Chapter 4: Exploding Robots
"YOU'RE WASTING AIRTIME HERE!"
With that, Ochako ignited One For All within her body and blasted off into the robot-infested faux city, with pink lightning trailing behind her, ready for whatever would be thrown at her.
SMASH!
Immidlety, one of the fake buildings she was heading towards was smashed through by one of the robots. A one-pointer, given the fact that it had a huge "one" on its arm.
Alright, Ochako, moment of truth!
Launching towards the machine, she made a fist, and cried "SMMAAASSH!"
POW!
The robot crumbled under the power of her fist like cardboard.
No injuries, she realized. Good, that means my training for the last three months have paid off. If I can keep my power down to five percent, I should do just fine.
She blasted off to find some more robots.
The old Hitoshi Shinso would have wanted to die.
Well, not really. To be more accurate, he would have bitched and moaned that fighting against robots was heavily-biased against combat-oriented Quirks. And that was true. However, he had been training his body for the last ten months, giving him an advantage.
Alright, first thing's first, I need a weapon, he thought to himself.
Looking around, he saw a stop sign at one of the crosswalks. Grabbing it, and using a little bit of pressure, he pried it out of the ground. Thank goodness it was fake, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to lift it out of the concrete, much less use it as a weapon.
"Target acquired. Commencing attack."
Turning around, Hitoshi saw that a one-pointer had spotted him, and was rushing over to murk him. Using the stop sign as a baseball bat, he waited until it was in position, and then –
WHACK!
…he hit its wheel, sending it crashing towards the ground.
Alright, it's down, but I still gotta finish it off!
Rushing from its blind spot, he readied himself to crush it with the stop sign, only to see… something big and red on the back of its head. It looked kinda like a button.
Curiosity getting the better of him, the purple-haired boy pressed it, and…
BWOO…
…he heard the robot go silent, and stop moving.
And off-switch? These things have an off-switch?!
Hitoshi didn't know whether to smile or to feel annoyed at that.
Whoo-hoo! This is actually fun!
Ochako was currently having the time of her life.
At first, she was simply using One For All to bounce around the area and smash the robots to pieces, but now, she was getting a bit more creative. She used her original Quirk to launch the bots into the air and then let their gravity return, using the impact of the fall to destroy them. She also used the newest aspect of her Quirk to increase their gravity to crush them.
She even used a One For All-powered kick to crush a bot's head in two!
This was a blast!
"Hey, Iida!" she called out to the spectacled boy. "How many do you have so far?"
"I believe it was forty-five, last time I checked!" he yelled, crushing another bot.
"Nice! I'm pretty sure I'm at forty-one!" she called back, smashing yet another one.
Yep, this was definitely a blast.
Within a darkened room, the UA staff watched the exam take place.
"Clearly, the examinees have no idea how many Villains are present, or their locations," Nedzu said. "They have limited time, must cover a vast area, and hunt down every last target."
"Some use information gathering abilities to plan out strategies…" he said, looking towards one of the screens where a boy with six arms was spreading them across the area.
"...while others use speed to pull ahead of their peers." A blue-haired boy with glasses.
"Of course, remaining calm under pressure can be a huge advantage," the white-furred mammal said, as he watched a blond boy use a laser from his stomach to blast the robots.
"...as can pure power and combat ability." A spiky blond with smoke coming from his hands.
"The most successful students use a combination of all these tactics. They're the ones who rack up the highest scores," the principal said, as the other teachers watched the screens.
"Hmm…" the voice of Midnight could be heard. "I'd say that this year's group looks promising."
"Who's that one over there?" Eraserhead asked, pointing to a purple-haired teen.
"His name is Hitoshi Shinso," Nedzu answered. "He has a mental Quirk that allows him to command others. However, given that it's a combat test, he has a disadvantage."
"Hm, he seems to be using one of the stop signs as a makeshift staff, or even an ax," the black-haired teacher said. "His technique is sloppy, but overall competent. Not only that, but he's already discovered the off-switch on the Villain Bots, so he's clever, too."
"He's not the only one, Aizawa," Vlad King said. "Look at the invisible one."
"Where? I don't see them."
"Check the thermal cameras."
"Oh, okay, now I see her," Eraserhead answered. "She found the off-switches, too?"
"Correct," Nedzu responded. "Her name is Toru Hakagure. Her Quirk is not combat-oriented, but she's using her stealth to sneak up on the robots from behind and turn them off."
"She'll barely pass with that strategy."
"Well, there's still plenty of time before it's over," Snipe said, as he activated something called the Yaruki Switch. "The real test is yet to come. Let's see how they react."
BOOM!
Something big had just erupted from the ground, grabbing everyone's attention. For a moment, everyone was stunned, before their expressions quickly shifted into horror.
KRSSH!
It was gigantic, so colossal that it crushed any buildings it came into contact with. Despite being slow, its massive size made up for it, as it loomed over everyone like an enormous shadow, blocking out the sun itself. As Ochako looked up, she realized what that… thing… was.
It was the zero-pointer.
"There's one in every center, think of it as a hurdle you should try to avoid!" her memory of Present Mic echoed in her mind. "It's not that it can't be beaten, but there's… kinda no point. I recommend my listeners try to ignore it, and try to focus on the ones at the top of the charts!"
She cried in her mind, Isn't this a little extreme?!
"LESS THAN TWO MINUTES REMAINING!" Present Mic's voice shouted.
CRAP, CRAP, CRAP!
Ochako started running.
She knew she had to get away from that monstrosity. There was no way in hell she could beast that thing at the power level she was currently at. It was a sure-fire way to get herself injured, or even worse, killed. She would not risk failing the exam because of some giant –
"SON OF A BITCH!"
Turning around, she saw that there was someone limping behind her.
Bakugou?
As the zero-pointer approached her, Yui Kodai was not afraid.
She ignored all of the people who were running for their lives in the opposite direction. She ignored all the people who were telling her to run, as she simply walked towards it.
As the debris fell all around her, she simply dodged and weaved through the falling concrete. Compared to her "camping trip" to the mountains, this was nothing.
She walked up to the zero-pointer. It was big, sure, but she had dealt with giants before, ones faster than this hunk of metal. Placing all five of her fingers on the metal, she whispered…
"Die."
…and began to shrink the titanic machine down to a smaller one. Way smaller.
A year earlier, she would never have imagined herself doing something like this. The amount of energy and sheer willpower for her to pull off something like this would be too great.
But that was no longer an issue.
She had faced off against giants before, and the one she witnessed at the Gunga Mountains was far more scary than the overgrown tin can UA had thrown at her today.
Shrinking, shrinking, and shrinking it even further, the zero-pointer in her area went from being a kaiju-sized monstrosity, to the size of a truck, to that of a car, and then to her height.
And now, it was the size of a toy car.
Taking her hand off of it, she lifted one foot, and stomped it down on the mini zero-pointer.
CRUNCH!
As she crushed the now tiny robot underneath her shoe, she had a tiny smile.
Occhan wasn't the only one whose Quirk had "evolved" over the summer.
Katsuki Bakugou was having a bad day.
To be honest, it was more like he was having a bad year.
First, it was that stupid Sludge Villain incident where the media circus tried to praise him for doing the equivalent of what a drowning rat would do, before getting saved by that girl. Worse of all, his face and Quirk were all over TV, which really put a dampen on his goals.
Then, a month later, Auntie Inko woke up. Sure, aside from the fact that he nearly choked to death on his breakfast from the shock, it should have been a great day. But the fact remained, he still felt super fucking guilty. Especially when the two of them saw each other in person.
He was nearly a decade older, meanwhile, she looked like she hadn't aged a day since… it happened… and the look she gave him when she realized what had happened… and how much changed… It hurt him. While he was understanding that she would be staying at their house until she got back on her feet, interacting with her every time they crossed paths…
It was awkward, yeah.
Then, ten months later after the shitty Sludge Villain, people STILL know who he is! Not only that, but he was sharing an exam site with Round Cheeks, who COULDN'T GET THE HINT that he wanted to be left alone. At least he could blow off some steam while killing robots.
And then he got overexcited.
He hadn't realized that there were so many of those mechanical fuckers that they made him go overboard with his Qurik, resulting in his forearms to wanna fall off. And with that giant-ass zero-pointer on his ass, he had no choice but to run. Like a coward.
And then he tripped.
Because his forearms were now out of commission, he couldn't use them to break his fall, resulting in a tumble… which left him with a sprained ankle on his right leg.
And now, the zero-pointer was gaining.
"SON OF A BITCH!"
Yep, that was definitely Bakugou.
And for some reason, she was running towards him. And the zero-pointer.
Pink lightning erupted from her body as she zoomed towards the downed blond, activating her Zero Gravity to make him lighter, and then grabbing him and running out of danger.
"Round Cheeks?" he asked, clearly surprised.
"I already told you once, I refuse to let you die!" she answered, still running.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Crap, that thing's gaining on us! Ochako realized. I've gotta get him to safety! Alright, think everyone is already ahead of us, running for their lives, if I can just find –
Suddenly, her prayers were answered, as she saw who was ahead of them.
"IIDA!"
"Huh?" the glasses-wearing boy turned around to see… "URARAKA?!"
"HURRY!" she yelled back, lifting Bakugou. "CATCH HIM!"
"No!" Bakugou protested. "Don't you dare, Round Cheeks! Don't you dare throw MEEEEE!"
She threw him.
"OOF!" Iida successfully caught Bakugou, and was ready to make a run for it, when –
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The debris from all around the buildings was crashing all over them, not allowing them to escape the zero-pointer. Ochako realized that they were trapped.
If we try to run, the debris will crush us, if we stay here, the zero-pointer will crush us, she thought to herself. There's only one way to get rid of that thing…
"Iida," she called to him. "Take care of Bakugou for me."
"Uhh… of course."
"Wait!" Bakugou yelled from where Iida was holding him. "What are you going to do?!"
"Something crazy. Or something stupid. Or maybe a little bit of both."
With that, she was already gone. One For All was already at five percent, buying her a few seconds to get to the zero-pointer before it crushed the two boys. Now, standing right on top of it, she did the one thing she could think of. She poured all of One For All into her legs.
And then she jumped.
BOOM!
She rocketed towards the zero-pointer, and making a fist, she powered it with the entirety of One For All, while remembering the first thing All Might told her to do once she inherited that power. "You're gonna make a fist, and punch it towards the water. In order to summon your newfound power, clench your butt, and from the bottom of your heart, yell –"
"SMMAAAAAASSH!"
BOOOOM!
Like lightning striking, a huge explosion was heard from the face of the zero-pointer, knocking it back, and causing a chain reaction of explosions that made it all through its body, causing it and the rest of the debris to tumble backwards, safely away from all of the examinees.
"JUST ONE MINUTE LEFT!"
Present Mic's voice snapped her back to reality, and she realized two things.
One, both her legs and her right arm were broken.
Two, she was now falling from a great height.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAA–"
If she survived this, she vowed to never go 100% with One For All until she was at least as muscular as All Might. But for now, she had to focus on not becoming a road pancake.
As the wind whooshed past her, Ochako realized that she still had one hand functioning, and that she could use Zero Gravity to slow her fall, and –
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
"Huh?"
Before she could even execute her pan into action, a bunch of explosions were launched, and something rocketed towards her, wrapping their arms around her tightly.
"HUH?! BAKUGOU?!"
The spiky blond had somehow managed to launch himself towards where Ochako was falling, and had successfully grabbed her body. Once that was done, he used his one free hand to launch a continuous amount of explosions towards the bottom, slowing their descent.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Realizing what he was doing, Ochako used the last bit of her Zero Gravity on him rather than herself, as she used her one non-broken arm to hold the explosive boy even tighter.
BAM!
While their crash-landing was not comfortable, they were at least alive.
"Ugh…" Opening her eyes, she saw that her face was on… Bakugou's chest.
"Eep!" she squealed, getting red. "I'm sorry! I –"
"GET THE FUCK OFF ME!" he yelled.
"Ooh, l'amour on the battlefield," a blond boy with a French accent laughed.
Immediately, Ochako used her one good arm to get off of Bakugou's chest, and used it to crawl her way towards her own piece of debris, where she puked to her heart's content.
"TIME'S UP!"
"Very nice, good work all around. You're Heroes in my eyes, every one of you," an elderly voice said. "Here, reward yourselves, have some gummies."
"Oh, thank you," a familiar voice said.
"Iida…?" Ochako slurred out.
Appearing in her line of sight, he smiled. "Uraraka! I am relieved to see you alive!"
"What happened…?"
"When we saw you plummet towards the ground after destroying the zero-pointer, this hooligan bit me, forcing me to release him, and then launched himself towards you!"
"Who you calling hooligan?!" Bakugou hissed. "I just saved her ass!"
"Yes, well, be glad I brought Recovery Girl to both of you!" Iida said.
"Oh my goodness. You were hurt this badly by your own Quirk? The old lady, now identified as Recovery Girl, approached them, making a kissy face. "Gimme some sugar!"
"Eww!" Bakugou cringed. "What the fuck is she doing?!"
"You're watching a school nurse in action," the blond Frenchman said. "The Youthful Heroine: Recovery Girl. Her Quirk is a boost of healing power. She's the only reason UA can hold these reckless exams. Look, she's saving her months of recovery time."
As Ochako was glowing green, she could feel her broken bones mend themselves, her scarring disappear, and the pain vanish. However, she did feel extremely tired now.
"Alright, you'll be fine now," Recovery Girl smiled. "Now, your turn."
"Stay the hell away from me, old hag," Bakugou hissed.
Ochako could hear her parents pacing outside of her room.
It had been a full week since the Entrance Exams, and since then she, along with Yui and Shinso, had been waiting patiently for their results to arrive. During the week, she tried calling All Might, but he had given her nothing but radio silence, so there was nothing they could do.
Then, her results arrived via the mail.
She insisted on seeing them by herself, much to her folk's protests, but they relented. Now, in the darkness of her room, she was staring at the letter.
Opening it, she saw a small gray disk, which lit up, revealing –
"BOO-YAH! I AM HERE, AS A PROJECTION NOW!"
"Wait, All Might?!" Ochako looked at the screen, confused.
"I know it's been a while, but with great power comes a great amount of paperwork! Ahem, my apologies, young lady," the projection of All Might said. "The truth is, I didn't come to this city just to fight Villains… you're looking at the newest UA faculty member!"
"You're seriously going to be working at UA?!" she gasped.
"Yes, what's the matter? Who's showboating? Wait, I have to do how many of these things?! Right, so, moving on! You passed the written test with flying colors, and you managed to earn forty-one Villain Points! A very good score, but that alone wouldn't have earned you a spot…"
Ochako's heart sank as she felt tears nearly leave her eyes, when –
"Fortunately, there were other factors!"
Looking up, the brown-haired girl saw as the camera cut to her saving Bakugou. From rushing towards the zero-pointer, to tossing him towards Iida, and then punching the huge robot to make sure everyone would stay safe from its path of destruction, all of it.
"How could a Hero Course reject someone who is committed to saving others, no matter the consequences to himself? After all, that is what makes a Hero. And that's what my alma mater is all about, training those who would risk their lives for the greater good. So, we have Rescue Points! A panel of judges watches, and they award points for heroic acts beyond just fighting Villains! OCHAKO URARAKA, SIXTY RESCUE POINTS! Congratulations, with a total score of one hundred and one points, you've earned second place within the Entrance Exam!"
The projector showed the top ten scores:
No. 1: Katsuki Bakugou Villain Points: 77 Rescue Points: 45 Total Points: 122
No. 2: Ochako Uraraka Villain Points: 41 Rescue Points: 60 Total Points: 101
No. 3: Eijiro Kirishima Villain Points: 39 Rescue Points: 35 Total Points: 74
No. 4: Ibara Shiozaki Villain Points: 36 Rescue Points: 32 Total Points: 68
No. 5: Itsuka Kendo Villain Points: 25 Rescue Points: 40 Total Points: 65
No. 6: Tenya Iida Villain Points: 52 Rescue Points: 9 Total Points: 61
No. 7: Yui Kodai Villain Points: 60 Rescue Points: 0 Total Points: 60
No. 8: Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu Villain Points: 49 Rescue Points: 10 Total Points: 59
No. 9: Fumikage Tokoyami Villain Points: 47 Rescue Points: 10 Total Points: 57
No. 10: Yosetsu Awase Villain Points: 50 Rescue Points: 6 Total Points: 56
As Ochako cried, a large smile crept up on her face.
"Welcome, Ochako. You're now part of the Hero Academia!"
As the projector turned off, she immediately grabbed her cellphone, and texted into the group chat. She, Yui and Shinso had created it a while back, so they could discuss schedules and whatnot whenever they needed to, and tonight, it was gonna be flooded.
Graviton: I PASSED! SECOND PLACE! AAAAAAAAAA!
Rule: We noticed.
Mindblank: Passed by the skin of my teeth. Forty-four points.
Rule: Was the cut-off at forty points?
Mindblank: I think so. Glad that me brainwashing idiots to get out of the line of fire qualified as "rescues." Still, without those twenty points, I'd be in Gen Ed right now.
Rule: What classes are we all in?
Graviton: Mine says Class 1-A!
Rule: Same.
Mindblank: Guess we're all in Class 1-A.
Graviton: AAAAAAAAAA!
Stepping out of her room, Ochako saw that her mom and dad were staring at her. They must have been waiting in anticipation over her results. Might as well get it done. She gave them a wobbly smile, and simply said, "I got in. I'm gonna be a Hero."
"MY BABY!"
As Ochako proceeded to get crushed in a family-styled bear hug, her mother praised her, while her father looked into Ochako's eyes, and said, "You'll do so many great things, kiddo."
Ochako gave her folks a wobbly smile, and said, "Yeah, I will."
"Congrats on getting in," Yagi-sensei smiled, the two of them at the beach.
"I couldn't have done it without your help!"
"Oh, speaking of which, I didn't tell anyone at UA that I had been training you and your friends, or anything," the emaciated form of All Might told his successor. "I wasn't one of the judges, and I didn't pull any strings for the three of you, you all earned those spots all on your own."
"I'm glad to hear that," Ochako said, before she remembered something else. "Oh, yeah, I was really surprised to hear that you were gonna be a teacher at UA this year!"
"The school didn't want me telling anyone about the job until they made an official announcement," the blond skeleton of a man said, looking towards the ocean. "It seemed like fortunate timing. An easy way to find someone knew the inherent One For All."
"But instead, you found me," Ochako said.
"Yeah," he smiled. "The torch I passed on to you is but a small flame right now. In time, it will become a raging inferno. The more powerful you become, the more you will outshine me. And eventually, I will retire, with my job complete. Heh, deep stuff alright."
Ochako looked more determined now than ever. "I'll make you proud, Yagi-sensei."
"You already have, young Uraraka. You already have."
"Is everything set back in Japan?"
"Yes, Papa," Melissa spoke into her phone. "All my luggage came back with me from I-Island. I've also done all my summer work, so I'm all set for my least year at Shiketsu."
"Glad to hear that. Say hi to All Might for me!"
"If I meet up with him, sure," the blonde girl said. "Gotta go, bye."
"Bye, Melissa. I love you."
As the bespectacled girl ended the call, she quickly pulled up another contact. Pressing the button, she waited for the other line to pick up, and… "Hey, hey! Melissa-chan!"
"Hey, Nej. I just got back from I-Island. How were things while I was gone?"
"Oh, things have been going great! The UA Entrance Exam just happened, and Yui-chan told me that she got in! Everything's going – Oh, gotta go, I'm with Mirio and Tamaki!"
Melissa laughed. "All right, talk to you later."
Ending the call, Melissa smiled. This school year was gonna be… interesting.
Author's Notes: No Rescue Points for Yui? Huh, that's weird.
Anyway… comment time!
DragonWhite04: I'm not planning on having Uraraka's lifespan get lowered by One For All. How I'm gonna do that, I have two ideas. One, I go with Mirrond's explanation and say that the Quirk has finally "evolved," or two, I just completely ignore the problem.
BarusuOmega: Glad to see you like it! Hope you enjoy the rest of it!
Anyways, that's all for this week!
If you wanna know more, visit my Discord, the link is /3PFYSt8Dqz. You can chat with others, post memes, fanfic recommendations and prompts, role play, fan art, and we even have a writer's corner now! I'll also drop by with announcements and chat with you all every now and then! Also, if you want to add me as a friend, my username is Ernalore#8663! Just please make sure to follow the rules!
Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time!
- Ernalore