"Don't watch the clock, do what it does. Keep going."
– Sam Levenson
Melissa zipped up her red boilersuit and fastened the collar. Sitting down on the bench, she grabbed her Bounding Soles from next to her. The piece of support gear mainly consisted of two silver metal soles, outfitted with repulsive technology, that fit over the footwear the user wore.
Sliding the Bounding Soles over the boots already on her feet, she gripped the straps and secured them over the top of her foot and around her ankle. Next, she stood, turning back to her support gear case and retrieving the Stormcallers.
They were a pair of gauntlets that went most of the way to her elbows, made entirely of metal, the panels on the backs of her hands housing the taser unit, while the armoured fingers allowed for her to release electrical blasts at close range. The bulky forearms of the Stormcallers contained the batteries, large enough to last for the entire exam.
Or at least I hope they are.
Melissa took one last item from her case, her tool belt, fastening it around her waist. On it were a number of miscellaneous tools, as well as a number of smaller gadgets, all pre-approved by the UA Exam Board.
Closing and locking the case, Melissa stowed it under the bench.
"I can do this." Melissa whispered to herself, glad the changing rooms were very nearly empty and she was far away from those who remained in the room.
Straightening her glasses, Melissa turned and made her way to the exit, which led to just outside the mock cityscape where the exam was going to take place.
"Huh, I'd have thought you would have come to your senses and just stayed in there."
Melissa flinched, finding the doorway out of the changing room blocked by three girls she didn't recognise. The girl in the centre had orange hair tied back and a heavy metal visor, a line of blue energy across it, over her eyes.
The girl in the centre spoke again. "Did you hear me, quirkless? Or are your ears defective as well?"
"Excuse me." Melissa uttered, trying to keep her tone polite.
"Kogasu asked you a question, dud." One of the unremarkable girls snarled.
"Yeah, come on, quirkless, answer the question." The last girl chimed in.
"Please could I get past?" Melissa asked, ignoring their vitriol, just like her mother had said to.
"You aren't going anywhere, quirkless." Kogasu spat. "Go on, back in there with you, where you belong. I think the showers need a clean, you can do that, can't you? 'Cause that's all you're good for."
"Yeah, clean up after us, quirkless!" One of the flunkies added.
Melissa sighed. "Is this really the best you've got?"
"W-What?" Kogasu blurted out, taking a half-step backward.
"What I'm saying is that this is amateur hour, and I don't have time for it." Melissa retorted. "So, let's get this over with. What are you going to do? Force me back inside and lock the door? Tell me to kill myself? I've had all this before, more times than I can remember, and yet I'm still here, right now. So what do you think you can do to stop me that others haven't already tried?"
Melissa resisted a smirk as the three girls floundered, looking at each other with confusion.
"Go kill yourself!" One of the lackeys hissed.
"There it is." Melissa sighed. "Creativity isn't your strong suit, is it?"
"This is boring." Kogasu declared, turning and flouncing away, her two minions trailing after her.
Melissa released a breath she hadn't realised she was holding.
"So you've had the fun of meeting Reza Kogasu, then?"
Stepping out of the changing rooms Melissa looked to her right to see a blond-haired boy casually leaning against the wall of the adjacent boys' changing rooms.
"You know her?" Melissa queried, pointing towards the retreating form of the orange-haired girl.
"Know her?" The boy scoffed. "Unfortunately, we go to the same junior high."
Melissa shrugged, readjusting her Stormcallers.
"And her little entourage of sycophants can always be found trailing a couple of steps behind." The boy continued, an almost bored tone to his voice.
"I take it you two are not friends, then?"
The boy barked a humourless laugh. "Friends? Nothing could be further from the truth, to her, I'm almost as bad as you are."
As bad as I am?
Melissa raised an eyebrow. "You're quirkless?"
"Me? Quirkless? Hardly." The boy's tone turned haughty, and he stood straighter, brushing off his tracksuit as if to emphasise his superiority. "My quirk allows me to copy the quirks of others. It's a power with limitless potential, one that will make me the next No.1 Hero."
Melissa tilted her head. "Then why would she—"
"She doesn't care." The boy interrupted, his smirk fading into a sneer. "To someone like her, my quirk is, parasitic, no true power of its own. And to her, that makes me just as bad as being quirkless."
"And being quirkless is bad?" Melissa retorted, feeling her hackles go up.
The boy's smirk widened, his eyes glinting with a mixture of amusement and condescension that only irritated Melissa further.
"Not to me, of course. Who am I to look down on the less fortunate?" The blond-haired boy's tone dripped with faux magnanimity. "But we both know that society doesn't share my enlightened perspective."
Melissa crossed her arms. "So, what, you think I should just accept that?"
The boy raised his hands in a mock surrender. "Hey, calm down, I'm certainly not saying you should just roll over and let them step on you. Quite the opposite, actually. They're always going to look down on you, but you can use that to your advantage, plus doesn't everybody love an underdog!"
Melissa wasn't quite sure how to respond, there was a definite edge to his words, a bitterness she recognised but hadn't expected from someone like him. Someone so arrogant. She studied him carefully, noting how his confident posture didn't quite match the tightness in his jaw.
"You've dealt with this before, haven't you? Being looked down upon?" Melissa asked, her tone softening.
The boy shrugged, though the movement oozed forced nonchalance. "Everyone has their battles. Mine just happen to come in the form of people like Kogasu. Who thinks a quirk like mine is, what's the word she likes to use? Right, cheating. As if I chose this. As if I care what they think."
The blond-haired boy's smirk returned, sharper this time. "But enough about me. This isn't a therapy session, unless you're happy to pay me. What about you? How are you planning to prove them all wrong, or are you just going to let them win?"
Melissa straightened her back, her determination rekindled. "I'm going to prove them wrong. Quirk or not, I'll make a difference."
The boy gave her an approving nod, his smirk softening slightly. "Good answer. For what it's worth, I think you'll do just fine here, assuming you don't get trampled by the unwashed masses first."
"And you?" Melissa countered, raising an eyebrow. "Are you going to prove them wrong?"
The boy's grin returned, full of theatrical confidence. "Oh, I don't need to. They'll see. They always do."
With a push, the boy came away from the wall and began walking away, though not before tossing one last remark over his shoulder. "Remember the name, Neito Monoma. You'll want to say you knew me way back when."
Well, he's certainly, arrogant.
Melissa watched him go, her mind swirling with thoughts. Monoma was a contradiction, sure, he was arrogant and conceited, but there was something else beneath it. Something she knew all too well.
A crippling lack of self-worth.
Izuku stood a little away from the rest of the examinees waiting outside of the faux cityscape he'd now learnt was Ground Beta, or Test Centre B as it was being called today.
"So big." Izuku murmured to himself, feeling very small by comparison.
Not far away the other examinees were milling around, some talking to each other, others warming up, one blond-haired boy was checking his appearance in a hand-held mirror.
"Excuse me!"
Izuku jumped at the sound of the navy-haired boy's voice, turning in time to see him marching towards him.
"Why are you here?" The navy-haired boy demanded. "Are you hoping to interfere with others by muttering? It's quite distracting."
Izuku shook his head, waving his hand wildly. "No, no, it's just a bad habit of mine."
"Hm, are you really taking this seriously, or is this just a chance to doss?" The navy-haired boy replied.
Izuku shrank as he felt the attention of the other examinees falling on him, whispers and laughter echoing from every direction.
"Look at him, flinching and stuttering."
"What a dud, I can do better than him, no doubt."
"It's just sad, weirdo."
He could feel how pleased they were, one less competition, it oozed off of them.
"AND START!"
The crowd rippled, turning towards a massive tower from which Present Mic's quirk-enhanced shout had come. Izuku didn't do the same, he remembered what All Might had told him on the drive to UA.
"Oh, and by the way, Young Midoriya, when they shout start, just book it, don't look around, just run."
Izuku did just that, racing towards the gate of Test Centre B as fast as his legs could carry him.
"HEY, HEY, HEY, THERE AIN'T NO COUNTDOWNS IN REAL LIFE! THE TEST HAS BEGUN, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!"
Silence fell, apart from the sound of Izuku's sneakers pounding on the tarmac.
"THE DIE IS CAST, LISTENERS! RUN!"
Izuku turned his head back towards the crowd, finding that the other examinees had now finally set off running after him, the navy-haired boy rapidly catching up to him thanks to the engines in his calves.
Just a few seconds later, the navy-haired boy blew past him, nearly making Izuku stumble, entering Ground Beta a few seconds ahead of him.
Izuku turned left immediately, ignoring the small cluster of faux villains that the navy-haired boy was already tearing to shreds with high-powered kicks. Winding through a few roads, Izuku quickly found himself in a plaza, with numerous faux villains milling around in obvious patrol patterns. Bending down, Izuku placed his hands on the paved ground and activated Overhaul.
Within a few short moments, the paving glowed red before spikes burst from it in an arc radiating out from where Izuku's hands touched the ground, skewering two one-pointers and a three-pointer.
Five points, it's a start, but I can't rest on my laurels.
Instantly, the remaining four robots all froze in place and began to slowly rotate to point at Izuku, their previously blue lights now a violent red.
Uh-oh.
The faux villains burst into motion, a pair of two-pointers going wide either direction around Izuku, trying to encircle him, while a one-pointer shot towards him, raising one of its gatling-gun arms at him and firing.
Using Overhaul, Izuku reshaped the ground again, creating a wall between him and the one-pointer, the paintballs splattering on the masonry like they were painting a Jackson Pollock.
Reaching into his pocket, Izuku grabbed one of the only things he had requested as support gear.
A flat, round metal piece, milled to perfection, which he had named an Overcoin, storing enough potential energy to exactly match one percent of All Might's maximum output.
Thank you, Dr. Shield.
Gripping it inside a fist, Izuku glanced around his cover, seeing the one-pointer rapidly approaching. Activating Overhaul, Izuku felt the metal piece in his hand, getting ready to dismantle it into energy.
NOW!
Izuku burst out from behind his wall, appearing at the side of one-pointer as it began to climb the barricade.
"SMASH!"
With a few sparks of golden energy, Izuku drove his fist into the one-pointer's flank. Instantly it crumpled, the robot bending into two and collapsing to the ground, destroyed.
Six points.
Izuku turned to see one of the scorpion-like two pointers closing in on him, its two tails arched, glowing with red energy. Diving to one side, Izuku barely dodged twin lasers, rolling back behind his cover. The corner of the wall was blasted to pieces, stone fragments raining down on him.
Grabbing a handful of the stone fragments that lay scattered on the ground, Izuku loosened their chemical bonds and tossed them blindly over the wall.
A series of pops and bangs sounded from the other side of his barrier, and a small plume of black smoke rose into Izuku's view.
Glancing around his cover, Izuku caught sight of the two-pointer that had attacked him, one of its tails blown clean off, the other was sparking, making it the source of the black smoke. Just beyond it the tank-like three-pointer was closing it.
Dashing out, Izuku dropped into a slide under the body of the two-pointer, reaching out and touching it.
The metal swelled and buckled, before it exploded upwards and outwards, spraying the three-pointer with shrapnel. Scrambling to his feet, Izuku turned to the three-pointer, only for it to explode in a gout of flames.
Eleven points, but I feel like I'm forgetting about something.
A chill went down Izuku's spine, turning to see the second two-pointer bearing down upon him.
Oh yeah, that.
Before Izuku could act, a shockwave rippled through the robot, the bolts holding its superstructure twisting and popping. In a few short seconds it lay on the ground in a pile of sparking junk.
"Sorry, you looked like you needed a hand."
Izuku looked up to see a brown-haired boy with silver eyes.
"Thanks, I kinda, I guess, forgot about that one."
"No problem, I'm Renn Takarakuji, quirk's Joker."
Joker? Is his quirk to do with clowns? But he definitely has some kind of strength or shockwave generation quirk.
"What does Joker do—"
Izuku was alone in the plaza, with only broken, sparking robots for company.
Where did he go?
"SIX MINUTES LEFT!"
Starting, Izuku set off running, heading deeper into the mock city, away from the entrance. Turning a corner onto a ruined street, he saw a two-pointer chasing an examinee.
"I'm in serious danger, I could certainly do with someone helping me right about now." The blond-haired examinee shouted to no one in particular, sounding oddly unbothered.
Sprinting forwards, Izuku tagged the two-pointer's leg, using his quirk to transform all the joints into solid metal, leaving it barely able to move and allowing the other examinee to flee. Ducking under one of the tails, he again used Overhaul, this time severing both tails at the same time, one with each hand.
Sliding under the two-pointer, Izuku snatched up a piece of metal rebar and reshaped it into a spear. Turning in a wide circle to conserve his momentum, Izuku raced towards the two-pointer, leaping at the last second and aiming the metal spear at the robot's core.
With a grunt, Izuku felt metal puncture metal, a grinding noise issuing from the point of contact. Landing on the two-pointer's back, the spear driven halfway into its body, Izuku used all his balance training to retain his footing as the robot listed over onto its side.
Izuku jumped off just before the two-pointer hit the ground, his landing slightly wobbly, but serviceable.
Thirteen points. I have no idea how good that is, but I just have to hope that it is a good number.
"Help, I'm trapped and I need someone to save me."
Izuku turned towards one of the ruined buildings, the front facade lying scattered into the street, the second floor at the front drooping where the wall supporting it was gone.
It was the same examinee, now pinned under rubble and a steel beam, yet he had a calm smile on his face.
"Hey, could you help me?"
Izuku nodded, dashing to the cheery boy's side, examining how he was pinned.
This building is too large for me to Overhaul, plus disturbing this rubble here could make the whole building collapse.
Flicking through a mental encyclopedia of designs he had memorised, Izuku stopped on the one he wanted and placed his hands on the steel beam.
Red energy crackled, and within a few seconds, the beam reformed into an acrow prop. Positioning it under the sagging second floor and in a clear patch on the ground, Izuku adjusted its height until it took the weight of the second floor above, supporting it.
Returning his attention to the trapped examinee, Izuku laid his hands on the rubble that formed a dome over his body.
Overhaul returned a sense of the rubble, none of it was in contact with the boy and nothing was piercing his body.
It's safe to remove.
Using his quirk again, this time freestyle, Izuku reformed the rubble into two large homogeneous mounds either side of the boy's torso.
"Oh boy, that feels great, thank you for saving me." The blond examinee announced, leaping to his feet before Izuku could stop him and beginning to do warm-up exercises.
"You shouldn't really be getting up." Izuku protested lamely, before gathering himself. "You could be hurt, please allow me to check you over."
The blond-haired boy stopped mid high-knee. "Sure, why not."
Izuku moved over to the boy, placing a hand on his shoulder and using Overhaul to heal any injuries he might have.
Nothing much, just a graze on his calf.
"Ooh, I hadn't even noticed that." The blond-haired examinee exclaimed, flexing his leg, before turning and running away. "Thank you!"
Izuku watched the other examinee race away.
That was strange, weird even. He seemed completely relaxed, like he wasn't even bothered about being chased by a faux villain or trapped in rubble. And how did he manage to get buried under there so quickly?
"FOUR MINUTES REMAINING!"
Shaking his head, Izuku turned the opposite direction and set off, rounding the corner to find a solitary one-pointer in the middle of the street.
Palming a one-percent overcoin from his pocket, Izuku cocked his fist back, ready to destroy the faux villain.
"I'll take it!"
A pale blue beam of energy ripped through the one-pointer, an arm and half its torso crashing to the ground a few moments before the rest of it.
A laser?
Izuku turned to see a blond-haired boy, his longish hair perfectly styled, wearing a tracksuit with ruffles and a large metal belt around his waist, some kind of lens in its centre.
"Merci." The boy spoke. "That was good teamwork, non? But I doubt we'll ever meet each other again."
Before Izuku could even respond, the laser boy was running away at top speed.
"Adieu!"
And I thought the last guy was strange.
"So that's agreed, seven rescue points to Kirishima for protecting two of his fellow examinees."
Toshinori watched Nedzu sit back in his chair, his rodent legs not even reaching the front of it.
"Agreed." Vlad King spoke.
"What a fine young specimen." Midnight chimed in.
Toshinori didn't add anything, despite being impressed by the boy's heroism, his role today was merely as an observer, in preparation for his teaching role at UA the coming year.
"Excellent." Nedzu smiled. "Now, how about Izuku Midoriya, examinee number 1818? We agreed to give rescue points for defeating the two-pointer chasing our faux examinee—"
"Togata was laying it on a bit thick, though." Snipe commented, his voice muffled slightly by his mask.
Nedzu cleared his throat. "That he may have, but Midoriya's rescue of him from the rubble was quite impressive, ideas on points?"
"Ten."
"That's a little low, don't you think, Eraserhead?" Nedzu queried. "I thought you liked the boy?"
"I never said that." Eraserhead replied, from where he leant with his back against a wall. "And even if I did, that doesn't mean I would give him an easy ride."
"Glad to hear." Nedzu smirked, glancing directly at Toshinori for a moment. "Now, any disagreement with ten rescue points."
"Fifteen." Cementoss offered. "Five for securing the floor above first."
"Anyone disagree with fifteen?" Nedzu looked directly at Eraserhead, who gave a small shake of his head. "Fifteen it is."
Thirty-three points, Young Midoriya, just a few more and your space in the hero course will be guaranteed.
Toshinori looked at the monitors on the wall, quickly finding the one tracking Katsuki Bakugo's progress.
He's Young Midoriya's friend? Rival? I'm never quite sure.
The blond-haired boy was tearing his way through the faux villains, he already racked up sixty-three villain points, not far from surpassing the record for number of villain points, seventy-one, set by Endeavor in 2140.
If he only got some rescue points, he could even surpass the record for total points, held by Toshinori himself.
Toshinori's gaze then fell on another monitor, this one showing Melissa, his niece. To say he'd been shocked to hear her declare that she was going to try out for the UA Hero Course would be an understatement. Toshinori had watched her as a child, going from wanting to be a hero, to a support designer, but now her original dream was back.
All thanks to Young Midoriya.
"What about her, the quirkless?" Snipe questioned. "And at what point are we going to admit we need to face reality and pull her out of there? She hasn't scored a single point, and she's in serious danger without a—"
Toshinori felt himself bristle, his eyes narrowing in on the gunslinging hero.
"Say it."
The room turned to look at Toshinori before he'd even realised it was him who had spoken, or that he had activated One For All.
"A-All Might." Snipe stammered, suddenly looking quite nervous. "I didn't mean that—"
"We all know what you meant." Eraserhead interrupted. "She deserves her fair chance like her quirked peers, she still has time to score points, villain, or rescue, if she is capable."
Melissa had messed up, she had seriously underestimated how much electricity would be needed to fry the robots. And now she was running, or rather bounding, away from a three-pointer that seemed particularly focused on her.
Rounding a street corner, Melissa saw her opportunity and ducked down an alleyway, hiding from the faux villain as it rumbled past. Breathing a sigh of relief, Melissa scrambled to pull a pocket toolkit from her belt, opening up a panel on one of her Stormcallers and beginning to tinker with it.
Thirty seconds later, and with only two mild electrocutions incurred, Melissa had managed to increase the discharge output to a level she now hoped would be enough.
Honestly, it's probably a bit too much.
The only downside was that she now only had about six charges before the battery was spent.
Suddenly the three-pointer was back, forcing its way into the alleyway, the walls cracking and bowing as it rumbled towards Melissa.
Activating her Bounding Soles, Melissa sprinted towards the three-pointer before performing a hop, skip and jump and leaping over the three-pointer in a single bound. Arching her back as she flipped, Melissa aimed at the three-pointer and fired, the prongs from her modified Stormcallers burying themselves into the metal.
Landing, Melissa primed a blast and then discharged down the wires to the prongs, electrocuting the three-pointer, yet it continued to move despite heavily smoking, trying to reverse out the alleyway.
Reluctantly, Melissa used another charge, this one finishing the three-pointer off, before pressing a button on the Stormcaller to retract the prongs.
Three points, and four charges left, I don't think I have enough time to modify the other gauntlet, I should focus on getting some points.
Turning tail, Melissa bounded down the street and onto the next, searching for another faux villain, it was noticeably harder than it had been before, more than likely due to a majority of them having already been destroyed.
And then she saw it, two one-pointers patrolling a side street. Adjusting her trajectory, Melissa bounced off of a wall, landing on the roof of a one-storey building, and took aim.
The prongs stuck into one of the robots, the electrical charge a moment later frying it instantly, but unfortunately that got the attention of the other faux villain. Jumping into the air to avoid the gatling-gun fire, Melissa twisted around and landed on the robot's back and jammed her hand into its neck, releasing another electrical blast.
With a whine, the one-pointer shut down and pitched forward, Melissa leaping off and landing on the concrete, her Bounding Soles absorbing the impact.
Five points, two charges left, gotta make them count.
With an enhanced jump, Melissa was back on the roof, using it to get to a higher roof and then leaping from one to the next. Below her she saw examinees on the streets below, fighting robots, it would be simple to electrocute them, but she wasn't going to kill-steal.
Target acquired.
A two-pointer, trundling around the perimeter of a plaza in a pre-programmed patrol pattern, left untouched while a number of other examinees fought faux villains in the centre. Crouching down, Melissa steadied her arm and fired, the prongs digging into the two-pointer's flank with a satisfying thunk.
Let's hope one charge is enough, otherwise seven points is the best I can do.
It was enough, a single charge completely disabling the two-pointer, its sparking remains collapsing to the paved ground.
Seven points, one charge left.
"THERE'S JUST NINETY SECONDS LEFT!"
Melissa wasn't hanging around, leaping from rooftop to rooftop, heading towards the edge of Ground Epsilon in hopes of finding uncontested faux villains out there.
That was when she heard it, but really, she felt it first, a great tremor that ripped through the city, before a screeching sound reached her ears, coming from ahead of her.
It was Zero-Pointer, a massive forty-storey behemoth rising from between two buildings, only a couple of blocks ahead of her.
It wasn't that big in the pamphlet.
"ONE MINUTE IS ALL YOU'VE GOT LEFT!"
Melissa was going to turn and head in the opposite direction, hoping to find one more faux villain, but then she saw them, three of her fellow examinees. They were cut off in a dead-end street, clearly none of their quirks were suitable for breaking down the wall that blocked them.
Looking down at her modded Stormcaller, Melissa knew what she had to do. The electrical blast wouldn't be enough to stop it, unless she got up there, to its head, and delivered it directly into the robot's core processing unit.
Taking a few steps backward, Melissa took a deep breath and began to run towards the edge, leaping high into the air with the aid of her Bounding Soles.
The wind was driven out of her as she hit the side of the Zero-Pointer's leg. Aiming the Stormcaller above herself, Melissa fired the prongs into the metal and retracted them, winching herself upwards.
I can do this.
Izuku came to a stumbling halt as he entered a street, finding it filled with other examinees and faux villains that had either been destroyed, or were about to be destroyed.
All the faux villains he'd been coming across were either already destroyed or someone else was already fighting it. Thus, Izuku hadn't been able to get anymore points, but at least his time hadn't been wasted, he'd healed a couple of injuries and erected a wall to protect another examinee from a three-pointer's attack.
Three great crashes sounded as two three-pointers and a one-pointer smashed into the ground, obliterating them.
"Twenty-eight points." A brown-haired girl with doe eyes spoke, her hands clasped together.
A blue blur blew past Izuku, slowing down as it rammed into a two-pointer, turning it into scrap, revealing that it was the overly-serious navy-haired boy from earlier.
"Forty-five points."
Izuku felt panic pool in his stomach, the dread clawing up his throat.
Twenty-eight? Forty-five? I've only got thirteen, I'm going to fail unless I can get more points!
"ONE MINUTE IS ALL YOU'VE GOT LEFT!"
Desperately searching the street, Izuku's trepidation only rose as it became very apparent that there were no free robots left.
A sudden rumble grabbed Izuku's attention, making him turn to see a massive faux villain, taller than the surrounding high-rise buildings, stomping down the street towards them.
The Zero-Pointer, there's no point fighting it, just like Present Mic said, I need to go and find more faux villains, I need more points.
Izuku turned to run, joining the fleeing crowd, the navy-haired boy blasting past him again, making him stumble and fall.
Rolling to a halt, Izuku glanced up at the Zero-Pointer.
I need to go, I need more points!
Izuku began to push himself back to his feet, ready to commence running away from the towering robot.
"Ow."
Izuku froze, turning back towards the Zero-Pointer.
"Can somebody help me?"
It was the brown-haired girl, her legs pinned under rubble created by the Zero-Pointer's rampage.
Izuku's feet moved before he could think, carrying him back towards the Zero-Pointer and the brown-haired girl.
There's no way I can make it to her before the Zero-Pointer does, I need to stop it, I have to stop it!
Crouching down, Izuku placed his hands against the asphalt of the street and activated Overhaul. A column extruded from the ground, under Izuku's feet, angled at the Zero-Pointer's head.
Reaching into his pocket with one hand, Izuku produced his trump card, a 100 yen coin, which, unlike the specially designed overcoins Dr. Shield had created for him, required no prior approval.
If the trend with the coins holds true, then this move will be like All Might did it.
Izuku didn't know how bad the backlash was going to be, the largest attack he'd ever done had been a ten percent smash, and that had left his arm fractured in two places.
The column stopped, running out of material to be created from, launching Izuku towards the head of the Zero-Pointer.
Reeling his fist back, Izuku began to deconstruct the 100 yen coin into energy, wisps of golden energy gathering.
"SMASH!"
Just as he reached the Zero-Pointer, Izuku punched it, golden energy crackling as its head was blown clean off its shoulders, explosions issuing all the way down its spine. With a deafening creak, the Zero-Pointer pitched backwards, hitting the street below with a crash that shook the faux city, shattering windows all across it.
Izuku hung weightless in mid-air for a few moments before gravity remembered about him, and he began falling towards the earth.
Pain ripped through Izuku's left arm, the green-haired boy looking at it to see it was clearly broken, the skin a mottled purple, white bone protruding from it as the whole limb flapped uselessly.
Izuku screamed.
"THIRTY SECONDS REMAINING, JUST TIME FOR A FEW LAST POINTS!"
Melissa was past caring about points, crouching as she landed on a metal service platform at the back of the Zero-Pointer's neck. Searching for a place that would be optimal for her to shock, Melissa found a cable that appeared to run directly to the control module in the head.
Wrapping her gloved hand around the cable, Melissa released her final charge, hoping that it would be enough since in would be going straight to the control module.
The Zero-Pointer stuttered but did not stop.
"No, no, no!" Melissa exclaimed, the screams and shouts of the other examinees getting louder as the Zero-Pointer got closer to them.
Grabbing her toolkit from her belt, Melissa opened up her other Stormcaller, attempting to adjust the limiter's output.
The Zero-Pointer suddenly lurched, nearly throwing Melissa off of the platform she was standing on, her screwdriver slipping from her grip and over the edge.
Without the tool she needed, Melissa returned to the Stormcaller, grasping the charge limiter unit and tearing it out, quickly reconnecting the wires that had run to and from it.
One charge, the whole battery's worth at once, that's all I've got.
Melissa gripped the cable and released the charge, a pulse of electricity travelling up to the control module. A series of pops and bangs issued from the Zero-Pointer's head before it slowly ground to a halt, smoke pouring from it.
"I did it." Melissa sighed in relief, collapsing to the floor, her back against the robot.
"FIFTEEN SECONDS LEFT!"
Izuku was nearing the ground, desperately reaching out with his good arm towards a piece of metal that was also falling from the Zero-Pointer.
I just can't reach it!
The ground was only meters away, Izuku closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.
And then he felt a hand slap him across the face, and instantly his body lost all its weight, stopping him and leaving him floating in mid-air, just a couple of feet from impact.
Izuku breathed a ragged sigh of relief, looking up to see the brown-haired girl, her face contorted with exertion, lying on top of the head of a three-pointer, which was floating.
"Release." The brown-haired girl uttered, touching her fingertips together.
As soon as she did, Izuku felt his weight return to him, falling the last feet onto his broken arm, making him cry out in pain.
I'm safe, no, I was saved.
Izuku turned his head to face the brown-haired girl in time to see her empty her stomach over the side of the three-pointer's head.
Is she okay? She doesn't seem hurt, thank goodness.
Izuku shook his head and gathered his resolve, forcing himself to his knees and then his feet, taking a shuddering step forwards.
"I need, I need to get m-more points, thirteen won't be enough." Izuku spoke to himself, urging himself onwards.
Reaching down, he pressed his hand to his shattered arm and activated Overhaul. Instantly, Izuku felt the pain in his arm vanish, replaced with a dizziness that made him stumble.
"AND TIME IS UP, THE EXAM IS OVER!"
I'm sorry, All Might, I let you down.
Izuku keeled over in a dead faint.
-Origins Arc-