"Welcome to today's live performance! Everybody say 'Hey'!" I recognize this man. Present Mic. He stands at the center of the stage trying to boast moral and excitement but no one responds to his hyped welcome. "Well, that's cool, my examinee listeners! I'm here to present the guidelines of your practical! Are you ready? Yeah!" The silence is almost deafening.

"This is how the test will go, my listeners! You'll be experiencing ten-minute-long 'mock cityscape maneuvers!" Present Mic continues with his excessive hand movements.

On the screen behind him, the letters A - G are listed to signify all the groups that are available. I look down at my exam ticket and see my examinee no: is 1313 and my test location is battle center A. A picture of me is on the right showing how displeased I am getting my picture taken. Something I will have to change if I become a pro hero.

"Bring along whatever you want! After this presentation you'll each head to your assigned testing location! Each site is filled with three kinds of faux villains. Points are awarded for defeating each according to their respective difficulty levels! Use your quirks to disable these faux villains and earn points! That's your goal listeners! Of course, playing the antihero and attacking other examinees is prohibited!"

The screen shows an animated city with three robotic faux villains around it and their points. On the left hand upper corner is the 1 pointer, the right upper corner is the 2 pointer, and below on the right bottom is the 3 pointer. They are hidden behind a black silhouette so it'd be hard to distinguish what the robot actually looks like out in person but the silhouette also helps with identifying them by the shape.

"May I ask a question?" Stands a very muscular student with short dark blue hair and glasses. A stage light flashes down on him to give him the room to talk. "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 in the hopes of being molded into model heroes! And, you, with the messy hair!" The student points behind him at another student who I vaguely remember.

The student has messy green hair and I've seen him before. I was four when I first saw him, Bakugou was bullying him for something or another. The kid took it well - the beating I mean - took all of it and just laid there on the ground. He didn't use a quirk to help himself or anything.

"You've been muttering this whole time…It's distracting! If this is some sort of game to you, then please leave immediately!" The muscular student says, embarrassing the green haired boy who slumps in his seat until he's almost disappeared behind the table in front of him. Quite a few people laugh at this but I frown.

"Alright, alright. Examinee 7111, nice catch. Thanks! But the fourth faux villain gets you zero points! He's more of an obstacle! Have you all played super mario brothers? It's kind of like a thwomp! Only one at each site! A 'gimmick' that'll rampage around in close quarters!"

Another robotic faux villain appears below the left top silhouette with a 0 point above its picture.

"Thank you, sir. I apologize for the interruption!" The muscled student bows and sits back down.

I hear a couple of people whispering around me how this reminds them of video games and I am left curious. I wasn't brought up on video games but instead, on card games that usually involved gambling. I didn't personally play these card games but I watched them with Kiken whenever we went to his establishments.

"That's all from me! I'll leave my listeners with our school motto. The great hero Napoleon Bonaparte once said 'true heroism consists of being superior to the ills of life.' Plus Ultra! Break a leg everyone!"

I step off the bus that took us to one of seven locations of large city-like structures surrounded by massive walls and a large brown door to enter. This structure is battle center A and far overscapes the group in front of the door. I was fortunate enough to bring my gym school uniform. The uniform is a little distracting for some since it's just a black one piece swimsuit with a white long sleeve to cover the top half. I've tied my black hoodie around my waist to help hide my backside but the front still leaves little to the imagination. The second I step off the bus I spot some male students glancing up and down my bare legs.

I head for the door, feeling energy wash through me as I get closer. There is a slight bounce in my step as I come to stop in the center of the group. My long black hair sways behind me and I scoop it up into a hair tie at the middle of my head. Even with my hair up, it still reaches the middle of my back, not doing much to prevent it from getting in my way but I don't have the heart to cut it.

"If it isn't miss clumsy, are you ready to lose?"

I look over my shoulder to see Bakugou behind me, his hands in the pockets of black baggy pants and wearing a green tank top.

"You don't remember me, do you?" I ask, my hands on my hips as I turn to him

Bakugou freezes when his eyes venture down to my lower body. You'd think these boys have seen legs before. I glance down at my own limbs to make sure I am not exposing anything further but I am covered well, even at my feet where I am wearing running shoes with extra rubber soles.

"What are you wearing?" He asks, ignoring my question.

"None of your business," I cross my arms and glare up at him. He's a good few inches taller than me, especially up close.

He glowers down at me before turning his head to the side and closing his eyes. "Whatever! And why would I remember you!"

"Our parents knew each other when we were very young," I turn away from him and back to the door, completely not acknowledging until this point that since I did go missing, I have no explanation to give him as to where I went without telling him about my crime lord-adopted father.

"Like it matters, after this I'll be in U.A. and you'll be somewhere else."

"Oh boy, you'll see, I'll be in U.A same as you," I grumble.

"And begin!" Shouts Present Mic from on top of the tower that looks over the city.

The big brown doors open and before they are even wide enough to let everyone in, everyone bolts for the entrance. I am not too far behind. Some students use their quirks to get ahead, including Bakugou who blasts past me with ease. The heat of the blast from his quirk caresses my cheek and I narrow my eyes up at him. I am tempted to use my quirk to do the same but blasting lightning behind me would risk injuring another student and possibly getting me kicked out of U.A. right on the spot. So I focus on following him because now I am dedicated. Whatever points he gets, I won't be too far behind. He won't get the better of me.

It doesn't take long once we're in the arena for robotic villains to come out at every corner. I focus on the mop of ash blonde hair ahead of me. He takes a turn and I take a turn and the moment we're in another street space he uses his explosive quirk to annihilate any faux villain that comes to sight. I smirk. I can do the same. Lightning may be one of the deadliest abilities of my quirk, I can still manifest a small bit of it in my hands to use as a blast. I lift my left arm to another oncoming robot and blast it with a bolt of blue lightning that makes it explode into small pieces that scatter the landscape. Bakugou looks back at me with surprise on his face.

I smile at him and shoot another bolt at the robot that comes from the alley behind him. His expression turns into a hard glare as he runs ahead and continues to destroy the villains. I am not too far behind. With every kill he commits, I strike another one right after. I am not counting how many I've killed and I don't think he's counting either but I do see a slight grin on his face occasionally as he blasts the robots away. Somehow, that excites me to continue more.

After five minutes of non-stop destroying faux villains on the streets of the mock-city, a large explosion erupts in the center of the city, shaking the ground beneath us. I look up just in time to see the largest robot, which appears to be the same silhouette of the 0 pointer. I stumble forward a little in awe at the size of this monster of a robot. How come something so huge is worth nothing? Fellow students run past me including Bakugou who pauses when he sees I am not moving.

A scream comes from in front of me and I see a boy student has fallen just a few feet away from the robot. Shock covers the kid's face as if he's too scared to move.

"Get the hell up!" I shout, but he doesn't. He doesn't even hear me.

'Shit.'

I look for Bakugou and see him nowhere in sight now. He must be off getting more points but if I don't get this kid out of the way, he's going to get badly hurt.

"Shit, shit, shit!" I curse as I rush ahead. If I attack this robot I know what will happen - this massive robot will take more than what I've been using to fight these other faux villains. A lot more. This is going to hurt.

I stop at the boy's side and focus all my manifestation into both arms. The lightning gleams around my upper arms down to my forearms and around my palms. It feels hot on my skin and I can already smell burnt flesh. I slam my palms together in front of me, directly at the massive 0 pointer and let the largest blast of lightning I have ever released, go. The blast makes an impact, throwing me back through the city. In the distance, I see the robot explode, its limbs flying off in all directions and its center exploding into shards of metal.

Something hard hits my back and I lose all air. I skid down what feels like cement until I land on the sidewalk below. My fingers and toes clench as I suck in air to breathe but fail to receive any. My body convulses until finally air reaches my lungs. I force all my weight to roll on my back and groan. The smell of burnt flesh is stronger now and when I look down at my arms I see that they are burnt here and there. The spots that are burning feels like shards of glass are being rubbed into my flesh.

Tears struggle to leave my eyes but I fight back and bite my bottom lip.

Focus, focus, focus.

I close my eyes and think of rain clouds and the soft release of pain. Taking deep breaths, I imagine cloud seeding and the ice nuclei dropping down as rain. I've never summoned rain clouds before but before I came to U.A. I did my research on how they are created in hopes that I can conjure up some if I need it and I need it badly.

The breeze gets colder and stronger and I feel a speck of something wet fall onto my cheek and glide down my skin. I want to cry but I know it's not me shedding tears.

A few more drops of liquid land on my body before it ultimately rains down onto the city. The sound of sizzling comes from my arms and the smell of flesh burning is dampened away by the smell of rain. I open my eyes to see a cumulonimbus cloud above drizzling down rain. The tears fall from my eyes and I can't help but smile. Only a day in U.A. and I've managed to learn to manifest rain clouds. I look back down at my arms to see that the burnt marks slowly dissolve as the rain heals me.

"It's raining."

"Did you see that?"

"She destroyed that 0 pointer!"

"That thing was huge!"

I glance around and notice a crowd of students entering the street where the boy and I are. Some look up at the sky while others investigate the boy and me.

"It's over!" Shouts Present Mic from on top of his tower.

I am not sure how many points I earned but as I get up, my legs wobble below me and I realize that now everyone is staring at me, even Bakugou who is now in the back of the crowd, his eyes narrowed in a glare.

I grumble at the pain that runs through my body from standing straight and head for the door before I get asked any questions. I glance back only once in search for those fiery red eyes but they are nowhere in sight.

After a week of waiting I received a letter from U.A. High School with a hologram. I passed the written exam and even though I was on Bakugou's heels, I only received 30 villain points. It seems I was so focused on keeping up with him that I didn't realize I was killing mostly 1 and 2 pointers and not the 3's he was getting. However, my rescue points shot me up the list with 45 extra points. I didn't think rescue points were a thing until I was told I earned them.

I've earned my place into U.A. High as second on the list below Bakugou but now I have to make a drawing of a costume I'd like to wear along with my measurements.

I walk into Kiken's office and drop the letter that says I passed onto his office desk. He swivels his chair around to face me and looks over the paper.

"You've passed, congratulations," Kiken is an older gentleman but he doesn't appear that way. I often joke with his subordinates that his quirk is youthfulness. He should appear fifty but he looks thirty-five at most. "Your birthday is coming up in April as well as your entrance into the school, anything you want?"

"I can't ask for anything," I say honestly. "You've given me too much."

"Always the kind hearted," Kiken sighs, shaking his head. "You'd think after the years of being surrounded by criminals, you'd have gained a colder heart. Be a little selfish."

"I do have a cold heart," I mumble.

"Ha, hardly," Kiken smirks. "But that's not a bad thing, now is it?" He points to the letter that shows my points. "Saving someone? That's impressive."

I shrug. "Not without a fight though. I heard a kid jump into action to save a girl from the same 0 pointer. Did it without thinking. I thought a little before I ran to help."

"Sometimes that's wise, Aku, thinking before leaping. You could save yourself and another by doing that as well." When I don't respond, he continues. "Now make your costume design and make sure it's logical for someone with weather manipulation. You can't just be going out there wearing regular costume materials."

"Yes, sir," I bow my head in respect, grab the letter, and leave the room.

Finally, I will be able to learn to be powerful to help those who've helped me and finally find a way to get my vengeance.