Wow! this one took forever to write, and only because of my mind being numb from the holidays!
To much fruitcake and shortbread, I think.
Anyway, here comes chapter 5 and we finally hit the UA entrance exam! Decided to change a few things and leave some other things out as we all know how it goes down in canon (Like the practical exam explanations).
Now let's get on with the reviews! (oldest to newest)
Maximum Rhapsody:1. Dec 4 comment: The Poly relationship has already been decided, they are the entire cast of females in Class 1-A, 1-B, and Mei. As to traveling to other worlds, I am going to just be keeping it in the BHNA universe as by the logic of Final Fantasy 14 (XIV), traveling to other worlds is STUPIDLY hard.
2. Dec 18 Comment: This is a Final Fantasy XIV and MHA story... there are no keyblades. What Izuku was wielding was something called a Gunblade that is used by a tank Job Class called a "Gunbreaker". There are no elements of Kingdom Hearts to be incorporated in the story.
Thank you again for reading the story and hope you continue enjoying it.
Karlos1234ify: Kinda!
ProjectIceman: Dec 4 - Not that I would force anyone to read the full story of FFXIV as it is pretty long (and convoluted at times.) But honestly, some of the best writing to come out of the series in a long time, especially with the latest expansion of Shadowbringers.
Dec 5 - Maybe, maybe not... who knows? ;) and yes I'm sure he could easily pull off some fancy commercials with how the jobs change his hairstyle's hehe.
Dec 21 - Thank you! I try! :D
AshbladeHentai: Thank you so much! I hope you continue to enjoy this story as it progresses!
Guest: Thank you! I am honestly trying to make it believable
aliestrikehero: Haha I was wondering if anyone picked up on that! and it will be addressed in this chapter to a point. and don't worry about how RDM!Izuku will act... it will be worth the wait ;)
iron-slayer-dragon: Wait no further for here is chapter 5!
Vantage77: Thank you for your support and to answer your questions- Will Izuku be mentored by Y'stola? In a sense, yes...And he will also be mentored by the other major characters in the game at points as well.
So an actual relationship with Izuku will not be possible, but... well... something along those lines could happen... bad enough I have a majority of the girls in 1-A and 1-B going to be pining after the light-infused cinnamon roll. Something that most Warriors of light (especially FF 14's player character) tend to make many people they interact with thirsty xD
Anyways, onto the story!
Chapter 5
Dreams and Nightmares
It was another dream, at least Izuku had thought of it as a dream. Something akin to what would hopefully prove to be a form of 'deja vu' in the future, though the green-haired boy could see he was standing in what looked like an oddly decorated office space with the walls being of sandy in color brickwork. Shadowy visages were standing around him though not of any hostile intent; any murmurs they would make were muffled and unrecognizable to Izuku as he remained focused on the woman he could see in front of him.
She was an immaculate beauty; while her current mood looked determined for some reason, he could tell that a smile from her could win a thousand hearts to whatever she wished. Her blonde hair looked short, given the small sprawled-out ponytail on the back of her head. Still, in reality, it could be much longer given the attractive braids that rested at the side, with one dangling down behind her ear. Her outfit was almost outlandish in Izuku's opinion, covered in various straps of leather with a long skirt and concise top that appeared to expose her midriff to all and show off the young woman's curves.
Least of all, her top seemed to accentuate her bust size while looking like it barely contained her chest within the thin-looking pink cloth bound underneath the various leather harnesses. Thankfully, Izuku had only just glimpsed (though he had not meant to) at the display before focusing on her eyes, how they burned with that raw determination he would often see in Momo when she would talk about her goals as a hero.
"I know not what it is you desire of yourself, nor what it was that first brought you to Eorzea." The woman spoke to him, her eyes transfixed on his own, slowly crossing her arms over her ample chest, staring him down considering he was shorter than her if only by slightly, "But I firmly believe that the power we possess was given to us for a purpose. Why else would the gods entrust man with a gift so extraordinary, if not to have him use it?"
Izuku had attempted to ask what she had meant about this particular power; was it similar to a quirk? But whatever he was going to say was pure silence, as if his voice was muted somehow.
"And so…" the woman continued, her ice-blue eyes staring straight into his own with her eyebrows still posed with that determined look to them, "I implore you, lend us your power."
Izuku rose suddenly, heavily sweating and panting, his eyes open wide as he looked around to find him back in his bed, his room covered in various hero merchandise and his clock on the nightstand showing that it was currently 5:30 am.
Running his hand through his wet but still somewhat fluffy hair, he calmed down. He started to breathe normally before flopping back down onto his pillow once again and staring at the room, his bare chest rising and lowering as he breathed deeply.
The woman seemed so familiar to him, yet he had never seen her before until this night and what he heard her speaking of made him more confused.
What was this gift or power she spoke of? What was "Eorzea"? And why was the word 'Minfilia' repeating in his head? Was it her name?
And why, as he was laying on his back, was he tearing up and the pain felt within his chest hurting him more than anything he had ever felt before?
Relaxing against the seat cushions of the bus that were currently taking the UA entrance exam attendee's towards the different battle zones, Izuku looked out of the window as his mind began to wander and reminisce about how the exams were going so far.
The written tests were pretty simple, at least according to Izuku. Turns out all that extra help studying from Momo and Setsuna did help him out in the end since he was sure that Nezu had personally written his exam. However, he had kept the same amount of questions the same. What gave away the idea that the furry dean had adjusted his exam, in particular, was the delicate scent of tea leaves.
The other reason he figured out that Nezu was causing shenanigans was when he had met up with Mina and Kyoka during the middle of an hour-long lunch break to allow the students to destress from the written test before the practical.
Mina had looked like she blew a fuse when he first came upon them, resting against a tree that was outside on campus while Kyoka was sitting beside her, legs pulled to her chest and her jacks massaging her temples. Izuku smirked down at them as he approached and asked how they felt they did. Both were giving him deadpan stares that seemed to voice how they thought they did. Still, he had tried to reassure them that it may have been difficult; they weren't entirely unprepared as they had both Momo and Setsuna to help them study as well.
A jack poked him in the forehead as Kyoka kept staring at him. She stated that he had also helped them study when he was around and gave them exciting ideas on using their quirks. He blushed a little and chuckled nervously at the praise, but that only made Kyoka frown and keep jabbing him at certain spots on his body, causing him to blush and curl up from the onslaught.
Izuku knew she was teasing him, trying to "toughen him up," as she put it since she said he acted so differently from the smug look he had when he took down that shark villain when they first met. Mina and Momo had pointed this out at specific points since he met them, which caused him to reflect on that.
He had "felt" different when he switched between what he was calling "kits" now. Still, from what the women were telling him, the one with the sword and shield (which he hadn't named yet) was often seen as stoic and a beacon of hope, while the 'gunbreaker' made him be a little more snarky and humorous.
However, when this was brought up to Nezu during one of their study sessions, the dean chuckled and waved it off, telling him that it was more of a "shift of personality traits" than an entirely new persona. This baffled Izuku when he was told this as he never considered himself snarky or to joke around.
He didn't think he could even pull off snark, truthfully.
The bus lurched to a stop, which knocked Izuku out of his reminiscing. And the hopeful students of UA began to unload off the vehicle to prepare themselves. Izuku was gasping when he saw the ruined city battle scape before him and the thoughts of how much a single one of these areas could cost.
And UA had apparently six of them.
Shaking his head to get the numbers of the astronomical costs out of his mind, he turned his attention towards the other students with him. Everyone around him dressed in gym clothes or workout clothes, and some with essential support gear. He smiled as he readily stretched his arms back and forth, thoughts of how his friends were going to do running through his head before a loudspeaker squawked loudly, let it be known as the pro hero named Present Mic was quite loud when he wanted to be.
Which was a lot of the time, Izuku surmised.
"ALRIGHT, LITTLE LISTENERS! YOU GOT TEN MINUTES TO DESTROY AS MANY ROBOTS AS YOU CAN! NOW GET GOING!"
Everyone merely stared up at the pro hero as the gates to the sizeable faux city opened, and a few moments later and realizing that Mic wasn't going to say anything else and also learning that they just lost maybe half a minute or so by standing around, all of the student hopefuls dashed out into the city.
Izuku smiled as he shifted into his "gunbreaker" kit, and with his odd weapon resting on his shoulder, he ran and ducked into an alleyway. And within a few moments, spotted a one-pointer robot and made short work of it with a single 'lightning shot.'
"Well, let the hunt begin, I guess."
Five minutes had passed since the beginning of the practical exam. Within a darkened monitoring with various screens lit up, UA's pro heroes and teachers watched all six trial arenas on the cameras set up across the cities' various 'ruins.'
"A good bunch of applicants this year." spoke one pro hero as they reclined in their chair, watching a multi-armed student take down a three-pointer by themself while protecting a smaller boy with round balls on the top of his head.
"Indeed, such vigorous youth running about and showing off their stuff! It certainly gets the blood pumping, doesn't it?" exclaimed the female pro hero known as Midnight, who was giggling to herself as she looked over some of the more "able-bodied" students, licking her lips. The hero beside her named Powerloader shook his head. He sighed at his colleague's antics, but as he was about to return to the screen with the one student with the explosion quirk, a clearing of a throat caught his attention as he turned his head towards the cowboy looking hero named Snipe.
"Hey, Pardner… need yer opinion on this one applicant's gear. Never seen a gun like it before."
"Oh, yea? You think he snuck it in and didn't properly register it? What's the battle arena and camera?"
"Arena B, and cameras seven and eight." Snipe replied as PowerLoader typed it in. On the main screen appeared the green-haired student applicant swinging around a weird looking sword. The support course teacher leaned closer to the screen as if he was squinting under his helmet, mouthing out a 'what the hell' as he looked at the hilt, which was some sort of 'gun.'
"Never seen a gun like that before, couldn't tell ya what caliber it is from here, but the shells it seems to expel look pretty big." Snipe commented as his attention was being kept on the student as he was helping out a blonde boy that almost had a two-pointer sneak up behind him.
A clatter of chairs hitting the floor interrupted some of the other teacher's viewings as Snipe loudly proclaimed, "IS HE POINTING THAT GUN AT ANOTHER PARTICIPANT?!"
Now all the teachers were looking at the monitors just in time to see the green-haired boy pull the trigger, only for a green mist expel from the weapon and envelope the other participant, and within a few seconds, the other boy who patted his stomach for some reason, smiling brightly at the green-haired boy and then both shaking their hands. The teachers watching the exchange fell back into their seats and sighed in relief, although Snipe was the first to point something out that once again got the teacher's attention.
"D… did that boy's gun thing just heal that other student?"
Silence overtook the room once again at the question the gunslinging hero had asked, only to be broken by the chuckles of the dean filled the air as all the teaching staff looked to the furry being sitting in his large chair with a cup of tea. The beady eyes of Nezu looked to PowerLoader, who cringed when he was being stared at, "PowerLoader, was the zero-pointer for area B updated as I had requested?"
"Erm… yea, yea I did the shell changes as you wanted, sir… But why make B's different than the others?"
Nezu didn't reply to the support teacher, taking a sip of his tea before Cementoss stood up and stared at the dean. What he said next would confuse the other teacher's present and their gazes, looking from the cement hero back to the dean.
"You are testing him again, aren't you?"
Nezu chuckled once again, except it sounded nothing like the previous one. It was somber and also dark in tone. Nezu then flipped over a cover that revealed a big red button, and placing his paw on top of it, he looked towards Cementoss with that same every present smile.
"Oh, you know me," Nezu spoke, pressing the button, "I am always up to see how far humans can get creative in dire circumstances."
[At the same moment]
Izuku wasn't sure what to expect after using his 'Aurora' ability upon the blonde-haired boy after stopping that one robot from sneaking behind him. The look in the boy's eyes when he pointed his gunblade at him told him that he should've tried to explain himself first, but there wasn't time for a full explanation.
That and he doubted a "Hey, let me shoot you, and it will get rid of your tummy ache" would suffice as well.
The boy shot back up to his feet and posed elaborately, and what seemed to be sparkles radiated off of the boy. He exclaimed that his "tummy" felt much better and wished to know what Izuku had done.
"Erm… a little long-winded to fully explain, given the time limit, but maybe afterward, if you want to hang out, I can give you a better explanation. But in the simplest of terms, my quirk 'healed' you."
The boy stared at Izuku for a moment. With another elaborate pose, he spoke, "A healing quirk that can also damage as well using that dazzling weapon of yours? C'est Magnifique!" The blonde bowed to Izuku, "I am Yuga Aoyama! And it is a pleasure to meet you as it is likewise to meet moi, monsieur!"
Yuga held out a hand to Izuku after the bow, which Izuku slowly took. He was a little shocked at the dazzling display, but still was respectful, "I'm Izuku Midoriya, and … I'm sure it is a pleasure to meet you." and after giving a fair shake, released the young man's hand, "So, dunno about you, but we should probably get out of this alleyway and see if we can knock out a few-"
*CRASH*
The ground and buildings rumbled violently and nearly sent the two boys to the ground had they not grabbed onto the walls. Once the rumbling stopped, they could hear screams and see students fleeing from something. When both boys looked at one another, their faces frowned and nodded, racing out of the alleyway to see what was happening.
Pushing past a few of the fleeing students, the sight that awaited both Izuku and Yuga was something neither of them would have expected. Down the street, where many of the buildings were destroyed and rubble covering the streets, stood a massive robot. The supposed zero-pointer.
Although bent forward, two massive mechanical arms hissed out steam as pistons and turbines spun on its large arms, with sharp but spindly fingers it's upper body was bulky as well with glowing lights lined down the middle with two large blue plates covering the chest as if some sort of weird breastplate similar to Izuku's "knight" look. Its head looked out with slanted but bright blue lights for eyes, as what looked like metallic wings flexed behind it.
The "beast" was resting on what could be considered a metallic skirt. Still, Izuku had surmised that there might have been tracks underneath. The sizable metallic body hissed as it moved towards the fleeing students, Izuku reaching out to the closest fleeing applicant, which was the tall blue-haired boy from the explanation of the practical exam that had interrupted Present Mic, "Oi! where the hell did that thing come from?"
The boy roughly took his arm back, staring at Izuku with a stern look for a moment, then started to chop his arm up and down as he spoke, "It is the zero-pointer that was mentioned by our proctor! And we should be following his advice and keep ourselves a-"
"HELP!"
The sudden cry for help caused all three boys to twist their heads towards some of the rubble on the path in front of the menacing robot coming towards them. All three would see the young woman with brown hair and what could be considered permanent blushes on her cheeks struggling to get her trapped legs free from under the large slab cement that had pinned her down.
Izuku looked at the two other boys, face stern and giving off a "don't argue with me" sort of look, "You two go and see if you can lift that cement off of her legs; I'll keep the big guy's attention on me."
"But-" the blue-haired boy was about to protest this, but he couldn't get anything more out before both Izuku and Yuga dashed past the incoming students towards the incoming zero-pointer. The blue-haired boy watched them head off, being shoved a little by passing students as in his head he started to think of the pros and cons of the decision the green-haired boy had made.
Izuku watched as the giant robot continued to lumber down the street, it's metallic wings crashing and scraping along the building's walls as it moved. With gunblade in hand, he dashed past the downed girl, turning his head towards her, and both of their eyes met.
Izuku beamed her a bright smile, similar to the one that All Might would give people when he saved them to let them know that everything would be alright. The girl's auburn eyes widened as she stared into the bright emerald eyes of the boy running past her before his line of sight broke off from hers so he could look towards the zero-pointer and leaped toward it, swinging his gunblade down and slashing at the mechanical monstrosity's right arm, unloading an explosive shot.
The girl watched on as the lone boy was facing off against the behemoth until another one, a blonde boy, skidded down and knelt beside her and tried to lift the large cement debris off of her leg. With a grunt, and the explosions coming from the battle between the green-haired boy and the zero-pointer to further frame him struggling, the blonde boy looked to her. He gave her a thumbs-up, "Do not fear, mademoiselle! Moi should have this pesky block off of you *grunt* in no time while monsieur Midoriya handles that mechanical brute!"
The brunette was about to give her thanks when another boy had shown up, the tall blue-haired boy kneeling beside the blonde-haired one and was now lifting the debris enough for the girl to move out from.
Yuga looked to the new boy beside him and struck a pose once the girl was out, and both he and the other boy helped her up with an arm slung around over their shoulders to support her. Helping her limp away from the battlefield to a safer location, with his casual smile, "It is good to see you come and help! I dare not hope you would leave moi and mademoiselle to idle to come!"
The blue-haired boy looked to Yuga with a stoic look, "We are here to be heroes! What kind of hero would I be if I merely stood back when someone was in danger?"
"Ah, too true too true, let us hope monsieur Midoriya can keep the robot busy long enough for us to -" Yuga was not able to finish his sentence as another explosion went off behind them. Izuku was flung overtop of them, landing on his back with a pained grunt and sliding a few feet away from the trio.
Izuku groaned as the other students rushed towards him as fast as they could. As they took in the boy's look, they would see that his coat was torn in places with parts of his shirt and pants torn or singed in places. Izuku slowly rose up, shaking his head to clear a headache and refocus.
"Monsieur Midoriya! What happened? Are you alright?" Yuga asked with worry in his voice, matching the looks of the other two with him.
"Well, I feel like utter garbage right now, to be honest with you, but we have bigger problems," Izuku said as he stuck the pointed end of the blade into the ground and used it to hoist himself up.
"What bigger problems do you mean?" asked the blue-haired boy as before Izuku could answer, a sickening sound of metal against metal was heard behind them. The four students watched in fascinated horror as the what could be the assumed lifeless eyes of the zero-pointer robot brightened ominously, slamming its fists down onto the ground with a hiss of steam expelling from several spots on its body, before raising its fists and pulling it's 'wings' close to its body.
Time seemed to stop at that moment. Not only for the students standing before the zero-pointer, but also the ones that had run away from it and even the teachers watching from the monitor room could only gasp at what was happening
The zero-pointer brought its arms back down, bent in front of its body as it's back arched backward with the wings extending out and smashing any buildings in their wake. The four students that stood before it would have nightmares in their futures for what would happen next, as it was unexpected to ever occur in the first place.
The beast roared.
If your curious as to the exact look of the zero-pointer, look up FFXIV's "the Tycoon", and it's basically that.