Shattered Fate

by CaedesPlerique

A world so focused on heroes has lost its way. As the beginning steps of the critical events to the future of their world start to occur, they get some unexpected help. Can these new arrivals save their world from themselves? (MHA/Spider-man/Naruto/Ranma)

5. Chapter 5 - The Exam

Chapter 5 - The Exam

"Here we are, Ranma-kun!" Moriko hollered as she drove up next to the school. The wife half of the hero couple Water Hose smiled at how Ranma hadn't removed his eyes from the main school building when she pointed it out to them when it came into view. After all, U.A. was an awe-inspiring sight for a school.

She drove up in front, finding one of the many temporary parking spots that dozens of other cars used to deliver potential students. She exited her vehicle, and Ranma followed, though he still stared at the school. She circled around the car as he closed the door.

She inspected the youth whom her family had gotten to know so well over the past year. Ranma was not perfect, but they were undoubtedly worth knowing. What mattered was his heart; it was one of the finest she had met. He may be egotistical and prone to acts of retaliation, but she lumped that mostly on his upbringing from his father, Genma. That man was even more flawed than Ranma. The fact he helped make Ranma a better person than he was would be why the rest of her extended family would hug him for that achievement… right after hitting him with the heaviest objects they could find!

She stood before him, inspecting his clothes to ensure everything was in place and that he looked professional. He had decided to wear what he usually found most comfortable: red silk shirts in a Chinese style. This one had longer arms since it was February. His dark blue silk pant legs complimented them, as well as his black slip-on. They were comfortable for him and wouldn't raise too many eyebrows if his curse activated. He had been thrilled on Christmas when he had been given several sets of them, especially when Ranma learned they had been adjusted so they could more easily fit both of his forms if he changed. That had been one of the most annoying things about his curse for him.

"Well, you certainly look presentable, Ranma-kun." Ranma finally turned his head back to look at her, smiling as he did so. "Do you feel like you are ready for the exam?"

"I think so. Shino-sensei did say I was ready for it."

"Well then, I wish you luck on the written exam. It can be tough, but if Shino-chan says you are ready, you are." She smiled as she patted him on the shoulder.

Ranma raised an eyebrow, "Not going to wish me luck on the practical?"

Moriko snorted, "As if! It isn't a question of whether you pass; it is a question of how badly you break the curve!" She smiled as he smirked back at her; his ego and confidence lifted some. She found he always did better when he had more confidence. That was the case with most people, but it impacted him significantly. She didn't mind feeding it occasionally because he usually did the right thing either way. "Now get in there, you don't want to be late, and it is a big school."

"Right, thanks a lot for driving me, Moriko-san," Ranma smiled.

Moriko beamed before she hugged him and was pleased to feel him return it. Pushing him back again, she gave him a final instruction. "Now get in there!"

"Yes!" Ranma said as he prepared to leap towards the entrance.

"No ki-jumps, Ranma!" Moriko called in a warning, stopping him in time.

Ranma looked embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his head. "Right… forgot." He then walked to the entrance and left Moriko with the car.

"Good luck!" she shouted just before he went through the entrance. After he was out of sight, she got back into the car and drove somewhere nearby. She would wait until he was done with the exam.

Ranma walked forward until halfway toward the main building and just stopped there. Several dozen boys and girls walked along the long path toward the school. Some were talking with each other, and the occasional bout of yelling occurred among the young people. There was even some angry yelling behind him, but he ignored it.

He looked up in awe at the size of the main building. It was over twenty stories tall, and each floor was closer to five meters than the typical three. Its width and length were impressive, but its unique architecture made it stand out. Instead of just a single large building, it was like four skyscrapers set near each other on a combined base at the bottom, with two-story tall walkways between the different buildings. It made it look like a giant H from any side you looked at. It completely dwarfed the last school he had gone to, Furinkan, by a couple orders of magnitude. Especially when you included all the property that belonged to the school. He really hoped he wasn't blamed if a fight broke out and damaged something. He did not want a repeat of having to deal with fiancees, delusional upperclassmen, loopy principals, or panty-stealing midgets. He couldn't afford the repairs!

"Move it, you Extra!" a loud and obnoxious voice said from behind him, but Ranma ignored it.

He glanced to the sides and saw multiple other tall buildings, though they were still smaller than the main one, and all were part of the school's grounds. He had never seen a piece of property with this much real estate in Japan ever! Not even the American bases he had passed by in his youth could compare to this.

"I said move it!" the same obnoxious voice said, sounding even angrier than earlier and closer now.

Ranma had only bothered to learn a little about the campus before he had left, thinking it would be just like Furinkan or maybe more expansive, like some of those private academies he had heard about.

"Get the fuck out of my w–- ay?" The voice halted its demand as it encountered something it hadn't expected. Specifically, his leg had been caught by Ranma's hand as the boy tried to kick him to the side.

Ranma's handhold around his ankle was like steel, with no give. Even as the youth tried to peel Ranma's hand away from it. The boy then tried using his other leg on Ranma's back as leverage to get out of the hold. When that didn't work, he started punching and kicking with everything he had. But it didn't even budge him.

After it was made very clear to the boy that he had no chance, he even began to panic a little if Ranma could tell by his voice. So the foot was released, and Ranma just walked off towards the school. He smirked as he heard the boy land and the curses that followed it soon after as Ranma walked on and never bothered to look back at him.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Man, it looks even bigger in person than I expected!" Peter said as he walked through the entrance closest to the train station. David and Melissa's directions for getting here were spot on.

His plane had just arrived early that morning.

He had gotten breakfast along the way. Japanese breakfasts were not his preferred meal, but the Shields had tried to get him used to it since it was the cultural norm here. He was used to one plate of eggs, bacon, and potatoes in various forms, sometimes pancakes or donuts. Here, they served rice, soups, and other mixtures. It was good, but still weird for him.

He made it on time, seeing a hundred or more kids moving back and forth on the property. He had experienced something similar at Midtown High, with large groups of teenagers attending different classes. U.A., however, was so spread out due to the sheer size of the buildings and the campus. Even inside, it was taller and broader than he was used to at Midtown, though seeing some possible students that were three meters tall and one or two meters wide certainly gave good evidence for why it was that big.

Peter, being Caucasian, stood taller than many of his potential classmates. But nowhere like he had expected from what he had initially known of Japan. Here, mutant quirks and other biological changes resulted in a broader range of potential sizes and shapes of humans. He would have boggled at the sight if he hadn't grown used to it on I-Island.

Deciding he needed to focus on where he needed to go, Peter looked down at the instructions he was given. They were written in Kanji and Hiragana, though Peter had written down some of it in English off to the side for some of the stuff he still had difficulty understanding. He was improving, with Dr. Shield, Melissa, Karen, and his Japanese instructors helping him. But he didn't have any of those crutches here at the moment.

He stared down at the hiragana; he remembered most of them well enough now, but a few still stuck out and were difficult to follow. He looked down and then back up at the signs above the doorways, realizing he might have gone in the wrong direction. It looked different from what he expected. He was starting to get worried.

{"Excuse me, are you an American?"} a female voice asked from his side in English.

He glanced towards the one that had asked and found a girl in a dress shirt and skirt. She was shorter than him head to head by about fifteen centimeters, but the horns on either side of her head made it debatable who was taller than who, as they would make her at least twenty centimeters taller than him. They pointed straight up, looking like goat horns, and had a similar color and texture. Her blue eyes were a little larger than expected, with a round nose that could almost not be seen and a small mouth. Her long hair was blond and wavy, and he saw what he thought was a small bushy tail behind her. Glancing down, he noticed she didn't have regular human legs or feet, more closely resembling the back legs of a horse and its hoofs. It made her look cute and innocent and would be perfect for working in a petting zoo.

{"Yes, I am an American. I was born and raised in New York,"} Peter said, a little glad to switch to his native English. Speaking Japanese was easy for him since he got plenty of practice at his new home.

{"Awesome! My name is Pony Tsunotori, and I'm from Wyoming!"} Pony said as she introduced herself.

Peter smiled as he responded, {"My name is Peter Parker, pleased to meet you, Pony!"} He then held out his hand to her, and she gladly shook it. {"Do you happen to know where room C147 is? I need to get there for the written exam."}

Pony winced before poking her index fingers together and looking to the side. {"Actually… I was kind of hoping you could help me find where I needed to go. My Japanese is horrible, even if my family comes from Japan. And don't get me started on reading Kanji! Do you know where B123 is?"}

Peter frowned; it seemed that both of them were lost. {"Well, it might be better to help each other find where we need to go than to hunt for it ourselves."}

{"Yes, that sounds much better. How's your Japanese?"} Pony asked.

{"I can speak it better than I can read or write it, so let's try asking someone else?"} Pony nodded her head at his suggestion, so Peter looked around at the students around them and tried to get a feeling of who to ask questions to. He did try asking a few, but they were ignored, told no time while pointing at their watches, or declined as they didn't know.

He saw another boy taller than he was, with a muscular build and peach-colored skin. His head looked like a rock as it poked upwards, but his face looked more normal and kind as he was shyly looking around. Peter asked him the same question.

The boy looked a little startled, then embarrassed as he had been spoken to, but Pony just stood there and let Peter take the lead while he smiled warmly and hoped it would be enough for him to help them out. It took a few seconds before the young man started making hand signs, making Peter realize he was probably mute. He had studied American Sign Language a little but wasn't recognizing any that the boy was using.

"I'm sorry, I am not familiar with those signs. Here, let me see if what I can remember works." Peter then proceeded to use a few signs he remembered. The boy looked surprised but also confused as he tried more words, one of which he did recognize. "Lost?"

The boy smiled and nodded his head. "Are you asking us if we are lost?" The boy repeated the gesture. "Yes. We are. Ummm, do you know where this room is supposed to be?" Peter asked as he pointed down to his sheet.

The boy glanced at it momentarily and thought deeply before wincing and shaking his head no. He gave more hand signs but seemed to be struggling and was disappointed when Peter failed to understand what he was saying.

Peter tried to figure out what was going on when he realized something. "Wait, are you using American Sign Language?" The boy shook his head. "Is it... Japanese Sign Language?" The boy nodded his head rapidly and happily. "I'm sorry, I only know a little of the American system, nothing of the Japanese one."

The boy was disappointed further but did end up giving a smile to show his appreciation for trying. "Hey, my name is Parker Peter. Maybe I'll see you around and try to learn a little of Japanese Sign Language in the meantime."

The boy smiled gratefully before walking off, waving at them as he left. Peter returned the wave as he walked off before returning to Pony. {"Unfortunately, another failure. But he seemed really nice. Alright, let's see if we can find anyone else,"} Peter said, not giving up.

The next boy he decided to ask had what Peter recognized as a black student jacket for boys with buttons down the front. He was a little taller than Peter and had black hair that was a little spikey as it pointed downwards. He had a determined face, but Peter recognized some signs of being nervous.

"May I ask a question?" Peter asked the boy as he gave a little bow, hoping he was performing the keigo correctly. None of the others had responded negatively towards it, so he believed it was correct.

The boy stopped to look at him, curious and knocked out of his thoughts. "Sure, what do you need?"

"Pony-san and I are lost and trying to find which room we are supposed to go to for our exams," Peter said, indicating the girl, who smiled as well. "We're both Americans, and our Japanese still needs some work. So I apologize in advance for any disrespect we may give."

The boy grinned widely, his eyes closing as his sharp teeth showed off. "No problem, dude! I'll help if I can. Where do you need to go?"

Peter showed him the sheet, and the youth's grin became puzzled, making Peter think they had another failure on their hands. But then he grabbed the sheet a little tighter to bring it closer, Peter allowing him to do so. "Oh! That's why you're lost!" He laughed out loud, pointed at the sheet, and turned to Peter as his grin returned. "Dude, those numbers aren't the classrooms you are after. Those are the seats!"

Peter's eyes widened at the realization. "So, where do we need to go?" He went up next to the boy and looked closely at the sheet.

"You need to go to that auditorium," He said, pointing down the hallway.

Peter stared at it for a moment before he smacked his face with his palm before chuckling a little, and the boy did the same. {"Pony, give us your sheet; let's verify where you need to go as well."}

After handing it over, they quickly confirmed it was the same auditorium, just a different row and seat number. He informed Pony of it, and she excitedly threw her hands up. "Yay!"

Glad to finally resolve that, Peter turned back to the boy and gave him another bow. "Thank you so much!"

"No problem, dude," he said as he also gave a bow. "My name's Kirishima Eijiro; I'm shooting for the Hero course."

"Parker Peter, I'm also shooting for the Hero course." Peter paused, then turned to Pony. {"What course are you shooting for? I forgot to ask earlier."}

{"Hero course!"} Pony shouted, excited.

Peter turned back to Eijiro and saw him give a big thumbs up. Seemed he knew that English word as well. "We need to hurry, but I wish you luck, and maybe we'll see you for the practical exam."

"Sure thing, Parker! Good luck!" Eijiro said as he walked off, waving.

{"Alright, Pony, let's go,"} Peter said as he led the way.

{"So, Peter, do you like manga or anime?"}

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"In there, Sakura-chan," Chiyo said as she pointed at the door. Sakura quickly opened it for her while carrying the extra supplies Chiyo had wanted to bring along.

Sakura looked around the room, seeing it as a decent-sized room with only a few beds. Considering the nature of the school, she had expected at least a dozen of them. "Why are there so few beds, Shuzenji-sama? Considering what you've told me about the school and the size of it, I expected more beds in the infirmary."

"This is more of my private office, for those I must watch more closely while they recover. There's a larger room through that door," Chiyo said, pointing at another door. "That one houses a dozen beds, but there are additional smaller rooms throughout the school and at different sites. I am not the only nurse or doctor here, just the most senior and the only one with a healing quirk. I frequently have to go to different sites when needed. But since any part of the school could potentially see an injury occur, whether the Hero course, Support courses, or even some General courses, getting them to a room and immediate medical care tends to be more important than one large central location."

"That makes sense. Multiple field hospitals allow for quicker and immediate treatment, while the larger ones provide more space for the more difficult cases after they have been stabilized and can be transferred."

Chiyo smiled, she knew Sakura would have figured that out after getting a little more familiar with the layout, but she had limited knowledge of how things were spread out for now. "Here, help me unpack and get things ready. While I tend to be called to the site with the more critical injuries, other medics on staff need the supplies."

"Right!" Sakura whooped as she began helping unbox and followed Chiyo's instructions as they quickly organized things. They were about halfway done when the door opened again, and four people entered. Three wore purple medical scrubs with name badges, and two wore doctors' coats over them. The fourth was a beautiful woman with long dark purple hair that was reasonably spikey. She wore a rather flattering business suit, considering her decent chest was on display with a deep cleavage readily visible. The two male doctors had blushes on their faces, and the woman nurse's eyebrows twitched, giving Sakura an idea about how she acted.

"Recovery Girl! You're here a little early. How have things been at home?" the flirtatious woman asked.

"They have been going well, Midnight. I mostly went home to bring Sakura-chan here when I returned," Chiyo said, smiling at the other woman.

Midnight's eyes lit up as she looked down at the short young girl. Her pink hair was just below her chin, and she looked adorable in the outfit. The top looked like a sleeveless qipao, but it only came to her waist. She wore a short pink skirt with slits down the front and back and wider slits on both sides connected by a belt, but it looked like it made things easy enough to move in to not cause any impediment. Under that skirt, though, she wore some skintight dark green shorts. She wore some sandals on her feet that looked rated for hiking, though the front allowed her toes to be visible. Midnight loved her immediately.

"Oh, she's so cute!" Midnight reached forward to hug the girl to her bosom, but she was ready and had stepped back a few steps. Midnight walked to follow, but Chiyo's cane interceded on Sakura's behalf.

"Enough of that, Kayama-san. Sakura is helping me and doesn't need your brand of flirtation or sadism."

Kayama Nemuri looked slightly outraged, but Chiyo's stern glare and using her family name got her to drop it. No need to get the same punishments Yagi would get. She could learn, Yagi couldn't.

"Sadism as well?" Sakura asked, raising an eyebrow, looking between Chiyo and Nemuri.

The type of smile Sakura received at that confirmed it, though Nemuri was a little surprised that instead of fear or shock, Sakura actually smiled.

"With a name like Midnight, I take it you are also a Pro-hero?" Sakura received a nod from the woman. "You remind me of a sensei and friend from home. I think you probably have a similar style of dressing for work. Something skimpy that makes the boys' nosebleed and the girls outraged?"

"Oh my, you know me so well already?" Nemuri asked in delight. "What would your friend wear?"

"Chain mesh, a mini-skirt, an overcoat, and sandals like mine. And nothing else," Sakura replied quickly. The fact the two males in the room had far-off looks as they tried to imagine it didn't help the other woman's twitch.

"Oooo, I liiike it!" Nemura cried out in delight. "Is she nearby? Or near Tokyo, at least?"

"No, she's from my homeland, and it's very far away and difficult to get to."

"Well, if she's ever in town, send her my way, would you? I think a girl's night would be so much fun!"

Sakura smiled, "I think she would enjoy that if the chance ever came up." She glanced at the clock and realized the time she had to get to the exam room was less than she had expected. "Shuzenji-sama, I need to get to my exam. I am sorry we didn't finish in time."

Chiyo smiled, "Go along, dear. Have fun!"

Midnight turned back to Chiyo, "Shuzenji-san, I like her. So she's taking the exam? Is it the hero course?"

Chiyo smiled, "Yes, and you'll be one of her teachers."

Nemuri raised an eyebrow at that. "Oh? Confident in her passing? Even the practical?"

Chiyo gave her a smirk, which the staff didn't see very often. "Oh, she's going to crush it."

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"What's up, U.A. Candidates! Thanks for tuning into me, your school D.J.! Come on and let me hear ya!" shouted Yamada Hizashi, better known as the pro-hero Present Mic.

The tall man was slim in figure and had long blond hair that was all spiked upwards like a cockatoo. He wore a pair of headphones, stylish triangular sunglasses, and what looked like a colossal boombox fitted just below his chin that went to his upper chest. He wore black leather clothing like a punk or a biker would, though the jacket collar was tall and curved upwards towards the front.

He put his gloved hand to his ear, waiting for a reply, but all he got was silence from the large auditorium filled with students. "Keeping it mellow, huh? That's fine; I'll skip straight to the main show. Let's talk about how this practical exam will go down, okay? Are you ready?"

Again, all he got was silence. Most students just stoically looked back, though some spoke softly to their classmates nearby. One boy with a messy crop of curly green hair and some freckles was muttering about how it was Present Mic and how he listened to his radio show every day. He started speculating about whether all the teachers were pro-heroes.

The boy next to him didn't appreciate it. "Shuddup." This one had short, spiky blond hair and seemed a little pissed as he listened to the presenter.

Hizashi spoke up again, keeping his promise of going over the practical. "This is how the test will go, my listeners! You'll be experiencing Ten-minute-long 'Mock Cityscape Maneuvers'!" Behind him, a massive screen lit up to help identify where each of the seven sites was. "Bring along whatever you want! After this presentation, you'll each head to your assigned testing location!"

He explained more, describing that each 'site' was filled with fake robot villains, called faux-villains, that gave different points, and their job was to earn as many points as possible. Attacks against other examinees were prohibited.

"May I ask a question?" a voice called out as a tall boy in a jacket and tie who stood up and raised his hand. His short dark blue hair was neatly combed, and he wore small square glasses. Since he didn't hear a no, he asked his question as he held up one of the sheets describing the part of the test they were on. "There appear to be no fewer than four varieties of faux villains on this handout! Such a blatant error, if it is one, is highly unbecoming for U.A., Japan's top academy! We're all here today hoping to be molded into ideal heroes!"

He turned and pointed behind him by several rows at the green-haired boy, "And you, with the curly hair! You've been muttering this whole time–- ack!"

His accusation was cut off because a soft hand grabbed his tie and forcefully pulled him into his chair with a sharp yank. It looked rather painful as he landed in the seat incorrectly and accidentally hit someone on the other side. Everyone else had just found it amusing and snickered.

The stern-looking boy readjusted himself into his seat and straightened his clothing before apologizing. "Sorry, Haruno-san."

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Sakura stepped off the bus that unloaded all the participants for this site. She had not expected it to look like an actual city with a large chain fence surrounding it. They were next to the gate entrance.

The style of going to a gated ground and then competing reminded her of the Chunin exams. Though, this time, she was alone, and it would not require fighting each other or deaths to occur. She was fighting a bunch of metal machines designed for it. While she couldn't go completely wild, she was more free to loosen up than she had been for some time.

She'd only been able to do that once on a training trip that Tensei had her join for his team. It had been in a vast meadow. Tensei had asked her to show them what she could do, with many of the sidekicks behind him exchanging money on bets. When she did show them, those hands trying to trade bets ended up dropping all of their money as they saw the destruction she caused. It put a smile on her face while Tensei sported a massive grin. Afterward, every sidekick in his agency that had disparaged her gave her a wide berth and complete reverence.

Speaking of the Iida family, she was saddened that Tenya had to go to another site. This kind of thing was more fun to do with friends and people who knew what you were capable of, but she wasn't worried. She did hope he did okay, but she didn't expect many issues for him. He was far too straightforward, but at least he seemed to soften up some around her and wasn't as stiff. His brother had applauded her for accomplishing the unthinkable, even if it was moving the mountain by an inch.

"Hey, check out the babe!" a loud male voice said. Sakura glanced to her left and saw a boy was pointing at her with a few other guys that looked about the same. She ignored them as she looked back towards the gate, waiting for the start.

"She doesn't have much of a rack, but those are some hot legs she's showing off, and the hair is cute." Seems some of the idiots had bonded over looking at women. If they didn't want to get their head in the game, she wouldn't complain.

"Hey, cutie, want to follow us as we go through the exam? We can help you get a few points!" One of them said as they walked up towards her. All three of them fit the stereotype of dumb but muscular jocks. Why did she have to run into the cliche here?

Sakura looked at her watch; it was still a few minutes from the beginning of the exam. She reached to her belt, pulled out her gloves, and slipped them on.

"I think she's scared. See her putting on the gloves? Probably scared of breaking a nail or something!" The three of them laughed and then walked off. She was glad it was over for now.

"Good job ignoring the idiots," a girl said from her other side. Sakura looked over her shoulder to find another girl about her height with pink hair, though hers was fluffy and unruly. Her skin was an even lighter shade of pink, her eyes were a black sclera with yellow irises, and two small yellow horns sticking out of her head that looked somewhat like an insect's antennae. She wore shorts, a white T-shirt, and a brown jacket.

Sakura smirked, "Usually best to ignore them. Unless they enter your personal space, then it is wherever they are most vulnerable. If they get handsy, the crotch is in play."

The girl giggled and gave a quick bow, "Good criteria! My name is Ashido Mina, but you can call me Mina!"

Sakura returned the bow, "Haruno Sakura, you can also call me Sakura. Us pinkies need to stick together, right?"

"Damn right!" Mina said as she threw a fist up in excitement. "So, what's your quirk?"

"It's complicated, but I labeled it 'Chakra.' I have been told it is an extremely versatile quirk," Sakura said with a smirk, giving the agreed-upon method of describing her abilities. After all, trying to explain it to someone new would take forever. "Think of it more like an energy that I can do almost whatever I want with it."

"Oh, that sounds awesome!" Mina said, excited for a new friend. "Mine is simpler; it's 'Acid,' I can conjure whatever kind of acid I want and throw it around."

Sakura nodded her head; that was a strong quirk. She rechecked her watch, "It's starting in a few minutes. Let's get ready."

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Peter looked on as he saw the mock city. He was thrilled that it would be something he was familiar with. He loved swinging through cities.

Peter had been happy to go to I-Island, but one of the best benefits was the free usage of quirks, so he regularly swung through the city. He had become something of an attraction with his wild acrobatics. And he didn't have to worry about crime while he did it! Few people were in desperate situations there, so they did not need to turn to crime. Not to mention the number of pro-heroes that frequented the island tended to scare anyone who would try to do it. So his web-swinging was out of sheer joy or a means of traveling.

He looked around but was sad not to see any students he had met today; no Pony, Eijiro, or the mute boy. Though, Peter didn't know if the mute boy would be shooting for the hero course. He looked around to see who else was there or what their quirks might be. He wasn't worried about performing well but curious about what he might encounter. He did see one guy with actual black skin and white hair. And not an African descent type of black, but the literal color of black. He saw a few people with animal-like features or other odd mutations. And… was that guy's head an actual speech bubble? He saw writing appear on it, while the rest of his body looked normal with fair skin. That was officially the weirdest quirk he had ever seen now.

He did see one blonde kid trying to pose as if he was trying to 'twinkle' or whatever it was. But the loudest was some kid with short spiky blonde hair yelling at a bunch of the others and shoving his way to the front.

Peter looked at his watch and noticed it was almost time. Peter grabbed and equipped his extra pair of web shooters from his pockets. Since he was wearing a short-sleeved shirt and shorts designed for activewear, he didn't have to worry about his clothing getting in the way. He also wore a belt that had slots for additional cartridges.

These web shooters were a recent creation and were slimmer and sleeker than his old homemade ones. They provided many of the same modifications for his webbing as his regular suits provided but not requiring Karen to make any changes. The new shooters worked much like gears on a bike and had a couple of useful switches he had practiced with extensively at home.

With the shooters attached, he moved the trigger mechanism on both hands for active and triple-checked his cartridges and backups. He was prepared to unload a lot of webbing for this.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Ranma looked over the area as they all gathered near the gate. He was saddened to see no one with any real training. People had no training everywhere he went.

While Katashi was an experienced veteran and very good for what he had, he still was far from what he considered a refined fighter. Regarding Ki, only Yawara, Tomoko, and Katashi had begun to touch their Ki with his guidance. Yawara and Katashi due to their physical prowess, while Tomoko had her own quirk that worked like Ki Sensors. They had helped each other develop their skills, with Tomoko improving her quirk and normal senses to new heights while he had begun to expand his own senses.

The others had improved and started to unlock unconscious Ki usage, including Moriko and Ryu, who were the furthest behind. He hoped to get more of them moving toward that before he had to attend school full-time. He had already given them plenty of exercises to help them along.

While he was ruminating, he noticed a pretty nervous kid who was on the thin side. He would almost call him short if it wasn't for the fact he was the same height as himself. His messy green hair was his most notable feature, along with some freckles. Ranma saw that the kid was fitter than he looked in that tracksuit. And if he was observing it right, he had only recently started his training in the last year. To make that much of an improvement in less than a year was impressive. The training wasn't up to his standards, but he'd been told his standards were plain batshit insane. That meant, compared to most people, this kid had trained really hard.

Ranma decided to walk towards the kid and hopefully help settle his nerves. The kid was walking away from him and seemed to be going towards some brown-haired girl when he was intercepted by a taller youth with glasses. Oh, it was the guy that asked the question in the auditorium. Ranma was close enough to hear now.

"I humbly apologize for my behavior earlier," Glasses said as he bowed in apology. "I was informed by a friend that it was rude and presumptuous of me to assume you were not taking the exam seriously and were instead mumbling to fight nervousness. Please forgive me."

Ranma paused as the skittish kid was surprised but worked his nerves up to bow back. "Ap- Apology accepted."

Glasses stood up and walked away, back straight as he made his way towards the gate. The kid watched him go and didn't notice as Ranma approached him. "Still nervous?"

Green-haired jumped a little, proving that he was. "Ummm, yes?"

"Well, there are ways to deal with it, especially before a fight," Ranma said. "And almost every one of them is mental."

"Umm, okay. What should I do?"

"First, don't let your fear control you, which is what is happening here. Your nerves are getting shot because your brain is anticipating conflict but also worried about the outcome because of what you'll face."

The boy nodded his head, understanding that he was correct. "How do I deal with the fear?"

"Identify clearly why you are nervous and fearful, then tackle it. Do that by breaking down what you need to do and plan how to do it."

The boy blinked, surprised by the sound advice.

"I take it one of your concerns is fighting?" A rabid nod. "You didn't actually spar during your training, did you?" A quick shake. "Okay, then, what are you facing out there?" Ranma said as he pointed towards the course.

"Faux-villains." Ranma raised an eyebrow, making the boy re-evaluate it. "Robots."

"How do you take down robots?"

He paused, looking down as he thought about it, mumbling a little. "Attack critical and weak points like sensors or CPUs, attack joints that connect important parts."

"What do you need to watch out for and avoid?"

"Their limbs and weapons?"

"So what do you need to do?"

"Get in close, avoid the limbs and weapons, hit their lenses or other sensors, weak points such as their CPUs, or damage their joints to disable or destroy them."

"Good. Now hold out your hand," Ranma said as he held his own to show him what he meant. The kid did just that, curious about what he intended to do. "What isn't your hand doing now?"

The kid was confused until it suddenly struck him that his hand wasn't shaking as much anymore. It had a few minor tremors, but it was otherwise steady. He recognized that he wasn't as scared anymore and had become calmer. He looked up in shock at Ranma.

Ranma smirked as the kid discovered what had happened. "Remember, nervousness is when your brain is worried about conflict and the consequences of that conflict. Separate it out and attack it by making a plan. If you don't have enough information, make a plan to get information. Use the fact that you are nervous to realize that you don't have a plan, then build one."

The kid gave a huge smile at Ranma, to which he returned with one of his roguish smirks. "My name's Ranma."

"Uh, Izuku."

"Good luck out there; I'll try to watch for you."

Izuku bowed to him, thanked him, and headed closer to the gate. Ranma looked up towards the entrance and backed up some so he could more easily see the timer indicating it was about a minute left before it started. Without much thought, his arm moved to his side to stop the person about to run into him. It touched something rather round and squishy that his brain quickly recognized, making him sweat from the anticipated danger he had just encountered. Especially since it didn't appear there was anything between it and his hand.

"Kyaa!" The girl he had just touched screamed.

Ranma hesitantly looked her way, purposely not looking at what his hand was touching, and only found… a pair of gloves. His Ki senses were telling him there was someone there. How was… oh, oh, that wasn't good. He quickly removed his hand, backed up a few steps, and gave a profound bow of apology.

"I humbly apologize! I felt you about to run into me and reacted to stop an accident. It was not my intention to touch you inappropriately! Please forgive me!" Akane and others that knew him in Nerima would have done a spit take if they saw him do this a year ago.

The girl growled and then proceeded to hit the back of his head. Repeatedly. With no reaction from Ranma indicating pain or complaint. The girl appeared to finally give up, her invisible arms crossing if he was one to guess by the motions of the gloves. "Okay, fine! I forgive you! Just don't do it again."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Oh, Yagi-chan! Nice of you to join us," Nemuri purred in pleasure as she saw the man walk into the monitor room.

Toshinori Yagi, the pro-hero named All Might, the number one ranked hero in the world given the title of the Symbol of Peace, sighed at the flirtatious attitude of the U.A. teacher. "Good to see you as well, Midnight."

He passed her by and then sat next to the school's Principal. It was far easier to do so in his civilian form like this than in his more impressive hero form. He looked like a skeleton; his features were more angular, with longer limbs and a longer neck. He was also missing his eyebrows, and his eye's sclera was dark. His hair was medium length, blond, and wild. One other noticeable feature was the two long clumps of hair that fell to the sides of his face.

The only teaching staff for the Heroes course that wasn't there was Present Mic since he acted as the announcer for the start and end of the exam. The other person relevant to the Hero course that was also missing was Recovery Girl, but her being on hand for medical attention was more important. She could comment on the performances later.

Most staff not dedicated to running the exam were here, observing for safety reasons, grading purposes, and general entertainment. Everyone liked to see the new crop of kids and see how they did. Two dozen screens actively switched between the various students as they also ensured the equipment was working correctly.

They were doing a final systems check before the countdown ended. Teachers looked at the various students, staring at them as they noted who might be interesting. The Principal noticed Toshinori's eyes were looking at one monitor specifically. Considering what he knew of Toshinori's quirk and the last ten months of his behavior, he suspected he had already passed it on, and one of the students on the screen was the one that had inherited One For All, the most vital quirk in the world.

The Principal, Nezu, observed Toshinori's behavior, noticing he was nervous and wincing as he continued to watch. He suspected that he was worried for his successor. That meant someone that was barely ready to inherit it. Considering how nervous the mossy-haired child was, Nezu suspected he might be the one.

They watched as another boy, one in a red shirt and sporting a pigtail, started talking to him. The kid calmed down as they spoke. If Nezu had to guess, the pigtailed boy was giving the short-haired one some advice to calm his nerves. Nezu watched Toshinori as his apprehension seemed to vanish, smiling at the interaction between the two. Both boys would be ones to monitor for the future.

"So, anyone you have your eye on this year?" Nezu asked the rest of his staff, making Toshinori realize he was caught, but he didn't say anything. Nezu got some no's and a few that were in the process of being considered. The unmistakable 'yes' from Nemuri surprised everyone because it wasn't said in a flirty or sadistic manner as was her norm.

"Oh? Whose caught your eye?" Nezu asked as the rest of the staff listened attentively for her to reply.

"Examinee 6449."

Nezu stood in his chair, as he was far too small to sit in a chair like an average human. Being only eighty-five centimeters in height made that rather difficult. And while he was considered a man by those that respected and worked with him, he was not human. He was more a mixture of several different animals, primarily a mouse, but also some features from a bear and a dog. He had white fur, pawed hands, a long furred tail, short rectangular ears, a long and pointed muzzle, and beady black eyes. The giant scar across his right eye showed his life's difficulties.

None of the staff would even entertain the idea that this made him lesser than them since he was the most sharply dressed person there, with a dress shirt, a red tie, a black double-breasted waistcoat, and matching pants. The fact he was also one of the most intelligent beings on the planet also helped. Few would want to fight him in a game of wits.

Nezu used the controls on the side of the chair to bring up the relevant monitor system that tracked the students. It pulled up a profile image, her listed quirk, and the camera that she was currently tracked on. "Why her?"

"I stopped by Shuzenji-sensei's office, showing some temporary emergency staff where to go. Shuzenji-san was present with the girl. She piqued my interest when we conversed, but what Shuzenji-san said is making me watch her more closely."

"And what did she say to interest you so much?" The rest of the staff had also grown interested, as Recovery Girl did not exaggerate about hero work and often smacked offenders who went too far. Toshinori had an intimate familiarity with it.

"I asked her if she was taking the exam and the hero course. She said yes and that I would be one of her teachers. I asked her how confident she was about her passing. All she did was smirk and say she'll crush it," Nemuri said.

That surprised them, but one of the operators interrupted them by calling out the start of the exam.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Seeing the timer down to two minutes, Sakura looked at Mina and quickly determined she probably couldn't keep up with her. She was fit and could run decently, but not in her league. She had already been disheartened about not doing it with a team, but Mina wouldn't be quick enough to get herself to the areas they needed to be to make the best impact.

She almost started apologizing for needing to leave her behind when an idea came to her. The exam said nothing about working together with other examinees. Just that fighting each other would disqualify them. She had already observed that most pro-heroes fought alone most times, with a few notable exceptions that tried to work together.

Tensei's team did try, but they had no one on their team that knew how to work together other than in a loose sense. The fact that they attempted compared to all the other hero agencies made her respect them more. Tensei didn't get upset when she had explained as much to him but winced, knowing she was right. But when she started getting some of his sidekicks to work together better, he begged her to help them to train their teamwork.

Before she arrived, they were a reasonably well-oiled team from a logistical standpoint, but they needed improvement in combat. After her training, they had become more acceptable in any scenario in which teamwork was necessary. Their ability to stop villains, deal with disasters, or anything else that needed cooperation improved by an order of magnitude, and they were being praised everywhere they went. Many had dismissed her initially, but after they saw the fruits of their labor, their heads were held a little higher.

Thinking of one of Kakashi-sensei's first lessons to them, she smirked as her idea formed fully. "Hey, Mina, I got an idea."

Mina looked over at her new friend and saw she had a wicked smirk on her face. She was curious about what was going on. "What's up?"

"Let's work together for this as teammates!"

"But we're not supposed to work–"

"Where in the rules does it say that?" Sakura asked, interrupting Mina. The pink-skinned girl blinked as she tried to think of where she had read it but came up blank. She was sure she had read it somewhere on the pamphlet. "The rules only say you can't fight each other. You don't think you can work together because of how the scoring works. You're competing with the other competitors for points, so it puts you into the mindset that working with someone will likely get you fewer points."

Mina's eyes shot wide as she realized that Sakura was correct, then her face began to expand as a giant smile formed, forcing her eyes to close. "You're right!"

"One of the first lessons my Sensei taught me was to always look underneath the underneath. It means you need to look for the things other people don't look at because all you are doing is seeing the things staring you in the face. I'll be fine alone, and you would be as well, but we'll clear more ground and robots together. Especially if we set up attacks that benefit each other. Provide cover where the other is weak."

"Great! So I can control my acid by changing its solubility and viscosity, and I use it to create some big splashes." Mina displayed this by throwing a hand around and producing a big splash of acid, looking more like a wave. "I can also produce a less corrosive version."

Sakura watched her display it and thought about ways it could be used. Her preferred mode of transportation would make it easier if they were close in, which she could already cover. "Can you do a long-range attack with it?"

"Not really," Mina looked embarrassed as she rubbed the back of her head. "I haven't figured out how to do that yet."

Sakura thought of how she had to shape her Chakra differently to get results, wondering if Mina could do something similar. She had noticed that a few of Tensei's sidekicks operated similarly.

"Okay, I have two ideas. One might be better in the long run but needs more practice. The other, I think you might be able to do now, considering what you've told me," Sakura said as she smiled. "Are you any good at ball throwing?"

"I can throw a pretty mean fastball," Mina said, wondering what she was getting at.

"Okay, let's go over there first to test it," Sakura said as she led Mina away from most of the crowd. "First, summon your acid into your hand and see if you can form it into the shape of a ball. Can you alter the viscosity after you have expelled it?"

"No…?" Mina replied but wasn't actually sure of her answer.

"Try this. Hold your hand out and create a small ball of acid in your hands. Keep its solubility low for now and focus on the viscosity.

Mina did just that, creating a lump of acid that's base quickly spread out.

"Alright, now, without adding any additional acid to it, see if you can alter its viscosity," Sakura said as she observed it closely.

Even after Mina's face scrunched up with effort, nothing changed. Sakura thought about it a little more and came up with several ideas. "Okay, add a little extra acid with a much lower viscosity."

After a few moments, the sludge ball dissolved further until it was just a pool of acid, making Sakura smile. "Okay, start again, only this time, force the viscosity as high as possible. We want to be as close to solid as possible. Try to shape it into a ball."

This time, a slimy ball appeared in her hand that only had its outer edges deforming. Mina smiled at it.

"Now toss it up and down a little; make sure it is still solid enough," Sakura said as she looked around for something to test it with. She decided a nearby rock of decent size was a good testbed. She noticed the ball kept most of its form as it bounced into the air. "Now, throw it at the rock."

Mina did just that, seeing it splat and rebound but leaving a part of itself on the rock as it crawled down. Mina was a bit sad at that, but it was still better than she had before.

"Alright, now repeat the same steps. Right before you throw the ball, add a little more with a lower viscosity like you did earlier," Sakura said, expecting a more favorable result.

Mina was confused until she realized what Sakura was getting at and soon mirrored Sakura's smile. She formed the ball, winding her arm, added the extra acid, and then threw it. The ball of acid flew through the air like a soggy baseball, but when it hit the rock, the entire glob stuck to the rock creating a giant splash of acid on the object. Mina's eyes lit up at its success, and she screamed joyfully.

"Alright, now you have a ranged attack." Sakura grinned.

"Awesome! And thank you so much for that! I can't believe I didn't think of that before!" Now that she thought of it, she wondered why Sakura had worked with her to figure this out. "So what can you do with your quirk, Sakura? You didn't tell me much of what you can do yet."

Sakura could cover a vast list, but she decided to keep it simple and something that worked in Mina's favor. "I'm strong and fast. I'll deal with getting us where we need to go and dealing with anything nearby. We'll stay mobile, and I'll deal with anything in front of us while you take any targets you can find to the sides."

"Right!" Mina said as she pumped her fist.

"First, you'll get on my back and ride along." That caused Mina to blink, surprised. "We're not staying on the ground. Too slow." Mina winced a little. "Don't worry, you won't fall. I have a way to keep you secured to leave both your hands free and mine."

Curious about what she meant as Sakura turned her back to her and kneeled down a little; Mina decided to trust her and see what she meant. She climbed onto her back, arms around her neck and legs hugging her waist. It felt awkward, and she wasn't sure how well this would work as Sakura stood up.

"Okay, take your hands off," Sakura said as she turned back to look at Mina. The girl was hesitant at first but quickly found no problem, and she had a free range of motion on her hands, much to her surprise. "Your pelvis and legs are secured to me while I leave your torso free to do what you want. I am holding you to my body with an attractive force using my Chakra."

Mina's smile widened as she saw the potential, "This is awesome! Let's kick butt!"

"Shannaro!" Sakura said in excitement as well.

"And… Begin!" the loud voice of Present Mic said, surprising the two of them as they had lost track of time. Candidates had already sprinted through the gate as they tried to use their limited time to make what impact they could.

As she leaped four stories to land on one of the walls, Sakura quickly ensured their own lead. To the surprise of the candidates below, she continued running on the side of the building as if it were the ground. The girl ran oddly, her arms held out to the side, almost as if she was acting like a kid playing airplane.

Mina was initially terrified, as this was beyond what she thought Sakura meant. But she quickly realized that she was very secure in the position and that Sakura was right about holding her there. Her fear turned into excitement as she began to have fun.

"Two dead ahead! One on the roof and one on the ground; take out the one on the ground!" Sakura yelled.

"Okay!" Mina said as she saw the one she had talked about. She formed a ball, added the extra acid, and then threw it toward the target that had only just now glanced up at them. The acid ball splashed against it, causing the metal to dissolve rapidly and destroying the faux-villain two-pointer with the scorpion-like tail.

Mina noticed they had gone up after throwing her acid and were going straight toward Sakura's target, one of the big, bulky three-pointers with rocket pods on top of both shoulders. She wasn't as scared as earlier, trusting Sakura to know what she was doing. Mina was surprised when Sakura grabbed the torso of the robot while running at full speed and then proceeded to become airborne again, over a dozen meters above the roof with the robot still grasped in Sakura's hand. She noted that her hand was crushing the metal with physical strength instead of the attractive force she had used so far.

They soared over that roof, and Mina saw a few more faux-villains on top of the next building. Sakura threw the one in her hands at the center robot, crushing them both into the roof in a heap of twisted metal. That left two to the side for Mina. She formed an acid ball in both hands before throwing one and the other at her targets, hitting them on their torso or head, destroying them as the acid went to work.

Sakura leaped across the street and ran on that wall, heading straight towards another group of faux-villains down below. Mina quivered in anticipation and glee.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Wow! Look at them go!" one of the general ed teachers said as the monitor watched the progress of the two girls. "That's impressive, but is that even allowed?"

"Nothing in the rules against it," another teacher said as they watched.

The Hero staff began seeing why Recovery Girl had spoken highly of her. The girl was strong, fast, had some sort of attraction quirk, and was not adverse to teamwork. That put a smile on a few of their faces, as that tended to be rarer in heroes. Their eyes were then attracted to the other screens as events happened elsewhere.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"And… Begin!"

The angry blonde kid exploded forward. Most of the rest of the candidates were surprised and became stalled. Peter bypassed them by leaping four stories above most of their heads and shot a web toward one of the buildings. It caught, and Peter pulled on it, changing his direction and increasing his velocity. He heard a few startled shouts from below as they watched him fly past them.

He shot off another line to the other side of the street, this one to act as a counter to his current momentum and a pivot as his body curved on the new trajectory. Another web caught another building further down the street as gravity started to take its hold on him. Each web he shot out ensured he didn't smash into a building. As he began his downward arch, he let gravity build momentum to again increase his speed. He found the first target ahead, a big three-pointer aiming at the charging and explosive blonde. Peter shot another web that helped redirect his motion but still on the same arch as he swung downwards.

Peter passed the blond to his side and noticed the kid's eyes tracking him in shock before Peter smashed into the robot's body. Peter's legs compressed as he forced more acceleration into the robot. It tilted backward as it flew into the air and began to rotate. While still crouched on the smashed robot, Peter shot his arms off to the sides and fired more webbing after flicking a switch on his launchers. Four balls of webbing went flying out with unerring accuracy towards several more robots, hitting them and exploding with a bit of force that rocked them back a little, making it easier for the webbing to find other surfaces to attach to and immobilize them.

Just after shooting off the balls, Peter noted the speed and angle he was at was ideal and kicked off hard against his temporary footpad, causing it to cancel out the remaining momentum as it dropped to the concrete with a crash as he went soaring into the air.

Peter heard the scream of outrage that followed him. "Those were mine, you piece of shit!"

Peter could only laugh in joy and shouted back in friendly banter. "You snooze, you lose! Better luck next time! You'd better hustle, or nothing will be left!"

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Oh! Did you see that?" another observer yelled excitedly as they watched the screen showing Peter swinging away.

"Yes, the act was impressive. But what impresses me more is that it may have all been calculated on the fly," said their resident mathematics teacher. He wore a closed tan cloak resembling a trench coat and a black facemask that left his blank eyes open and his wide grinning mouth. His ears and mouth were covered by a jaw-guard that also went over his nose. His Hero name was Ectoplasm, but his real name was Honenuki Kaito.

"On the fly?" Another teacher asked. He had a large and muscular body, short gray-blue hair, and upside-down fangs peeking out his mouth and the hero name of Vlad King. His real name was Kan Sekijiro, and he was the homeroom teacher of class 1-B.

"Yes," said the Principal as he also took note of and agreed with Kaito's evaluation. "While he may have good instincts and some experience, he is likely calculating his pendulum swings and linear acceleration to generate maximum acceleration and power. He hit the three-pointer at the correct location to generate the amount of rotational inertia for the mass and shape of the three-pointer to reduce the loss of momentum." Nezu was glad that it appeared there was another student to keep an eye on.

"I'm interested in what those things on his wrists are. They appear to shoot what looks like silk out of them, which either work to augment his quirk or the silk was created in a lab," said Power Loader. He was in charge of the Development Studio, where the Support Course created most of their gear, and he usually managed to be quiet during these gatherings, save when exceptional support items tended to grab his attention. "Considering his apparent ability to calculate, I can't discount him creating both himself. Impressive engineering and chemistry work if that is the case."

Nezu smiled. While every year, there were a few candidates that stood out, there tended to be maybe one that stood out to a significant degree. So far, there were two. Correction; three. Nezu looked at the monitor Toshinori's eyes could not peel away from. One that had been following the green-haired boy. The pigtailed one had just entered the picture again.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"And… Begin!"

Ranma watched as everyone else sprinted into the arena, nearly shoving each other aside. Izuku was near the back since he had become distracted and started to panic again. Ranma checked the grounds, finding several small stones he started leaning over to pick up. He was on his fifth one when Izuku noticed he was nowhere to be found in the throng and looked back to see him there.

"Uhhh, Ranma? It's started!"

Ranma finished picking up his eighth one before looking at him and smiled, "Don't worry about me. I'm just picking up a few tools. I'll start in a second. The first bit will be messy anyways; I'd just end up stealing everyone's points!"

Izuku was shocked to see how casually he was treating it. He was concerned that he wasn't taking the exam very seriously, but he decided to trust him. If he knew so much about combat already, he had to know what he was doing, right?

Ranma watched as Izuku took off before he picked up his twelfth stone. Some observers near the bus gave him weird looks, but he ignored them. A full minute after the timer had started, Ranma picked up his twenty-fifth stone and had just crossed onto the grounds. Ranma leaped, quickly reaching the roof of the closest building's edge as he took off at a decent jog, though the speed was more relative to a full-on sprint for most people.

He took a leap up to another building that was a few stories taller. He glanced around and got a feel for the current state of the arena. He glanced around and noticed a few people standing on the buildings or moving around. Looking further out, he saw a few of the robots that were well past the majority of the candidates, ones not likely to become targets any time soon. Most were nearly at the edge of the grounds and standing on roofs. He counted and estimated their distance. He took eight rocks from his pile and then, with a flick of motion, sent the rocks all on different trajectories that destroyed every robot's head he had targeted in an explosion of metal shrapnel.

Satisfied that he took out some of the easy ones that wouldn't interfere with the other candidates and gave him a healthy boost of points to make up for his time, he felt out to see who was where. He felt Izuku was further along, so he checked on him first. A quick few hops and he was looking down at him as he encountered a one-pointer. It was the simplest of the robots, with two arms connected to a torso and a single, large wheel. He began to panic again and was freezing up while the one pointer got ready to attack. Just before it could strike, Ranma flicked another rock.

For Izuku, Ranma's advice had been a big help in settling his initial nerves. Still, when facing an actual opponent, he realized he needed to figure out how to avoid its attacks or how to attack it, not to mention using his new quirk. When the machine began to raise its limb and brought it down towards him, he raised his hands to try to ward it off and closed his eyes in terror. This is why he didn't see the explosion of sparks as metal was sheared through, and the limb quickly became useless. He did open his eyes after a moment after not feeling any pain. He was shocked to see the faux-villain was crippled but not down.

"Hey, you okay, Izuku?" Ranma's voice reached down to him.

Izuku looked back and then up to find Ranma crouched on the roof and looking down at him. One hand held his pile of rocks, and another tossed one up and down. He wondered if Ranma was the reason for the limb's destruction when he heard another crashing sound as another faux-villain popped out of the wall next to the first one. Only because he was looking at him did Izuku see the rock Ranma's hand was tossing suddenly flick in that direction, and another explosion was heard behind him. He peeked to see the new robot and saw its head was totally destroyed, looking like the rock had gone through the entire frame.

"Hey, how about I walk you through the steps to fight it?" Ranma called down as he grabbed another from his pile and was ready to toss it.

Izuku looked back up at him before turning back to the faux-villain as it started to try to move again after trying to adjust the destruction of the limb. Izuku firmed himself up before shouting back to Ranma. "Okay!"

"Great! First, can you damage it with your quirk?" Ranma may not like relying on quirks very much, but he figured the guy could use the crutch for now and could get used to not depending on it later.

Izuku winced but decided to be somewhat honest about it. Ranma was helping him, after all! "I… I don't know if I can! I've never really used it before."

"Really? Okay, cool. Even though you've trained hard recently, your limbs need to be stronger to do enough damage. You need a force multiplier. Look to your left; you can use that long, thin pipe."

He did just that; seeing the pipe he had talked about, Izuku quickly picked up the one-and-a-half meter pipe and held it in both hands. But he needed to learn how to do it properly. "What now?"

"First, you need to grip it right and put your feet in the correct position, or you won't have enough power to damage it. Use your right hand on the back of the pipe and your left hand near the middle. Bend your elbows and point the end toward where you want to stab. Good! Now, right foot back, just below your right hand, left foot forward and near your left hand."

Izuku quickly followed his instructions as the faux-villain started to limp in his direction. But he followed Ranma's advice; he had yet to lead him astray.

"You need to do a quick practice stab before you try it for real. That way, you are confident you are doing it right when you attack. Use your left hand to guide the pipe to the proper location and to give it more power. Your right hand will provide most of the thrust from your hands. Once it is on target, your right hand can push forward to give you more reach. Your left foot needs to point toward the target. When you go to attack, step forward with your left half a step, use your back leg as a brace, and shove your body towards it. Your arms and legs will move as one. Give it a shot!"

Izuku followed as closely as he could, and while he felt it was clumsy, it worked. He began to get excited that he could do this.

"Good job! Solid first attempt. Get ready because now it's time to do this for real," Ranma yelled.

Izuku started panicking again but quickly firmed up as he knew he wasn't in much danger if Ranma was there, and he now had a plan of attack.

"What you're going to do is counterattack after dodging its attack. It will be harder for it to attack you that way. It only has one limb, so you only need to worry about that side. The easiest way to deal with it is to dodge to the left, which gets you away from the attack and still in range to attack the head. Wait for my signal, jump to the left, and attack the eye like you practiced."

Izuku waited as it crawled the last little bit towards him, it raised its only good limb, and Izuku started watching it. "Eye's on the head! Only watch the limb with your peripheral vision while your eyes are on the head, or you will miss when you attack! Pay attention to its motion!"

Izuku turned his eyes back onto the head as he focused and waited. Finally, the limb stopped rising and held there briefly before it quickly lowered towards him. Izuku was surprised when he jumped at the same time that Ranma called it out. He stepped forward and thrust the pipe into the eye, destroying it and other innards inside, causing it to spark and short out. The faux-villain collapsed the rest of the way in a heap as he realized he had done it! He got a point!

"Great job, man! Now you know how to do it. Keep at it; you only have a little time left, so do what you can! I'm off. I've got a few more I need to destroy and one or two others I want to check on that are out there.

Izuku shouted at him as he started to turn away, "Thank you!"

"Good luck!" Ranma yelled, waving at him as he jumped to another roof.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Did that guy just waste two minutes teaching him how to fight… in the middle of the practical exam?" a general ed teacher asked, sitting a few rows behind Toshinori as he conversed with the non-Heroics course staff members.

"Yep."

"What the hell? First, he delays entering so he can pick up some rocks, then he shows off by destroying faux-villains up to a hundred meters away with pinpoint accuracy with those same rocks as if they were a heavy caliber rifle. And then he wastes another two minutes showing a competitor how to destroy just one!?"

"He's interesting," Toshinori whispered, followed by a chuckle, not loud enough to be heard. The pigtailed boy had boosted Izuku's confidence. While the likelihood of Izuku passing by acquiring enough combat points wasn't good, there were other ways to gain points. That method played into his strengths, and he still had his quirk to use. He just needed an opportunity to do it.

He was hoping both boys passed. Helping them become outstanding heroes would be a great way to go out as he passed the torch to the next generation.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Sakura and Mina had destroyed about forty faux-villains together by this point, giving them scores in the upper thirties. They came upon an open area that appeared to be a small park where a few other candidates had arrived, but there were far more faux-villains than candidates. The two had become a well-oiled machine as they carved through the throng of machines, startling people as the unchallenged robots were being downed quickly.

Sakura smirked as she looked ahead; three robots had lined up in a perfect column. Mina watched as Sakura hit the first one while she took out one to the side, but her grin widened when its body didn't cave in but shot off to smash into the other two and then through the stone wall behind them.

Soon, only a few left in the area were already being fought over by the other examinees.

"Where should we go now?" Mina asked.

"Hmmm, probably down another of these side streets, away from the others. We wouldn't have to compete as much with them for targets that way."

"Sounds good! Let's get… oh, pause on that! Check who it is!" Mina said as something caught her attention. Sakura looked over her shoulder to follow where Mina was pointing and found the idiots from earlier staring at them with their mouths open. Sakura giggled at how stupid they looked.

"Hiiii, boys!" Mina yelled out while she waved at them, causing them to flinch a little. "Could you come and help poor little old us? I think Sakura broke a nail on that last hit, and we are soooo useless now. We need big strong boys like yourselves to protect us!"

The boys seemed to sputter as they were called out on the spot, though one of them almost seemed to believe her words, regaining his smirk and opening his mouth to reply.

Sakura inspected her gloved hand, playing along with Mina's act. "Nope, I didn't break a nail there. Thank goodness!"

"Oh, well, then get lost!" Mina shouted at them, her attitude shifting from flirtatious to a commanding tone. Two of them turned to run away, dragging the one who had believed Mina along with them. That left the two pink-haired girls to giggle in delight. "That was fun!"

"Yeah, it was. Ready to get going again?"

"Sure, onward– huh? What's going on?" Mina asked as the ground began to shake.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Peter was having fun. While he didn't get to do it often on I-Island, there were some testing grounds he used that some scientists wanted him to do practice runs on to see how well it worked before being given to pro-heroes to run. They liked to use him because he helped them make it harder for the heroes, which they appreciated as it gave them a better workout and training. It was the same here, only with more people, broader environments, and more targets.

Peter saw a two-pointer on the corner of the roof, aiming to leap down toward some students. He shot his web at the calculated timing, so when it did jump, he caught it in mid-air, and a yank of his web line threw it off course and unbalanced, only to smash into the ground below, damaging it but not taking it out. One surprised student opted to take the easy target and looked at Peter, giving him a thumbs up for the assist.

Peter returned it and moved along, constantly jumping around the street, web swinging and running on walls as he occasionally got within range to punch or kick a faux-villain. He had a solid amount of points now, but he kept getting distracted as he helped his fellow candidates in various ways.

Peter used his webs to act offensively and defensively. Some he used to immobilize limbs, weapons, or the entire machine, making them easy targets. Others he threw off balance, like the last one, or his webs blocked their path, keeping them from ambushing a candidate already attacking another faux-villain. He also used it to prevent bad falls or being slammed into walls if they were launched. Peter's webs helped to get people out of harm's way, sometimes due to being too close to another's quirk that ended up being too destructive, like Mr. Explody.

The kid who had his targets stolen by him earlier and then taunted used that as extra fuel as he exploded in speed and destructive power, seemingly berserk. But Peter saw it wasn't reckless. He was efficient in his movement, and his explosions were calculated for the targets he was dealing with. Others were in danger of his quirk because they were not judging the situation correctly and got too close.

While the kid's language was foul, he saw that he was really getting into it. The two bantered at each other as they scoured the course and destroyed anything in their path. Peter even helped him set up a few attacks as he pulled two robots closer to a third that all fell to just one of the kid's explosions. The kid didn't curse him out after that, but his language was still foul.

Peter tagged another one-pointer and then pulled and swung it so that it flew over his head, releasing just a little of his webbing so that the radius of his pendulum swing got just a little bit longer so it smashed on top of a two-pointer.

Peter noticed that only a few faux-villains were left in this area and that Mr. Explody was also looking for new targets. That was when Peter's spider-sense started going off, warning him something was coming.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Ranma landed on another roof with fewer rocks in his hand than when he had seen Izuku last. He had seen glasses making a good showing of it, moving at impressive speeds, using kicks to destroy the faux-villains, and moving quickly to another. Ranma didn't bother to take the ones others were already concentrating on, focusing on the ones that ambushed or overwhelmed the other students and those not being noticed by anyone else.

He did find it curious for a few of the faux-villains to just be 'floating' in the air when he saw the brown-haired girl touching them and tapping them upwards. The looks on the machines were comical when they realized they were no longer held down by gravity. He grinned as she made her way down the street.

He also sensed the invisible girl, using his Ki senses to finally spot her making a path. She turned off the machines by stepping up to them without them noticing and pulling a few wires. Other robots would stare at it in confusion as a pair of gloves and shoes just walked up next to them and repeated the same process. He laughed as one of them seemed frightened, backing away as it panicked and looking around to spot what was deactivating them.

Ranma leaped over a roof, landing next to another boy with multiple limbs spread out around him with membranes connected to them. The boy didn't jump at his arrival; the eyeball on one of the limbs that stared at him seemed to explain why.

"Sup man, looking for targets?" Ranma asked as he looked around. He got a good look at the guy, who was tall and muscular, with his arms having free reign due to the black muscle shirt he wore. He had pale gray hair swept forwards, covering the top of his face, while the lower half was covered by a blue mask just below his eyes that covered his ears, nose, and mouth. His head was somewhat elongated, making his large eyes more on the side of his head than an average person's.

"Yes, they are becoming scarcer. The only ones I am detecting are the ones that will take me too long to get to." Ranma noted the sound didn't come from a typical mouth but a mouth that formed on one of his extra arms.

Ranma nodded his head, looking around as he used his Ki sense. It was difficult for non-living beings, but it was possible since everything had Ki to some extent. He found a group that was isolated but was several streets away. That could be the group he was referring to. He pointed in their direction, "You mean those ones?"

He saw him give him a look, not a look of surprise, but more like he was re-evaluating Ranma. "Yes."

"Want a lift?" Ranma asked with a grin. "Name's Ranma."

He turned to face Ranma for a moment, looking at him straightly, and then nodded. "Mezo."

"Nice to meet you, Mezo. I'll grab the back of your shirt and jump over there. Hang tight."

Mezo didn't flinch, having already seen Ranma's ability to leap. Ranma performed the feat without strain, covering the distance in seconds. They landed on the roof overlooking the group of five that hadn't detected them yet. Ranma perked up as he saw a few other faux-villains even further away on a couple roofs, so he used a few stones.

Mezo saw it but didn't react to the action, instead focusing on the ones he had an eye on. "Thank you."

"No problem. Do you need any help getting down or fighting them? Or you got this?"

Mezo's facemask shifted a little, and the mouth on his hand formed a grin. "I've got it."

"Good luck!"

Ranma watched as he dropped the few stories to land on a three-pointer, then used his arms to rip it apart, all of his hands going simultaneously. Smiling, Ranma considered what else to go for when he heard a loud rumble behind him, coming from the direction he had just been.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"We have a good showing this year," a calm but serious voice said as he observed between the monitors. "We have a good baseline as well as many standouts."

The voice belonged to a man that looked more like a gray brick than a human. His entire body was gray and oddly shaped for a human, looking more like a cement block that gained some human characteristics. His eyes were small and beady near the top of his head, and he had an abnormally long mouth that curved downwards at the edges, making it look like he was always frowning. He also had gray hair that looked closer to cement shavings than human hair tied into a small ponytail. This was Ishiyama Ken, U.A. teacher for Modern Literature, Pro-Hero name of Cementoss.

"The pigtailed fellow is certainly interesting. He hasn't missed a single throw, even one that was a hundred meters away." The Pro-Hero, known as Snipe, commented. He wore his cowboy hat, an old-school gas mask, and a red poncho. "Even with that speed, those rocks should not impact with that much force. They should explode at best, but we see them penetrate the entire body."

"Yes," Nezu agreed. "His accuracy and technique are already extremely impressive for someone his age." He got a couple grunts of agreement from the other teachers nearby. "But what really fascinates me about him is that his listed quirk isn't anything like what we've seen so far."

"How so?" Snipe asked.

"His listed quirk says he changes into a girl. And that's it," Nezu said, causing most of them to turn their heads to look at the small man.

"Most likely a system or clerical error," said a shaggy-haired man as he gazed at the screens, never taking his eyes off them as they shifted between them regularly. "Could be purposeful to mislead for some reason, but stupid to reveal it by taking the practical exam like this." The shaggy-haired man was the lesser-known hero who went by the name of Eraser Head. His real name was Aizawa Shota, and he was the homeroom teacher for class 1-A.

"Agreed."

"Another candidate we've been watching may have another problem with their listed quirk, but I am unsure for now."

Nezu looked over at Midnight as she watched the two pink girls wreck the place. They had already racked up an impressive score. He pulled up Haruno's profile again, looking at the listed quirk. "That… is vague. Chakra? Listing it as a form of energy that can be shaped and molded into whatever purpose the user wants?"

A few teachers narrowed their eyes at that, but Midnight just calmly kept watching, smiling as the two girls seemed to taunt some boys that had harassed them before the match began. She liked both of those girls.

"Things are quieting down, fewer faux-villains available for people to fight. They'll start shoving each other to get what they can. I think it's time," Vlad said.

Nezu inspected the numbers and saw that Vlad was correct. "Well, let's see how they deal with them." He nodded his head to one of the operators looking at him. The man returned to his console, flipped the safety glass up, and pressed the button.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"The ground is opening up!" Mina said in surprise. The ground split as huge hangar-like doors popped to the side, forcing Sakura to leap away. As it opened, Mina gasped in shock as something rose from inside. "Oh. My. God! It's HUGE!"

Sakura glanced at it and was surprised to see the zero-pointer shown in the presentation being raised by something beneath it. It was large, nearing the size of the giant summons Toad Boss Gamabunta or Giant Slug Katsuyu. It had a giant, human-like torso with oversized arms, hands, and a head. The head was mostly a long rectangular block that stuck out like a muzzle with a flat face. Eight red sensors on the front face contrasted with the green paint covering most of its body. It was able to move because of two large tracks connected by a giant axle that went through the waist of the robot.

When the lift finished raising it up, it moved on massive tracks towards the rest of the candidates. One of its arms grabbed a corner of a building, causing it to crack and collapse around it, showing its destructive grip. But it was so slow!

"We need to get out of here!" Mina shouted, clearly in fear of the giant machine. She was surprised that Sakura hadn't moved an inch as she watched it. "Sakura?"

Sakura watched as it hit another building, causing debris to fly and hitting a few students, injuring them as it moved along. Her face firmed up as she looked at it, "I'm going to stop it, Mina. It's going to seriously hurt someone running around like that."

Mina stared at the back of Sakura's head in surprise but looked back and saw the same thing Sakura was. People were limping and collapsing on the ground as they held injuries. Everyone else was panicking as they tried to get as far away from it as possible. She was terrified! She hadn't been this scared since she had stopped a giant man from threatening her classmates. But she knew she had to help. She just didn't know what she could do. "What should we do?"

"You might want to get down, for now, Mina. Try to guard the others from debris and get everyone away. I'll get its attention and hold it until people are far enough away," Sakura said in a serious but calm voice. "Then start getting people together for first aid. I'll be back to help with that soon."

Mina nodded her head, as that was reasonable. With Sakura being so strong and fast, she had the best chance of getting its attention to lead it away and escape. Mina unfolded her legs as Sakura kneeled down and released her. Once she was free, she started running towards the panicking people. "Right! Good luck!"

Sakura watched her go for a moment before running faster than before, but nowhere near her real speed. She picked up a blue mailbox before lifting and throwing it. It shattered on impact, dented, and shifted its head, quickly getting its attention. She stood there as it turned and rolled towards her, raising its arm to smash her into the ground. She looked at the position everyone was in, both where Mina was trying to get everyone away. The park had been cleared almost completely, so she waited for it to get closer.

Mina watched it approach Sakura as she scrambled to grab the closest stragglers away from the enormous robot. She had used her acid to eat away a few pieces of debris to free some of them. A few others opted to help, letting their shoulders work to carry each other away. A few of the stronger students could carry them in their arms or on their shoulders. She had yelled at them to congregate into a single area to make it easier for first-aid to be applied, far enough away from where the zero-pointer was currently at.

However, Mina started to get worried as Sakura hadn't moved from her spot as the thing approached. The terrifying robot was so close to her now, and Sakura was just standing there, looking up at it. She knew she was powerful, but Mina was still worried about her new friend. She didn't have to stand there if she was trying to lead it away! "Sakura!" Mina yelled, seeing the zero-pointer's hand raise to crush her.

Sakura then looked back at the ground, raised her fist, and screamed what Mina quickly recognized as her favorite phrase. "Shannaro!" And then she punched the ground.

The ground shattered in an area twice as large as the zero-pointer, the very earth breaking so badly that massive chunks of dirt, stone, and cement became like capsized toys in bathwater. Everything nearby shook from the shock of that impact, as buildings weaved back and forth as if there was a great earthquake, objects jumped in the air, and few people nearby could keep their footing from the combined might of the earth shaking and the shockwave. Mina was not one of the lucky ones, having tried to hold up someone else as they tried to get away.

For the zero-pointer, it spelled its doom. Below the mock city, the ground was hollowed out in grand industrial caverns. The ceiling that held the surface above had cratered and collapsed. As a result, the dirt, stone, and cement began plunging into the caverns below, helped along by the weight of the zero-pointer as any chance of having a footing was removed. Its arms had tried to find purchase, to hold it up, but it was like quicksand as it all fell into the gaping hole that was forming beneath. Its body began to disappear, even as the arms finally got a grip on some dirt that was not falling into the hole. But it had found it too late, and only its upper body, arms, and head were visible to anyone there. The ground it had found came loose, unable to hold its incredible weight, dumping it the rest of the way as its head and arms disappeared.

There was complete silence after the zero-pointer crashed down below and was no longer moving, as well as the ground and buildings had stopped shaking. The silence spread across the entirety of the mock city. While those who had not seen it was wondering what had happened to cause such a tremendous noise and shaking, the ones who had witnessed it could only stare at the pink-haired girl as she stared into the hole that was her handiwork. Everything was forgotten, including their own wounds or dignity.

Sakura stood up, tapped her hands together to remove the loose dirt, and then jumped the entire distance of the hole, landing only a few meters away from Mina. Sakura's smile returned as she spoke. "Okay, all done! Let's get everyone together so we can heal some wounds!"

Mina couldn't form words or actions as she saw her friend casually walk up to one of the idiot guys from earlier, his leg bleeding from a nasty gash, and collapse on the ground. Sakura took her gloves off, storing them away on her belt. Then she took some sealed gauze and a water bottle from one of her pouches. The boy was terrified of her but couldn't find the will to move. She used the water to rinse away the blood and dirt near the wound before using the gauze to finish cleaning what was left, making it easier to see. It started bleeding again, but then Sakura's hand glowed a light green and moved over the wound. When her hand finished tracing it, there was no more bleeding. She wiped the blood away to show no signs of an injury.

The boy was shocked at the lack of pain. He inspected his previous wound, finding it completely healed. Looking back at Sakura, he only saw her smile down at him before holding out a hand to help him up. The boy timidly took it.

Mina's shock evaporated as a new emotion took her. She grinned and yelled out the only appropriate response for her. "Awesome!"

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"So that's what she meant by crushing it," Midnight said as she stared at the monitor, a slight disbelief entering her voice as she watched the zero-pointer finish falling into the hole. The rest of the observers were silent as they watched in surprise or sported huge grins.

"I suppose that is what she meant. I just wasn't expecting it to be so literal," Cementoss said as Sakura leaped across the gap. "No one is working below the mock cities, correct?"

"No," Power Loader said, a bit of relief in his voice. "But that is going to be a pain to fix. Oh well, it's a good challenge for the students."

"What is she doing now?" This time it belonged to a female, though from the outside, it would be impossible to tell their gender. Her costume resembled an astronaut's white space suit with a black dome on top. She was the Pro-Hero who specialized in search and rescue, Thirteen. "Wait, did she just heal that wound?"

"Yes. The girl is just full of surprises," Nezu said with a giant grin on his little face.

"Something's happening with another gimmick!"

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Woof, he's a big guy," Peter said as he looked up at the zero-pointer moving down the street toward him. He was glad no one else seemed close enough to be in danger.

"Don't bother; those aren't worth any points. No point in taking it down."

Peter looked to the side to see Mr. Explody walking up to him, also glaring at the zero-pointer. "Oh, so you only want to show how badass you are by the number of points you have?" Peter asked in a mocking tone. "That's fine, totally understandable. Who would want bragging rights for taking down a giant mech? Run along now," Peter said, waving his arms toward the blonde as if shooing him away.

"The fuck you say?" The blonde shouted in Peter's ear, much as Peter predicted. "I'll kick its ass and then get more points!"

"Oh, okay!" Peter said, grinning back at the boy, receiving a glare at first, but a hint of a grin formed. Peter looked back at the zero-pointer. "Considering the size and weight, it would take you a while to get through the shell, its arms would get in the way, and the head looks sturdy enough that it will take a few explosions to do enough damage to it."

Blondie growled at Peter for his evaluation but couldn't fault his analysis. But he got enough of a read on Peter to realize he probably had a plan. "So, what's your idea?"

"Well, its torso and head are being held up by the treads, but those axles look mighty thin compared to the rest of the body. One good explosion on both sides will cripple it. I'll handle getting it to fall the rest of the way. Once it's down, you can hunt for more normal robots while I secure it."

He nodded his head at that; it was a sound strategy. The boy was strong, so he probably could do it once it was crippled. But there was one part of it he was more curious about. "Why not just destroy its head when it's down?"

"I want to get a peak under the hood. I'm curious how they got it set up," Peter said, rubbing his chin with a hand as he thought of it, wondering how it compared to the robot designs on I-Island. Peter turned to him with a grin. "By the way, what's your name? I could keep calling you Mr. Explody, but you'd probably try to blow my face off the first chance you get."

The blonde's face twitched in rage, his hands bursting in small explosions to do just that, but he decided now wasn't the best time. "Bakugo Katsuki."

"Parker Peter."

"Just don't use that name again, or I'll only ever call you Shitface," Katsuki said with a malicious grin.

"Well, if I ever want to change my name to Shitface, I know what to do!" Peter said. "Ready?"

Katsuki didn't bother giving a reply. Instead, he exploded forward as he rushed towards the zero-pointer, using his explosions to generate speed. The things arm moved to intercept him, but some of Peter's webbing thwarted it, connecting it to the building next to it. It only slowed it down, though, as it eventually pulled part of the building along with it. Katsuki threw some of his sweat at the thing, causing it to explode just enough to further throw off its aim and let him slip inside.

He was close to its base on one side, throwing as much sweat as possible at the axle with many gears near it. It was only one and a half meters thick of metal, but like Peter had said, much thinner than the rest of the body. The explosions cracked the metal and destroyed all the extra gearing as Katsuki ran to the other side. He was a little surprised it didn't try to back up, but as he glanced up for a moment, he saw dozens of web lines leading to Peter's hands as he was straining on the ground, preventing the robot from leaning back.

Katsuki grinned as he saw the final axle, throwing another series of sweat droplets that exploded. His sweat produced something very similar to nitroglycerin, explaining why it exploded in the first place. He kept running, getting away from the front of it as he heard Peter grunt even louder, then the zero-pointer, without its support, fell forward. Its arms only slowed it down instead of stopping it.

The ground shook as it landed, and he felt the wind on his back. Once that was settled, he looked back to see Peter had leaped above and shot his webbing all over the thing, covering its limbs and body, preventing it from being able to move. After that, Katsuki exploded off with a grin as he hunted for more faux-villains.

Peter saw Katsuki take off just as he finished securing the zero-pointer. Now that that was done, he started whistling as he crawled around on the head and hunted for a hatch to the innards. He found it soon after, popped it open, and looked inside. "Now, what do we have here?"

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"He actually got that kid to work with him?" Vlad asked, raising an eyebrow as he noted that accomplishment. "That one I marked as being a solo act entirely."

"It was difficult to see, but I think he challenged him while also offering him chances to show off," Nezu said as he rubbed his equivalent of a chin. "A form of reverse psychology. The boy with the exploding quirk is exceptional and intelligent. His personality is just explosive, just like his quirk. But explosions can be shaped and directed. I think they both knew what was happening, and the offer was too good for him to pass up."

"Either way, they safely took down a zero-pointer with minimal damage to the surroundings or the robot," the shaggy-haired man said. His half-opened eyes looked tired and flat, but he still observed everything. "What is he doing now?"

Power Loader looked closer at the screen, beginning to suspect what he was doing. "He's opening one of the access hatches for the innards. He is trying to shut it down without severely damaging it, checking the designs, or both. Either way, more evidence to show a strong intellect and interest in math, science, and engineering. I'm half tempted to try to steal him for Support."

Several teachers chuckled at that as they watched the zero-pointer stop moving, apparently shut down.

"Student down! In the path of a zero pointer!" All eyes turned to the screen as it showed a brown-haired girl on the ground before it, obviously in pain from the fall.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Ranma, from his position on the roof, saw the giant machine as it was moving along. He had hurried back to the street he had previously been on where Izuku and the others had been near. They had only started to hear the rumbling, having been too preoccupied with dealing with the faux-villains to notice it before now.

When it turned the corner and used an arm to crush one of the corners of a roof with ease, every student was aghast before they started to run away. That was good, in Ranma's opinion. He didn't think they had the skills or ability to take it on, so getting out of its path was their safest option. Ranma stood there, one hand in a pocket, the other holding onto the few stones he had left. He started checking in on the ones he already knew.

The invisible girl was on the far side of it, with the zero-pointer moving in the opposite direction from her. She was also getting enough distance to stay safe, which was good. Glasses and the Gravity Girl were closer, though Glasses quickly got away. Izuku also looked terrified, but Ranma supposed that was understandable, considering he had barely been able to take a few one-pointers and wasn't up to something like this. He had finally gotten up and started to run away.

That was when Ranma saw Gravity Girl had tripped due to the pavement cracking, causing her to scrape her knee and yelp. This left her too close to the zero-pointer as it didn't look like it had noticed her. If it kept moving as it was, she could be run over, or falling debris could seriously injure her.

Ranma lifted a hand as he pointed his open palm toward the head, preparing to prevent anything like that from happening. But because of his position, he saw motion from the corner of his eye that made him take notice.

Izuku had also seen that the girl had fallen. Then, without any hesitation, he sprinted towards the giant robot, bent his knees, and then leaped upwards with about as much power as Ranma could until he was at the same height as the head, his fist pulled back with a tremendous amount of power, ripping the sleeve he wore.

Ranma grinned at what the little guy was doing. Ranma prepared to assist if he was needed, letting his senses triple-check on everything when– "NO!"

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Hagakure Toru panted as she distanced herself from the giant robot. Today had been a rollercoaster of a day. It had started off well, feeling she had done well enough on the written exam. She was excited to take the practical exam but had to undress behind the buses after arriving. She had run towards the gate to ensure she wouldn't be left in the dust.

Then some guy backed into her path. She worried she would crash into him, but something worse happened! He reached out a hand and stopped her… by groping her! That had startled her and was very uncomfortable. The guy had looked surprised when he turned her way, then immediately started bowing and apologizing. She decided to take her anger out on him by hitting the back of his bowed head, but that didn't even faze him! With no way to pay him back for it and time being short, she said she forgave him, but it still made her so mad!

Then the exam had begun, and she was making short work of the robots as she pulled a few vital wires out. They couldn't see her, even with her gloves and shoes still being worn. She had earned quite a few points doing that, enough to believe she would pass!

Then the giant robot showed up. Luckily, it didn't notice her, turning instead towards where most everyone else was. She kept her distance, watching for a moment to ensure everything was okay. She looked down other streets she could go to get more points when she heard the cry of pain.

She turned back to see the girl with the gravity quirk had fallen. She could barely see past the massive robot, but she saw enough. The brown-haired girl didn't seem like she would recover in time to get away! Since the giant robot didn't even realize she was there, Toru decided to try to rescue her. She sprinted down the street behind it, worried that she would be too late. It was dangerous, but it was a fact of life if she wanted to be a hero!

She was halfway there when she heard a massive explosion above her. She looked up, and her world filled with terror at seeing the robot falling backward and directly on top of her!

She cried out as she crouched down, putting her arms above her head to protect it, wishing with all her might that this wouldn't be her end. But she knew there was no hope. She was going to die.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Hohohoho!" Midnight laughed, clearly excited by the action. Almost all the teachers were grinning ear to ear at that show of heroics and action. Some even shot their hands up in excitement.

"Well, this year's crop is outstanding!" Cementoss was smiling widely, though it looked odd on him.

"Yes, they are remarkable!" Thirteen said.

"Three gimmicks down in one year? I don't think anything like that has happened before." Vlad was looking thoughtful as he put a hand to his chin in thought.

"At most, one or two gimmicks in a year are challenged. Occasionally one is damaged, and even rarer than that, one is stopped or destroyed," Nezu confirmed for his staff as he continued to grin. "So three being stopped or destroyed in a year is unprecedented."

"And it isn't just the ones destroying them that is impressive; look at those helping each other. That gravity girl was able to save the poor boy in turn, even if it did leave her out of the fight as a result," Thirteen commented. She looked back at another monitor, "Then there is that emergency first aid station those pink-haired girls set up, quickly treating wounds to get everyone back on their feet."

Nezu looked at Toshinori, catching his enormous grin. He then looked at the monitor and saw the boy was crippled by his actions; his legs and arm were severely damaged. He hit one of the buttons before him, calling up a particular communicator. "Recovery Girl, you'll be needed at site B. There's a boy whose legs and arm are badly damaged. He does not need immediate medical attention, but he will need your care anyways."

Recovery Girl's voice echoed through the speakers, "Understood. I saw the action on our monitors here. I'll be there swiftly to render aid."

After turning off the communicator, Nezu turned back to Toshinori. "So, Yagi-san, you're happy with your pick?"

Toshinori glanced at Nezu before coughing and looking back at the monitors. The fact that there was a little bit of blood with it as he pulled a handkerchief out of a pocket didn't distract Nezu. "Errr, yes. I was worried he wouldn't make it because we were on a time crunch, but he succeeded. Though I worry about how he'll react at first since he doesn't know about the Rescue Points."

"Understandable. But you are still not to tell him. Revealing that you are teaching is still a secret, too, for now," Nezu said.

Toshinori sighed but nodded. "Understood."

Then a loud voice was heard from the speakers and penetrated the room. "It's all over!"

Present Mic officially calling it had the operators work to shut down all remaining faux-villains. Teachers began to stand, conversing with each other about the various arenas and possible students. Many were talking about their favorite moments, with the destruction of three gimmicks being the primary thing being discussed.

Others began assisting the operators as they started going through safety checks and their equivalent of roll calls. The systems mostly did it automatically, but manual checking was always good since they could sometimes slip the systems and need to be traced

due to the nature of people's quirks.

Five minutes had passed, as many walked away and others continued to work or converse. Some still watched the monitors, seeing the various reactions of the candidates. Some cheered and were excited, having performed well. But many were crying in despair, knowing they had lost their one shot.

The heroic teachers and the Principal continued to sit, watching this. Knowing that they were dashing the dreams of thousands. The least they could do was watch, soak in their pain as their penance for denying them their hopes and dreams.

And it was a good thing they were there, for they were the first to notice the slight panic of one of the operators. "Where is she?"

A hand touched the woman's shoulder, startling her. She looked back and saw Snipe looking at her monitor before asking her a question. "What's going on?"

"There's a girl, Examinee 4298," she said after returning to the monitor. "None of the cameras can find her!" She pulled up the listed girl, displaying her picture and quirk.

Snipe noticed the fact she was invisible before he even saw the quirk and realized what could be the problem. "How was the system tracking her before?" Snipe looked back as a few other hero teachers stepped closer to observe.

"It tracked her gloves and boots that she wore. Those had to be manually entered into the computer to track her. But the system can't find her at all right now!" The woman continued to switch between any monitors in the arena she was in; none of the computers were marking her.

"Pull up the history, see where it last recorded her being. That should help us narrow things down," Eraser Head said.

The operator nodded, pulling up the system for record tracking. She put in the examinee's number, and it showed a history. Quickly, it started playing as it displayed all the monitors they had been tracked on from all the cameras. She sped it up so they could get a general feel for her path. When it reached closer to the end, they saw the gimmick appear with her being ignored as it chased the other students.

But all of them recognized which street that was on, and a bottomless pit in their stomachs opened as a hypothesis began to form for them. Only thirteen could even begin to voice it, the rest too glued to the monitor as they watched in horror. "Oh god, no…."

They watched as the girl stopped, which a few recognized as the same time stamp for when the girl had fallen earlier. They saw the invisible girl sprint toward the back of the zero-pointer, moving to help the girl that had fallen. They saw the explosion flash from above and the back of the zero-pointer collapsing on top of her.

"YAGI!" Eraser Head screamed at the top of his lungs as others sprinted for the exit.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Chiyo got off the cart, using her Pro-hero costume's cane to help support her as she walked along. She reached into her doctor's coat and pulled out some candy, tossing it to a few students who looked exhausted. "Well done. Here's some Haribo candy for all! Eat up, dears!"

She turned off her visor, having already arrived at the destination. She saw a few other assistants trying to assess things, moving candidates along and away from those who were injured, but still, many of them had congregated near the injured boy.

Chiyo saw the boy she was here for, seeing that Nezu's assessment was spot on. His legs and arm were mangled. She stood over him, checking to ensure there was nothing about his injuries that her quirk would cause a problem with. From what she had observed from the video and seeing him in person, it seemed his strength quirk was too much for his body, damaging his legs and arm with their usage. The boy was a hero, but that quirk might cripple him.

Finding nothing that would interfere, she leaned down, and her lips extended out to smooch him. After standing back up, she saw her power go to work as her quirk healed the damaged arm and legs, glowing green as they re-aligned themselves to their correct positions and his wounds disappeared. Poor boy would be out of it for a time.

Chiyo turned to a few of the assistants, "Please take him to the medical station for observation."

"Yes!" They quickly loaded him up on a stretcher and walked to one of the available vehicles that had just arrived.

Chiyo turned around, looking around to make sure everyone else was okay. She saw the poor girl that had recently vomited but only saw the signs of nausea and a scraped knee. She walked over to her anyway. "How are you doing, girl? Can you make it back yourself?"

The girl started sitting up, obviously recovering some already. "Yes, I think so. Will he be alright?"

Chiyo smiled, glad the girl was concerned for the poor boy. "He'll be fine dear; he just needs some rest. My quirk can regenerate wounds quickly, but it takes them out of it." The girl was nodding her head, slowly getting her strength back.

One more inspection and she almost started walking back to her cart when her communicator crackled to life.

"Recovery Girl!" Chiyo recognized the voice as Eraser Head. She knew he would not contact her like this, shouting in her ear, unless it was drastic. It caused her body to become rigid in concern. "We just verified that there is a candidate under that zero-pointer you are at!"

That news caused her own bottomless pit to open as she glanced back at where the zero-pointer was. Knowing a child was under there, most likely dead, made her nearly panic. But her years of experience as a Pro-Hero prevented that. Instead, she listened as Eraser Head gave more instructions. "All Might is on his way! Clear out the candidates. More medical and emergency staff will be there soon!"

If there was any hope of saving that child, they needed to be fast, which meant they required clearance so Yagi could work. She turned to all of the remaining candidates as she abandoned her kind grandmotherly voice. "Everyone BACK! NOW! Evacuate the area immediately!" While it hurt her voice to do it, time was of the essence.

Many were startled by the sudden shift, but most obeyed. Luckily, the local assistants were moving even the stragglers away. The only one left was the girl with shoulder-length brown hair as she struggled to get down. Chiyo moved over to her, doing what she could to help the girl. Once she was down, she reached over and gave her a smooch on the cheek.

The girl was surprised, reaching up to touch her cheek, but she felt her leftover nausea disappear as well as her scraped knee. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome, dear. But we need to move! Time is of the essence!" Chiyo said as she began to lead the girl away, but they didn't get far before their communicator went off again.

"Too late, Recovery Girl, get off the street! You have about five seconds!" Eraser Head said.

"Girl, off the street! Now!" Chiyo was glad to see her follow orders as they hugged the wall and entered an empty building.

Not a second later, an explosion occurred outside, and a loud voice called out, "Fear not! Why? Because I am here!"

"Get to work, All Might! Don't waste a second!" Chiyo yelled after sticking her head out. Unlike his civilian form, his hero form was a large and muscular man with a square jaw. Another difference was that his drooping clumps of hair became stiff and pointed upward, looking more like an insect's antennae. She was pleased to see his face turn from the broad, friendly smile he always tried to sport to the serious one he wore when real work was required.

Chiyo leaned back inside as she heard him lift and toss pieces of the giant robot. But he had to be extremely careful because it had broken apart on its fall. Its arms had also damaged some of the nearby buildings, causing partial collapse onto the robot and burying it under additional debris. There was also the fact they needed to find out for sure where she was under all of it. Moving the wrong pieces of debris or robot could cause a collapse of any pockets. Pockets they were hoping she was trapped in and they could get to her in time. Chiyo looked back at the other girl in her charge, knowing she would have to answer some questions.

"What's going on? Why's All Might here!?" The girl saw him lift a piece slowly, inspecting beneath it and around, before tossing it behind him into a growing scrap pile.

Chiyo sighed, knowing that hiding it wouldn't make a difference in the long run. "We just learned that a potential student was under there," she said as she pointed at the giant robot. She started regretting telling her as the girl put both hands to her face in a look of total horror as she looked on. She started shaking, and Chiyo was trying to figure out how to get her out of there.

Chiyo looked out as she observed All Might was going too slow for her tastes, but she knew the man had to be extremely cautious. Moving things carelessly could seal away any chance of finding her alive.

Chiyo was surprised, however, to hear the girl's following words. "I– I can help!" Chiyo's first instinct was to deny it, knowing she was just a child and they needed professionals to do this. But then she remembered what this girl's quirk was. She looked into the girl's eyes, seeing a firm resolve to help there. She still saw her other raw emotions flickering on her face, but those were under control.

"What is your name?" Chiyo asked.

"Uraraka Ochako!"

"Come with me, Uraraka-chan." Chiyo then led the way toward where Yagi was working.

All Might turned towards them, concern growing on his face, "Recovery Girl! You and the girl should stay back!"

"The girl can help, All Might! Her quirk negates the gravity of an object, allowing it to be picked up and moved with ease!" Chiyo told him.

All Might considered the nature of the quirk, deciding that that was a handy ability at this time. "Move over to that other side, point out to her which pieces to use her ability on!"

Chiyo nodded, guiding Ochako to the desired spot. Moving quickly, both teams began clearing the debris as a large pile began to form. A few times, Chiyo had to use her ability on Ochako to help her recover and force her to eat some of the candy she had. It was slowly taking it out of her, but it had sped up the search by a good deal.

Other teachers and emergency personnel arrived as they worked, some taking over moving debris for Chiyo and Ochako, freeing them up to only use her quirk. Ectoplasm's arrival was the most notable, as he quickly cleared the small debris with his clones, filling in for thirty people able to work seamlessly together.

But it was taking too long!

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"They are almost there. Just a little more to where we estimate her to be," Eraser Head informed Nezu.

"Understood. Please keep us informed of any further updates, Eraser Head," Nezu said. The shaggy-haired teacher nodded before walking away to another station.

Everyone had bleak faces, and many wanted to be out there, helping with the digging. But people were needed to ensure the rest of the candidates were accounted for. A few had been missing but were found to be safe on refined searches. They were just in a couple of the blind spots the cameras missed. But there was one that was beginning to worry them.

Nezu looked to the operator as he continued looking through every camera in the area where the candidate boy had disappeared. When Nezu heard it was one of the boys that Toshinori had his eyes on, a Saotome Ranma, he knew All Might would take it badly. The only bright side was that all they saw was him disappearing entirely.

Snipe, who was used to tracking targets, was providing his assistance. "Let's do this. I want to do this one frame at a time. Pull up the main one with him in it and the secondary cameras. What are the frames per second on them?"

The operator looked at what cameras they were using while answering. "We have a collection of different cameras. Some are recording at thirty FPS, while a few are doing sixty to a hundred and twenty. But the faster ones are at a lower resolution, meaning the detail is shot to hell. Because detail tends to be important, we have a greater quantity of those than the higher FPS. The main one looking at the candidate was a sixty."

They skipped to when he had disappeared, only a few seconds before. In slow motion, they watched again as he pointed toward the zero-pointer with his palm as if he was going to do something. "Skip forward by twenty frames until he disappears." They did that. "Now rewind by ten frames." He reappeared. "Now skip forward one frame at a time."

As they observed, they saw in a total blur as part of his body seemed to move, followed by his whole body in the next frame, before finally disappearing.

"There!" Snipe said, pointing at a minor blur at the edge of the screen. "Get the timestamp for the other monitors for that!"

The man did just that, finally seeing an unrecognizable blur. "Frame by frame, let's see if we can track his path."

As they watched, Snipe's concerns began to turn into reality as they saw the blur seeming to touch the wall across the street before heading straight for the base of the zero-pointer. The final visible frame showed him disappearing under it half a second before impact. "Eraser Head!"

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"All Might, come in!" Toshinori heard in his earbud.

After clearing the piece of debris in his hands, he reached up to touch it, activating the microphone. "I'm here! What is it, Eraser Head?"

"Another candidate was missing that we were having trouble finding! We just found out he's under the zero-pointer as well!"

"Another one is trapped under here as well!?" he yelled loudly, shock making him say it out loud. That also got everyone else's attention that was working. How could they get so careless as to miss not one but two students being trapped?

"Yes, he was fast enough to barely be caught by our cameras! But he is definitely under there!"

"We're almost to where you said the first one is at, but we'll keep digg–"

All Might halted in his reply as the pile shifted. "Who shifted the debris?" he shouted his question, worry evident in his voice. Before anyone could reply, the mound moved yet again before it started to rumble. Then All Might noticed it was beginning to lift up. He was the only hero present that was supposed to be strong enough to do that. And he wasn't even touching it at the moment!

Then he saw a yellow glow from inside, like light reflecting off a pool of water. It got brighter as it lifted higher, and they could see deeper into the debris field.

"There!" Chiyo called out, pointing inside.

As they watched, the torso of the zero-pointer continued to rise, and some of them finally saw that someone was in there! They were glowing yellow, not from their skin, but some form of cloak of light that surrounded them. Finally, it lifted enough for everyone to clearly see them.

Toshinori stared as he took the figure in. The glowing figure was the pigtailed youth. He was holding up the massive and heavy object that likely weighed eighty metric tons. He was sweating heavily, and his arms shook ever so slightly, but his eyes were determined as he continued to lift it.

But what also marveled him was that at his feet was the invisible girl they had been digging for and had feared was dead. Her skin had a layer of dust that made it easier to see her, but her gloves and boots also helped mark her. The best part was that they were moving! She was alive!

Toshinori's smile was not the forced smile he tended to wear when he was out and about but a genuine smile that was softer in nature.
Now lifting it about as high as it could go, the boy turned his head to look at them. "About time you guys got here! What took you so long?"

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

A/N - Thanks to Boldish42 and Iron454 for beta reading.