Author's Note

For anyone who wants to know exactly what Shadow looks like in this story, please see to the cover art for your answers. I get asked this question a lot, of whether or not she is a hedgehog like in the games or a human girl with hedgehog ears atop her head like a catgirl with a short stubby tail. She is a human girl with hedgehog ears atop her head and a tail, just with Shadow's typical slited catlike red eyes and his constant resting bitchface, lol. Yes she's pretty much based entirely off of Ryuko Matoi, just a little more tan, that's all.

Uploaded

02/19/2025

LEGEND BELOW

"So you want to be a hero?" = Normal speech.

''He's not serious...'' = Normal thoughts.

Chapter 12

Rated-M

M rating for violence, mature themes, romance, and language.

Music of the day

My Hero Academia ost - Hero A

"Now that you're all ready, it's time to begin combat training!" All Might declared after clearing his throat.

"Sir!" Tenya exclaimed suddenly, raising his hand with a question. "This is the fake city from our entrance exam. Does that mean we'll be conducting urban battles again?" The question was a fair one considering their current location on Yuuei property, but if he was correct then they were in for a disappointing afternoon.

Shadow scoffed, arms crossed under her bare chest. "If that's the case then why are we even here?" She grumbled in disappointment, hopeful that Tenya was wrong. She'd just blow through this exam too if that was the case…

"Not quite!" All Might quickly interjected, tossing them a peace sign. Or he simply ment to convey two, two of what, she wasn't sure. "I'm going to move you two steps ahead." He clarified.

Shadow's eyebrows rose slightly. "Oh." She hummed as he continued.

"Most of the villain fights you see on the news take place outside. However, statistically speaking, run-ins with the most dastardly evildoers take place indoors." He swung his arms out wide, offering them a knowing grin. "Think about it. Backroom deals, home invasions, secret underground lairs! Truly intelligent criminals stay hidden in the shadows. So for this training exercise you'll be split into two teams, good guys and bad guys and fight two on two battles indoors."

Tsuyu held a finger to the side of her face in an undeniably cute way. "Isn't this a little.. advanced?"

"The best training is what you get on the battlefield!" The mountain of a man exclaimed with a grin, flexing his muscles again. "But remember, you can't just punch a robot this time! You'll be fighting real people today!" He explained seriously, leveling a look at Shadow and Bakugo respectively.

"W-What are you looking at me for?" Shadow murmured indignantly, flushing hot red in embarrassment when he raised an eyebrow to challenge her statement.

Ok ok…

She did sort of turn those military robots into piles of slag and scrap metal in a way that definitely would've torn humans into bloody pulps.

Maybe no spin moves today…

"With that in mind there are a few rules I'm going to dish out, and going against them or using certain illegal abilities against your classmates will be an immediate fail for you and your teammates, so please listen carefully!" All Might called out very seriously, pulling their attention.

"Shadow, I know your quirk allows you bursts of extreme speeds and moments of high attack power, and that can be extremely deadly when used against other people. But specifically speaking, during your entrance exam you were seen displaying this ability to grow your hair out long enough to surround your body while you summersault through the air, your hair taking on the property of very durable blades that allowed you to cut straight through heavily reinforced metal battlebots." He intoned lowly. "Simply put, your spin dash attack is strictly prohibited to be used against your fellow classmates. Do you understand?" In that moment he wasn't the happy bubbly teacher, but a serious hero who was giving an order, one that couldn't be ignored.

Shadow swallowed underneath the intensity of his presence, nodding meekly at his demands. "Yes sir." She stated with a nod, getting a relieved grin from the man.

"Good. I want you to be reasonable, and that goes for all of you." He called out, leveling a gaze at the rest of them. "Many of your abilities could seriously injure your fellow classmates, or even kill them in extreme circumstances. Please take caution during this exam, but don't hold back!"

Shadow turned out what he said after that, realizing now that friendly fire so to speak was on the table for training that she was going to have to be careful with her powers. It would be all too easy to cut down a citizen or an unsuspecting classmate if she were to go all out without being aware of her surroundings. She'd trained her abilities for many years now, so she was confident she could control them when in close proximity to her classmates.

She'd prove that she deserved to be here, she grinned to herself.

"Is something the matter, Master?" A deep low voice intoned curiously, Senketsu glancing up at her from her breast in concern.

She flashed him a fanged grin. "Nah. Everything's good." She whispered seriously.

"Alright enough jabbering!" The man called out, cutting the chatter that had sprung up after he'd taken a moment to breathe. "Look here! The situation is this!" He pulled out a comically small book, a script written down in his own handwriting. "The villains have hidden a nuclear bomb somewhere in this building, and the heroes must do their best to thwart their plans. To accomplish this the good guys either have to subdue the evildoers or recover the weapon and defuse it. Likewise the villains win if they capture the heroes or are successful in defending their weapon before the timer runs out."

He took a breath, stowing away the book before pulling out a box with a slit on the top. "But time is limited so we're going to pull slots to decide who goes where!"

"Isn't there a better way to decide the teams?" Tenya raised his hand to ask.

"Actually I think this is a better way to go about it." Izuku spoke up gently, drawing the blue haired teens attention. Seeing as he had the attention of the rest of the class he continued. "Think about it, pros often have to team up with heroes from other agencies on the spot, so maybe that's the reason we're seeing it here."

Tenya's eyes widened in understanding, holding an armored hand to his chin. "Life is a series of random encounters. If we're trained to work well despite potentially bad matchups then we will have a better time out in the real world." He nodded in agreement, his opinion of the white haired boy soaring even higher. "Izuku, you truly are a wise person." He admitted genuinely, patting the shorter teen on the shoulder.

Izuku flushed in embarrassment underneath the praise. "A-Ah thank you, Tenya. I'm happy you see it my way." He rubbed the back of his head, smiling happily up at the tall guy.

"Hey he's right!" Kirishima exclaimed with a grin. "We need to learn to battle alongside heroes who might even clash against our own quirks! We can't learn how to do that in the middle of a crisis!" He realized with a grin. He'd not even begun the exercise and he'd already learned so much.

"Right you are, young Midoriya!" All Might exclaimed, pleased to see that they'd made up a good excuse for him to have not thought this through. "Now then, let's pull some numbers!" He laughed.

It took a few moments for everyone to pull a number, yet once everyone had said numbers then he pulled separate tags to see who would get put together with who. "Alrighty! First up for the villain team is Shoto Todoroki and Katsuki Bakugo. The villains will have five minutes to hide their bomb somewhere in the building."

There was a gasp that seemed to echo out throughout the class at the combination. Two of the most powerful thrown together on the same team was going to be an extremely powerful force to be reckoned with.

"Fuck yeah!" Bakugo shouted, getting a frown out of the half and half teen.

"This will be easy." Shoto murmured arrogantly, arms crossed over his chest.

"Alright alright, simmer down. For the heroes going up against them will be…!" He stuck his hand into the box again, rummaging around for a moment before pulling out two names. "Ochaco Uraraka, and Shadow Robotnik!"

"Fuck!" Bakugo shouted, much to the raven haired girl's amusement.

"Haha!" Shadow exclaimed in glee, moving to slide up next to the blushing brunette, swinging her arm around her shoulder to pull her in close. "Let's get them. That's boys won't know what hit them." She stated with a wild grin, missing the way Ochaco's face heated up as the taller black haired girl pulled her face into the side of her bare chest.

"Y-Yeah!" Ochaco hummed nervously, face on fire.

"Both teams get ready! You've got five minutes!" All Might declared.

The game's were about to begin.

Five minutes felt like hours for the speedster, the half naked girl standing outside the front of the building with a frown, blocky shoes tapping the ground impatiently. If there was one defining trait of hers that just about everyone picked up on rather quickly, it was her terrible lack of patience and irritation when forced to wait for anything or anyone.

Five minutes felt like hours to her, damnit!

"What's the plan, Shadow? I know about Bakugo's explosion quirk and Shoto's ice, but not how they use them in a fight." Ochaco spoke up nervously, pumping her fists by her side to help psyche herself up. Yes she was absolutely nervous at having to battle side by side with her girl crush, but she was serious about becoming a hero too. That said, it was hard to keep her eyes forward and not the hedgehog eared girl's posterior that was hanging nearly completely free from her frilly costume.

She cursed herself, realizing that she was beginning to sound like Mineta, much to her mortification. The other girl might as well have been wearing a two piece bikini with additional flair and stockings for all that it covered. She was curious, however, about the large vent on her backside.

"We run in, take them out and steal the bomb. Simple." Shadow declared proudly, fists resting on her hips.

"Y-You really think it's going to be that simple?" She asked curiously, getting a sigh from the taller girl.

"Not really, just hoping." She hummed, holding a hand to her chin in thought. "Honestly I fly by the seat of my pants, especially when battling a villain. It's how I managed it in the past." She muttered aloud.

"Y-You've battled villains before?!" Ochaco squeaked in surprise.

Shadow flushed at her slip up. "Uh, it's a long story. I'll tell you later." She explained before shaking her head. "Alright, you pretty much know my powers, but I don't know the limitations of yours. If we want to win this together we've got to have an understanding of each other as teammates." She hummed seriously, turning to give the shorter girl her full undivided attention.

Ochaco flushed underneath the seriousness of her gaze. Shadow wasn't someone who gave just anyone the time of day, so it must've meant something that she was listening to her with both ears and a smile. Her cheeks warmed as she smiled meekly underneath her red eyed gaze, rubbing the back of her head nervously as she delved into a short explanation.

"Well, anything I touch with my five fingers I can remove the effects of gravity from. And when I place my hands together it undoes the effects of everything that I've previously touched." She explained seriously, her meekness seemingly fading away as the other girl gave her the time of day.

Shadow's eyes widened. "Really? How much does it affect gravity? Fifty percent?" She asked curiously.

"One hundred percent!" She clarified happily, clasping her hands together, much to Shadow's surprise.

"Really? That's amazing!" She grinned widely. "I hadn't really understood the entire concept of it before, but had guessed pretty much what it does." She explained with a nod. "What's the catch, though?"

"There's only so much I can remove the gravity from before I become too nauseous to move. Currently it's around three tons." She hummed up at the taller girl.

Shadow hummed lowly in thought, eyes narrowing as she tried to put together a potential battle strategy. Now that she thought about it she was sure the two of them put some sort of plan into action to disable her super speed, or at the very least make it difficult for her to counter them.

Not that she was really worried though.

But something the girl said did catch her attention. "Can't Todoroki use fire too?" She mused aloud, eyeing the shorter girl when Ochaco cringed. "What? Am I missing something?"

"I heard that he doesn't like to use his fire side of his quirk." The brunette murmured, recalling his chilling gaze when she'd asked him that very same question the other day. "He says he's going to make it to the top with just his ice powers alone."

Shadow frowned, feeling as if she was being looked down on, and that made her angry. "Well if he thinks he has a chance in hell against me by only using half of his quirk then he's got a lot to learn." She growled out with a wild grin. "Let's plan as we move. Follow me." She announced as the bell rang out, signaling their time to enter.

Shadow strutted forward, stopping to stand on her left leg as she raised her right one up high, knee to her chest as she charged up a vicious kick. Red lightning danced across her body as she launched her foot forward, blowing the doors clean off their hinges with a burst of power, sending them crashing down through the hallway. Almost immediately saw a wave of ice pouring out from the building, the chilly air wafting over her body.

She slowly lowered her leg back to the ground, letting out a breath of hot air. Ochaco looked on in amazement as the vent on the girl's backside suddenly expelled a burst of steam to cool her down from use of her quirk.

She grinned. "Let's move." She declared, pushing into the building.

"Right!" Ochaco grinned as well, feeding off of her energy as she ran in after her. Red lightning danced across the surface of the hedgehog's skin as she prepared to take off in a run, speeding through the-

The girl screamed in a very unladylike as a wave of ice came barreling down the hallway, covering the floor she was speeding across in a thick sheet of ice. The effect was almost immediate as she lost her balance at blistering speed, slipping as she cracked her head against the wall at the end of the hall. There was a resounding thud as her body collided with the building at high speeds, a shockwave echoing out.

She pried herself from the wall with an indignant huff, face burning in embarrassment at the realization that most likely everyone had seen what just happened over the cameras situated throughout. Talk about an embarrassing first impression.

"Shadow! Are you alright?" Ochaco called from the entrance, worried to try and cross the ice.

The dark haired girl huffed as she went to stand, flicking her hair out of her face with a snarl. Now she was pissed, and those boys were going down. "I'm fine!" She yelled back, frowning down at the floor. With this ice in the way she was pretty much useless, seeing as she couldn't make use of her speed here now.

They were going to have to find some other way around, otherwise they were going to fail. She growled lowly as she cracked her heel into the floor, shattering the ice around her to prove her some maneuverability. Ochaco quickly caught up, carefully crossing the ice as best she could, even sliding over at one point.

…

…

…

Shadow grinned dangerously, an idea popping into her head. "Ochaco, can you remove the effects of gravity from me?" She asked suddenly, eyeing the girl with a strange seriousness.

The brunette frowned curiously. "Yeah why?" She asked.

Shadow turned around. "Just trust me on this." She stated, and the other girl was inclined to listen. Ochaco made her way to her side, pressing the five paw pad-like fingertips to her bare backside, removing the effect that gravity had on her body. The effect was almost immediate as Shadow began to float away, only to reach out and scoop the surprised brunette up into her arms bridal style.

"W-What are you doing?!" She squeaked, face going hot red as her cheek pressed up against Shadow's garter belt covered boob.

"Ice skating!" She declared with a grin, huffing as she began to build up a burst of energy. She ran in place fast, her legs a blur as she forcefully began to try and overheat her body. Then she leapt onto the ice, the vent on her backside propelling steam to prevent her from overheating, which acted like thruster exhaust as it shot them both forward. The little vents on her heels and toes of her air shoes adjusted to keep her steady, Senketsu having already read her mind and knew her plan of action and moved to compensate for her.

Ochaco couldn't help but laugh in surprise as they sped over the ice like rocket powered ice skates, flying through the previously otherwise uncrossable building layout.

Room after room passed by with no sign of the bomb, eventually reaching the top floor with only two rooms left to clear. Shadow slid to a stop just outside the final room, finding it completely blocked off by ice.

"This has to be it." She murmured, setting the other girl down as she stood back up, eyeing it with a grin. "Playtime's over boys." She stated aloud. Ochaco placed her fingers together to remove her nullified gravity, just as Shadow charged up a wild spinning kick. She exploded forward with a burst of speed, blowing the ice apart as she made her dramatic entrance. "Hello, boys!" She exclaimed with a wild grin, red eyes instantly locking on Shoto's surprised face.

"Shit!" Katsuki shouted in alarm at their sudden entrance, launching into action. "Go with plan b!" He shouted towards Shoto, watching as the girl flew through the air towards a wall she likely planned to kick off of to come his way. He aimed a gaint explosion her way, just narrowly missing her.

"Right!" Shoto hummed lowly, fanning his hand out as he shot a wave of ice right toward the flying girl. It narrowly missed her as she tightly twisted her body midair, her lithe slender form slipping away from his attack with ease.

"Come on, you don't think you can catch me with that do you?" She laughed aloud, spinning over his attack as she landed on a support pillar before kicking off of it towards the half and half teen with a devastating kick, ready to knock him out in one blow. Shoto barely had time to react, throwing a freezing wave of ice her way that impeded her movement, giving him enough time to escape as she crashed through the wall of ice.

She clicked her tongue in annoyance as she landed where he'd been a second before, snapping to the side to see him launching another wave at her. She hissed as she leapt to the side to dodge, the ice blowing out a section from the side of the building. Her boots skidded across the ground to slow down from her rapid shift in placement, eyes snapping to the side as Bakugo launched at her with his palms open for a two handed explosive attack.

Shadow threw her arms up to brace as the attack slammed into her, tossing her free from the ground. Although she'd been unable to safely avoid the attack she'd blocked it well enough, flipping backwards in a blur of speed as her feet landed on the wall on the far side of the room.

She was on the side of the concrete wall for the briefest of moments before she exploded forward in a spinning forward motion signature of her spin dash. The attack had been so sudden that it gave Bakugo pause, a string of fear shooting through him at the prospect of having to try to go up against an attack that could seriously injure him or worse. His brain panicked at the thought, giving the girl in question all the time she needed to fly out of her fake spin dash in a flying kick.

The blonde had to commend her for tricking him into thinking she was going to attack like she planned on seriously harming him just long enough to convince him she was serious before switching out to a generic shoe across his face, spit flying from his mouth as she tossed him clean across the room, the teen crashing into the wall. He coughed hard, trying to regain that precious oxygen she'd forcefully removed from his lungs.

"Gotcha!" Ochaco exclaimed happily, yanking his left arm behind him as she tried to cuff him. Bakugo panicked, not realizing that she'd gotten so close to him without him noticing, and now she was about to finish him off. He'd been so focused on the larger threat that he'd completely missed the one he deemed worthless until she nearly had him in cuffs.

His still free right palm fired off an explosion at the ground to try and put distance between himself and the grinning brunette. But he wasn't prepared for her to reach out and slap him across the face as he escaped, removing the gravity from him as his quirk launched him far further and faster than he'd been prepared to handle, crashing into a support pillar with a pained cough. His back ached in pain, oxygen fleeing from his lungs without warning.

Ochaco grinned as she placed her hands together, dropping him from high up. Katsuki fell to the ground in defeat, struggling to fill his lungs with oxygen as she cuffed him. "Damnit…" He coughed, cursing his single mindedness as he stood up to make his departure, leaving Shoto to fend for himself.

Shadow laughed victoriously as she watched Ochaco secure the win, now turning her attention to the only remaining player on the enemy team. "Well Shoto? You gonna keep coming at me with half your power or what?!" She called out with a grin, hiding how irritated it made her to learn that he wasn't going all out against her, holding half of his power back.

The other teen's eyes narrowed dangerously. "What did you say?" He muttered lowly as the raven haired girl took a brief moment to catch her breath, Senketsu venting her built up temperature. Her face was flushed hot red as her eyes, not in embarrassment but in exertion. Senketsu hummed happily as he devoured her built up energy, releasing it through his vent on her bare backside, eye rolling up in glee.

Shadow stood her ground, feet flared out, hips jutting forward proudly as she leveled a sharply pointed finger at the guy. "You heard me! Do you think Bakugo was holding back against me here? Do you think I was looking down upon him either?" She egged him on, frowning indignantly as the teen finally showed another emotion besides his usual brooding.

Anger.

"Looking down on you?" He muttered in confusion, before it turned to anger. "Who do you think you are?" He growled out, ice crawling down his arm in response to his sudden burst of ire.

"The one who's going to beat your ass unless you take me seriously." She growled out, stopping to stand in front of him, arms crossed firmly. Ochaco stood in the background, unsure whether or not she was supposed to interfere here or not. "You plan on putting lives on the line in the future as a pro because you thought using fifty percent was good enough?" She asked seriously, before she was forced to dodge as a wave of ice attempted to freeze her solid.

"Shut your mouth. Don't talk about things you don't understand!" He muttered darkly, frost building up on his lips as he sent wave after wave to chase her down.

Shadow frowned as she flipped over his attack again and again, leaping from wall to wall as she deftly avoided even being scratched by his ice. He seemed pissed now, more angry at her words than she'd ever seen him. To be fair it was only her second day at the academy, but she'd never seen him so bent over something.

But she also wasn't here to worry about someone's feelings and if she hurt them, so she didn't plan on taking back what she said. But, she was going to prove a point.

"Fine then! You want to play that way I'll play that way!" She yelled out, landing on the ground far across from him. "You want to fight me without half your quirk then I'll fight you without Senketsu." She called out, glancing down to the worried eye of her costume glancing up at her.

"Lady Shadow? What do you intend to do?" He asked huskily, worried because he already had a feeling.

"Fight him without your help." She muttered under her breath. "Senketsu, go into passive mode." She ordered quietly. The lone eye of her fabric looked up at her in worry, before sighing in defeat.

"As you wish." He intoned deeply, disappointed that he would no longer be able to feed off of her energy. Her body was suddenly surrounded in a flash of white as Senketsu began to change, coming apart around her before changing into his normal form, consisting of a medium length black skirt and a sailor crop-top with long sleeves, two garter belts connecting the top and bottom with one on her back. In this form he was of no use to her, simply acting as a pair of casual if cute clothing, nothing more.

Shadow let out a breath, hot air escaping from her mouth, the only way left to her without Senketsu's far superior ventilation systems in place.

"What are you doing?" Shoto muttered in surprise, still upset but he'd clearly not anticipated her removing her hero uniform to fight him. He'd seen her overheat from use of her quirk once already, and he knew that without the skimpy uniform she was wearing that was her end result of this battle.

So why…?

"To prove a point. Let's see who gives out sooner. Either I overheat without Senketsu, or you freeze yourself by not using your quirk." She exclaimed with a smirk, hands on her hips.

"Why do you care so much?" He asked briskly, holding back from attacking for a moment. "This is my problem, not yours."

"I don't give a damn about your personal issues or why you're not fighting me at full strength." She admitted genuinely, getting the boy to sputter at her bluntness. "I'm not going to earn this victory over you because you refused to take me seriously. So I plan on kicking your ass the old fashioned way without any help."

"Attention students! Five minutes remaining!" All Might's voice echoed over the speakers, getting both fighter's attention. Shoto sneered at her, but she couldn't help but grin. If it was a war of attrition they were going into, then she was going to win.

Chapter

12

End