.

The big question was if I was Hanta or not to myself.

Ha, yeah right.

I still don't have an answer to that but I kinda just decided to live with it.

I get it; it feels like it's a huge thing I got to accept like I must go on a deep spiritual journey. Something. Anything!

A few days in, I kinda realized that it doesn't even really matter. I had memories come in as long as I could remember already. Most of what I got from the release was irrelevant anyways in the grand scheme of things. I can't change it now, and if it does influence me, guess what? It's a part of me anyways.

Repression and suppression always won the day.

At least I got some novice level sword handling from it. Enough to know how to swing a sword if I need to without screwing up my wrist at least and looking like a total fool. I should practice that again but despite everyone being a walking weapon with their quirks, getting an actual weapon is still borderline impossible here in Japan. What is with that?

Oh, also cooking.

I forgot I loved cooking.

I got myself a cast iron pan just to cook again. Get one yourself, they're damn magical if you treat them right (which ironically means treat them like shit minus sending them through the washer but I digress).

So time just flew by. No big montage, only so many times you can say you found a new place and made sure it's empty before you exhausted yourself trying things every other day. I can't even say I gotten into any other skirmishes. I got to keep my nose clean and it's literally the heroes job to respond to help so I might as well use them when an attempted robbery happens. Otherwise, what's the point of having heroes?

Yeah, still would rather try and defend myself but oh well.

So here's what I learned the last few weeks;

First: fuck me, I got a cooldown timer. If I get a hand I can't use, I got to wait. No mulligan! So I got to pray to the RNG gods every time and curse myself for not making my decks more competitive in my other life, as this deck IS from my other life.

Second: I still can't get past three land mana! I got cards that need access to seven, and I can't do it!

Third: mom might be trying to sabotage me because she keeps bringing up my favorite things and vacation places to distract me.

I still go to them, of course.

Oh and finally I got a greater wait time between card draws which comes out to roughly thirty seconds at a time.

That's all I got so far besides learning I got a small increase in irritation to people overall.

I ran through all these facts mentally as I took the morning train to the school after a tearful goodbye from mom and a "knock 'em dead" from dad. Make it seem like I'm moving away forever. I guess it was a good distance away by train or not. Not only that, but U.A. is as big and spread out like Disney World. I didn't realize at the time how apt that comparison would become.

I looked outside the window as the bullet train began to slow, a large city that looked abandoned yet clean and surrounded by a massive concrete wall. Signs warning no entrance to the public were everywhere as we flew by. And this city was just one of seven. Oh, now I'm getting nervous. What does this have to do with anything in the entrance exam? Did I miss something?

…Well I did kinda skim the email, being distracted at the time when I got it.

And I forgot to look it back up.

Shit.

The group of hopefuls and I disembarked, excited chatter erupting all around me.

"All applicants to U.A. please come over here." A official called out. "We got to take you by buss to get to the testing building for your written exam. This way all applicants."

I followed the crowd, getting lost in the sea of students and teens.

It's amazing how big this place really is, isn't it?

Before long everybody was dropped off to the "School Entrance Exam Location." Yeah, they set aside half of a whole building for it and it's not surprising given how many faces wanted to take it.

I huffed as I walked in, finding a seat in a very large screen lecture hall. "This is the start huh? Best hero course in the world."

Without much fanfare after giving out a name we took a written test, it only lasted thirty minutes but honestly it was… simple. It was the same rules as anywhere, start when told to until time ran out, no cheating, and just wait if you finished early. Honestly it felt like they were lowballing everyone's intelligence with what was within or maybe it was that additional decades of memory gain that allowed me to reason out the simple stuff and make educated guesses for the hard questions. It was just a middle school to high school test after all. Overall, not much to write home about as everyone eventually finished and handed their papers to the officials collecting them.

Then…

The room was dark but not impossibly so as massive screens at the front of the room lit everything with a light blue glow, the letters UA in gold spinning on them. After a few minutes of waiting, overhead spotlights flicked on and a man in a leather jacket and really weird long hair walked on to the instructors stage.

"What's up U.A. candidates? THANKS FOR TUNING IN TO ME, YOUR SCHOOL DJ! COME ON AND LET ME HEAR YA!"

All he got for that was a room full of silence.

What are you expecting? You can't just pop in out of nowhere and expect people to applaud for… whoever you are! We're anxious as hell!

The man was not deterred though, continuing with a wide grin. "Keeping it mellow huh? That's fine, I'll skip straight to the main show. Let's talk how this practical exam is gonna go down! ARE YOU READY~!"

I just shrugged in my seat. Maybe it was just me but this felt so forced, I kinda cringed a little.

"Oh my goodness," A voice from a few rows away whispered loud enough for everyone to hear, "It's the voice hero Present Mic! So cool! I listen to his radio show every day of the week! It's so crazy that-."

"Will you shut up?" A blonde grumbled next to him but the first kid didn't seem to listen.

I tried to pull my focus back to the front as the instructor continued.

"As your applications said, you boys and girls will be rocking ten minute mock battles in super hip urban settings! Here's the line my friends, once I drop the mic here you all will be separated into your own specified battle center!"

The screen behind Present Mic lit up and showed a diagram between us and the separate cities, A through G. I looked down at my identity card that was given with my paper exam, seems like I was going to head to plot F.

Mic went on to wrap it up. "Okay okay lets check out your targets. We got three types of faux-villains in every battle center so better choose your targets wisely; they're worth different points. Your goal is to use your quirk to shred them up like a gutter solo and raise your score! Just keep it heroic, don't attack your fellow UA examinees to get ahead you dig?"

"Excuse me!" One of the students with blue hair stood up from the middle of the room. "You mentioned three targets but the print out sheets you provided was four. With all respect, if this is an error on official U.A. materials then this is shameful. We are exemplary students and we expect more from Japans most notable hero school. A mistake like this won't do. ALSO!" He swung around to berate the green haired mumbler who kept gushing nonstop about the fact this Present Mic guy was here.

I don't get the big deal on who does what. I guess maybe PM is just popular in his own circles? Must be because of the radio show or something. I should pay more attention to that kind of stuff. With how hero merch and talkshows and everything that's out there, it just kinda became content sludge to me that I got bored of paying too close attention to.

Guess that always made me an outlier.

…Well, except for some. Kinda became a Mt. Lady fan, not that bad on the eyes and tends to make as much trouble as she solves. Heh.

Present Mic popped that thought as he spoke up. "Alright alright. Examinee number 7111, thanks for calling in with your request. That last one is worth ZERO points, think of him as a hurdle with just one in every battle center that you have to avoid. It's not that it can't be beaten, there's just no point! Just ignore it and go to the top of the charts!"

7111, as far as a name that I got (There's over seven thousand applicants?! WHAT?!), bowed his head. "Thank you very much in clearing that up. Please continue."

"Well that's all I got for you today. For my sendoff, I'm going to give you a sample of our school motto! As General Napoleon Bonaparte once said: A true hero is one who overcomes life's misfortunes. Now THAT'S a tasty soundbite. So get ready to go beyond. Let's hear a PLUS ULTRA!"

Yeah, I can feel my nerves starting to fire. It's time to get excited!

-OUTSIDE BATTLE CITY F-

The large group of contestants stood outside of mammoth doors that blocked the way into the city, everyone chatting excitedly.

"Look at this! How much do you think it cost to make all this?"

"It's so crazy!"

"U.A. is amazing!"

"So huge!"

I scoffed, moving a bit of hair out of my eye. I been letting it grow out, and now I'm damning my choice in being lazy to cut it. Looking at the competition, I see how some people have special gear, a good portion of people look totally calm as if they already had this in the bag.

It's a competition but…

Is this what they judge what being a hero is? Just… bashing robots? That's it?

I navigated myself to the front, pushing through the crowd much to their irritation. Ignore them all, get every edge you can, and maybe see if you can be a hero in a way that matters. Things are going to get chaotic one way or another with a bunch of super powered teens after all. Splashy, flashy, inattentive, I bet that will all be happening.

"GO!" An older female voice was overheard. Everyone including myself looked around to find the source, since the crowd was talking pretty loudly. "GET A MOVE ON! WHEN A VILLAIN ATTACKS THERE'S NO WARNING SO GET YOUR BUTTS IN GEAR, YOU'RE NOW ON THE CLOCK!"

SHIT!

I immediately started running to the giant gate like doors that opened without a sound (or perhaps the people were talking that loudly) and drew my hand.

Card Pool:

Vraan, Executioner Thane (1,Black)

The Fair Basilica (Land - White)
The Dross Pits (Land - Black)
Urabrask, Heretic Praetor (3, Red x2)
Sheoldred, Whispering One (5, Black x2)

Brimaz, Blight of Oreskos (2, White, Black)

Red Sun's Zenith (Spell - X, Red)

Good, I got things I can use right away.

If I had to wait, one of the cards I had would have dissolved at random so it was better to use it than lose it here. Lands powered everything else, and these ones I had came in delayed which means…

I get a little bit of time to get to a vantage point!

I kept running trying to get to the middle of the city. Already I felt the Sheoldred card starting to flake, another time limit to keep in mind. Just a bit farther, just a bit farther!

BANG BANG BANG BANG

A robot rounded the corner, a one pointer. Guess here is as good as any! I jumped behind a car that happened to be in the middle of the street (so points for realism) and tapped into the Dross Pit, delaying the decay of the costly Sheoldred card and allowing me to draw again. Another robot emerged from behind me, taking valuable seconds for me to dodge and move to a concrete barricade before slowing down.

Draw: Churning Reservoir (Red), an artifact that isn't useful right now or even possibly ever in real life damnit. I threw out my second land as the first weighted me down. Ducking down I saw a small group of people running to me from the distance. NO, fuck you all these are my kills!

Draw: MindSplice Apparatus (3, Blue), also useless for now but that doesn't matter.

"Let's go, I call on Vraan!" The card I had exploded into shadows, cast before me onto the street as a figure emerged, giving the interlopers pause.

Especially after hearing IT talk.

"Fools! I will stand alone as the Father of Machines!"

Wait. What? THEY CAN TALK?!

Vraan now fully formed stood tall. Its blood red humanoid body covered shoulder to foot in spiky black scales that left openings around itself, as if Pinhead met Darth Vader. Its middle and index fingers long nasty looking claws and its face another porcine mask

reminiscent of a horned devil man.

The robot nearby didn't seem as impressed as it opened fired on the creature. Vraan tanked the hit and charged, slashing right through with a battle cry. Some of the bullets landed near me, giving me a chance to investigate.

Rubber bullets? These pack a hell of a punch, and could possibly kill on their own. I don't remember signing any kind of waver for this!

"W-what the heck is that?" One of the other contestants muttered loud enough for me to hear as Vraan demolished the second robot with little difficulty. "Quick, let's get out of here!"

The kids ran off to find easier targets, I sighed with relief. My elbow tingled again readying another draw. Now it starts slowing down.

Draw: The Autonomous Furnace (Land - Red)

I went ahead and activated that right away, soon to be at my cap least I get into too many lands and pass out.

"Come on Vraan, we got to find more targets."

"Soon enough I'll kill the others!"

That… was a very odd response. I moved farther into the city, now got two minutes before I'm left at limping speed.

"Vrann, two pointer!"

"RAAAAH!"

My summon attacked it but shown it had a lot more trouble as it hacked and slashed at the robots exterior. It was larger than the one pointers, which were like rolling machine guns anyways. Before it can get too far though, a figure emerged and tackled Vrann off the robot to destroy it itself!

"HEY!" I pointed to the guy who had what looked to be a tail mutagen quirk. "GET YOUR OWN TARGETS!"

He looked at me with a slight bit of apology. "Sorry, I saw that thing on top and thought it was another target. Good luck!" Leaping off the heap of metal this wannabe karate kid ran off. YEAH YOU BETTER RUN YOU KILL STEALER!

I looked over and saw Vraan was dissolving, I guess he was dead too. Shit, I don't have anything to summon now!

Vibrating elbow, draw: Essence of Othodoxy (3, White x2). Too much cost!

The woman on the intercom called out again: "Six minutes left!"

Another two pointer dashed around the corner right at me, it's weapons raised.

"I hope this is enough! Red Sun's Zenith!" I funneled all the mana in me into the card, causing it to glow and rise out of my hand until it looked like… a small red sun over me. Huh. The fireball shot forward and impacted the robot before it could shoot, heating through the metal and leaving it half scrap. Now free to move for a minute, I ran forward and gripped its head to tear it off as best as I could.

"Shit that was harder than I thought."

BOOM

I heard the explosion that was too close for comfort and flinched as I was pelted with gravel. A three pointer rolled up behind me carrying ROCKET LAUNCHER ARMS?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Draw: Wurmcoil Engine (6).

NO! There's nothing I can use here!

I watched as the robot tank readied another shot. Oh damnit, am I going to…

"GET OUTTA THE WAY!"

A purple bullet bashed into me, causing me to drop my cards and concentration as we were thrown into a shop facade through a window. Not a moment too soon either as the large robot fired exactly where I was, blowing up concrete on the street and the shop wall nearby with it.

I groaned as I pushed myself up from the floor, chest flaring in pain again from my earlier injury.

The Purple blob at the side of my vision got pissed.

"What the heck man!? Why didn't you move?! You were about to be blasted into smithereens!"

"S-sorry. My quirk kinda grounds me."

Minoru Mineta couldn't believe this guy. My quirk grounds me? What kinda excuse is that?! "Yeah, great, but now we're wasting time here!"

The guy nodded, getting up from the ground. "Yeah, you're right. Anyways thanks for the save there." Grabbing a nearby rebar that was blown up from the concrete sidewalk outside, he ran out the gaping hole in the wall after an initial stagger to the three pointer.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! ARE YOU INSANE?!"

The guy was pretty fast though, not like crazy speed or anything but he got close and used that metal pole as a spear, striking through the robots eye. He shouted back "Well I can't exactly do much else right now! My quirk needs to reset!"

"What kind of stupid quirk needs to reset?!" Minoru huffed. This guy is already a lost cause!

"Hey," The guy continued, "how about we team up to do this?"

"What? Did I hear you right? This is a test, no way I'm going to help you out. If anything, I'm way behind on my own points- I MEAN I'm fighting for the top score so I don't get anything from this."

The guy turned around. "Think about it, we're going to be going to a school for heroes. True heroes. When I hear that, I don't think of the guys that shoot for high popularity. Not the ones that try to max out an imaginary score. This is the kind of thing they should be looking for, those being able to work together for the greater good. That should be the entire point! Frankly if I'm wrong and all they do care for is who gets the most robots, what individual is the best, then this isn't a school I want to go to. Plus If you're that worried, I'll be sure you can have plenty of kills while I restrain because I can't do much else until my quirk returns. Deal?"

Minoru gripped his own arms hard as he thought that over with a frown. Damnit I don't want to but I'm way behind on points as it is. What if he's right too, that they're looking for that kind of thing? GAH I'm not even in the school yet and it's already giving me hard choices! "Fine, let's work together but let me get most of the kills."

"Fine by me."

Minoru was shocked. This guy was actually going to back up his words? "Then what are we waiting for? Get the attention of the bots and I can get them stuck. I'm Mineta by the way."

"Hanta Sero, I don't use the family name first so do with that what you will. Let's get excited and do this!"

The guy, Hanta, ran off leaving Minoru to play catch up but over the next three minutes the strange guy held up his deal. He distracted the robots, Minoru used his hairballs to gum up their joints leaving him to take the final blow or more often than not flipping a kill switch.

I can't believe it! We're wracking up points like crazy. Why is he giving them all to me though? What does he have to gain from this?!

"Clearly the examinees have no idea how many villains are present or their locations."

In a dark control room filled with staff monitoring the test going on, a white pigmy rat bear in a fine suit watched what was unfolding a bit closer than the others, may that be the teachers or the various aids. This was the principle of U.A., remarking with an ever present grin.

"They have limited time, must cover a vast area, and take down every last target. So many ways to handle the situation; information gathering, speed, remaining calm, or just straight up overpowering everything before them. I say it's a truly impressive showing this year."

Another voice spoke up. "Sure is, but there's plenty of time before it's over."

A third voice, "If only there were more standouts. Plenty of strong individuals…. Oh look, this one still has zero points. Not what I meant by stand out."

The Principal, Nezu, subtly agreed. "It is part of our job to find those that go beyond. Hmm, speaking of low scores, this examinee just stopped gaining points as well." He typed at his armchair keyboard to switch one of the monitors. "Let's bring him up on the screen, I'd hate to have someone injured and in distress in the middle of an exam like this… Oh my."

It was one thing for students to overwhelm each other, common for them to sneak taking out targets, or act like the whole event was a competition. Never however has he seen any individuals, people they purposefully research and separate if they knew each other prior, work together.

Not once.

Ever.

Everyone focused too much on getting into the school, becoming the next top hero, just looking out for themselves to ever do that before and it got Nezu riled up. "Oh… oh my. This is…"

Nearby Midnight, the 18+ near BDSM heroine, saw what Nezu was looking at. "H-hey! Isn't that cheating? One is just being a target for the other to constantly snatch up the points. That's hardly fair to the other test takers."

Nezu couldn't help but lean forward while he watched things play out.

"That's true, in a way. Two people teaming up can certainly take down more targets. Same for three, four, more!"

Midnight blinked. "Yeah… so are they disqualified?"

This question caused Nezu to freeze in confusion for only a moment but he didn't show it. "Now why would I ever do that? We made certain that every person in each of these battle grounds were largely strangers. While you and your peers, nay EVERY student has done this exam straightforward before it's not per se wrong. In THIS test it's certainly not an issue for them to help each other as long as they aren't hindering each other. Rather they're excelling even if one is technically in the lead. To put aside one's ego for the greater good, oh it certainly gets my tail to quiver in excitement. Either one of them could be very exemplary students, but I feel the true test comes from being thrown into the fire."

Nezu gave the signal. It was time to see how they react to the point zero.

"If they behave how I expect, they'll help evacuate other students once the buildings start falling. If so, I'm very excited to see how their time at school here would be like."

Minoru was doubled over sweating, watching Sero throw away the bent and broken iron bar he was using. "Oh god, that's more action than I ever got in my life before. I'm sure we got like hundreds of points now."

"Well maybe not that much but I imagine it's still pretty good."

The momentary calm was interrupted as the earth started to quake, the buildings around cracking along their foundations, giant clouds of dust and grit were kicked up and all around people screamed.

"Earthquake?"

"Man I hate living near fault lines."

Both boys looked up as a shadow was cast over them.

"Is that…"

"The zero pointer?"

The two looked at each other and had the same thought: Screw this!

The entire crowd ran for the exit, screaming in fear as the treaded behemoth rolled forward down the road, crashing against the skyscrapers and buildings as it headed to all the children. The crowd ran in a frenzy away from the metal colossus, Minoru and Hanta taking up the rear.

"Crap crap crap crap!" Mineta jumped around all the broken robots that littered the streets over the exam trying to make gangway, "They said that was an obstacle, NOT A CITY DESTROYER! Oh CRAP!"

More robots emerged from the sides, adding fire to the flames. Literally in some cases.

"WHY ARE THERE FREAKIN FLAMETHROWERS ON THESE?!"

He barely paid any attention to Hanta as he suddenly drew some cards. "H-Hey Minoru, I might have something here but I'm going to need some help. Only a minute, keep the robots off of me, and I might be able to take the big guy down."

"What?! How can you possibly take that thing down?! AND WHY? We don't get anything for it!"

"Because…" Sero appeared to think hard as they ran before he shrugged. "It's what heroes do! And if it doesn't work, you can run faster than me!"

"Y-you don't even know… I must be crazy. FINE!"

"Ha, thanks!" Hanta threw out a card yelling "Tap in Red!" as Mineta ran on to focus on the bots, throwing hairballs everywhere as his scalp started to bleed.

"This sucks this sucks this sucks- TAKE THAT you stupid bot!" Mineta shouted as he managed to gum up a rocket launching bots gun, causing it to explode.

"Red/Green tap in! Draw…!"

Sero was huffing as he looked at Mineta. "I'm ready."

I turned around to look at the mammoth bot that was destroying the city as its treaded wheels crawled to us. I was sore, beaten, shot at with rubber bullets, and nearly burned with a flamethrower.

I was tired, irritated, and on an adrenaline high.

"Okay you giant tin can, lets… really hope this works as it should. I cast: Red Sun's Twilight!"

Red Sun's Zenith and Twilight, to an outside observer, should by all accounts be similar "things" and in a way they are. The first throws a fireball at a thing, which can be pumped with mana to hit it even harder and possibly reduce it to such slag that nothing can be recovered, much like you would expect something launched into a miniature sun would do.

Twilight… was a smidge different, but at the root it was: destroy target artifact. Now what was an artifact?

Hell if I know.

I kinda gambled using what I assumed to be game knowledge to fill in the blank on the fly, which meant "hey there are cars that are considered artifacts, same goes with swords, robots, and so on, so this should be in that general safe category!"

Not to mention for the cost in this instance, it should have been kinda underwhelming in a "guess I'll die" kinda way for the robot.

As I cast that card, my whole vision was flooded with red as it swept forward like a fast traveling fog aimed right to the Point Zero. It crept up its side, and to my downright amazement the thing just started falling apart as it was undergoing extreme rusting right before our eyes. Gears and ends caught and scraped within its decaying body, releasing earth shaking metal shrieks that any glass still holding on within the buildings was shattered from how loud the sound grated.

Within the minute, it completely fell apart.

"AND TIME'S UP!" The woman on the announcer speakers shouted.

"That was… pretty awesome dude." Mineta flashed me a thumbs up at me which I gave a grin in return.

"Yeah. Glad it worked out."

"…Oh right, you said that probably wouldn't work." Mineta jumped from the ground before he started wailing at me. "You idiot! How could you not know that was going to work or not?! I'm too young to have a heart attack!"

"Okay - OW - sorry! We got it though, didn't we?!"

Nezu was quite shocked, pleasantly that is, that not one, not two, but three of the point Zero robots were taken down.

Oh this was going to be quite the interesting batch of students indeed!

The one that All Might picked as his successor, oh sure All Might didn't say he did but it was obvious given the fact the boy broke his own limbs with super strength and who else has that level of power and the fact his new teacher not once looked away from that certain screen, OBVIOUSLY smashed through the large robot without a point to his name.

I wish he would have mentioned he said he found a new vessel for One For All, and I wished more that it was one of the more throughly proven students, but it's out of my paws.

Oh well. He's still an obvious in, even if the boy is very rough around the edges for his strength. It was All Might's protégé, he was automatically in regardless and to be groomed to become the perfect hero or at least handle the power.

Somehow.

Then there was that Bakugo boy. Rough around the edges in the complete opposite direction of Midoriya, he scored a lot of points and managed to immobilize the Point Zero by blasting key joints and other structural weaknesses. Quite strong and brave, possibly foolish but that's just a guess given he's a teenager, but he had a plan and was able to execute it. Still hopefully his teachers will temper him over time, the boy seems to always be yelling for one reason or another.

The final one was the surprise team-up. Sero and Minoru. On paper, neither one was particularly strong. One made sticky balls with his hair, the other made trading cards with his body. If anything this whole event would be stacked against them but apparently the Sero boy could do more than what his government papers said.

Nezu couldn't help but titter a giggle. "Managing to keep such a secret until now? Well played."

And the power.

Whatever he done, he reduced the Point Zero to dust! Absolutely they had the least amount of property damage, and they did this on the fly with nothing more than implicit trust and possibly the promise of becoming what heroes should be, if Nezu's lip reading was up to snuff.

It was a shame that such… abilities… seemed so outlandish. Nezu turned to his newest teacher.

"So All Might, what do you think now that you watched them?"

The shadow of a man yet still the absolute symbol of peace scratched his face in thought. "I think Midoriya did well, all things considered. He's going to be crushed until the results come out though."

"Still, he's going to pass on his own merits. Now how about this one, Bakugo?"

"Hmm… he's a hot head. Still overall calm in a fight. He can really assess the situation and go in for the finishing blow which is respectable."

"Indeed. And this last one, Sero and Mineta. What stands out?"

All Might watched the replay with a stoic face, but as the full fight replayed his face blanched a little. "Is that… multiple quirks?"

Nezu tapped his face in thought. "It may be. I have just a hypothesis from seeing this, where he may have his original quirk be a trigger for multiple other quirks. Yet perhaps some kind of 'ink to life' quirk. I know a few that exist that can make drawings real, but never to this kind of level. They tend to break much like paper does."

"…Do you think…?"

"Not entirely. I don't believe your old nemesis, should he still be alive, would be brazen enough to do it but if he did it would be a way to rub in that he still exists while still giving plausible deniability to a student candidate. I'm not going to chase shadows and I don't think you should either, just keep an eye open and be mindful of any possibility."

"…Understood."

A/N:

Well this was a long one. Don't expect them to be like this in the future haha, I hope this turned out to be a good read though. I tried a few perspectives and whatnot to see what worked or didn't and I think making it mixed will really help keep it fresh and engaging.

Here is the story deck used for those that are curious and know the game. Don't look if you don't want spoilers though: www . moxfield.(comm)decks/s7KQblXIwk2OvLEP-mhrsQ

Enjoy and if you like, please leave a comment on what you think of it.