The Missing Chapter

Kaminari Denki: Origins

It was pretty late when Denki got off of work, Tokuda had worked him like an ox offloading the pallets of wire they'd gotten into the shop earlier in the afternoon. All of the street lamps were on, some flickering and buzzing in the darkness, stars dotted the clear sky. A sweet summer breeze ran between his fingers and through his hair, filling his lungs as he took a deep breath and stretched his arms above his head.

I'm going to collapse onto the couch and just pass out, I can't even make it up the stairs. A yawn stretched his face and he rubbed one eye as the last turn down the street to his family's home came into view. They were fairly well off thanks to both of his parents having electrical generation quirks, they'd met while working at an engineering internship and bought a house in a nice neighborhood soon after getting married.

His dad's body was like a solar charged battery, his skin absorbed the small amount of energy that made it to the earth's surface and he could plug anything he needed to power into his skin as it could shape itself into any outlet he knew the construction of. His mom could collect static quickly from almost any surface and use it to zap anything within three meters of herself. Put the two together, and you get the world's worst case of carpet socks.

Both of them were pretty smart, and so were his older brother and sister, so he stuck out pretty hard as the youngest sibling and family idiot. Hikari went into making support equipment so she could make clothing that wouldn't shock their mom too much, and Akira had taken after their parents and gone into engineering. They were never mean to him about his lower scores in school, but his parents made a point of sitting with him every night until he started high school and making sure he understood the homework.

He'd taken the part-time apprenticeship with an electrician so he could better grasp on how his quirk worked, since he released pure electricity from his body. Volts, amps, ohms, basic circuitry, electrical currents, restrictive wiring, non-conductive materials, the basics of electrons. Every single day he'd done everything he could to memorize his lessons, all with one final goal in mind.

Denki wanted to be a hero. It started out as a childish dream, like almost every kid has these days. In junior high he'd stopped telling people he was shooting for UA one day, and the few friends he did tell had laughed in a good natured manner and then joked about his awful grades.

One day he'd been out with the old man, Tokuda, who ran the shop he worked in, standing beside him as he explained how to repair the circuit breaker for an apartment complex. It was an expensive looking building, the first two floors were made of thick granite walls and all of the external windows had bulletproof glass. Smooth white panels ran up for ten stories, all of the window frames surrounded by brass trim, and security cameras with spotlights watched every inch around the building.

It was impressive, and also freaked him the hell out. What kind of people lived here that needed this kind of passive security?

The only reason they'd come out this way in the first place was the wild storm that poured rain like a fire hose. Harsh winds whipped in every direction around the tall buildings and towering palm trees, his jumpsuit was drenched and clung to his body as water filled the rubber boots around his legs. Thunder and bright blue arcs of lightning raged above their heads, and Denki's boss was keeping a hesitant eye on the sky's above. His hands moved with swift efficiency as he finished with the breaker replacement.

"There!" The old man yelled over the wind, shielding his face with one arm as he turned back to Denki. "We're done! Let's get the hell out of here!"

"You get in the van! I'll grab the tools and meet you back there!" The teenager yelled back.

"We'll just come back for them later! I don't have a death wish!" He slammed the metal casing closed and started walking off, leaving his tool belt scattered across the ground. The water had weighed it down so much that his false hip had started to give out.

"I'll be fine! I can probably tank a lightning bolt no problem!" Denki grinned and gave him a thumbs up. He crouched down and started collecting everything, the rain pounding against his back and pushing him closer to the earth as his frozen hands reached out and gathered the tools. The old man shook his head and kept walking. After a minute, just as all of the tools were gathered up, Denki heard the sound of a sharp snap, then something like a spring bouncing, and then the smell of ozone filled his nostrils.

Horror filled his veins as he turned and saw a power line jumping all over the ground as blinding blue sparks shot from the end into the water soaked road. Every jump it made took it closer and closer to the bright white van where the old man was watching with a horrified expression.

He just had his first grand-kid. Denki didn't even think about what he was doing next, he just leapt forward, tools scattering across the soaked pavement as he dropped them. He kicked off the water filled rubber boots and sprinted towards the spastic power line, his mind racing as he felt his quirk spark to life along his nervous system.

"Oh no you don't!" Denki screamed as he leapt onto the line. His hands gripped the metal wire, seizing up and latching on with more power than he thought his body could manage. Pain . Like he'd never felt before. His muscles spasmed as they locked up, his teeth clenched so tight that he thought they might crack themselves. The amber irises disappeared behind the power coursing through him, but he managed to keep his senses even as his skin burned and his heart pounded faster than a rabbit's. He couldn't even breathe, his throat was too tight.

"KID!" The old man shouted in horror, fists pounding on the window as he watched.

"D-d-d-do-don't-t-t Wo-wor-worry-y." Denki cried into the night sky as he braced himself and took step after agonizing step. He could see a dumpster just ahead beneath the power pole. "I G-GOT THIS-S-S-S!"

Step. His fingers were going numb. Step. A molar cracked. Step. What vision he had left was going white. Step after agonizing step he marched onward, the cable shooting pure agony and destruction through him.
When he finally managed to reach the dumpster, Denki could feel his mind blanking out, but he'd made it. With a scream so raw his voice cracked, he tied the downed line around the handle of the dumpster so it would stop its wild crackling and whipping. The second his hands broke contact with the overwhelming current of electricity, body smoking and skin red, blood trickling out of his ears, his body collapsed into the street.

"KAMINARI! YOU IDIOT, YOU COULD HAVE DIED!" The old man rushed out of the van to the boy's side, grabbing him under his arms and dragging him across the pavement towards the vehicle.

"T-t-t-t-t-old y-yo-you I c-cc-ould ta-tank light-n-n-ning." Denki grinned weakly, his voice a whisper.

"I'm calling 119!" He hefted the boy into the van, laying across the floor in the back. "Stay awake no matter what! You hear me?"

"Sir y-yes sir." Ouch. Okay, that hurt more than I thought it would. He grimaced as another strong spam wracked down his left side. "Uuuugh. T-t-tell themmmm to h-hurry please?" The old man was still on the phone, turned around to face the windshield as he spoke with the operator. Denki couldn't hear anything or really tell how long it was taking, but he turned back to face the blond.

"They said All Might's in the area! He's going to rush you to a hospital!" The relief on the man's face was so clear he almost looked younger. "How are you feeling, kid?"

"Like I was just run over by a bulldozer." He tried to laugh as a cramp pulled at his left shoulder. "Ow, okay. Maybe two."

"Well, it seems you're in your right mind at least." The old man scoffed with an astonished smirk. It was then that both men heard a door slam from the building they'd been working on, only to see the Herculean silhouette of All Might himself. Denki guessed even heroes had some down time, because the man was wearing sweatpants and a simple white t-shirt, his feet were also bare in the freezing rain. All Might spotted the van and dashed forward in an instant, throwing open the door and looking over the two men.

"Are both of you alright, gentlemen?" The deep base reverberated on the metal walls of the van.

"I don't have a scratch on me, but the kid was holding a downed power line for at least five minutes!" Was it really that long? It didn't feel that long at all. A weaker spasm shook his legs and caused them to twitch on the floor.

"Electric q-quirk, sir." Denki mumbled as his mind grew fuzzier.

"Let's get you checked out either way, young man." All Might picked Denki up in his arms like he weighed no more than a pencil, cradling him tight to the hero's massive chest as he pulled him out of the van and back into the pouring rain. "Brace yourself, I'm going to have to make this quick."

The hero crouched low, then shot off like a cannonball into the night sky with the teen held close. Denki could barely register he was being moved as the clouds obscured the rest of his mind and he fell unconscious.

And one month later, my life still looks the same . Denki sighed, approaching the front gate of his house and swinging it open with a quiet squeak. The lights were on upstairs in his sibling's rooms and the living room. He pulled out a key and opened the front door, stopping to take off his shoes as he dropped his school bag by the front door.

"Ma! I'm home!" Denki called out, then stepped up into the hallway leading to the living room. "What's for dinner?" Something smelled heavenly, that's for sure. His mouth watered as he rounded the corner and saw both of his parents sitting very stiffly in their seats, looking at a lanky man with sunken eyes and blonde hair sitting across from the table.

"Denki!" His mom stood up and grabbed his hand, pulling him towards the table and sat him at the end, between the stranger and his family. "There's a man here who wants to talk with you!"

"Ooookay?" Denki turned to face the stranger, who offered an awkward smile.

"I'm sorry to barge in like this, you see, I'm here on behalf of All Might." He reached into the breast pocket of his jacket and pulled out a card.

Toshinori Yagi

Legal Representative and head of Public Relations

Might Tower, Tokyo

(xx)XXX-XXXX

"Oh! Is this like a check in? Customer satisfaction review or something?" Denki passed the card back and crossed his arms on the table, leaning forward on his seat as he tucked his legs beneath the chair.

"Actually, it's a bit more complicated than that." Toshinori smiled and tucked the card away. He took a deep breath and looked the boy in the eyes, a glimmer of pride behind the ecstatic blue. "All Might has received the full incident report on what happened to you and Mr. Tokuda. Including the footage from the security camera footage outside his building."

"That's right!" Denki put a hand to his forehead as he looked at the table. "I remember him coming out of the building, but I'd never thought the number one would live in there! I thought he lived in Might Tower!"

"It's more of his weekend refuge from the press," Toshinori chuckled. The tension in the room seemed to alleviate a bit, his parent's shoulders relaxing.

"I'm doing okay now, if you're wondering! Two days and all of the numbness faded away like nothing!" Denki smiled. "I'm built to handle a lot of energy, so I bounced back pretty fast."

"I'm glad to hear it." The skeletal man placed a hand to his chest and ducked his head a bit. "But we need to get back on track here, I'm afraid."

"Oh, right! Sorry, what's up?"

"Denki! Manners!" His dad chastised.

"No no, it's fine." Toshinori waved his hand and smiled wide. "I'm here because All Might has taken an interest in you, young Kaminari. In his words, your heroic spirit impressed him and your selfless action reminded him of himself when he was younger."

"Oh, wow." Denki rested his back against the chair, scratching his side-burn. "I didn't really do much. I kinda…moved before I thought."

Toshinori's eyes lit up at that, the smile widening. "I thought that might be the case," he chuckled and shook his head lightly. "I'll be frank with you young man, and get to the point. Do you have any interest in becoming a hero?"

"Oh!" His chest swelled with wonder, finally able to answer this question to someone who might understand. But he'd never really talked with his parents about this. Sure, he'd been studying more and trying to get his grades up to UA's high standards for applications and keeping active was almost a necessity to bleed off some of his excess energy, but his parents just thought he was coming to reality and taking life more seriously.

Would they be okay with this? They'd been really excited when he'd gotten the apprenticeship, it was a stable future that paid well and posed little risk to him since he couldn't get shocked by an outlet enough for it to really hurt him. Denki's face turned stony towards the ground as he thought about how to respond.

"What do you say, young man?" Toshinori asked again, voice quiet.

"I-" He looked to his parents, who were watching him with apprehension and curiosity. "I do. I know how much good I could do if I became a hero." Denki held up a hand and sent a few arcs of electricity between his fingers. "I feel like it's my duty to do something when I have a quirk like this, like it's what I was born for…" His voice trailed off at the end as he looked back up into the blue eyes of Toshinori.

"Mr and Mrs Kaminari, might I have a word with your son in private for a moment?" They both gave quick nods and exited the room, not before his mom could wrap her arms around his shoulders in a tight hug for a moment though. After they'd left, the older man was silent for a second and took a deep breath. "I'm going to ask you to be quiet, at least to the best of your ability."

"Um, what are you-" Denki's voice cut off as a cloud of steam filled his vision and sitting in the place of Toshinori was the massive cut figure of All Might, trademark smile plastered across his face. "HOLY-" and he was cut off again as a giant hand covered his mouth. All Might crouched low so his head didn't hit the ceiling of the first floor, a finger held up to his smile.

"That's usually the first response, yes." The hero laughed and knelt down on one knee in front of the teenager. "Young man, I apologize for letting you be harmed in the first place, and I feel I owe you an explanation as to why I didn't arrive sooner." He removed his hand and let Denki process, his face frozen in total shock.

"I-okay?" Denki rubbed a hand over his face and tried to focus on not freaking out.

"You see, a few years ago, I received a massive wound in a villain attack that permanently injured my internal organs." Another rush of steam and Toshinori was kneeling there once again, lifting the button up shirt he wore to reveal a swollen mass of red and purple scar tissue covering his left side "Without this injury, I would have been outside in but a moment to take care of the power line. I didn't realize anyone was still out working in that storm, because of my generators. I figured it would be best to leave it for the workers to attend it when they could after I called it in. But then, the call to help you came in."

"Because of my injury, I am limited to three hours of hero work a day. I can't maintain my muscle form any longer than that without suffering from massive cramps and internal bleeding."

"But that's awful! All Might, I've looked up to you my whole life! Almost everyone does! If you died or retired, nobody would know what to do!"

"It's both a comfort and a bit of pressure to hear you say that, young Kaminari. But I understand that, which is why I've spent the last five years looking for a successor." Toshinori sat back in his seat and took on a deadly serious expression. His blue eyes glimmered behind his sunken visage. "I've looked deep into your history and quirk, young man. At the time of the power line incident, you could only generate 80,000 volts at any one time."

"Y-yeah. I've been working on that when I can, but every time I overuse my quirk I get kinda stupid. My brain overloads from the energy and basically goes into low power mode to protect me." Denki sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, remembering all of the times he'd wandered the street outside the shop with that stupid look on his face.

"Do you know how much power that one line was sending into you for those five minutes?" Toshinori asked with a small smile. "400,000 volts, it seems your ability to store energy is much greater than your ability to send it out."

"That's kinda cool, actually" Denki whispered as he sighed and tilted his chair back a bit. "What do you mean successor, though? It's not like I have any physical enhancements like you do, I could never stand up to that kind of power."

"Let me answer your question with another question, if you don't mind." The older blond said and sat back as well. " Why do you want to be a hero? You've said that it's because you feel obligated to with a quirk like yours, but I don't think that's the whole truth." The energetic young man stopped his fidgeting at once and chewed his lip, seeming to try and find the words necessary.

"Every kid grows up wanting to be a hero, right? Even making it as a sidekick is a huge deal when you're four or five and just got your quirk. But everyone grows up at some point and starts looking at their future and seeing that…maybe it's just not in the cards for them." Toshinori nodded at that, thinking back to his own childhood. "But I don't want to just give up on it, I want to give it my all and show every little kid out there that if they put in the work, they can be a hero if they want to be!"

"Your conviction lies in your desire to show the youth that there can be a brighter future, in other words." The older man smiled.

"Yeah, I couldn't have said it better myself!" Denki grinned. "My friends all have different dreams now, a couple of them talk about trying to apply for UA but nobody takes it seriously. But I do." He glared a bit at that. "I won't give up just because it's not the safest option, or the most rational. Being a hero means holding onto that dream with everything you have to me! To show everyone that there's brighter days if they follow their dreams!"

Toshinori stood one last time, steam filling the room as he became All Might again. He smiled down at the young man and held out a hand, a smile beaming down like the sun.

"Young Kaminari, you are exactly what I've been looking for! I am going to tell you a secret, one that must never be shared between anyone but the two of us, do you understand?" Denki grasped the outreached hand and used it to pull himself up so he was standing in front of All Might, the man's other large hand placed on the boy's shoulder.

"It won't leave this room, sir!" Denki smiled with fire in his eyes.

"My quirk is one that has been passed down for generations now, the crystallization of power created by eight people and handed down over time in the name of defending our civilization as we know it. With my power waning, it's time for me to pass this quirk on to the next generation and train my successor to one day take my place at the top." The hand on his shoulder tightened and All Might smiled as his voice lowered. "Young Kaminari, will you be the next Symbol of Peace? Will you carry this conviction and will in your heart as you charge headfirst towards the future?"

"Me?" Denki's mouth dropped open. "A-are you sure? You said you 'looked in' to me, so you saw my grades right?"

"I did," All Might cringed a bit but quickly recovered. "Knowledge can be gained as long as the work is put in, I also spoke with Mr. Tokudo and the other people he's had training you. He says you're a bright young man as long as you can get your own hands on something, and I intend on feeding into that skill. I will help you train your body, mind, and quirk. And my boy, if you'll allow it, I'll take you to the very top where you can shout your dream for the entire world to hear it."

"I can't believe this is happening!" Denki whisper-screamed. He felt like he'd just grabbed the power line again, but in a good way this time. If All Might let go of him he might just start bouncing off the ceiling and running on the walls he was so excited! "Yes! I'll do anything you say, captain!" He stood at attention with a beaming smile and saluted the giant.

"That's what I like to hear!" All Might laughed as he threw his head back. He thumped Denki on the back and sent the boy sailing across the room on accident, tipping over the end of the couch and crashing to the floor.

"I'm good!" He shot a thumbs up over the couch as he clambered to his feet. "So! When do we get started?"

Denki was in his second year of high school when All Might first found him, and after a long conversation with the young man and his parents, he quit his apprenticeship and started going to All Might's second home every day before and after school for training. There was a full gym stashed in the basement below the building that the number 1 didn't get to use often anymore, and every inch of it was put to use in getting Denki in shape.

Whenever he wasn't in the gym with Toshinori, he was studying as hard as he could to pass the UA application requirements by the end of the school year. For the first six months it was like hell, he went to bed every night so exhausted physically and mentally that he wasn't sure he could keep up. After a long while though, he got used to it. That's not to say it was easy either, All Might adjusted the intensity anytime Denki caught up to his expectations and pushed him further every single day.

If something happened and he had to skip a day of training with the older hero, then he had so much spare energy he'd have to go running for 10 kilometers just to settle down enough to sit and study. In the four hours he spent with All Might every day, he learned more about the man he'd ever thought possible.

He liked to wax philosophical and propose fake scenarios to Denki, seeing how he might react in different situations and clarifying with personal stories about how certain strategies might pan out. Like how one time he'd planned an assault on a trafficking ring down to the last detail, only to realize as they broke in that all of the information they'd been given was false.

"No plan survives first contact with the enemy, young Kaminari. In my opinion these days, it's much better to have a rough outline with a list of goals that must be achieved. As long as you fulfill those, and everyone walks away alive, it's a win in my book!" He'd grinned at the end.

After an entire year of training, Denki was hooked up to three massive batteries in the gym. His body had transformed, his bodyfat was almost nonexistent, the muscles lean and long across his wiry frame. He was stronger than he'd been in his entire life, in more than one way.

"Ready when you are captain!" He yelled as Toshinori walked up to a screen currently displaying a large zero.

"Remember young Kaminari, we agreed that you need to reach 2 million volts before I'm willing to pass One for All on to you. The entrance exam is in one month, so it's now or never. I won't have time to train you to use it if we have to wait any longer."

"Aye, sir!" The blonde grinned and felt static scatter across his skin as he started charging up. Denki thought of his quirk like a closed circuit that could open channels out of his body as long as he willed it to, but he'd been practicing on building the energy up and holding it back before releasing it for a couple months now. With a final nod, All Might donned a pair of sunglasses and gave him the okay signal.

"Charging up!" Denki yelled as the electricity buzzed beneath his skin, then he let it all out, everything he could, in a single burst down into the batteries. "Indiscriminate shock!"

Arcs of yellow electricity shot down his body and lit up the room, hissing and burning the air around him and it crackled and popped so loud he couldn't hear the rushing of blood in his ears. Denki kept pushing as the fog encroached his mind from all directions. I'm not going down like this, not after everything! With one final push and a primal scream that tore up his throat, Denki fell to the floor with his head spinning. Somewhere in the back of the mind he could recognize the 0 that had previously been displayed stopping as the number rose, but he couldn't get his eyes to focus on it and make it out.

"Aye aye, captain. Batteries charged." He slurred out through his numb lips.

"Young Kaminari…" Toshinori spoke up as he knelt down beside the other man. "I must say, you exceeded my expectations."

"How'd I do?" Denki's head was still spinning. He couldn't make out the number, he could just see it was big.

"2,275,466 volts in under ten seconds." Toshinori said, clasping his shoulder and shaking him from side to side excitedly. "You did it."

"Yayyy!" He cheered weakly, almost tipping himself over.

"I'll give you a few minutes before we continue," the older man laughed loudly from his belly, smacking Denki on the back a few times.

An hour later, they were sitting against the wall, a water bottle clasped in Denki's hand as he drained it and took heavy breaths. Toshinori sat beside him with a proud smile that hadn't faded in the slightest the entire time.

"Are you ready, young man?" All Might spoke as his body transformed. The young man smiled a little, then stood at the same time as the number 1 hero. "I've explained One for All to you before, but I want to reiterate something. Your body will not be used to the presence of another quirk at first, we are going to take the time and make sure you don't accidentally obliterate your arms the first time you try to use it. You will be bearing a heavy burden, and you must keep it a secret from the world at large no matter the cost. If villains knew this quirk could be passed down, they'd stop at nothing to take it for themselves."

"I understand All Might. I'll make sure all of the hard work you put into keeping our society doesn't go to waste. I'll lead the charge into the future, just like I told you the first time. My mind hasn't changed in the slightest." Denki nodded and stared up into the eyes of his mentor.

"Good man." All Might clapped his back once, but Denki didn't get sent flying or fall over this time, grinning wide at the little victory.

"So…how does this work?"

"Hmm?"

"I mean, how do you pass it to me? Do I need to take a sacred oath or something?"

"Oh, no nothing like that!" The giant laughed. He pulled a single hair from his head and held it in front of the other blonde. "Eat this and the power shall be yours!"

"...You gotta be kidding, right?"

One for All opened an entire new world to Denki. His own quirk jumped in power overnight, it felt like he could power a city at this point. He discovered he was able to send precise bolts of electricity out now, instead of the wide area attacks he'd been managing so far. On top of that, the well of strength in All Might's quirk was almost boundless. Whenever he called upon it, his electricity became full on Tesla coil bolts of plasma.

Electrification wasn't something you only pulled at a little at a time, he had to draw up all of the power he could at once to get his own quirk to work. One for All was more about delicacy though, if he tried to pull 100% of that out at once, his bones would creak and his muscles tore from the strain alone. They were almost polar opposites, but the two powers were so woven together in his body that it made it hard for him to pull on one without using the other.

After two weeks he was able to call about 5% of One for All to use, spreading it across his body like the static that buzzed off of his skin before letting out a shock. The last two weeks were spent entirely on getting used to switching between using one quirk or the other and getting used to his new physical capabilities. The first time he'd gone running using the number 1's quirk he'd tried to corner too fast and ended up with nasty road burn.

But time waits for no man, as All Might kept reminding him. Denki pushed himself harder than he ever had before, whining to himself about his aching body and twitching muscles each night as he lay in bed. The entrance exam arrived before he could even realize it, and he walked onto the campus more nervous than ever before.

It'll be fine Denki, you've worked for this for the last year. You put in the time, let's see if it was worth it, huh? His smile crooked up one cheek and he followed the trail of applicants making their way to the auditorium.

Two hours later as he left the academic exam, he felt a bit less energetic than before. He wasn't going to get the highest score here, that was for sure. For most of the later questions he'd had to outright guess the answers, and zero time to review them before turning the tests in. The practical exam was in just a few minutes and they'd been loaded onto buses and shipped off towards different massive facilities across campus. Up ahead of them was a walled area with a humongous Gamma symbol hanging above two equally huge steel doors.

"Kinda intimidating, isn't it?" The girl beside him asked. She had dark green hair that ended just above her shoulders, her sharp teeth caught his attention the most though.

"Less than those exam questions," Denki sulked. "This is the only part I'm looking forward to."

"We're in opposite boats then," the woman smirked and crossed her arms. "Wanna make a bet?"

"Depends." He shrugged and turned to face her fully.

"Whoever can get the highest score buys the other a drink on our way out of here." She shrugged back and held out a hand.

"You got a deal!" Denki laughed a little and took her hand. "Kaminari."

"Tokage, nice to meet ya Kaminari." She smiled and settled back into her seat. The bus lurched to a stop before the gates and the door slid open as applicants offloaded to the surrounding pavement. "Let's go see what shit show is waiting for us in there, I guess."

"Ah, it'll be fine! We got this!" He held up a fist, which she bumped with her own while rolling her eyes. "Besides, I'm not losing that bet!"

"Oh, in your dreams, blondy!"

It was ten minutes in, and Denki was having more fun than he could remember having any other time! It's not like a bunch of robots can do anything to me! I just zap them if they get too close and I can short them out or smash them so quick! This is like playing giant whack a mole!

He darted beneath the massive pipes that covered the exam area, jumping as high as some small buildings and rolling to a stop on the other side, always on the hunt for more of the metal villains.

"WOOOHOOO!" He shouted as he leapt into the air again, soaring over the field and feeling the wind rush past his face. Heart pounding, pulse racing, blood rushing through his ears, Denki felt like he was on top of the world! As fast as he could he scanned the area around him, spotting a guy with a tail as he was surrounded by the robots. The man was using his tail as a makeshift shield and was being blitzed on all sides by the rubber bullets and heavy beanbags the robots launched. One good blast should send them all crashing down!

He dropped into the ring of fake villains beside the other applicant and prepped a wide range blast of electricity. The static tickled as it spread across his body, his hair rising with the power and standing on end.

"You should get out of here! I can take them out and you keep going!" Denki yelled at the other man.

"Are you sure? I can help!" The tail flicked to the left quickly and blocked another bean bag, sending it back into the robots with a rapid flick of the furry end of the tail.

"I'm gonna do this in one shot! I can't target it though, it's wide range! You need to get out of the way!" He crossed his arms over his chest in an attempt to hold the charge for just a little longer. Electrification buzzed through him like a manic mosquito and the world was growing brighter as his pupils dilated.

"Appreciate it! If I can, I'll pay you back sometime!" The other blonde crouched down and used his tail to launch off across the street, turning back to give him a quick nod before dashing off towards the next area.

"Okay, let's see what you can do!" Denki grinned and pulled one last time with all of his strength, trying to beat the personal record he managed with All Might. But something went wrong, and his control over the two quirks slipped as his concentration lapsed for a fraction of a moment. That was all it took.

The power exploded out of him in a dome of yellow lightning that dissipated as quickly as it had appeared and thunder rocked the sky at the collapsing of air molecules.

Each of the robots was reduced to a sputtering and sparking mess of red hot metal, smoke billowing out of their conductive frames. And they weren't the only ones. At the last possible second, Denki had activated One for All as well and it had supercharged his attack beyond anything he'd ever managed before. Normally this would just leave his mind foggy and his reactions slowed, but the chalice of All Might's quirk had been tipped too far too quickly.

Denki was reduced to a twitching animal on the ground. His mind wasn't just in low power mode, it had shut off completely. No air would enter his lungs, his nerves ached and pulsed in time with the pounding in his head.

After a minute of gasping for air and spasming on the ground, he lifted his head and groaned loudly as his eyes traced over the exam area. He ran a hand through his hair, manually breathing as his throat wheezed, and dizziness overwhelmed his other senses.

"Uhhhh…Where am I?"

After the buzzer sounded and the exam ended, Denki was whisked away on a stretcher back to the school. His limbs felt weak and he was so tired that he could honestly just pass out on a bed of nails at this point. After being deposited in the nurse's office by the medical bots, an old lady with a syringe cane and her silver hair tied back in a bun came sauntering up to his bed with weary eyes and a small frown.

"You, young man, are lucky you didn't fry every nerve ending that you have." She said as she sat down in a chair next to his bed.

"I uh, I'm kinda confused still. What's going on?" Denki looked around and saw some other beds were occupied and had their curtains drawn around them.

"Don't worry, that's perfectly natural after experiencing a seizure that intense," she waved her hand a bit.

"I had a seizure?! WHAT?!" The blonde man panicked and ran his hands up and down his torso and head. "Am I going to die?!"

"Of course not!" The old lady chided and smacked his leg with her cane. "You pushed yourself AND your quirk too hard, you're at UA for the entrance exams."

"Ohhhh…How'd I do?" Denki asked while gripping the bed sheets.

"I can't disclose any information." She cut him off as her lips stretched and she planted a kiss square in the center of his forehead. After a moment a small bag of gummy bears was retrieved from her pocket that she passed to him. "Eat these, wait five minutes, and you'll be good to head home young man."

"I uh, thank you." He opened the bag and picked out a yellow gummy bear, tossing it up and catching it in his mouth. "Ew! Who makes anything banana flavored?"

"It was either that or durian, we couldn't get the others to taste right at all," the old lady huffed. "One more thing before you go, no using your quirk for at least three days, understand? Doctor's orders!" She hopped out of the seat and began hobbling over to another bed, mumbling under her breath as she went.

"I hope I didn't disappoint All Might," Denki muttered as he stared at the bag of candy.

A week later, when his letter from UA arrived in the mail, his entire family gathered around the sofa to watch him open it. Denki would have liked for All Might to be there too since he'd put so much effort into training him this entire time, but ever since the exam his calls and texts never went through. It was a total communication blackout that was making him uneasy. He's the number 1 hero in the country, maybe he's just busy?

Denki had been sat in the middle of the couch by his mom in their living room, his parents on either side of him and his brother and sister leaning on the couch just over his shoulders as he almost glared at the envelope that would decide the course of his entire future. With a deep breath, he ripped the top open and looked inside to find a small metal disc.

"Anyone know what this is?" He asked as he held it up.

"Oh! It's a hologram projector!" Hikari beamed as she snatched it from his hand and tossed it onto the coffee table in front of all of them. It clattered and rolled for a moment before falling over, a bright screen appearing in midair. "Man, UA is fucking awesome!"

"Hikari!" Their mom screamed, scandalized by the use of foul language as their dad started laughing so hard he almost fell off his seat.

"Ah, c'mon mom! She's right!" Akira smirked.

"SHH SHH SHH!" Denki held a finger up to his lips as the screen changed to what looked like a small stage with velvety red curtains. A man walked into view in dark clothing with long hair that obscured most of his face, and what the hair didn't cover was filled in by a bulky beige scarf.

"Applicant number 375, Kaminari Denki. It's nice to meet you. My name is Aizawa Shouta, and I'll be the homeroom teacher for class 1-A this year. "

"I feel like I've seen him before," Denki's dad said while rubbing his chin.

"I mean, he's probably a pro if he teaches at UA," Akira relented.

"How many times do I have to say SHHH!" Denki grumbled and flicked his older brother's chin.

"Hey! You little brat! I'm gonna-"

"While you didn't get a very high score on the academic exam, you did passably well, but only just barely." The bedraggled man pinched his fingers so close together that only a small sliver of light could be seen between them. "Your practical exam went better, by a staggering margin. In the first fifteen minutes you managed 42 villain points before you overused your quirk and were removed. If that was all we were grading you on, you would have missed the cutoff for getting into my class."

"Wait, is he saying what I think he's saying?" Hikari's jaw dropped as she whispered to her mom.

"I think he is," she replied with happy tears welling at the corners of her eyes.

"All applicants were also scored on how much they helped their fellow examinees, whether by covering a blind spot or helping them out of a tight situation. We call these 'Rescue points,' and two of the professors at UA were assigned to watch the footage of your performance and award the points as they saw fit."

"Oh my gods, he is." Akira's jaw dropped as well.

"You were examined by Hound Dog and Present Mic, both of whom have agreed to award you 21 rescue points, putting you just below tenth place on the practical exam."

"Someone please hit me, I might be dreaming," Denki mumbled.

"All that being said, I have 17 more of these to do so we'll get to the point. You've been accepted, Kaminari. Welcome to your Hero Academia."

"I FUCKING DID IT!" Denki roared as he leapt to his feet with his arms raised.