Chapter 11: Entrance exam.
The UA building looked magnificent. It has been years since Izuku stepped his foot here, so he still he felt a bit intimidated. People around gave him a confused look. A large cloak has been covering his entire body, as if to hide his appearance. The mask, sunglasses and gloves contributed to this feeling. The boy did not appreciate people staring at him like that.
"Don't pay attention to these insects, kid. You made the right choice by coming here with The World." DIO reassured him. "You will crush whatever obstacles come your way."
"Thank you, sir!" Green head smiled.
Suddenly, he noticed that a girl in front of him tripped and was falling.
"Gears, grab, grind… Just as I was taught."
Flow of time has been stopped. Izuku walked up to the girl, put her back on her feet and fixed her posture. He wasn't officially allowed to use time control outside of training, but it's not like anyone would notice. He went back to the starting position and walked past the brunette as if nothing happened. Izuku did not want to look her in the eyes. She looked around confused at what was going on.
"She is one of the girls from the hotel!" Kira was laughing out loud. "Imagine if you two end up in the same class."
"God, please, no." Izuku mumbled.
"Request denied!" DIO joined on the laughter.
"Ignore these clowns and focus on getting the job done, Midoriya."
"Thank you, Diavolo-san!"
Everyone went to the orientation room. Present Mic tried to cheer up his audience, but everyone was too tense to play along. He began explaining the rules of the exam.
"The examination will consist of two parts: written test and practical test. Written test will last 3 hours and cover a wide variety of topics.
After a 30 minute break, practical test will be conducted in several UA battle centers. Your designated battle center is indicated in your tickets. The test itself involves stopping robots disguised as villains in an urban setting. Depending on the danger level of a faux villain, the points you get from subduing it range from 1 to 3. Subduing robots can mean anything: damaging them directly, hacking their mainframe or simply immobilizing them. The back of each robot also contains an off switch, but relying on it won't be easy as they tend to target the nearest candidate. Additionally, there will be actors simulating various disasters in the area, such as being stuck under rubble or in a burning building. Helping them will also provide you with points. You will have a total of 10 minutes for the practical test. Any questions?"
Someone raised an arm. It was tall boy with dark blue hair and glasses.
"Sir, you said that points for villains range from 1 to 3, but our tickets say that there 4 types of robots. You must have made a mistake, not fitting for his prestigious establishment."
"This guy is so pretentious, it's annoying." Mina whispered to Izuku.
"I'm glad you asked, boy! The fourth type of robot is a zero pointer, an obstacle designed to be avoided. You will recognize it from its enormous size. As the name suggests, stopping it will not earn you any points."
The tall teen with bowed down. "Apologies. I shouldn't have doubted UA's competency."
Izuku was sitting in the bus on its way to the Battle center A. His friends were sent to different centers, likely to prevent cooperation. He was still thinking about the written test.
"Most of those questions had nothing to do with school curriculum! I'm glad I spend so much time reading books with you, Dio-san! My score would be much lower without it."
"See? When I tell you to do something, you should DO it instead of whining."
"Excuse me, are you two brothers?" Someone interrupted green head's train of thought. It was a boy with a black bird head.
"What? I don't have any siblings." Bird head was looking at The World, who was sitting near his user while also being covered with a cloak.
"That's just my quirk. We both sun burn easily, so the cloaks are necessary support equipment."
"Wow, they are just like us!" A shadowy figure appeared in front of the boy. "Hi, I'm Dark Shadow, and this is Fumikage Tokoyami. We also don't like bright light. Nice to meet you!"
"Silence! I told you to not speak without my permission." Tokoyami was irritated.
"You are such a buzz kill!" Dark Shadow retreated back into the boy.
"I apologize on the behalf of my quirk."
"No harm done. I'm Izuku Midoriya and my quirk is The World." He offered his hand.
"What a powerful name. I hope we will see each other in the future." Fumikage said before accepting the handshake.
After hearing a signal from Present Mic, everyone rushed into the gates to get ahead of the competition. Robots were decently tough, but his quirk made short work of them. No, destroying the robots wasn't an issue. The issue was Izuku's lackluster mobility and range. He ran pretty fast, but needing to get within 10 meters of a villain often meant that someone with a ranged quirk would steal the points. Midoriya had to run to areas that he thought were less populated. Of course, he did not miss any chance extra points by rescuing the actors.
Suddenly, he heard buildings collapsing in the distance. It was the Zero pointer. Just as green head turned away to run, a cry for help reached his ears. The voice came from the same direction as the giant robot. Izuku ran towards the cry.
"The hell are you doing, kiddo? You won't get points for fighting that thing."
"I'm not going to. I just need to help whoever's in peril."
A girl was trapped under rubble. The same girl he saved from a fall earlier today. Zero Pointer and the kid were rapidly approaching her from opposite directions. He's too far! He won't reach her in time!. Unless…
"The World, do your thing!"
Robot has stopped moving. One of its "arms" was already near the girl, ready to flatten her. Just as time resumed, TW went upwards to push against the metal limb. It was quite painful. Even with its immense strength and durability, The World's arms started to crack under the pressure. Izuku's arms received the damage as well, which prevented him from lifting the piece of rubble.
"It's too late! Run and save yourself!" The girl tried to reason.
"NO!"
"This is fine. I just need to stall until time stop can be used again…" He was sweating down a river.
"So this is how Jotaro felt?" DIO thought to himself.
Seconds felt like minutes. Finally, the little vampire stopped time for a second time. TW quickly lifted the rubble and snatched the girl. Izuku wanted to ran away from Zero Pointer as fast he could. However, the alarm went off shortly after he escaped, indicating the end of practical test.
"You are safe now." Izuku was carrying the girl whose left leg looked terrible.
"Thank you. I knew you are a great guy, even though you are kind of weird." She rubbed her hand against his cheek. "Feeling better?"
"What? How did you know it was me?"
"I recognized a familiar voice." She smiled at him. "Plus, you generate this inexplicable aura of badassery."
"Thank you!" He let out a nervous laughter.
"Hey, I know I'm not supposed to ask your name as per agreement, but I'd really like to know the man who saved me twice in one day."
Green head's blush was conveniently obstructed by his cloak and mask.
"I am Izuku Midoriya."
"Ochako Uraraka. I hope to see you in the school, Midoriya-kun." She was nervous as well.
"I hope so too! Ha ha ha!" Kira sounded pleased.
After leaving Uraraka to the medics and explaining that he has super regeneration, Izuku left the UA grounds and headed towards home. On his way back he texted his friends.
Future heroes from Aldera
Green Devil: I am glad this is over. How's everyone?
Alien Queen: That written test was a nightmare! I might be rejected from UA because of it.
Tsar Bomba: You should have spend more time on studying, Horns! That's what you get for half assing.
Alien Queen: You are so mean, Kacchan.
Tsar Bomba: Only Deku may use that name and live.
Green Devil: Please, do not kill her, Kacchan.
Tsar Bomba: Fine. Did anything interesting happen in your practical tests? I basically flew through the area and blasted the villains away.
Alien Queen: No, I simply slid through my battle center and melted robots' legs. I hope that counts as immobilizing.
Green Devil: I had to save a cute girl from being crushed by Zero Pointer.
Tsar Bomba: No fucking kidding? How?
Green Devil: By almost being crushed myself.
Alien Queen: You said she was cute. Should I be jealous?
Green Devil: May be.
Tsar Bomba: Not this shit. I'm leaving!
Three weeks have passed. Izuku received a letter from UA. Unsurprisingly, he was accepted, with his written score in top 5 and practical score being second only to Katsuki. What did surprise him was the announcer. Apparently, All Might was going to teach at the UA this year. Green head wondered if it had something to do with his injury.
Author's note: I will reduce the class size from 20 to 12, because writing many characters is hard.