He was glad he could feel the thrum of a thousand feet marching throughout the building, otherwise he might have had trouble finding where he was supposed to go.
UA high was a massive building, built like a labyrinth; and-with no eyesight- basically a death sentence for an unaccompanied blind kid with delusions of grandeur.
But he'd shed that costume, he'd shown he could back up his words, he'd even trained with All Might. Fought Bakugo to a standstill. And had beaten Hama in their last game of Rock ball! If he was ever ready for the entrance exam, it was today.
He'd even been able to show off some sand bending that morning, his work over the last ten months allowing him to shift the sand with almost the same accuracy and skill he had with hard packed earth. It had allowed him to finally push the rusted truck out of the sand and onto the concrete beside the trash cans.
All-Might had been more than impressed with him and had congratulated him on clearing the beach fully. After that it was a quick stop home to freshen up and grab the breakfast sandwich his mom made before heading to the trains. He was glad he hadn't ridden along with Bakugo; he didn't think the bombastic blonde's attitude would be one that would encourage peace before a test.
He hummed a bit to himself as he stomped on an out of place brick, forcing it back into position and causing a few other bricks to shift, "you'd think the masonry would be better for such a prestigious school." he mumbled, absentmindedly petting Acorn's head from where it peaked out of his sweater as he continued forward; he could feel a semi-familiar heartbeat a few yards behind him, but he paid it no mind as he entered the Atrium, whistling a bit as he made his way up the steps. Soon he was lounging in his spot, idly playing with the paper brochure they'd left on the long desk in front of him, no braille so he couldn't tell what it was. "Wonder if it has anything on what we'll be doing…meh, I'm sure they'll tell us." he flicked the paper back onto the tabletop, ears pricking as he felt Bakugo's familiar steps stomp towards him. "Yo." he offered as the boy flopped into his seat.
"Hmph."
"Riveting conversation starter." Izuku said dryly.
"Wasn't trying to start one." he quipped, the sound of paper rustling confirming that Bakugo was looking at the brochure, "what's it say?"
"We're fighting robots." Bakugo said simply.
"Cool, seems kinda easy though. Any dope with a flashy quirk can crush robots."
"Then you should do just fine, dope."
"I'm sorry, who here can actually create flashes and explosions? If anyones a dope it's you."
Bakugo bit back a laugh, "and who's the one who can't read a brochure?"
"Who's the one who forgot I'm not exactly bird watching material?"
Bakugo scoffed, "like I could forget with that small ass dog in your jacket."
Acorn brought his head up, cocking his head to the side.
"Yeah I'm talking about you, you shitty rat."
Acorn yipped at him, huffing a bit.
"Did your dog just insult me!?"
Acorn barked what seemed to be a confirmation while Izuku just shrugged, "Acorn knows what's what."
Bakugo ground his teeth together, forcing himself to be quiet as Present Mic started his presentation.
"WELCOME ALL UA HOPEFULS! CAN I GET A YEEAAAH!"
"NO.' Izuku shouted back, causing bakugo to snort.
"LOVE THE ATTITUDE LITTLE DUDE! ALRIGHTY THEN!" Present Mic Laughed, "Today you'll all be testing your mettle against robotic enemies in simulated cities! There's three in all! Ranging from one point to three points! Rack up as many as you can for your shot into UA! Rules are keep the property damage to a minimum yo, and no going villain and attacking other contestants! Serious no go! Past that, do your best!"
"EXCUSE ME!"
Izuku jumped at the sudden exclamation as a boy a few rows ahead of him jumped up, Acorn barking a few times at the uptight boy that seemed to be idling in place alongside his racing heart.
"The brochure here says there are four bot models, NOT three, if this is an accident on the schools behalf, then it is a disgrace! And you!" he whirled around, leveling an arm back at Izuku, "having an animal at a presentation such as this is VERY unprofessional!"
"Now that's not very nice." Izuku said, jabbing his thumb at Bakugo, "Kacchan's housebroken, he deserves to be here."
"The fuck-" Bakugo started indignantly.
"Alright, examinees settle down!" Present Mic held his hands up reassuringly, "any and all bodies in this room are meant to be here! Now, examinee 7111, thank you for your question! The fourth bot is more of a thwomp, only there to be an obstacle and worth zero points. So it doesn't really matter! Now! Lets leave off this presentation with a glance at our school motto! Good luck and go beyond PLUS ULTRA!"
Izuku stood up, stretching a bit, "promise i won't leave the gap too wide between second and first place." Izuku said, grinning when he could practically feel bakugo glaring at him and his choice of wording.
"Tch, just don't get lost loser, you're in training ground Beta." with that Bakugo left, leaving Izuku to blink.
"Where the fuck is training ground Beta?"
WVWVW
It took him a bit of work, but soon he was able to get into the right bus following the loud vibrating boy who'd tried to call him out earlier. He let Acorn out to let the little guy stretch while he knelt down, putting his hand down on the concrete to see what he could inside the actual city. He could feel the many different robots puttering around the city, no enemy for them to lock onto yet having them going into pretty blatant search patterns. "Looks like this is gonna be pretty easy Acorn." Izuku said, standing up. And focusing on the other examinees, ears pricking a bit when he noticed a familiar heartbeat, "Uraraka's here, we should go say hi." he turned to start walking towards her when the vibrating boy once again made an appearance.
'It looks like she's trying to concentrate." the boy said sternly, stepping in his way, "are you trying to distract her?"
"She's a friend." Izuku said simply, unsure of where he was looking but knowing his lack of eye contact was annoying the boy if the dramatic increase in heart rate was anything to go by, "and you're not, so if you wouldn't mind-"
"GO!"
Izuku groaned, "thanks a lot dick." he said, stomping on the ground and sending himself and acorn rocketing towards the now open gates with a slanted rock pillar.
"That kid's got the right idea!" Present Mic cheered, "there's no countdown in real life kids! GO GO GO!"
Tenya Iida shot forward, eyes widening as he found the main street already littered with the bodies of robots, torn apart by rock spikes or crushed under several slabs of sidewalk concrete that looked to have been torn directly from the ground. He was able to glimpse the green haired boy, fluidly moving between swinging metallic arms. His tiny dog easily knocking tails and arms aside before they could reach his owner; he caught a glimpse of the boy suddenly swinging his arm in an arc before he went down a separate alley to find his own points. He could feel the rumble under his feet and could guess what the boy had done.
An earth mover was fairly common in the grand scheme of things, but he wasn't there to wonder about the quirks of his fellow examinees.
He had his own points to get after all.
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Izuku stomped his foot, squatting low and bringing both hands up with a bit of strain as the street split in half, a forty meter shelf folding back to crush several bots before Izuku was ducking under the swing of what felt like a whip. Wind buffeting his hair as he fell back onto one hand to avoid the swipe of a pincer; his fingers easily stabbing into the asphalt for a few moments before he was swinging his hand back up, sending a jagged wall of earth tearing into one of his opponents. He landed on his back and quickly rolled away from the whip-like tail once more. The spider-like robot it belonged to slowly stomped towards him as it primed its tail once more.
Acorn came flying in, knocking the tail off course as Izuku got his feet under him. He thrust both hands up together, causing a thick spike of earth to tear through the center of the bot. With a grunt he parted his hands, ruthlessly tearing it in half as the spike split down the middle. With a deep breath Izuku stretched for a bit, ears pricking up as he noted that the fighting had moved a few streets over. "I really wish I knew which bot was which." he mumbled as he started walking towards the main street, it had been about ten minutes since the start of the test and he could already tell that everyone was winding down. He could feel more bots on the other side of the city; The faint rumbling and stomping of their treads and feet sending vague shapes and outlines on the edge of his 'vision', But they were too far for him to want to strain himself running. He'd already done a pretty good job of trashing bots from the entrance of the faux city all the way to the east side of it; he'd taken random streets and alleyways to make sure he didn't run into others during his rampage.
He reached the mainstreet as he felt something new. Small tremors throughout the city that were growing. Outlining something huge underground. A few streets away and at least a few stories underground.
The tremors were barely there for his own senses to pick up, let alone everyone in the area.
"Everyone run!" Izuku shouted, "something's coming from underground!"
"Yeah right!" one guy sneered, "you're just trying to distract us!"
"Figures the shrimps trying to play dirty!" another scoffed.
Izuku felt his eye twitch, and didn't stop the vindictive smile when the tremor turned into an earthquake as the giant robot suddenly shot up from the ground. He winced when he saw it clip a building and send debris falling towards the stunned and terrified test takers.
"Watch out!" Izuku shouted, running forward and taking a powerful leap, landing with a stomp as he brought both arms forward from behind him; hands clasping in a point that had two large triangular rock walls crash out of the concrete, meeting in a point that stopped most of the debris from harming anyone.
"Good call Midoriya!" the familiar voice of Uraraka called, making Izuku grin as he felt the girl run up to him, out of breath and clutching her stomach. "Nice save!"
"It's not over yet." Izuku warned as he felt what could only be the Zero-pointer lumber towards them, "it's headed this way."
"Everyone run!" Uraraka shouted, and this time they listened.
"I'm gonna see if I can't slow it down." Izuku said, punching out and sending one of the triangular walls straight for the zero pointer. The hardened earth shattering against the hard metal armor.
"Try this!" Uraraka cheered, taking away the gravity from the other wall, "no gravity! No resistance! Let'er rip!"
Izuku grinned and punched out with his other arm. He was stunned at the speed the makeshift projectile shot out at. The sheer momentum of the attack staggering the zero-pointer and even making it fall back before it caught itself on the nearby buildings.
"Direct hit!" Izuku cheered as Acorn barked victoriously.
Uraraka was able to bring her hands together and burp out "release" a few moments before she threw up. Izuku heard a weird shimmering and cocked his head.
"Did you eat nickels or somethin'?" he asked, untensing as a horn sounded, signalling the end of the exam.
"I throw up rainbows when I push my quirk too much." Uraraka groaned as she wiped her mouth.
"Rainbows?" Izuku questioned, 'what kind of-" he stopped as he felt something, something that wasn't supposed to be in rubble, "Uraraka! There's someone over there!"
Immediately Uraraka's nausea was gone, replaced by worry as she followed Izuku's pointed finger to a shattered store front a dozen meters or so in front of them Where a hand was peeking out from under a pile of rubble. She was already on the move alongside Izuku. "Wait on using your quirk." Uraraka said as Izuku began to raise his hands, "if you shift something wrong you might hurt them more."
Izuku nodded, carefully looking over the pile, a few larger segments of building that looked to be keeping the boy pinned, carefully he tapped each of the pieces before gripping one, "when I pick this up, grab him and pull him out fast, Acorn help."
Uraraka crouched down, hands at the ready as Acorn bounced to her side, flat on his belly as he prepared to help.
Izuku took a deep breath, "Go!" he ordered, raising the rubble. Immediately Uraraka grabbed the boy's shirt and pulled, moving him enough for Acorn to get a mouthful of cloth and pull him out the rest of the way, "he's clear!"
Izuku dropped the segment, focusing on the body, "looks like he got lucky." Izuku sighed in relief, sitting back against the rubble. "I'm not sensing any broken bones at least."
The boy groaned as he sat up, "thanks guys." he sighed, "my quirks hardening, and when that rubble hit I couldn't really do much."
"Glad we could help." Uraraka said with a smile before flopping down with a sigh.
"Yeah, glad we could help." Izuku said, ears pricking as he heard the sound of a cane clicking against the concrete.
"Oh dear, you kids look tired." an elderly voice said as a diminutive woman hobbled towards them, "other than the earth mover, do you need any healing sonny?"
Izuku shook his head, "I think Acorn hurt his paw a bit." he said, jabbing a thumb at the pup who was holding his paw up pathetically.
"I'll get to him in a second, let me check over these two first."
Soon they were all healed up with a handful of gummies each.
"Your results will be mailed to you." Recovery girl called after them as they left, "you all did a good job!"
"Thank you!" Uraraka chirped as they walked, "boy, I could use a nap." she whined, slumping a bit as the boy they saved chuckled.
"Yeah, I know what you mean, my ears are still ringing from that hit." he mumbled, "by the way! I'm Ejiro Kirishima! It's super manly that you guy's saved me!"
""Manly?" Uraraka asked while Izuku grinned.
"No problem," the young earth bender said, "though I don't think a dog can be manly."
"No way man! Everyone can be manly!" Kirishima exclaimed, clenching his fists.
"Well that clears that up!" Uraraka giggled, picking Acorn up as they walked. "I'm Ochako Uraraka."
"Izuku Midoriya." Izuku introduced himself. "And this is Acorn.'
"Good to meet you both! Hopefully we'll all get in!" Kirishima gushed as they boarded the bus. None of them paid attention to Tenya Iida, who was still gawking at what he'd just seen the earth bender and the gravity girl do.
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A few weeks later
Izuku was absentmindedly muttering his thoughts into his voice recorder in his room, mostly about his own training and workout routine. Tweaking and adjusting his plan in his musings alongside a few words on some hero fight's he'd been able to sense throughout the day.
He had a few audio files of similar thoughts and ramblings and he'd sometimes go back to them when he was feeling bored.
He quickly turned his recorder off as he felt the front door open and his mother frantically rush in. "you good ma?" he called as he jumped to his feet.
"It's UA!" she called and immediately Izuku ran into the room.
"Open it!" Izuku almost demanded, bouncing on the balls of his feet as Acorn bounced around him, yipping excitedly.
"Okay, okay!" Inko chuckled as she opened the letter, "oh it's a holo-disk! Let me turn it on."
A short bit of static sounded and then Izuku heard it. "BOOYAH! I AM HERE AS A HOLOGRAM!"
"It's All Might!" his mother gushed a bit and Izuku grinned.
"You're probably wondering what I'm doing here! Well wonder no longer! For I will be the new foundational Hero professor at UA! And as such, i'll be giving you your exam results-hmm? Speed it up, but I had-how many do i have to do?"
Izuku couldn't help it, he started laughing at the man's flustered tone, reigning himself in when his mother shushed him.
"-any ways, onto your score! You nabbed a respectable fifty nine villain points! More than enough to pass! However! There was a secret aspect to the test that we don't advertise! And that's RESCUE POINTS!"
"Oh my-that robot's huge!"
Izuku winced at his mothers exclamation, he may have downplayed the size of the gargantuan, and he could only assume the hologram was now showing exactly what he had faced.
"With your quick thinking and defense of the crowd-as well as your save of a fellow student- you've gained sixty rescue points! Bringing your overall score to a whopping one hundred and nineteen points! You've rocketed to the top of the chart!"
"I…what?" Izuku asked in surprise, shock, keeping him rooted in place even as his mother almost bowled him over with a hug.
"Oh Izuku! congratulations!" she gushed as All Might finished the video with a proud 'welcome, young Midoriya, to your Hero Academia!"
"I did it." he whispered, stunned, finally returning his mothers hug, "I did it!" he cheered.
"You did! Oh this calls for Katsudon! I'll get on it right away! Oh I'm so proud of you!" she squeezed him one last time before bustling into the kitchen.
Izuku grinned as he ruffled Acorns fur when the pup nudged his leg, "we're on our way, fur ball." he said, his grin softening to a smile as the delicious smell of his mothers cooking filled the air, "we're on our way."
