"Are you sure about this…?" Izuku asked, eyeing the small forest clearing he and his childhood friend were in.

"For fuck's sake! My answer is not gonna change after the fifth time you ask!" Katsuki yelled, tired of hearing the same thing for the last minute.

"I'm just saying, we just started practicing hand-to-hand two weeks ago, shouldn't we wait a little more before using my Quirk?"

It took Katsuki a lot of restraint not to punch the closest tree.

"Ten months! Less than a year! I ain't half-assing this!"

Izuku raised his hands in an attempt to appease his friend, "Alright, alright, I was just making sure…"

The blonde tsked, before getting into position. He saw how Izuku got ready to respond to whatever he was going to do.

Knowing he would get nowhere waiting, he dashed towards his adversary, and shortly after that he felt the leg he was standing almost slip under him.

He used his hands to support himself and try to roll forward, only for his forward momentum to stop completely. He tried using his arms as a way to spring himself forwards anyways, he got a good amount of distance up in the air, managing to complete the roll he started, only to see Izuku, floating up in the air, already preparing a punch to him as he was airborne.

Twisting his body, he managed to only be graced by it, and he took advantage of his opponent's momentum to give him a headbutt as hard as he could. The impact would've hurt if it had hit, however an invisible force stopped him centimeters away from his target, and shortly after he felt a knee being dug into his stomach.

He fell to the ground, and Izuku landed softly next to him.

"You alright…?" The nerd asked, obviously worried.

"Of fucking… course." He said between coughs. "Fuck! If I was a bit faster I would have hit you!"

"Yeah, that was close. Sometimes I forget how good your reflexes are."

"Not like I get to show them off a lot."

He stood up, and looked at his friend straight in the eyes.

"Again, this time don't hold back."

Izuku sighed, not surprised that he had been caught. "This is supposed to be a learning experience…"

"It'll make me learn the gap I need to close."

"It would be an extreme, my Quirk works really well against people who do close quarters combat." He said, explaining what they both knew.

"Did you forget what I want…? To be number one, above you, above everyone else. I don't give a damn about how unfavorable this is, one day, I'll get to a point in which it won't matter."

As Katsuki stared into the eyes of his childhood friend, he saw that Izuku believed it was possible.

Chuckling to himself, Izuku began to take a couple of steps away from Katsuki, making distance so that they could begin this small spar of theirs. "Alright, I'll give it my all. Ready when you are."

Katsuki mentally prepared himself and dashed forward, similar to last time, however, he instantly felt himself get pushed away, he lost balance shortly after and began tumbling away from his opponent. For a second, he saw Izuku pointing an outstretched hand at him before he collided with a tree.

"Do you yield!?" He heard the somewhat distant voice of his friend. "Could save you the fifteen seconds we have to wait before we decide you lose!"

He attempted to stand up, and could only do so by very slowly sliding up against the tree. He very rarely experienced the nerd's Quirk directly, but it was an absolute pain in the ass to deal with. He was being pushed away constantly, almost as if an invisible giant hand was holding him in place. There were very few ways in which he knew how to break out of it, disrupting the nerd's concentration, making him unsure of your position or brute forcing it.

"Nggh!" He grunted as he attempted to push himself away from the tree, only to barely move a centimeter. "Ugh! Fine, let me out!"

Not a second later, he felt the pressure go away, with Izuku approaching now that he was declared the victor once again.

"You alright?"

Slap!

"Ow! What was that for!?" The nerd complained, rubbing the back of his head where he was hit.

"You sneaky bastard, you angled yourself so that you could push me into that tree." He said calmly, "No way in hell that was just a coincidence."

"I mean, we are in a clearing so it could happen… But yeah, you caught me." Izuku admitted sheepishly, "I didn't want you rolling away that long."

That was another limitation of the nerd's Quirk. He either pushed you away from him, or pulled you closer, but it was always in a straight line drawn between him and his target.

"Have I told you that you got bullshit superpowers?"

That got a laugh out of Izuku. "Every now and then, yeah."

"It was not enough when you could just push away people just because, but now you can also make force fields and fly as well."

"Well, those are just applications of repulsion. The repelling barriers are really taxing, though. I gotta push away everything in a dome, and I'm spreading it thin, so it's weaker than a regular, localized push. Also, flying in the future might involve attraction, since I can theoretically pull myself towards something instead of pulling it towards me, I've sort of done it a couple of times, but it is really complicated and it doesn't last long, maybe it is my perception of it, like, I'm still thinking of pulling it, but maybe I should think of trying to make it pull me? I don't quite have it down, but-"

Slap!

"Fucking hell, I didn't ask for a whole wiki page of your abilities."

"I'd really appreciate it if you could find another way of making me stop…" Izuku said with a pained chuckle.

"I'll get a taser."

"Nevermind, then." Izuku said with a shake of his head, "Anything else on the schedule?"

"No, why?"

"Just, want to cool off, relax, you know? This training program hasn't given me a lot of time for that."

"You could always quit it if it bothers you so much." Katsuki asked with a smirk.

"And let you hold that over me?" Izuku smiled, "No. Not at least until we get to U.A."

The blonde shook his head and waved his friend off. "Sure, whatever you say. Don't get lost in the woods again."

"That was eight years ago!" Izuku protested.

"So?" Katsuki replied with a shit eating grin.

Izuku sighed, waving goodbye to his friend and walking away, leaving Katsuki in the clearing.

He lied down on the grass and allowed himself to be more visibly frustrated.

I could barely fucking move. Goddamn it, I thought I could at least push a little bit through it.

I know it's only been a couple of months but I was expecting to see some progress. The fuck do I do, then? I can't up the regimen, that'd be fucking stupid. Overdoing it will mean that I'd have to waste time recovering.

He grabbed a rock laying close to his head, tossing it up and catching it when it came down.

I need something else. I can't afford to just be a fit guy… But what?

He caught the rock, and stared at it, holding it as tight as he could in an effort to channel his frustration.

"Damn it." He threw the rock aside, standing up so he could get back home as well. Answers weren't going to appear just because.

A good while after his whole duel with Katsuki, Izuku found himself aimlessly wandering the city. Not exactly advisable when it was beginning to get dark, but he felt like he needed it. He hasn't been thinking clearly the last couple of weeks and just getting lost usually helped him deal with stuff like this.

All Might's words still were in his mind. As silly as it sounded, it kinda felt like a betrayal. He knew it wasn't, he never actually met All Might before, and his idea of the hero was one shaped by public appearances.

I understand he's worried because it is a dangerous career and there's no precedent, but it's not like it's unfeasible. Sir Nighteye doesn't seem like someone who's reliant on his Quirk, and Eraserhead fights Quirkless against mutant types.

He was sure there probably was more to the number one's reasoning than what was evident, but he couldn't see it. What he could see was something that in hindsight was obvious. All Might thought differently than he did, not only regarding this matter. Even with the words of his idol, his opinion on that didn't change at all, but now he was struck by the epiphany that they both don't share the exact same worldview.

I guess it's coming as a bit of a shock since I've always wanted to be like him.

He thought as he slowed down, eventually standing still on the sidewalk, "Is that really it?" He asked no one.

A strange confusion overtook him. He was having a bit of trouble just visualizing it. All Might is his idol, that hasn't changed, yet with what he was aware of, he came to another realization, because of the different ways of thinking they obviously must have, he would never be All Might.

That was evident, yet… Weird. He remembered his list of possible hero names when he was little, from All Might Jr, to Little Might and Psychic Might. No two people are the same, he was perfectly aware of that, and of course that meant that no one was going to be All Might besides All Might.

Yet, despite all of that, in my head all this time I was following his footsteps diligently. I even got one of his smiles replicated.

He let out a small laugh, shaking his head.

"Uh, you alright there, kid?" Another voice asked from behind.

He turned around, his inner monologue interrupted, and stared into the man that was behind him, someone around his thirties or forties, carrying a plastic bag, who was looking quite concerned at him.

The embarrassment of realizing that he really just stood in the middle of a sidewalk, probably mumbling to himself, hit him like a truck.

"Oh! Y-Yes, sorry, sir!" He bowed, "I was just, uh, lost in thought, that's all."

"Pfft," the man laughed, "Oh, sorry, kid. I actually was worried you were going through something bad."

Izuku wanted so badly to cease existing at least for this moment.

"Hey, hey, don't worry, it happens to the best of us, especially when we think we're alone. Believe me, my wife, very composed woman, sometimes begins to walk in circles in the living room when she believes no one's home." The man said, chuckling.

"Uh," Izuku let out. At least he wasn't as embarrassed as before.

"So, mind telling me what had you inside your own head for so long? It's fine if you don't want to talk with a stranger, though."

"Oh, ah… No. It's, uh, fine, I'm fine with talking. I was just…" He struggled to find the exact word for a second, "Realizing that I'm not gonna be exactly like my idol. It's weird because that's been kinda my dream ever since I could remember."

"Oh, that's more common than you think, especially in careers where big names pop up." The man said calmly. "That's why it's common to hear stuff like, I'm gonna be the next… I don't know, Herman Li or something like that. Then they begin to see that they have their own style, and even if it's similar-"

"It's not the same," Izuku concluded for the man.

"Yeah! The people that came before us are not there to leave a template for us to follow, but to leave aspects that resonate with us and light the path that we are gonna take."

"...Wow," Izuku let out.

"What?"

"Oh, ah, sorry, it's just… I didn't expect you to be this wise, sir." The boy said sheepishly.

"Wait, what does that mean?" The man said with his arms crossed.

"Oh… Eh, it's just… You don't look… like it?"

An interesting array of emotions could be seen in the man's face over the span of a couple of seconds, first indignation, then anger, followed by defeat, and finally dry amusement as he let out a laugh.

"At least you're honest, kid." The man let out, "So, what exactly inspires you about him?"

"How he's able to make people feel safe," he replied without hesitation. "Only his presence and a smile is enough for people to think that everything is going to be alright. I want to have that."

"Heh, should have figured you'd also want to be a hero," the man said with an amused tone. "And what else do you want to do as a hero?"

"Ah, besides saving people…? I… haven't had that quite figured out..."

"Hey, hey, don't sound so ashamed of it, if everyone had their future figured out the world would be a lot better for it. You look like, what? Fifteen? You'll figure it out, we all just kind of wing it before we find what works for us."

"Wing it…?"

"Y'know, improvise. It's better than trying to force anything. You've heard of writer's block? A bit like that. I've actually changed career paths a couple of times in my life before I actually found what I like." The man then got his phone out, "Well, I hope my wisdom was of help. I better get home before my family considers that I arrived too late. Another golden nugget of wisdom: You're never too old to be scolded for spending too much time outside, kid."

With that, the man took his leave, at what could be considered to be almost a jog. That prompted Izuku to check the time as well, followed by the surroundings.

He very vaguely recognized the area, which meant he was far away from his own home, and from his glance at the time… He winced, knowing that he would take a good while to arrive, and began to make a run for it, sore muscles from training be damned.

Better call mom before she worries too much.

Months passed, and both of them kept up with the training program, and that was a fact that somewhat frustrated Katsuki. It was very small, but the fact that Izuku was only slightly ahead of him in terms of pure physical prowess was not something that he liked. He accepted it, but he didn't like it.

Even after a year… I haven't been able to get pass the nerd's fucking Quirk. Damn it! I'm strong, but that means jackshit if I'm not able to use it.

Speaking of the nerd, he was late. Not actually late, he knew Izuku would point it out, but almost late. He has been waiting at the subway station for a while now and only recently did he spot the green hair of his friend amongst the crowd. The nerd also spotted him quickly and began waving at him.

"Hi, Kacchan," he said, enthusiasm clear in his voice. "Feeling ready?"

"I am ready, and I have been ready for like fifteen minutes now."

Izuku laughed, "Man, I always forget that early is on time, and on time is late with you. There's still plenty of time to get to U.A."

"Quit it, asshole. It's just basic manners."

"Sure, sure," he turned to look at an approaching subway, "So, do you think this is gonna be the first step or does it come later…?"

"Nah, our first step is opening that acceptance letter." He replied, smirking, hoping some of that confidence could convince the part of his head that was still doubting.

The travel was uneventful, cramped and nothing different that any other travel to the area of Musutafu that U.A was located at.

As they both approached the gates of the prestigious school, Katsuki couldn't help but feel as if he was looking up at a steep mountain whose shadow was being cast directly on top of him, almost as if saying, "Go ahead. Try."

"Feeling nervous…?" Izuku's voice broke him from his own thoughts.

"Why the fuck would I be?"

"I don't know, what I do know is that you're glaring at the school as if it had stolen your lunch," he said with a smile.

"So? This is a challenge, I gotta beat whatever test the school has for me."

"I see, that makes sense." Izuku laughed. "I am kinda nervous, at least."

"We both know you have no reason to be."

"Don't I…? I mean, whether or not this is actually our first step into becoming heroes, it is the day that says whether or not we'll be going to attend here. Which, uh, I think it's a bit important, both of us only put U.A as a choice. Also, uh…" He paused, finding the right words. "You know, at least I actually feel like this is an important place. It has like… an imposing presence, or something like that… I think. Hehe, sorry, my eloquence is not the best."

Katsuki knew exactly what the nerd was doing. They both knew each other quite well, so of course Izuku figured he was nervous. Maybe the nerd also was nervous, maybe not, but either way, him telling that was for the main purpose of trying to calm him down a bit.

Worst part is that it kinda worked.

Eventually they were led to an auditorium, in each one of their seats a pamphlet containing information about how the entrance exam was going to go. One thing that they noticed with a quick glance was how they were in different testing grounds.

"They probably don't want people from the same school helping each other," Katsuki said.

"Not that you would accept any help if I offered."

"Fuck no. Who do you think you're talking to?"

"Exactly."

A loud clearing of the throat brought their attention to the center of the auditorium, where Present Mic took his place and began to explain the rules of the exam. It didn't take long before Katsuki was starting to consider that this exam was made by a respectable person.

A point system tallied by robot kills. In a fake city that would be empty save for the students and the robots. An exam which also has a limited time and points. In short, the recommended strategy is to just go and destroy them all as fast as possible.

Katsuki could feel himself grinning, he was already getting pumped. It was simple, straightforward and with no bullshit.

Punching through metal might normally be hard, but compared to having to deal with the nerd's damned Quirk? Pfft, that was so easy that he'll even find a way to chew through it.

Katsuki's testing ground, as far as he could tell, was perfectly identical to the others. Just looked like a city, which really put into perspective how big the damn campus was if the school used cities just as battlefields.

The big difference between this and a regular city, besides its lack of population, was that this one was entirely walled off, with one a giant gate serving as its entrance. He, along with several other students, was waiting for the thing to start. It was also very nice of the staff to just drop them here, saying "Wait here" and then leave.

I swear, they better be starting this shit soon or I'm just gonna go and wreck those pieces of scrap already.

"Such malice…" He heard a deep voice saying from behind him, "Are you mayhaps another one who will unleash penumbra onto the field?"

Katsuki turned to look at the guy, a literal birdhead, "Speak normally, damn it."

The guy had the decency to look ashamed. "My apologies, I meant to say that I thought you looked anxious to fight."

"... Well, I fucking am, been training like hell for over a year straight for this and wanna give as much hell as I've been put through."

"Ho…" That… somehow seemed to have pleased the birdhead, who gave a short bow. "Fumikage Tokoyami at your service, may we bring hell to these foul machines."

"Tch." The guy spoke a little weird, but he could respect the energy, "Katsuki Bakugou. Go to the left if you don't want me stealing your points."

"Under-"

"START!" Present Mic's voice blared across the training grounds.

Katsuki didn't need to be told twice. He dashed for the city, and he was damn pleased with the dumb look on the other student's faces as they had to process that for a second before they too ran. It was clear that most of them didn't have to run a marathon as part of their routine, he was amongst one of the first. Of course, some other people were catching up, including birdhead who had pulled out a shadow-like figure to accompany him.

Honoring their agreement, both of them went separate ways into the city, and it didn't take long before the blonde found himself facing a robot, a 1-pointer which he quickly charged towards.

The robot didn't stand idly and locked onto him, pelting him with rubber bullets, however, that pain was not enough to dissuade Katsuki, who once he got close enough stepped firmly, reeled his punch back and with a roar, punched into the metallic beast. Intent of going through the metal shell of it.

The impact hurt and the satisfying sound of impact graced his ears, it only made a dent on the surface, but not dissuaded, he repeated the same approach, on the exact same spot.

This time, he felt the sensation of sharp metal grazing his forearm as he punched a hole into the robot, not thinking about it much he grabbed and pulled, getting some cables out of the robot as it sparkled with electricity for a while, before the red lights of its eyes went out.

He hissed for a moment. That hurt a lot, as to be expected, rubber or not, those were bullets, and he did punch fucking metal. But he then smirked nonetheless. It was nice to see the fruits of training, and he was eager to see more of it.

Thankfully, the city was densely populated with these mechanical villains, finding them was a cakewalk, and dispatching them was a relatively easy job, however, not easy enough apparently.

"Nineteen points!" He heard someone count out loud.

Which, first of all, fuck her. There's a thing called internal thoughts for fuck's sake!

He, meanwhile, had gotten eight. Finding isolated robots and getting to them took around ten seconds or so, but those were few and far in between. Even just two different robots at once could take almost an entire minute.

Worse of all, he was already stumbling into robots that had already been destroyed.

Heh, not as easy as I thought. But that's good. If this was a cakewalk I'd have to punch myself for choosing an excessive training program.

Another strategy was needed, but he didn't have any tools. Like he thought before, the whole damn city was empty save for them and the robots.

At that, he paused, and turned to look at the wreckage of a nearby machine. He crouched next to several pieces strewn about due to some sort of heavy impact, and gently ran his pointed finger through the edges of one of the sheets of metal.

He felt a sharp sting and he soon saw blood on his own finger.

At that point, he couldn't contain his vicious grin. This was actually going to be fun.

Meanwhile, in the monitoring room, teachers found themselves discussing. The various screens showing each of the several applicants, with one in the middle showing the current scores.

"Quite a fascinating bunch we seem to be having," the principal spoke calmly. "Most fascinating is the current twenty-eighth place."

The attention turned to Katsuki, holding the sharp sheet of metal in front of him as he approached three 1-pointers, who were barraging him with a rain of bullets, and once he did, he raised it above himself as he jumped towards the head of one of them, stabbing it deeply before taking it out and repeating the process with the remaining ones. It looked like he was having a blast.

As Powerloader stared at that particular battle, he was thankful that the bots were made mainly of a non-conductive metal. Otherwise that strategy might've proven to be a double edged sword for the kid.

"Looking into his file, aside from being classmates with the current lead on the exam, there's one thing that really catches attention," Eraserhead pointed out while glancing at the screen showing Izuku floating above some robots he smashed into the ground, as well as pulling some less successful applicants back into their feet.

"Most certainly," Nezu nodded, "We might be having a world first in hero academics."

"Isn't it a little early to say that?" Cementoss asked, looking at the scores and seeing that they were relatively even in the lower half of the top fifty. "We still have to review the footage later to make sure we saw every action worthy of Hero Points."

"I said might, after all, there's still a few minutes left," the animal said with a smile, sipping his tea, "Besides, now is when things really start to… shake."

As he said that, he pushed a large red button, ignoring the eye-roll one of his employees gave him.

Minutes after he began his bladed rampage, Katsuki began to feel the earth move beneath him. Stopping his search for another robot to kill, he looked around him, seeing others in the same situation. Soon, he saw a cloud of dust rise from the middle of the city.

There, it began to rise, showing itself, the only robot he hasn't seen so far, the 0-pointer. He looked at the robotic colossus, and more than anything, he felt a calling. A loud part of his head that he didn't really have a disagreement with.

Bet I could kill this thing.

However, as he was thinking that, he felt himself getting pulled by the back of his shirt, away from the action, making him drop his improvised weapon due to the sudden movement.

"Don't just stand there, we have to run!" A voice he vaguely recognized, he turned to see bright orange hair and a large hand holding onto his clothing.

"You!" He yelled. "Hey! Let go of me, and after that, learn to count quietly!"

"Look, sorry, but you didn't look like you were running!" She said, still not letting him go. "I was afraid you were petrified with fear or something."

"Hell no! I'm not gonna run! I'm taking that thing down!"

At that, she stopped, letting him go and staring at him as he had grown a second head. She glanced at the 0-pointer.

"That thing…?"

"Yes, the big ass fucking robot!"

"And how exactly are you planning that!? Not to mention: Why!?"

"Climb it, find some cables inside of it and cut those. Or something."

"... You're aware of how dumb that sounds, right?" She deadpanned.

"Well, you're not bringing any better ideas, Popeye!"

"I did, running away! And my name is Itsuka Kendo, not Popeye!"

"That idea fucking sucks!" He yelled back with the same intensity. "Tch. Look, you asked for a reason why. I'll give you two: We're proving ourselves here, and I ain't letting go of a chance of taking down a thing of that size, or at least trying to."

"Very logical, I see," she said sarcastically.

"And second… That damn thing is destroying all the buildings around it by just walking, would you let that shit slide if you were an actual hero!? Would you actually run away, huh!?"

She actually paused at that, turning towards the robot and letting out a groan. "What am I getting myself into…?"

"Well spoken, my wicked friend," a third voice joined, ignoring the rhetorical. "This artificial demon shall not go without its proper punishment: A one way trip to the depths of Hell."

Itsuka paused and looked at Katsuki. "Are you friends with him?"

"Literally met him before this started," Katsuki replied, "Not any more of a friend than you are."

Fumikage's gaze lowered. "Your words are as wicked as your soul…"

The blonde rolled his eyes before cracking his knuckles. "Tch. Look, I'm going, if you wanna tag along, fine. Just don't get in my way."

"That's precious coming from the guy that was upset because my score was higher than his," Itsuka said, guessing that that was the reason he was angry at her counting out loud, stretching a little bit before moving forwards towards the 0-pointer.

Calm down. First the giant fucking robot, then Popeye. Priorities.

Attempting to channel his anger at the robot rather than the girl, he began to approach the colossus, followed shortly after by Fumikage.

The robot was still just moving around, and much like it was said by Present Mic before, it was only a "distraction", it didn't have any weapons unlike the other faux villains, if you didn't count its fists, however its sheer size meant that it was still dangerous to approach it.

It didn't seem to notice them, busy wrecking the nearby buildings.

"So, the plan is still to climb it and break it then? How?" Itsuka asked.

"You ask a lot of damn questions."

"And you give no good answers."

"... Ugh. Look, when it punches, it's relatively slow, I've seen it leave its fist down on the ground for a hell of a long time. The plan is to run up its arm to get to the head. Even if the fucker's "brain" is not there, at least we can take out its eyes."

"And have a blind giant running around without control!?"

"It's a machine, dumbass! If it doesn't have visuals it's not gonna move!"

"That's…" Her eye twitched. "Alright, fine. You could have said it more nicely."

"I could have." Katsuki smirked, "But I wouldn't have."

"You're being a jerk, you know that?"

Fumikage watched from the side, unsure if it was wise to even remind them of his presence. Despite what he thought was a good entrance into the group, maybe he shouldn't have, they clearly didn't allow for much of his theatrics.

As they stood closer to the 0-pointer, it threw another punch, debris flying in their direction, getting stopped by Fumikage's Quirk, who quickly stood in the way, almost like a shield.

Not wasting any time, Katsuki ran, followed by the other two, he and Itsuka didn't have any trouble actually climbing it, while Fumikage was lifted by Dark Shadow. So, they began running up the arm of the machine, the blonde taking the lead and even advancing more.

As it began to move its arm again, they noticed that the 0-pointer had its eyes on them as they ran up its right forearm, raising it while keeping it horizontal, it began to raise its left arm, ready to smash them as if they were ants.

"I'm guessing your Quirk won't be able to block that one…?" Itsuka asked, looking at Fumikage.

"In this blinding daylight, Dark Shadow won't have the power necessary to do that, I'm afraid."

The arm began to descend, she stared at it, it was way too big, they weren't fast enough to move away from it, so with a roar she reeled back her fist, enlarging it before punching down at the arms they were standing on. Seeing her plan, Fumikage sent Dark Shadow to do the same, quickly they made a crack which both of them grabbed and pulled further open.

"Get in!" She exclaimed to both of their companions, however, she only saw Fumikage.

"If he's not in sight, he's not in hard, we can look for him after," the remaining boy said, hoping inside the arm.

Itsuka did the same, but worried that the other boy fell down while she was opening up their way to safety.

Not two seconds later, they felt the impact reverberate, loudly and shaking them as well. After a while, the hand covering the hole began to rise, they climbed out to see, and they noticed something as they did. Katsuki was on top of it.

"How!?" She felt the need to exclaim.

The blonde simply smirked and looked at the face of the robot, it was still locked onto its other arm. Grabbing onto the edge of the arm was a gamble, and it was a good thing he had the grip strength to hang on after that impact. That thing didn't hold back on itself, it even left a large dent to signify the impact. No self-preservation programmed into it at all.

He saw that it was going to repeat that attack, which saved him the climb. When the arm was at its highest point, he took a running start and jumped down, towards the head of the robot, which was looking down onto its other arm.

The landing could have been more graceful, even when doing his best to turn it into a roll, he still felt the impact of it. Luckily nothing major. Standing up, he walked closer to the face of the 0-pointer. And this really drove home how gargantuan this fucker was. He could use the lines on its face to slide down to one of its eyes.

Getting his face right in front of it, he grinned, full of excitement at finally getting to smash some of this thing.

"Hi." He said before he punched the red crystal of it, using his other arm to hang tightly into the line he slid from.

He saw the beginning of a white crack, and so he began punching repeatedly, slowly but surely turning that crack into a spider web-like pattern before managing to crack the protective crystal and then punching the actual camera behind it.

C'mon, you big hunk of junk! I'm here!

He glanced at the 0-pointers arms, they were no longer focused on trying to get the other two, the left arm was clearly intent on smashing him. His grin widened.

Sliding into another one of the robot's eyes, one close to the center, he repeated the process, up to a certain point. Keeping an eye on the arm, he let go once the punch was already away on its way there.

"Artificial Intelligence, my ass." He said as he watched the villain bot become victim of its own attack, smashing its own face far more efficiently than someone like him could have done.

Of course, he couldn't ignore gravity. He was hoping to use the robot's torso to slide down to safety, but the damn bastard knocked itself way further than he anticipated. Directly below him was cold, hard concrete, and while there was a building near him, he couldn't hope to catch onto it to break his fall, even if his arms could withstand that. He spread his arms and legs as much as he could, hopefully the air drag and the spread of the impact would allow him to survive the fall.

Neither of those were necessary as he felt himself get grabbed by the back of his shirt.

As he looked behind him, he saw both Fumikage and Itsuka, both falling, however they were moving towards him as they did. It was then that Dark Shadow launched one of its arms, stabbing it into the building while holding onto Itsuka. There was a change of momentum, and all three of them slammed into the side of the building, not as hard as the fall would have been, but hard nonetheless.

"This… Would have been easier if you told us what you were doing." Itsuka let out, clearly in pain.

"I said it before we started climbing… Are you deaf?" He said, spotting some of the other applicants looking at them from below.

Glancing to the sides, he saw a nearby window.

"Hey, swing us over there, I'd rather get down there myself than wait for them to get a ladder."

He didn't care which of the two of them did it, as long as they did it.

After they got done with that, and he now longer felt the adrenaline coursing through him, he was more aware of the pain he was feeling.

Sore muscles, the bruises he probably gained from the rubber bullets, the cuts in his palm from when he used the sharp piece of scrap, and more than anything, the way his knuckles ached. It was distracting, but in a good way, they were reminding him of everything he did today. He felt like he was in his element. But, still…

They said a nurse would come to the testing sites eventually. I hope they bring an ice bucket. Better be that good ice, too… This shit's hurting.

After the nurse actually came and treated everyone with a healing kiss from her Quirk, Katsuki felt way better, though tired. All of them were sent back to the main building, and on the whole trip there, he was accompanied by the two that helped him back there.

It wasn't a meaningful chat, or anything like that. He had a feeling that if the girl didn't ask questions, the three of them would have remained entirely quiet. It wasn't like that, sadly.

Questions like, what school did each of them come from, his name, what stuff each of them liked to do. Though with that last one it was fun to see how birdhead actually seemed apprehensive of telling his hobbies, before just saying that he liked reading poetry every now and then.

He's obviously into chuuni stuff.

Meanwhile, Itsuka was an avid martial arts fan. Not only a practitioner, but someone who regularly watched tournament matches. He had to admit, respect.

But, as much as the idea of going through the trip silently watching through the window seemed nice, this wasn't entirely a bad alternative. Entirely.

"Oh, another thing, Bakugo," Itsuka said, "What's your Quirk? I don't think I quite saw it well. Mine and Tokoyami's are quite obvious"

"None of your business."

"I… Alright. Rude, but I can understand wanting to have privacy."

"Yet you inquired as to why I was apprehensive to tell you about the ways I spend my time," Fumikage pointed out.

"I was just curious, you could have said you didn't want to talk about it," she said, clearly apologetic.

"I don't know…" Katsuki just had to say, "Sounds like you're being a hypocrite."

"Hey! C'mon, don't gang up on me like that!"

The bus stopped, signaling that they've arrived. Still jokingly discussing whether or not Itsuka was a hypocrite, they made their way out of the vehicle, and once they did, a gasp could be heard.

That stopped Katsuki in his tracks. He recognized it. Looking at the source, he saw the nerd, with an expression that his friend has never had before, but one that Katsuki has seen on his auntie.

Hand over mouth, but a smile still visible, watery eyes, and clear happiness.

For a moment, he felt the purest form of horror with every fiber of his being.

"Kacchan…!" Izuku said, almost starting to cry already, with clear pride in his voice. "You made friends!"

God fucking damn it.

A/N:

Hello, hello!

Let me tell you,

The great beyond is underwhelming. A waste of effort. I mean, at first it had its charms-.

Alright, I'll stop. Points if you get the reference.

Anyways, some of you may be wondering where I've been. To put it shortly, working and studying is time-consuming.

If any of you are coming from Lucky, I'm sorry to tell you that I've decided to put it on hiatus, since now that I have free time, I saw that I kinda lost the flow of what I was writing. I still had the ideas of where to take that story, but… on that trip from A to Z, I'm missing like half the alphabet. Not sure when I'll find it again, if ever. That's not to mention that upon re-reading it… There are some choices that I no longer vibe with, y'know?

Returning to this story: Entrance Exam done, and I hope that the punching through metal doesn't feel as outlandish here. While Katsuki is not at "peak-human performance physique" yet, that threshold in MHA is kind of absurd if you look at Sir Nighteye, I feel like.

I felt it justified as Ojiro should have been able to deal with the bots as well, for example.

As for everything else, I'm trying to pave the way for the changes that Izuku having a Quirk and Katsuki having none would bring further along the line. Hopefully I can lead through something that feels satisfying even if you don't know what the end of that road is.

Anyways, that's that. I'll try and make use of my free time to keep this up, I do really like writing these, and hope you like reading them.

See ya!