Okay, this is a warning to every single person favoriting and following this work. This is where the name changes get serious. I understand there's a bit of distress (or controversy, if you wanna go down that road) over it, but I'm not going back on my word. Anyone who wants to back out because this story is so out of the norm is welcome. But I will not take this story down, nor will I go back in my word. It was you, my followers, who voted three to one in favor of this concept.

Moving on, let's respond to some reviews:

etabb6: You are correct, good sir or ma'am.

Carayen: I am grateful someone knows I'm trying to keep their personalities accurate. Tsuyu was the hardest for me to manage, since her deadpan outlook makes it rather difficult to promote the idea that she would propose something as outrageous as a harem. I think Momo will be the hardest for me in the future, since I find it hard to get a read on her. One minute she's the epitome of the female military hard-ass, the next she's an innocent super-rich girl.

Dark White Fang: Love the username! That does sound like a good idea, but I've never played the Yakuza franchise, so I don't know what to do you'll have to send me an idea some time.

DhanaRaganrok: I'm … there are no words. You have touched me. It takes a good reviewer like you to help me step back and really appreciate the work I put into this. Thank you.

Deep Sea Diver Man: I … I don't even know who that is.

Another shout out to my Konshiro Bro-brahsa, nominee for Beta reader of the year. Every Alpha needs a good beta ... Reader!

Here are the characters introduced his chapter:

Yuuga Aoyama - Dior Beauregard (French)

Denki Kaminari - Derrick Page (American)

Mezou Shouji - Simon Mathias (Canadian)

Yagi Toshinori - Garrick Lamont (American)

Shota Aizawa (Eraserhead) - Sage Aisling (Irish)

Shoto Todoroki - Samuel Brenton (Half British & American)

Ibara Shiozaki - Acantha Euphemia (Greek)

Hanta Sero - Hernando Salvador (Spanish)

Kyoka Jiro - Thanh Lan (Korean)

Ochako Uraraka - Georgia Sherwood (American)

Momo Yaoyorozu - Nicola Wilhelm (German)

Neito Monoma - Solomon Arnold (British)

Yosetsu Awase - Comhghall Reagan (Irish)

Tooru Hagakure - Alaia Amets (Basque)

Tenya Iida - Hector Anderson (British)

Mashirao Ojiro - Quiang Ru (Chinese)

Pony Tsunotori - Pony Cornelius(American)

Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu - TÖMÖR BAATAR (Mongolian)

Rikido Sato - Hjalmar Nikolaj (Danish)

Yui Kodai - Ju Wei (Chinese)

Setsuna Tokage - Chara Asklepios (Greek)

Shihai Kuroiro - Krishna Sanjit (Bengali)

Reiko Yanagi - Ravenna Willow (British)

Jurota Shishida - Leonard Albrecht (German)

Togaru Kamakiri - Gabriel Elmar (German)

Hiryu Rin - Lin Fei-long (Chinese)

Kosei Tsuburaba - Morgan Yale (Welsh)

Kojiro Bondo - Berk Yağmur (Austrailian)

Sen Kaibara - Viên Trai (Vietnamese)

Hitoshi Shinso - Helmut Richard (German)

Juzo Honenuki - Jaymang Norbu (New Zealand)

Kinoko Komori - Oihana Izaro (Basque)

Koji Koda - Blair Lennon (Scottish)

Let it be known I will not be using the names of the heroes unless they end up actually being addressed by them.

Oh, and before I forget …

MEEEEERRRRYYY CHRISTMAS, AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

"It's super-nice to meet you." – normal speech

"Where are you looking?!" – speaking with emphasis/ speaking in a flashback

Is he worried? – thinking/ flashback dialogue

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" - screaming

"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE" – Screaming with emphasis

"Moshi Moshi" – talking over the phone, or a screen

"DETROIT SMASH" – special move

"Hope has arrived! Because I am here!" - Buff All Might speaking, Intense Speaking

{READY? START} – Speaker phone speech (Present Mic, in other words)

Journal entry 12 - Written Words

February 26th, 2215, the Day of the U.A. Entrance Exam, 8:40 A.M.

U.A High School

U.A. High school's hero course: a training school for those whose goal is to acquire the necessary qualifications needed for pro heroes. Among similar courses across the world, theirs is the most popular and competitive, with their acceptance rate being less than one in three thousand every year. The school's alumni list contains many of the biggest hero names today. Such as the number one hero, All Might; the hero with the record for the most incidents ever resolved, the Flame Hero, Endeavor; the winner of the Best Jeanist award for all eight years of his career in a row, the Fiber Hero: Best Jeanist; all just to name a few among the best of the best of the best! Graduating is, in and of itself, a requirement for becoming a legendary hero.

It was at the entrance of this very school where Izuku stood. He and his friends had agreed to arrive on their own time, so he didn't know if they were already here or still making their way. They had spent the last eight months pushing themselves to their limits, under Penance's tutelage, with assistance from their Senpai, August. They were ready for this. Having finally gained access to One for All's true boon, he had become able to use fifteen percent without strain. But he wasn't just going to enhance his strength, oh no. Being the quirk nerd he was, he'd find a way to make to seem like his multiple quirks were just multiple applications. The only one he would never use was "All Might's" 8th quirk, not that he lost anything for it.

8th Quirk: Titan – the user takes on appearance of a bigger, much more muscular version of themselves. With enough training, can be maintained 24/7. Does not increase strength, or anything else besides size.

They were so busy in fact, that he had not been able to spend much quality time with Mina and Tsuyu, apart from training together with them. Their relationship hadn't really gotten anywhere from "I've liked you for some time, let's go out with our mutual friend's permission." It was just a little bit frustrating.

That being said, training as a group meant they got to work with Georgia and Itsuka, the two of them having decided to work to together with Izuku and company. It gave them a chance to learn a bit about the two of them. Itsuka came from a family of martial arts teachers that went back generations. She wanted to put what she had learned to use, rather than simply teach it to others as her family had been doing. She was also rather vivacious and thoughtful soul, quite the contrast to the calculating opponent Izuku had faced once. Her Quirk, Big Fist, was rather simplistic, but she put it to good use. Izuku suggested that she should likely change the name to something like "Giant Fist" since "Big Fist" didn't quite captivate the spectacle of it, after seeing her hand grow to the size of a minivan.

She agreed, though rather calmly, so as not to raise any suspicions.

Georgia, sweet Georgia, was from America, confirming their suspicions, and her family ran a construction company (she didn't go into detail). Izuku had never met someone so warm in his life. Sure she was kind of a ditz with a bad habit of saying some things without thinking about them, (a prominent contrast to Tsuyu, who always thought about what she said, but still said them) but otherwise, she was ever thoughtful and a bit optimistic. Even if she didn't have a quirk as cool as negating gravity (an enigma he was still trying to figure out), her attitude was definitely one that could lift others' spirits. He had never asked her why she wanted to be heroes, but it was obvious to him she wanted to help others.

It was nice, he thought, getting to make new friends. He didn't know why he cringed slightly at the thought.

There had been a week where he hadn't seen or heard from All Might, and then the very next time he'd seen him, he'd announced that he was now a teacher at U.A. It was a completely sensible idea, since he could keep an eye on him, and he'd get to use his remaining years to teach future heroes.

Izuku had hoped he didn't mean that literally.

Jukei-sensei had been acting a little distant, lately, and he had been spending less time attending their training sessions less. Izuku had feeling he knew what that meant, and he really hoped he was wrong.

"Outta the way, Deku."

Utterly unsurprised, Izuku turned to see Katsuki walking towards the entrance, scowling. He was a bit taller than Izuku remembered, and muscle was showing through his uniform. "Hi to you too, Kacchan."

"Get out of my way before I set you on fire." Katsuki threatened.

Izuku huffed. "I should've guessed." He muttered. "I'll see you on the other side."

Katsuki simply walked around him, not stopping at all.

Izuku watched him walk off. What is up with him? He'd always confront me, no matter who was watching. And he's actually walking around?

"You'd best not make an embarrassment of yourself, nerd!" Katsuki yelled back at him, without turning. "I want it to mean something when I break you!"

... Izuku allowed a small smile to grace his lips. Kacchan believed he'd make it in.

"Dekiru-kun!"

He turned back to the archway, with the same smile on his face as Georgia ran up to him. "Hey, Uraraka-san. Looking forward to passing?"

The girl smiled nervously. "To be honest, I'm kind of nervous." She quickly switched gears. "But let's do our best!"

Izuku could only smile fondly. Then he remembered something that had bothered him for the past week or so.

"Say, Georgia?"

"Yes?"

"You seem to have been … avoiding us for the past week. Is there any reason for that? You don't have to share if it's too personal."

Suddenly, Georgia's face became blank, then she blanched as she had remembered a "spar" with August and Tsuyu.

Exactly one Week ago

Just outside Tagoba Municipal Beach

August had agreed to join them in their training, acting as a more serious opponent. They quickly learned he was even more terrifying as an opponent than Jukei himself. Georgia was currently experiencing this by clinging to a rail for dear life next to Tsuyu, who was barely holding on by her tightly coiled tongue, as August attempted to grab them from afar with the strange white glow that surrounded their bodies, and was moving closer, ready to "capture" them.

She tried to think. What would Dekiru do in this situation …

Next to her, Tsuyu turned to look at her. "Georgia, Kero."

Frustrated, the girl turned to her friend. "What is it?! I was just trying to- "

"Were you trying to think of what Izuku-chan would do in this situation, by any chance?"

Georgia paused at this how had Tsu figured that out? Sure, she had grown fond of him over the past several months, but … was it really becoming that obvious?

"I thought so because I was, too."

Georgia simply looked at Tsuyu in confusion. She had come to learn the girl was blunt no matter what she had to say, but she always made a point. What did them having thoughts about the same guy-… wait, why did she think of it like that? What was Tsuyu trying to say?

"Do you like him?"

Georgia blushed furiously and planted her hands on her hot cheeks, inadvertently sending herself floating into the air. It didn't take long for her and Tsuyu to lose the match.

Georgia turned a whole new shade of red.

"WellitwasgreattalkingtoyouagainIzukuI'llseeyoulaterlet'sdoourbestbyyyyyyeee." And with that, she bee-lined for the entrance. Leaving Izuku bewildered, confused, and not just a bit hurt.

That did nothing to curb his wonder. Seriously, she had been so open with them, and now it was like she was uncomfortable to talk to them. Was there a possibility it only really ever happened because he was around? Suddenly he got the feeling we was being looked at. He looked around, and just behind him to his right was a girl, looking between where Mabel stood and where he was standing. She was a slim girl standing (5' 5 ½" / 166 cm), and she had dark green eyes with long eyelashes and … vines for hair? He couldn't help but notice how the sunlight was hitting her "hair" at just the right angle to highlight it like a halo.

Huh. He thought. Guess in this day and age, it makes sense that vine haired angels can exist.

"What was that about?" She spoke. Her melodious voice broke Izuku out of his musings, and he quickly realized she was referring to what had happened with Georgia.

"She seems embarrassed about something." Izuku responded, trying not to get lost in her eyes. It made it really hard to look directly at her. So to make sure she didn't think he was put off by her, he turned to where Georgia had just been, feigning looking into the distance. "I don't know what. Every time I try to talk with her, she tries to make up some excuse or she just plain beelines out."

"Oh?" When he looked back, he could tell this girl was genuinely interested in this strife between them. That was nice of her. "Did you two have a falling out of some sort?"

"I can't even be sure." Izuku responded. "One moment we're good friend who have known each other for months, the next day, it's like she's embarrassed to be around me. I'm honestly not sure what's wrong with her. She just seems so flust- …" Suddenly, for no reason that occurred to him, he paused, and thought about what Tsuyu had said once again all those months ago.

"I won't mind if you date another girl, Izu-chan."

And then he made the connection.

"NOPE!" Face completely red, he zoomed into the exam site, desperate to replace such thoughts with thoughts about entering into U.A.! And Tests! And Quirks! Literally anything else!

The vine-haired girl blinked, looking on in no small amount of confusion as the curly-haired boy dashed into the building. She idly wondered if she'd see him again, if only to find out what was disturbing him.

Inside the auditorium, a single man stood before the students. He was slim, and had bleach blonde hair styled like a cockatoo's crest and a small mustache. He wore sunglasses with yellow lenses, a set of headphones, and a seemingly glued-on grin. He also wore a black jacket with a studded upturned collar and tan, studded shoulder pads, black boots, black pants with a red studded belt a directional speaker on his neck, and black fingerless gloves.

"WHAT'S UP, U.A. CANDIDATES!" He spoke with overflowing panache. "Thanks for turning in to me, the School DJ! Come on, Lemme hear ya!" He held a hand up to his ear.

He was met with utter silence.

"Keepin' it mellow, huh? Well, let's get to how this exam will go down! ARE YOU READY?!"

Again, nothing but silence.

Enter Izuku Midoriya, Hero fanboy extraordinaire. "Omigosh! It's the Voice Hero: Present Mic! I listen to his radio show every day of the week! It's so cool all the teachers are pro heroes!"

"Shut up." Katsuki muttered from beside him, purely out of habit.

"Anyway," the loud hero said, "like your application says, today you rockin' youngsters will be out there conducting 15 minute mock battles in super-hip urban settings. After I drop the mic here, you'll head to your specified battle center. Sound good?"

Nobody answered at all.

"I get it." Bakugo said, looking at his card. "This way we can't work with anyone we know."

"Since we have numbers one after the other, but we're assigned different numbers." Izuku agreed.

"Mind your own business!" The delinquent barked. "Best of luck, Deku. You're gonna need it."

Izuku smiled. "Good luck to you too. You won't be a big fish in little water anymore, Kacchan. I hope you're not expecting things to be like back in middle school."

"… Shut the fuck up, Deku." But he didn't disagree.

"Okay, let's check your targets." Present Mic said, getting their attention. "There are three types of faux villains to fight in each battle center. You'll earn points based on their toughness. So you better choose wisely. The goal in this trial is to use your quirk to raise your score by disabling faux villains. HOWEVER!" The blonde hero raise a finger way up past his head. "Not all of you her have quirks that are combat intended. So, our generous engineering staff had them designed with switches in areas – which we will let you find yourself – that allow you to just turn 'em off just in case your quirk don't work."

Apparently there were indeed some individuals with quirks that couldn't be used to fight robots, because Izuku heard many apparent released breaths.

"But check it! Going anti-hero and attacking other examinees is a big no-no, ya dig me?" The Voice Hero suddenly notice a hand raised in the crowd. "Yes, young listener, what's up!"

The "young listener" was a British boy standing (5' 10"/ 179 cm), with a prominent amount of muscle. He has blue-tinted black hair and wears square-rimmed glasses, and has a square jaw. Heck, his entire figure can pretty much be described as "square." Izuku couldn't help but notice his pants sleeves were rolled up past his calves, and he saw they had exhaust pipes in them. He Held up a sheet that had the faux villains on it, and pointed to a fourth image. "Excuse me! On this sheet, there are four types of faux villains listed. If this is a mistake on the part of the staff, it is shameful! We are exemplary students, and we expect more from the premier among hero academies! And another thing!" He then turned and pointed to where Izuku and Katsuki were sitting. "You, with the unkempt hair!"

"… Kacchan, I think he's talking about you."

"Fuck you, nerd!" The delinquent hissed.

"You've been muttering this entire time. Stop that!" Oh so he'd been thinking hard after all, and the guy was, in fact, talking about him. This guy's glare looked like it belonged there. "If you can't bother to take this seriously, leave! You're distracting the rest of us!"

This kid had balls, Izuku would give him that.

Let it be known that while it was a shared opinion that Izuku was the nicest guy you could meet, he had a history of being done with people's' shit. He would not apologize for being himself. It didn't help that this guy was inadvertently insulting him by actively suggesting he shouldn't be here, when he didn't even know him. What Izuku knew, however, was that this person was clearly from an "elite" academy.

"The same can be said for you, sir!" The inheritor retorted coolly. "If small noises that aren't even meant to be heard throw you off so much, maybe you don't belong here." Whoever this guy was, he apparently was not expecting Izuku to talk to him like that, but that just allowed him to continue. "I think we are all very aware of the fourth robot, Mr. Private School." Never say Kacchan didn't teach him anything. "But apparently you couldn't even wait for the teacher to get to that part. You had to interrupt the whole assembly. You must be so proud, criticizing the teachers when you stand as the taught." Never say Fumikage hadn't taught him anything, either.

To Izuku's surprise, the student did not protest, he simply apologized. "I apologize. You are correct. I should have allowed him to explain completely." And sat back down.

If it was possible, Present Mic's grin actually widened. "Well handled, examinee numbers 7111 and 2234! As I was indeed going to say, the zero-point villain is an obstacle. I said there were four types to fight. I wouldn't try to fight this one. It's not that it can't be destroyed, it's just that there's no point."

As the students muttered comparisons of the battle scenarios to a video game, Present Mic made to finish up his speech. Izuku could only grit his teeth and glare at the show host, as if he'd just dared to insult All Might. This guy was lying through his teeth!

"As Napoleon Bonaparte once said: a hero is someone who overcomes life's misfortunes. Mmm-hmmm … now that's a tasty soundbite. Get ready to go beyond! Let's hear a PLUS ULTRA! Good luck! Hope you practiced hitting more than just books!"

U.A. High School Hero Course Practical Entrance Exam Battle Center D

Izuku stood strong in the crowd of examinees, in his green tracksuit, currently stretching out to pass the time. He took a moment to look around at the other students. Some of them looked like they were looking at the gates to the battle centers and seeing the golden gates. Oh, arrogance. He hoped at least some of them were seeing right. Humiliation was a crippling mistress. Among the faces in the crowd were a blonde boy with grey eyes who looked … rather calm, despite not appearing physically strong. There was a chance his quirk was an emitter type, or perhaps a transformation type with rather radical physical effects. Then he spotted another face. It was the girl from the entrance. She appeared to be keeping her eyes closed, her hands held in front of her as though in a deep prayer.

I should remember to apologize to her for running off, He thought, After this exam.

Then he saw another, more familiar face.

Fucchan? Well, they underestimated us. They separated us based on schools, but they failed to consider we might have friends from other schools. He walked over to the umbra-beast controller. I should at least say hi.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see the tall boy from earlier. "These people seem rather focused. What are you doing here? Trying to distract everyone?"

Okay, he and this elitist prick were gonna have a problem.

"Are you?" The green inheritor whispered so only the two of them could hear him. "You talk really loud, did you know that?" He gestured to the other applicants. "I'm surprised all the centers haven't heard you."

The boy turned to see the other applicants, to find they were all looking at him, and whispering.

"Hey, isn't that the private school looking kid from the orientation?"

"Yeah, the one who talked back to Present Mic and then flinched at the kid he tried to call out."

"Probably thinks he's so much better than us, like this'll be a walk in the park or something'."

"I bet he doesn't even know what'll hit him."

"Lucky for us." They all agreed.

"See that?" Izuku said, walking off, leaving the guy stunned. "Now they've all written you off." Refusing to waste any more time, he activated One for All, allowing the lightning to run through his veins. He figured a real battle didn't have a countdown; he wouldn't get a warning for when this started.

{AND START!}

And with that, Izuku rocketed forward, vaulting over the crowd of students, and searching for targets.

The other applicants looked on in awe until Present Mic spoke up.

{What's wrong?! There are no countdowns in real fights! Run! Run! The die has been cast!}

After that, they stormed through the gates, but Izuku was already well ahead of them.

(Music: The Prodigy – Invaders Must Die. Start track at 0:47 mark )

Izuku rushed in, lightning crackling off his body as his eyes scanned the streets for targets. Immediately, he spotted a trio of one-pointers heading down the street towards him. They lifted their heads, and looked straight at him. Without a moment's hesitation, they immediately pointed their appendages, and a hail of fire was unleashed where Izuku had just been standing. Up in the air, Izuku darted towards the robots mid-air. He reared his fist back and smashed the robot to the right of the trio. The one on the left attempted to melee him, but he ducked under it and kicked it into pieces. The last one turned around and thrusted an appendage forward at Izuku's body, but he simply drifted to one side like he had anticipated it, and then slipped under it to jab it in its core.

Quirk 7: Flight – Application is obvious.

Quirk 4: Air Sensory – The user can control the air around them within a small radius, specifically to sense incoming objects and attacks before they land. The user is limited to a radius of 3 feet (likely locked to that) and is enabled with a knee-jerk reaction based on the incoming attack or impact. This radius cannot be held for any more than 8 minutes a day, total. Going over this limit causes the user to start losing breath to the point of hyperventilation ... or suffocation. (1)

Izuku knew they would come in handy. He idly noted that the ammo the one-pointers had been firing were rubber bullets. It made sense; real villains fought back, and they didn't hesitate, like how these robots attacked on sight. This test might have been more spot-on to the real thing than he thought. Then he remembered where he was: in a limited area with a short amount of time with an uncertain number of targets. Time to collect points!

The next corner he turned around, he was treated to the sight of a student being bowled over by a stun laser from the tail of a two pointer, which was accompanied by another like it, four one-pointers, and a single three pointer. Taking action, he leaped at the largest target, and planted his foot straight at its head, finding satisfaction in hearing the hulking drone crunch down the middle. He turned his attention to the four one-pointers. He took one of the three pointers' launchers and tossed it at two of them, smashing them up. He slid under the third, landing a chop on the fourth, before turning his attention back to the third and grabbing at its head, ad tearing it in two. The pair of two pointers trotted forward, and attempted to stun him, but with an enhanced power spark, he resisted, he then darted towards them and lifted one above his head, then slammed it into its companion.

This pattern continued. He darted across the cityscape, smashing every target in sight. Occasionally, he absentmindedly noted a few students who were retreating from a pursuing hoard, and others still who were on the ground, unmoving. One of them even went spiraling off after a concussion missile from a three-pointer. Some unqualified students were more apparent than others.

A three pointer perched on a building top had its rocket pods ripped off, before it was then split in half. The two one-pointers that had been guarding it, were hit by inactive concussion missiles pulled from the pods.

On his way down from the building, Izuku met a pack of five two pointers crawling along the wall, and stomped on them successively like goombas.

Three two-pointers opened fire, and their assailant moved between them as though a green pinball, leaving them shattered.

Five one pointers in a v-formation fired at a target who had already dodged them, before they had been smashed by a three pointer that had been crunched into a ball.

A green streak cut through a three pointer like a razor, and barreled into four one pointers not too far behind it.

A two pointer was thrown off a roof, and ended up landing on a three-pointer, where its launcher followed it to find three one-pointers nearby, who were blown away by the overclocked (to 30%) shockwave caused by their assailant's landing.

(End Track)

At the six minute mark, the ground shook, and Izuku knew the Zero-pointer had made its appearance. Seeing several students run off made it obvious the direction it was coming from. He got a good look at it, and it was monstrous! It's "eyes" seemed to gleam with the promise of destruction as its wandering hands tore off the tops of buildings with trivial effort, and the streets thundered with the noise of the exploding concussion missiles from the launchers mounted on its shoulders. He could hear the streets crumble underneath its massive treads ground the gravel back into dust.

Applicants in Izuku's area were running off as fast as they could, but he paused. How far could these monsters make it in six minutes? What kind of damage could they do, that could be prevented? Too many potential students would be lost in that time, hurt in what was just supposed to be a test.

The vine-haired girl, meanwhile, had decided the only way to truly avoid it was to try stopping it. Stretching her vines out as far as she cold towards the slowly approaching titan, and sent her vines into its shoulder and tread gears, hoping to slow it to a halt. Unfortunately, all she did was end up getting her vines ground up in the powerful gears, though it did indeed slow down, if only a bit. Panicking, she commanded the ends of her vines to detach, preventing her from getting pulled in.

The technological titan had decided this girl was an inconvenience, and fired a concussion missile straight at her. Panicking, she immediately threw up a vine barricade to block the shot.

*BOOM*

The entire thing was immediately blown to bits. As the smoke clears, the remnants of the botanical barricade are scattered across the streets, and the girl they belonged to was lying on her stomach.

Izuku's attention finally turns to her, and he realizes he's been standing by, while she's been acting. He's been indecisive. He had to act! He dashed over to where the girl seemed to be struggling to stand up, and lifted her off the ground with ease. "Can you stand?" He asked, gently trying to set her on her feet.

The way she shrieked when she tried to set weight on her legs made it clear. "No." She strained. "I think my … my right leg is broken." She ended up leaning on her less injured left leg, but she could not keep her balance.

He managed to catch her before she falls over and, seeing no other choice, carried her bridal style. He looks around and finds they were the only ones left who are in this area. Satisfied, he dashes straight to the entrance, where the other applicants appear to have gathered. "Can someone hold her for me?" He asks. "There's something I need to do."

The boy with the engine calves suddenly stepped out of the crowd. "I will hold her for you." Izuku hands the girl over to the taller boy, who looks at him curiously. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to stop that thing," Izuku answered, pointing to the slowly approaching robotic behemoth, "before anyone else gets too hurt." He turns his attention to the crowd of applicants. "Does anyone want to help me?"

…

…

…

"Anybody at all?"

…

…

…

The private school boy pushed up his glasses with a free hand. "*Ahem* I cannot speak for all of us," He said, "but I, unfortunately, cannot help you and hold this girl at the same time."

The girl in the British boy's one-arm grip looked at Izuku worriedly. "Wait, you're going back? To fight that thing?!"

"If it's not stopped, we could be closed in," Izuku said firmly, "and I'm not just worried about a few of us getting knocked out and disqualified. Now I ask again: is anybody willing to help me?!"

…

…

…

Izuku really couldn't believe they were trying to become heroes, not that he would say something so disrespectful out loud. "Fine, I'll just go then."

The vine haired beauty protested. "Please don't! You might not even stop it completely! It's too dangerous!"

"Of course it is!" Izuku stated. "If I wasn't willing to face danger head on, I wouldn't be hero material."

Without any hesitation, he immediately turned and activated One for All, zooming towards the destructive machine, charging up a sphere of blue flame in his right hand.

(2) 9th Quirk: Kitsunebi – The user can fire blue spheres of flame that he can control mid-flight as though they were guided missiles. The spheres can be charged for added power, an are capable of chipping a boulder at their lowest. Firing too many spheres of too much flame leads to a drop in body temperature. This can be rectified by allowing the user's body temperature to rebalance itself over time. As for control, the user has direct control over the spheres as long as they are within a range of 5 meters, outside of which they fizzle out or combust. I can can create as many as 5 spheres at once. This Quirk … is mine.

Raising control up to 35%, Izuku jumped up against the side of a building, then jumps off to land on the robot's arm, and runs across it, and jumps to its face. At the last second, he transferred the flame to his right leg, where the strength increased immensely, and he went to 50%. He wound his leg back …

"CHIBA STAR-SHOT!"

… and blew the robot's head off with a fire-empowered roundhouse. The head flew everywhere, and the upper body was sent back with such force that it ended up doubling over onto its back.

Good, Izuku thought. That's that. As he landed, back at 15% and subtly using Flight to stop just an inch above the ground (as trying to use more power would only aggravate his injured leg further, which had its skin peeled off and three separate breaks), the other examinees looked on and commented in hushed voices.

"Who was that guy?"

"He just toppled that zero-pointer."

"He seems to have an enhancement-type."

"No wonder this guy doesn't take shit from anyone."

They're all missing the point. The boy with the square-rimmed glasses thought rather intently. Didn't they see? Despite everyone else running away, despite the threat that obstacle posed, he sought to actually defeat it, for the sake of the others. His remaining time, his lack of points, his own safety … he didn't even hesitate to figuratively throw them to the side. If this hadn't been an exam … of course I would have done the same thing! He would later on realize the insincerity in his mental claim and lead him to think a bit about his actions up to that point as he compared himself to the real hero here. It would eventually motivate him to work harder than he had ever worked in his life. Wait. Exam … the judges, they saw that.

As he was contemplating everything that had just happened, Izuku, still cloaked in green lightning, limped towards them on his leg, which he was slowly healing on his hidden broken leg.

Quirk 5: Regen – Enables user to quickly heal small wounds on themselves, but no deep cuts or large losses of flesh. Quicker healing leads to quicker loss of stamina.

Thank goodness his suit's leg hadn't burned off again, or they'd notice his leg was slowly going from broken and bruised to just fine enough that he stopped limping, thanks to One for All's glow enhancing and accelerating Regen's work.

"That was incredible." The girl commented, as Izuku walked up to them, while the engine boy simply gazed at him silently. "You really defeated it!"

"It's nothing." Izuku insisted, smiling at her. "I overtaxed myself a bit and I was only able to act because you stalled it."

The girl's cheeks took on a pink hue as she shied away from his gaze. "But I failed to truly do anything successful." She mumbled in protest.

"You did more than I did." The curly-haired inheritor insisted. "You acted first, and you motivated me to act as a result."

She was really not sure what to do here. She had been told in her life she was a positive individual, and she was no stranger to compliments, but this boy was more earnest than any their age she had met. "Um … you're welcome, I suppose." So she simply took what she was being offered.

"Alrighty, good work kids." Suddenly, recovery girl appeared, and began handing out gummy bears to students at random. "You're heroes in my eyes, every one of you. Go on and reward yourselves."

She approached the trio and turned to Izuku first. "You feeling alright, sonny?"

"Absolutely ma'am." Izuku answered with a smile. "I thought I had overtaxed my leg back there, but it's fine." He gestured to the female of the three. "Could you heal her, please? Her leg was broken when she almost got hit by a missile."

"Right on it, sonny-boy." She quickly extended her lips and let the faint green glow overtake the girl's body.

"Thank y- *yawn*." The girl was suddenly wobbling on her feet for a very different reason. "Oh my goodness, I'm tired."

"That's how her Quirk works." Izuku explained. "She technically just made you heal faster, as opposed to fixing you. You went through energy faster because of that." He walked off. "I have to go. I hope all three of us passed."

I see. The taller boy thought. If the exam is structured like that, then he …

The girl meanwhile, mused silently to herself as she watched Izuku walk off. She probably had enough points to pass anyway …

One Week Later

Midoriya Residence, Living Room

Izuku was currently lifting a dumbbell, while waiting for his test results to come in. His thoughts lay with the last robot he'd attacked. I know I got more than enough points to pass, but I still can't figure out the value of the Zero-pointer. Every bot had a merit and a purpose, or it wouldn't even be there. Destroying it has to have some kind of merit, besides taking away the one thing that scares all the students. He idly turned his thoughts to his friends. Micchan, Tsucchan and I hadn't told Eicchan or Fucchan about our … relationship. Honestly, what would we say? The truth is too risky.

Suddenly, his mother zipped into the living room entryway, a letter in hand, and a delighted shriek on her lips: "IT'S HERE!"

The two of them sat in the living room to look at the results together. Izuku Immediately tore the envelope open, revealing a small grey disc. Suddenly, a hologram appeared, displaying All Might in a gold suit with dark gold lines.

"I AM HERE, AS A PROJECTION!" All Might was delivering his results? Oh, right, he was working at U.A. "I'll cut right to the chase, Young Midoriya. First of all, you passed the written exam with flying colors! Congratulations! As for the practical, you attained a respectable 58 points in defeated villains. As that brings you into the top 36 scorers, this would be sufficient for you to pass. However…" The Midoriya's held their breaths, wondering what held off success. Inko gripped her son's hand tightly as they awaited … news. "There's more to it than that! I am also an entertainer, Young Midoriya! " All Might pulled out a remote and, turning around, pointed it behind him, a screen appearing with an image of … the vine-haired girl? "Excuse me? I came to talk to you about a boy at the exam."

"She came to negotiate with us in person just after the exam." All Might explained.

The girl began describing him. "He had curly hair in green and black, and freckles. His eyes were green if I remembered correctly. He destroyed the Zero Pointer. And he shined when he did it! No even before that, there was no looking away from him!"

Wait, Izuku thought, does she mean me? She thought I shined?

"Is it possible to give him some of my points? I know he may have enough to pass, but he deserves them more than I do. He saved my life! I have to make it up to him."

"You inspired others into action, in addition to keeping them safe." All Might praised.

"Unfortunately," Present Mic stated, "we can't give him any of your points. No need to worry though, female listener."

All Might ended the recording.

"You are more than merely the power you wield! A hero course that only accepts those who can fight? Pays no heed to those who help others? Perish the thought! Call that lip service? Fine by me! This job requires the risk of one's life to put that lip service into practice! So we have Rescue Points! A panel of judges observes the behaviors of applicants, and keeps a sharp eye out for heroic acts which earn various scores based on their own decisions! Izuku Midoriya, 90 Rescue Points! That gives you a total of 148 Hero Points! Acantha Euphemia, 70 rescue points! You pass at the top of this year's applicants, and if you wish to see your other potential candidates, you can see the list of the 36 future students who have passed in the last part of this recording."

Izuku sat there, stunned. His mother simply sat next to him, tearing up.

The recorded Symbol of Peace held out his hand. "Come, Young Midoriya! This is Your Hero Academia!"

Izuku immediately dashed outside, ignoring his mother calling out to him, and, activating One for All, rushed out to an open area, and jumped around repeatedly, whooping in delight. He would go back to his house to his mother scolding him insincerely scolding him for running off like that, before she nearly strangled him in a hug.

Unknown time

U.A. Proctor observation deck (Otherwise Location Unknown)

Practical Scores Combat Points / Rescue Points (3)

Izuku Midoriya 58 / 90

Acantha Euphemia 62 / 70

Georgia Sherwood 54 / 70

Katsuki Bakugou 123 / 0

Fumikage Tokoyami 67 / 54

Eijiro Kirishima 62 / 58

Itsuka Kendo 49 / 70

Hector Anderson 99 / 17

Comhghall Reagan 59 / 55

TÖMÖR BAATAR 78 / 35

Qiang Ru 80 / 32

Derrick Page 66 / 45

Mina Ashido 60 / 50

Ju Wei 63 / 45

Pony Cornelius 67 / 40

Solomona Arnold 75 / 30

Simon Mathias 60 / 44

Tsuyu Asui 37 / 66

Ravenna Willow 58 / 43

Dior Beauregard 60 / 38

Leonard Albrecht 64 / 33

Hernando Salvador 45 / 50

Berk Yağmur 62 / 30

Thanh Lan 56 / 29

Alai Amets 55 / 24

Hjalmar Nikolaj 33 / 40

Minoru Mineta 31 / 40

Krishna Sanjit 48 / 22

Viên Trai 30 / 35

Morgan Yale 32 / 28

Oihana Izaro 36 / 21

Gabriel Elmar 40 / 16

Lin Fei-long 35 / 19

Nirengeki Shoda 32 / 20

Blair Lennon 16 / 35

Manga Fukidashi 31 / 18

"Check out the results for the exam."

"Bakugou Katsuki." A phantom-looking man in a trench coat noted. "Can you believe this kid got in the top five with zero rescue points?"

"He took down those faux villains like an ace." Present Mic said. "When other examinees were running from the big obstacle, he stayed focused on letting the smaller targets get close and then counter attacking. That kid's tough."

"*Tch*" A large, muscular man in crimson with fangs scoffed at this. "We get types like him all the time. He couldn't even stop the Zero-Pointer I'm more interested in the others. Did you see that kid Comhghall Reagan? It looks like he chased down whatever targets he could, then just … fused 'em together so they couldn't even operate right. He didn't even have a speed quirk, but he could keep up with the one pointers? He worked to be here, and it shows in more types of strength than one."

"There's not much to be said for our runner up." Commented a woman in BDSM gear. "She simultaneously disabled the faux villains by either wrapping them up or just tearing through them and shielded other applicants from attacks. She even tried to slow down the Zero Pointer in her area. She had complete control over the battlefield."

A short man in an excavation hat threw in his two cents. "The same could be said for the bronze. She seems to have some sort of anti-gravity quirk. She made the targets float up and waited until they were high up enough to come back down to earth with enough force to break. When that Katsuki kid came back down to earth after trying to destroy a Zero Pointer she timed it just right until she could break his fall."

"Ahm surprised by our sixth place." Said a man wearing a cowboy hat and a gas mask. "Her Quirk don't seem that effective, but she made the most of it with what are obviously martial arts skills. You don't see enough heroes with those nowadays."

"And then there's first place for this year." Said … a talking cement block. "When the zero pointer showed up in his area he went straight after it, after making sure all other examinees were cleared."

"It's not the first U.A. hopeful to take out the giant robot," present Mic noted, "but the last person to blow it away with a single attack will be graduating this year."

"It was stronger than any he'd used on the other faux villains, but it injured him, like he can only use so much power without consequence."

At the back of the room, a rather tired-looking man silently observed the recordings of this year's students.

Late night

Tagoba Municipal Beach

The night Izuku received his acceptance letter, he immediately called the others, to find they had all been accepted. Right after that, he had called his dad, who would be returning home within the next month. Izuku was even more ecstatic at that. He was currently headed down to the beach, where he had received a call from Jukei and Garrick to meet them.

He ran up to the beach entrance to find them standing on the shore. "Lamont-san! Jukei-sensei!"

The two turned to face Izuku, and smiled as he approached them. "Ah, young Midoriya." Garrick said. "Good to see you. On time as usual."

"Congrats on getting accepted." Jukei said softly, high-fiving his protégé. The man had a strange look on his face, like he had finally accomplished a life goal, and was simply waiting for the next step.

Izuku acted like he didn't notice.

"Just so you know," Garrick told Izuku, "I didn't tell the school about my connection to you or to Penance here."

"Hm?"

"You're the type that would think that's cheating, right? Neither of us were judges."

Izuku was grateful for that, to be sure, though surprised, since All Might was now employed there. "I was surprised when you told me you were working at U.A., you know. It explains why you came to this particular prefecture, since your Japan-specific agency is all the way in Roppongi in Minato, Tokyo at-"

"Getting creepy." Jukei interrupted.

"Anyway," The deflated Number One Hero continued, "I wanted to be sure no one else found out when I told you. I didn't want you to think I had ditched you when I ignored you for a week. I just happened to be offered the job at U.A. when I was searching for a successor."

"You were planning on selecting one of the other students." Izuku stated (Never say Tsuyu never rubbed off on him.). "Someone with an amazing quirk and prominent talent."

"Yes." The gaunt symbol of peace admitted. "But I doubt even the seniors would have been quite as suitable vessel for the power of the number one hero as you. And my choice turned out pretty All Might."

"I didn't even inherit your full power set." Izuku protested, ignoring the pun. "You could have a chance to give the rest to someone else."

"The way I see it, Young Midoriya," All Might said, picking up two spray cans and transforming into his hero form, crushing he cans effortlessly, "it's practically yours to command already."

"Izuku." Jukei said, getting his iridescent disciple's attention. "When you go there, remember everything I taught you. Be true to yourself, and no matter what anyone says, I know you'll do great things."

Izuku nodded solemnly, smiling softly. "Yes, sensei!"

"Young Midoriya. Jukei-san." The two turned to the Symbol of Peace, who's permanent smile seemed a little less sincere. "I have something that must be said." He did something no one was expecting; he got down on his hands and knees, bowed his head, and said:

"I am truly sorry."

"Eh?" It was the Backlash Hero who spoke. "For what?"

"When we first met, I told Young Midoriya that he could not be a hero without a quirk." All Might answered the regenerating pain stocker. He then turned his attention back to Izuku, who was looking at All Might with just a bit of shock. "I was not only wrong, I was inconsiderate. I let my spite at my own predicament shape my judgement. As a hero, that is unacceptable. As the Symbol of Peace, even less so." He then bowed his head again. "I risked disheartening you, and I do not expect you to forgive me. You would be a magnificent hero, quirk or not."

"I do forgive you, All Might."

"Eh?" All Might lifted his head. "You do?"

"Of course." Izuku was beaming at his Idol. "You already took back what you said, back on the day we first met, the same day you said it. And honestly, I'm grateful to have been given your power. I didn't care about not having a quirk, becoming a hero just to prove it could be done, selfish though it may be. I wanted to be the kind of hero you are. And now, thanks to you, I can be the greatest hero! So please don't feel the need to regret what you said. Because next to everything you've said and done … it's trivial!"

All Might could only allow his grin to reach full genuineness as he got back to his feet.

"Yeah." Jukei said. "And for what it's worth, I bet you would've made a great hero either way yourself."

Before All Might could form a response, the three were noticed by a couple on the pier. "Holy Crap!" Said the guy. "It's All Might!"

"No way!" His girlfriend yelled. "When did he get here?! And is that Penance with them?"

"Right." The hero turned to Jukei and Izuku "Now we run."

"Yes sir!"

"Damn it, All Might!"

As the three of them took superhuman strides down the beach, All Might thought to himself. The torch I passed on to you is small. But in the future, it will be exposed to wind and rain, but it will only grow. By the end, you will wield a raging inferno. With time, my power will slowly grow weak and disappear, and I will retire, my job complete … yeah, that's deep.

He was not the only one accepting a fate, however.

My duty is complete. I can finally move on.

Three Weeks later

Heights Alliance, U.A. Dormitory Systems

Today was the day: Izuku would be sent out into the cold, dark world to fend for himself. He was currently hugging his mother tightly, stroking her back in an effort to quell her quiet sobs, before he would leave without feeling her heavenly embrace for some time.

"You have to call." She demanded through the tears. "Once every week, I want to know everything that goes on while you're here!"

"I promise, Mom." He slowly placated her.

"And when I text, you have to respond right away."

"I promise I'll text you instantly, Mom."

"And remember to eat healthy three meals a day."

"Okay, Mom. I will."

"Oh, my baby boy. I'm so, so proud of you."

Izuku grinned, and kissed his mother on the forehead. "I love you, Mom. I'll see you on the holidays."

She leaned out of the embrace to look at him with a watery smile. "Take care, Izuku."

As soon as she left, he was on his way into the building. He took deep breaths as he walked towards the dormitory buildings, where he saw a small crowd of over a dozen other students was gathered in front of … something he couldn't see. This is it. He thought. These are the most promising students in not just Japan, but the globe. He noted that he could see Tsuyu and Eijiro somewhere in the crowd, but Mina and Itsuka were out of sight, probably closer to the front, but he could see Fumikage at the back. He walked up to him. "Hey, Fucchan." He whispered.

"Izuku." Fumikage "smiled." "It is good to see you. Our apparent homeroom teacher has been making us stand idle waiting for us all to arrive." He gestured over the crowd. "Your appearance makes 18 of us."

Izuku attempted to look through the cluster of students when –

"It is you!"

Oh, great.

Izuku turned to his left – where he had heard the voice coming from – to see the engine kid from the exam walk towards him rather stiffly through the crowd.

Fumikage looked at Izuku inquiringly. "You are familiar with him?"

"I met him at the entrance exam." Izuku answered simply.

The private schooler stopped before them. "I am Hector Anderson from North London Collegiate School! It is nice to meet you, Midoriya!" He then turned to the hawk-headed darkness user. "You must be Fumikage Tokoyami. I am most pleased to make your acquaintance."

Izuku looked at him in confusion, before remembering his acceptance letter included the scores of everyone else who passed, and a profile image. "Uh, it's better to meet you, Anderson-san." Izuku said to the taller student. "Better than it was the first time, I mean. I'm sure you already knew this, but I'm Izuku Midoriya."

"Yes, I treated you most shamefully, I must admit." Oh? This kid was apologizing? "You realized there was something more to the practical exam, didn't you? You must be very perceptive, and I completely misjudged you." He wasn't the only one, the freckled teen thought "I must admit, as a student, you're far superior to me"

"Woah, that's going too far." Izuku said, putting a placating hand on the now named Hector's shoulder. "It doesn't mean I'm better than you. I'll admit I thought something was amiss," he confessed, "but I never actually figured it out for certain."

"Wait, but … then why did you put yourself in such danger, if you hadn't confirmed the merit behind it?"

"Euphemia-san was in danger." He said, simply, causing the named and newly arrived to blush, next to Bakugou, who was glaring at Izuku's back murderously. "I was just doing what a hero was supposed to. And for the record, I misjudged you too. I was just throwing up my natural reaction to confrontation." He bowed at the waist. "And I'm sorry for that. Turns out you're just really honest and diligent."

Hector looked at Izuku in awe. He's … he's so ahead of me … Then he took a minute to register what Izuku had just said to him. No … he said it himself; He was just doing as a hero would. I must be more considerate of others from now on. U.A. is not like other schools.

Behind them, Euphemia decided to power through her embarrassment, and address him. "And I have to thank you for that." At the new voice, Izuku and Fumikage turned to face her directly, to see her smiling calmly at him. "If not for you, I would have surely been hurt far worse. I'm so glad to see you made it in."

Izuku simply looked at her blankly, before surprising her and Hector – and no one else present – by getting on his hands and knees, and bowing his head. "I'm the one who should be thanking you." He said. "You spoke on my behalf. Because of what you told them, I even got more points." He got up and looked her in the eye earnestly. "I didn't just pass." He then took one of her hands in between his. "I excelled. I placed first thanks to you. I owe you."

Acantha flushed slightly at the praise this boy seemed to be just spraying out, though her expression did not change too much apart from relieving some of her surprise. "You don't need to feel you owe me!" She said, removing her hand from his freed grip. "You got me away from the robot … before I could get hurt much worse. It was the least I could do."

Izuku seemed to be holding eye contact with her while arguing with himself for a moment, before accepting her reassurance. "If you say so. Let's call it even."

"Agreed." Acantha said, still blushing a bit. "I am Acantha Euphemia. I am most pleased to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, Euphemia-san. "I'm Izuku Midoriya. And this," he placed an arm around and unperturbed Fumikage. "Is Fumikage Tokoyami. A sagely friend of mind of nine years running. Don't let the edgy act bother you. He's a cool guy if you've ever known one."

"Charmed." The Shadow user got out, shaking Euphemia's outstretched hand. Izuku seems to have charmed yet another maiden. I wonder how he will react to finding out about Tsuyu. Even as the inheritor's close friend of almost a decade, it wasn't for him to speak openly with others about.

Izuku then turned to Katsuki, who glared back.

The two of them simply stared at each other, as they both thought back to their last confrontation.

"I can't believe we have not one, but two students from our school heading off to U.A." Their homeroom teacher said. "Especially you, Midoriya. It's a miracle."

"There's nothing miraculous about it." The greenette retorted. "I worked hard, in spite of what you and everyone else thought, and look what happened. I hope you remember that."

The two of them were now standing in an alley behind the school, staring at each other silently. Rather, Izuku was staring at Bakugou, who appeared to be hoping that Izuku would fall to Hell if he stared at the ground under him hard enough.

Bakugo started laughing shakily, his eyes covered by his spiky bangs. "Did you forget? I was supposed to be the first and ONLY student from this school to get into U.A. Figures you'd go and screw up my origin story." His laughing got louder "I warned you not to apply."

"And I told you that you couldn't stop me, like it or not." Izuku retorted calmly. "I applied because I could be a hero. And now I can be an even better hero than before. So I hope you're ready, Bakugou Katsuki, because I'm going there to become it's crowning emerald, knocking you on your rear end every step of the way, if that's what it takes.."

Bakugo's grin disappeared, and he brought his gaze up to look at Izuku with eyes so murderous the freckled boy thought they were actually glowing a bit. Instead of actually saying anything or lashing out, the explosive delinquent simply turned on his heel and stomped of, small sparks going off in his hand.

"See you there, shithead!" He growled out. "Best believe you'll be seein' me!"

"Looks like I'm seeing you after all, Kacchan. Now what?"

Katsuki said nothing, simply stalking over next to Izuku in the back of the crowd.

"Oh?" Acantha tilted her head at Izuku, looking like a lost puppy. "You know each other?"

"They go back even further than he and I do." Fumikage elaborated. "Too far, if you ask me."

"Well," Acantha said, "I wouldn't mind us getting along."

"If your just here to make friends, you can turn on your heels now."

The group was silenced, as was the chattering of the rest of the students when a voice spoke out above them, yet sounding utterly bored. Izuku managed to get a look above the heads of his classmates, and was not sure to make of what he saw, except that he might have been a teacher here. He was a middle-aged man, with oily black hair and dirty-looking black fuzz on his lower-face, and was carrying a yellow sleeping sack with him. He was wearing a long, thin gray scarf and dark pants and a dark sweater, hiding what he suspected was a strong, fit form underneath.

You didn't get into the hero course with anything less, impressive Quirk or not.

"Welcome to U.A.'s hero course."

Everyone simply stared in silence as the man took a juice pack out of the yellow sleeping bag, and downed it all at once.

"It took eight seconds for you all to calm down Time is precious. Rational students would understand that."

Who is this guy? Izuku pondered. If he's here, that means he's a pro hero, but he looks so worn out. What's his deal?

"I'm Sage Aisling, your homeroom teacher." The man introduced himself rather unceremoniously. "Right, let's get to it." He pulled what was most likely a U.A. gym uniform out of his sleeping bag. "Take your gathered belongings and place them in the common room for now. Then put on one of these and follow me."

"A quirk apprehension test!?"

Georgia was the one to voice her specific concerns. "What about the entrance ceremony? Or orientation?"

Their apparent homeroom teacher was quick to brush them off. "If you're gonna become heroes, you can't waste time on pointless events. U.A.'s selling point is its freestyle education system. That means I get to run my class as I see fit. You've been taking standardized test, I assume, but you've never gotten the chance to use you quirks in the physical exams. Schools like to pretend we're all equal by not letting those with the most power excel. It's not rational. The Ministry of Education will learn one day. Midoriya." The addressed straightened up further upon being called out. "You place 1st on the entrance exam. What was your highest record for the Softball Throw in Middle School?"

Izuku thought about it for a moment, then answered. "85 Meters." Dark clothing … a strange scarf that looks like it isn't made of normal cloth … no … it couldn't be … all I'd need to sell it is the goggles …

"Right." The haggard teacher walked up to him and handed him a softball. "Now try doing it with your quirk." He directed Izuku over to a chalk circle in the dirt, where he walked. "Do whatever you want, just stay in the circle." He walked over to the side of the class. "Oh." He turned back to the iridescent-haired boy. "And if I suspect you're holding back, you can kiss your place here goodbye. We're doing this to gauge your limits, what you are and aren't capable of. I will not have anyone disrespecting that by just barely scraping by. You're here to Go Beyond Plus Ultra. Try to respect our standards." With finality in his tone, he shuffled away and turned to properly observe Izuku, pulling a small rectangular device out of his pocket.

Izuku meanwhile, had finally figured out the very likely identity of his homeroom teacher, and understood his threat about holding back was serious, not that he would have anyway, since he wholeheartedly agreed. I can only use 15 percent. He mused. But if he's about to filter us out, I have to get as high of a score as possible. I have to make a statement. He thought about it for a moment. Thirty-five percent, he decided, should be enough to make it to the top; it was pretty much all he could handle, but it also made him feel like his bones would snap at any moment. His classmates looked on in disturbed fascination as he muttered to himself at inhumane speeds.

"Any day now." Aisling commented.

With a plan of sorts, Izuku let the glow of One for All channel throughout his body, at a straining 35 percent. His body twisted back around, and as his shoulders returned to parallel with his hips, he flicked his right arm like a catapult. A huge gust of wind sent several students recoiling from the pressure and almost falling over. Katsuki, who was used to dealing with shockwaves, merely gaped openly at the display of power.

"All of you need to show your maximum capabilities first." Aisling said. "It's the most rational way of showing your potential as a pro." He then showed the small screen in his hand, which showed the ball had been thrown 3.85 kilometers, beyond even the campus grounds.

"2.86 kilometers? Are you serious?" said a blonde American boy with a black streak in his spiky hair.

"Holy cow," Mina exclaimed, "this looks like fun!"

Goddammit, Mina.

"We can use our quirks as much as we want? That's the hero course for ya!" said a Spanish kid with a flat face and large teeth, with elbows that looked a lot like tape dispensers.

"I can barely contain my own excitement." Said a blonde British boy with grey eyes and a calm, normal face.

"HEY!" Katsuki suddenly charged towards Izuku, palms raised. "DEKU, YOU BASTARD! TELL ME HOW YOU DID THAT OR YOU'RE DEAD! Izuku readied himself to intercept, up he never got the chance, as Katsuki found his torso tangled in … his teacher's scarf?! And his palms weren't sparking?! The exploding blonde struggled; turning his head barely enough to see his teacher's eyes had become an intense glowing red, and his hair was floating, standing straight above his head. "Wh-what the hell?! Why's your scarf so strong?! Why can't I use my quirk?!"

"To answer in reverse, I erased your quirk. And the scarf is a capture weapon made from carbon fiber woven together with wire mad of a special alloy."

Izuku, seeing his teacher in action, as well as a pair of yellow goggles that had been concealed beneath it, now knew who he was without a doubt. "Oh my god!" He said. "I knew it! Those goggles! That scarf! Your Quirk! You're the Erasure Hero: Eraserhead!"

[Sage Aisling\ Eraserhead]

[Quirk: Erasure]

[He can erase the quirk of anyone he looks at. But the effect ends when he blinks.]

There was muttering over their teacher's identity, but Izuku, taking a not from the now-revealed hero, paid it no mind. This confirmed his fears: someone was getting sent home in shame!

"That sort of transgression will not be tolerated here, Bakugou Katsuki. Try anything like this again, and you're getting sent home too, regardless of where you place." Katsuki continued to struggle in vain against the deceptively powerful fabric. "It would be wise to not make me overuse my Quirk; it gives me serious dry eye."

Too bad, everyone thought. That's such an amazing quirk.

Reluctantly, Katsuki stopped struggling, and the now identified Erasure Head let him go. Katsuki fumed over to the group, all of whom slightly inched away from where he was standing. Aisling, meanwhile, turned towards his set of twenty burdens with an unimpressed look.

"So, this looks like fun, huh?" He said. "You have four years to become a hero. You think it's all gonna be games and free time?" He smirked ominously "Idiots. Today you'll compete in ten physical tests to gauge your potential. Whoever ends up with the lowest overall score will be determined as having zero potential and be expelled."

Most of the class gasped at this.

"Like I said, I get to decide how this class runs." He lifted his bangs with his free hand, a creepy smile stretched out across his face. "Understand? If that's a problem, you can go home right now."

"Last place will be expelled?" Georgia yelled indignantly. "It's the first day of school! No, even if it wasn't the first day of school this is too unfair!"

"Do you think natural disasters are fair?" Aisling retorted. "Or power hungry villains, or catastrophic accidents that wipe out whole cities? No! The world is full of unfairness. Heroes are the one who reverse these situations. If you wanna be a pro, then you're gonna have to push yourself to the brink. For the next 4 years, U.A. will push one hardship after the other on you. So go beyond; Plus Ultra." He made a beckoning finger towards his students. "Show me it's not a mistake that you're here."

Hector took a sip from a water bottle he had apparently been carrying. I don't approve of this hazing. He thought. However, U.A. is the undisputed number one hero program. I have no choice.

I'll blow all these losers away! Katsuki thought. Especially Deku! He was supposed to just be a bug. Just something for me to smash into the ground!

Izuku simply looked to his classmates sympathetically. He really didn't want to see any of them go, but unless their homeroom teacher made a compromise – which never happened – or he just so happened to be imitating him – even less likely – one of them wasn't going to get to stay. He couldn't help but wonder who.

"Hey," a voice from behind him spoke up, prim and mature for its owner's probable age, "are you alright? You seem to have something on your mind."

Izuku didn't turn to face the person, lest he lose focus taking in their identity. "I don't want to see anyone have to go home in disgrace, but our teacher is one hundred percent serious. I can only feel sorry for whoever ends up dead last."

The voice scoffed. "Oh, come on. You must have some idea. No one's really getting expelled."

"I don't know what you've founded this idea on, ma'am," he responded to the voice, registering it as female, "but I wouldn't be so sure. As you just found out, our teacher is the Erasure hero: Eraserhead."

"I've never heard of such a hero before." The voice said. "What does his identity have to do with the sureness of his threat?"

"Everything. You've never heard of him because he doesn't want you to. He considers media to be a hindrance to hero work. Those who do know him know him for two things: his rare power to negate other quirks … and his uncompromising attitude. If he says he'll expel one of us, it would take something truly impressive from the bottom ranker to make him change his mind."

He didn't hear an answer at first. Then … "Whatever you say, I suppose." Satisfied, he walked off. "We'll see what happens, then." Whoever this person was, they clearly didn't back down on their opinions until proven otherwise. Izuku could respect that.

"All right," the teacher spoke, "demonstration is over. The real thing starts now."

Trial 1: Softball Throw

The first person up after Izuku was Hector, who surprised everyone when his engines fumed up as he threw the ball. Izuku suddenly remembered what he had learned from studying Ingenium's Quirk, along with studying actual engine's. A regular engine does more than just make a vehicle go fast, it powered the vehicle. Why should a Quirk that gave a person an engine operate any differently? Anderson's engines dramatically boosted his physical abilities. Speed was just a particular, since the engines were placed on his legs. Itsuka followed up, using her enlarged hand to throw the ball further, flicking her wrist at the end so that the ball would be launched off of her fingers as she effectively rolled the ball in her sideways hand. Tsuyu used her tongue to sling the ball, which turned out to be more effective than simply using her hand.

Her trick was copied by a tall, lean, Spanish boy with large teeth and black hair, who ejected – tape? – from cylinders on his elbows to sling the ball through the air, though it proved to be less effective than some other tricks. Following him was Fumikage, who simply gave the ball to dark shadow and allowed him to throw it for him.

Some did things to modify the ball being thrown rather than enhancing their pitch. One such student was a boy with white hair and a grey eye on the right side of his face, and red hair and a blue eye on the left side of his face, simply launched the ball off of a pillar of ice.

As Georgia walked back to the group after her own ace of infinity, she was approached by a blonde boy with grey eyes and white pupils, who was looking much calmer than any of the others probably were. "Hello," he said, extending a hand, and wearing a serene smile, "I'm Solomon Arnold. I hope we can get along this year."

"Uhhh…" Unsure of what else to do, she reciprocated and shook his hand. "I hope we can get along too. Are you sure you'll pass?"

The boy called Solomon simply smirked at her. "Oh, I think I'll do just fine, thanks to you." Before she could ask what he meant, he walked over to the circle, took the ball in hand, and threw it … and it floated off. Georgia was the most shocked out of everyone. That was exactly what she had done! When she turned to look at the boy, she could only gape as he smirked and raised his hand up, revealing on each of his fingers, brown pads just like the ones on her fingers. "See? I told you I'd pass with your help." Suddenly, the pads seemed to sink into his fingers where they disappeared, as if they had never been to begin with.

"That was impressive," Aisling commented from the side. "However, since I can't put infinity on the scoreboard as this is a rank-based test, I'll simply make her score higher than the top numeric score of an actual number. I'll have to put yours just below hers since all you did was imitate."

The blonde didn't seem too bothered. "I suppose it can't be helped." He shrugged with his hands, still smiling. "Still, you've got to admit, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

[Solomon Arnold]

[Quirk: Mimic]

[This slick dude can copy any other 3 Quirks at once for a total of ten minutes, just by touching their users. This time can be increased based on how few Quirks he's actually using. This guy is a Jack of all trades, lacking in none!]

As the copier moved back to the group, Izuku zipped in front of him, pretty much bouncing on the tips of his toes. "You can copy other people's quirks?! That is so cool! You're gonna give villains a taste of their own!"

Solomon, who was not expecting such praise, was caught just a little bit off guard. "I, uh … uhm … uh … thank you …"

"Izuku! Midoriya Izuku!"

"Thank you Izuku. I …" The couldn't believe he was saying this sincerely. "Look forward to our time together."

Acantha went up next, using her vines as though they were a huge catapult, and flung the entire thing to send the ball flying with a swish.

Everyone was surprised when a tall, well-endowed German girl with a high black ponytail pulled a cannon out of seemingly nowhere and used it to launch the ball, which ended up going even further than Bakugo's. From what he could tell … she had created that.

Izuku realized he may not have been keeping as sharp an eye on the competing students as he had thought. He'd need to change that. He also recognized her as the one who must have been standing behind him right before the tests began officially, talking to him over his shoulder.

He broke out of his thoughts in time to see an intimidatingly tall boy with six arms with webs in between them use the three on his right to throw the ball. The boy had grey hair that swooped over his face, and his black eyes were on the sides of his slightly elongated head.

An American boy with blonde spiky hair with a black streak in it took the ball, and was suddenly coated in electricity. But before anyone could say anything, it just as quickly disappeared beneath his skin. Then, his hair spiked up, and any sharp eyes could see bolts dancing through it, as he threw the ball. It ended up landing much further than anyone had anticipated.

Ahh I get it. Izuku thought. He's got some form of electricity Quirk. He simply used it as an energy source to amplify his physical strength. But I wonder by what factor.

Not everyone had Quirks that could be applied to this event as it turned out. Mina, Eijiro, a Korean girl with earphone jacks for earlobes, a French boy with long blonde hair and shining violet eyes, as well as a slim build, and invisible girl (if the floating gym uniform was any indication), and a disturbingly small kid with – purple spheres on his head?- all had to rely on their physical prowess to pass. It went without saying that some here would not be able to directly incorporate their Quirks into their performances. Izuku hoped they would be able to pass based on physical fitness alone. After all, he would have had to have been in their shoes at one time.

Trial 2: Upper Body Strength

Everyone did this event together, essentially amounting to being ranked based on the order in which they give out from doing sit-ups. Most students pretty much used their raw fitness to get through this one, with the exception of Tenya, who's engines were letting out fumes the whole time. Other such outliers were Acantha and Fumikage, who used their vines and Dark Shadow respectively to move the equipment with ease.

Izuku proudly took the gold for his event, though, going on long after everyone had tired themselves out. One for All gave him access to a virtually unlimited source of restorable stamina, and he had been able to convert incredible strength into seemingly endless endurance with a simple bit of focus.

Because he went on for such a long time, Aisling decided to simply give him a score of infinity and get them moved on to the next trial.

Trial 3: Standing Long Jump

It went without saying that Tsuyu passed this one incredibly, apart from being almost matched by the German girl, who used a pair of spring boots to pass right over the marked area. Izuku also matched her, using his 35% to outdo both of them.

Acantha surprised everyone when the vines on her head slithered, crawled under her feet, and carried her clear across the gap, forming an arch behind her. Her trick was more or less copied by the boy with the bi-colored hair had more or less copied her move by forming ice under his feet, apparently with only the right side of his body, and creating an arch that carried him further across the jump track.

The blonde electrician repeated his trick from the softball throw, this time spiking his leg muscles enough to increase his jump by leaps and bounds. "No pun intended, right?" Right.

Itsuka had flung herself across with both of her enlarged hands, not making a particularly impressive score, but greater than if she had simply jumped.

Tenya did as Izuku had suspected, and used his engines to spring himself across. Well, what're you gonna do when it gets predictable? Georgia surprised everyone when she jumped and placed her fingers together in midair, allowing her to float most of the way across. Fumikage used his strange shadow creature to harpoon himself across, though it didn't get him very far.

Solomon tapped Georgia again, but instead of simply jumping an then activating his mimicked Quirk, he crouched, pressed his fingers like she had, and leaped forward. He cleared every sandbox … and then realized that without gravity, he couldn't really slow down or stop, as he headed towards a supply shed.

"No, no, no, nonononononoNONONO-"

*BUNK*

…

…

On the bright side, he got first place.

Trial 4: Weight Lifting

If Izuku had not met Georgia sooner, he would have been surprised like the other students that she had dominated this event, as she made five one-ton weights float, suspended in midair. She was grateful to him that he had gotten a bucket for her to vomit into.

Everyone was shocked when the two-toned boy lifted seven one-one weights using a platform of ice. It seemed Georgia wasn't even top dog here, much to her chagrin.

Fumikage allowed Dark Shadow to lift the weight, seemingly unaffected as his decidedly unique Quirk lifted 850 kilograms up and down, its entire body moving save for the part of the stem with its master at the base.

Kendo followed up by lifting 700 kilograms in a bench press.

The giant six-armed boy bench pressed a pair of 1200 kilogram weights, naturally, and Eijiro seemed to be locked in a lifting contest with the exact same amount, except he was using his hardening to his advantage to take away the strain. And it worked. For a while.

Acantha used her thorny green locks as appendages to lift several dumbbells which amounted to 1700 kilograms in weight, and left them suspended in place amongst her tangles.

Izuku's lifting routine ended up being a repeat of the upper body test, as he used two one-ton weights on the sides of a dumbbell and simply did several bench presses, even passing Georgia's score.

Trial 5: 50-meter Dash

This event saw two students each run side by side. First up were Mina and the electricity boy, who coated himself in lightning, allowed I to go under his skin, and zipped along the track. Mina, on the other hand, secreted acid from the soles of her feet, which had slickness but no solubility, and used it to practically glide across the track, to the finish line. Izuku smiled a knowing smile. She had been practicing.

Izuku was up next, partnered up with the six-armed giant of a boy. Getting into sprinting position and charging his body with his straining 35%, Izuku took off, a green streak of light, passing the finish line in a record 0.97 seconds. Next to him, the blond copycat had already tapped Iida, and sped across, coming in just behind Izuku.

Acantha had once again proven her versatility with her supposedly binding-specific Quirk by making her vines into a platform, while the vines continued to grow out from her head, until they looked like a snake posed for killing. The long structure then proceeded to slither across the track with surprising speed, right ahead of her partner, who was Tsuyu, leaping across the track in a single bound.

No one was surprised to see Iida take this event by storm, his engines flaring up in large blue flames as he dashed across in 0.48 seconds. Izuku walked up to congratulate him.

The bi-color haired boy had created a track of ice along which to slide, which turned out to be more effective than Mina's slide if the score was anything to go by.

"That was amazing, Iida-kun!" He commented. "Not surprising. Was that your full speed?"

"Fifty meters is too short for anything past third gear." Iida grumbled in response. "But in order to embody the ideology of Plus Ultra, I had to look past my petty manners and, well…" the two of them turned to the track to see that Iida had left rather deep scuff marks on his side of the track. "Heroes must make sacrifices, I suppose."

The tall German girl from before produced a rocket-powered bicycle, and blasted right ahead of her partner Katsuki, who was absolutely furious at being bested.

Acantha, surprising no one, wrapped a couple of vines around her grip meter, and then, surprising everyone, even Izuku, scored 927 kilograms with their strength.

The German creation girl, once again producing items from seemingly nowhere, created a deceptively strong JAWS OF LIFE mechanical clamp, squeezing the non-existent life out of it.

Eijiro hardened his compressed hand around the grip, increasing the pressure considerably, and reaching 820 kilograms.

The girl with the earphone jack ears had wrapped her jacks around the grip, as well as her dominant hand, and squeezed with all three at once. It was creative, even if not effective; 83 kilos.

On the other hand, the ice-boy did something nobody expected: he coated his grip in ice – without freezing the grip – and manipulated the ice into squeezing tightly around the device, getting 1,102 kilograms out of it!

Fumkage handed his grip meter to his creature, and the living shade held onto it with both hands, and scored an impressive 843 kilograms.

Motivated further, he put all the strength he had into squeezing the grip, going 20%, 25%, 35% , 40% ...

And then the device exploded before he could strain himself too much, gaining the attention of the three nearby. He smiled sheepishly.

He looked over to Itsuka and was surprised to see her squeezing the device by its sides … and it wasn't breaking! Then he took a moment to look at the device, and realized the sides where covered in the same rubber as the grip itself. He really should have expected this from U.A.: they were designed in such a way that size-based Quirk users could use them too. He doubted All Might could fit his hand in one of these.

Trial 7: Sustained Side Jumps

Everyone was surprised to see the small kid with the spheres on his head make an impressive score in this one. He had pulled several of the spheres out of the top of his head (they all grew back, as it turned out, just as quickly as they were pulled off), created two piles that seemed to stick together on each side of him, and bounced himself in between them until he was sick. Izuku idly thought it would be likely, trying as hard as he was to be fair, that this kid was on the lower section of the results before this little trick.

The inheritor of one for all was not to be outdone, however, and moved side to side with so much speed and force it caused him to dig into the ground. He inevitably had to stop, as he could feel his bones beginning to come undone faster than his One-for-All enhanced Regen could repair, not to mention he was digging deep enough into the ground that he was in waist deep

The tall girl, meanwhile, had created her most bizarre device yet, which looked like a thin platform with an engine off to the side. It also included foot straps to keep her from falling off. Everyone was actually rather amused to see this device was made for the sole purpose of moving her side to side as she held onto the bars. Hopefully, Izuku thought, it was worth the nausea.

Trial 8: Seated Toe Touch

One for all could not be applied here, (not many Quirks could) not that he needed it desperately. Izuku had never been more grateful for Jukei-sensei's flexibility training than he was right now. Even though he wasn't top marked there (How was he supposed to compete with someone who could extend their limbs?), it made him realize he was wise to sacrifice some strength training for proper gymnastic ability, especially since his fighting style would likely depend on it. It was anther event with everyone going at once, based on who dropped out behind whom.

Trial 9: Punching Machine

The French student simply fired his laser at the punching target and ended up scorching it more than he did put force into it.

Kendo was almost grateful that she was likely to get an above-average score on this one, until she saw Bakugou smack the machine with an enormous explosion, and then she realized she was about to be slammed here, too. It only got worse when the vine-haired girl ... who's Quirk was clearly suited towards binding … used the ends of her vines as a mace by curling them into a ball and slammed them into the target simultaneously. That was just upsetting.

The British heterochromia boy simply sent ice towards the target as he formed the large chunks from underneath it. The entire machine was jarred from the impact, which seemed to say something. Not even Bakugou had managed to shake the device.

Eijiro simply hardened his entire body and threw a full-body punch at the target.

The creation girl used the same canon from the softball throw on the target, and crushed the target. Spares exist for a reason, after all.

Izuku decided not to be out done this time, thus motivating him to strike the target dead center with a spin kick, smashing it in twain.

Aizawa's glare told him that might have not been a good thing.

Hey, he still placed first though.

Trial 10: Endurance Run

This one went a great deal like the upper body exercises. The only difference being that he German girl had created an electric bipedal to avoid exhausting herself. But this was a Quirk apprehension test, and damn it all if Izuku was going to lose to a piece of machinery. He wasn't exactly in trouble here. The vast energy supply from One for All, combined with the solar energy gained thanks to power spark and the extra air inhaled as a result of his Gale Force breath, let him go on for hours.

Sixth Quirk: Gale Force – The user is able to breathe gusts of wind with strength on par with its namesake. Use is limited by user's lung capacity. Cover your mouth when sneezing! User can also inhale large amounts of air, as well as whatever's in it. Too full lungs can lead to hyperventilation. Properly filled lungs allow for additional stamina, unless of course the user would rather spit a tornado.

That is to say, he was still going on when the German girl had just given out after her bipedal had actually run out or power, panting for breath, and Aisling had the foresight to stop this madness.

"Since you still have enough in you to keep going, we'll just place you in first. That's enough."

Izuku thought so too, looking back at his exhausted classmate.

After the test were finished, the class stood before their homeroom teacher, most nervously anticipating their results. After a moment, the man spoke, sounding bored as ever. "I'm just going to show your overall results right now, because we'd be here all day if I show your individual scores." Pointing his remote off in a direction of what was apparently a hologram screen, he displayed the results of the apprehension tests, which followed as such.

1. Izuku Midoriya

2. Nicola Wilhelm

3. Samuel Brenton

4. Hector Anderson

5. Solomon Arnold

6 Katsuki Bakugo

7. Acantha Euphemia

8. Fumikage Tokoyami

9 Itsuka Kendo

10. Simon Mathias

11. Georgia Sherwood

12. Eijiro Kirishima

13. Tsuyu Asui

14. Derrick Page

15. Mina Ashido

16. Alaia Amets

17. Hernando Salvador

18. Dior Beauregard

19. Than Lan

20. Minoru Mineta

Izuku took in the score on the board. In truth, he didn't feel these scores would reflect their progress all that accurately, but he thought about how he had scored first in the practical entrance exam. And he had done it again here. Was this what people would continue to expect of him? To be at the top constantly? Living up to those expectations wouldn't be easy. But I won't have to do it alone. He thought, looking to his friends, and then to where All Might probably was, inside the school building. I've got people to push me upward, towards those heights everyone will come to expect from me.

Mina huffed at her results while Fumikage was congratulating Eijiro, and Tsuyu simply croaked. The electric kid threw his head back in frustration, and the six-armed boy, the two-toned cryokinetic, and the German girl did not react visibly. Hector pushed up his glasses, and Acantha smiled in satisfaction. Itsuka wasn't too bothered, as compared to Georgia, who seemed to be fidgeting slightly. The tape-boy rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, and the ear-jack girl huffed, though more quietly than Mina.

Katsuki was absolutely fuming! Not only did he not even get into the top 3, he got sixth! And behind Deku again?! No matter. These results wouldn't mean shit when they went against one another directly. He'd blow everyone to bits! He turned to Solomon, who looked back at him as he sensed someone else looking at him … and the bastard just smirked, and shrugged. And I'll start with the fucker who managed to just come out over me.

"Well, that will be all for today." The homeroom teacher said. "Your curriculum documents are back in your classroom. Review them thoroughly. Oh." He suddenly turned to the shortest among the students, who was sweating profusely. "Mineta Minoru, you are hereby expelled from U.A. High. Head back to the dorms and grab all your belongings. If you want, you can go talk to Administration about trying your luck with general studies. Or don't. Either way, feel free to keep the uniform; I doubt it'd fit anyone else." He then turned to the other students. "Let it be known that since there are now only nineteen students, the empty position will be replaced with someone who will transfer in from class B." (4)

The tall girl's eyes widened in surprise.

"B-b-b-b-but Y-y-you can't be serious!" The diminutive teenager protested. "T-t-tell me you're joking!"

"Nope." Was the remorseless answer. "I told you, last place would be deemed as having zero potential here, and you placed last. If that will be all, you're free to go."

Against her better judgement, the girl walked towards the Erasure Hero, spoke out – "Sir, you can't-…" and was promptly rooted to where she stood by his suffocating glare.

For a moment, no one said anything. Then, contrary to his previous bored tone, Sage spoke with undisputed authority. "I cannot what, miss Wilhelm? Please, continue."

Nicola took several seconds to gather her voice together, and even then, it was shaky and unsure. "Y-Y-You c-can't just ex-expel students like th-that. We've worked to get here…"

"I thought you of all people would have been paying attention, Nicola Wilhelm. I said, whoever scored last would be expelled. What, did you think I was lying? You think I planted some rational deception, just to push everyone to give it their all?" When she simply nodded her head enough for him to notice, too afraid to speak, he sneered. "How naïve. I don't believe in lying to my students. How else am I going to get any of you to trust me? Mineta Minoru is the one-hundred-and-fifty-fifth student I have expelled in my time at this institution. That includes a whole class the previous year that I deemed too lazy and too arrogant to have any hope." At this, Nicola covered her mouth with one hand in shock, taking a step back. "As the results show, Mr. Mineta did not have any potential to be the kind of first-rate heroes we teach you to be here, nor did he have a very good motivation, if 52 counts of sexual offense on his record are anything to go by." Suddenly, the girls of the class were much less sympathetic. "You think it was cruel of me to crush his hopes like that? If any of you had scored last, or I thought you had no prospects, I would have done the same. It would be crueler to let him keep chasing a dream that would never come true."

Nicola remained silent at this. There really wasn't a single thing she could say to refute anything he said.

Aisling turned to the rest of the class, and stared them down. "That applies to each and every one of you. If I think you're slacking, or that you simply don't belong, I will not hesitate to kick you out." Surprising everyone, he glanced slightly to the tall girl. "You're not in the clear either, Wilhelm, just because you placed so high. This little stunt is going to cost you. Question my methods again, and I'll have to deal with the paperwork for two replacement transfers. If you want to get that small amount of trust I had in you back, you'd better be willing to work hard." He looked back at the rest of the class. "Any questions?"

"N-no sir!"

"Good." He then sauntered off. "Don't lose your curriculum sheets. I'm not making copies. If you thought today was unfair, you don't have a hope in hell for tomorrow."

With that he was gone. The now named Nicola had suddenly lost the feeling in her legs, and had dropped to the ground. It was ironic, Izuku thought, as he tried to help her get back on her feet. One of the top scorers on this test had been brought to her knees so easily. But it was expected, as far as he was concerned. Erasure Head was a spook socially and a demon on the field. He did not compromise, and very few heroes could ever argue him down from his own point. A first-year student on the first day didn't stand a chance.

"Hey, can I talk to you for a second?"

The day had pretty much ended after the apprehension test. Everyone was now at the lockers getting ready to go back to the dorms, not nearly as lively as they had been when they had gotten there. Izuku had decided to try and do something for the student who had been expelled so abruptly, Minoru Mineta, if he remembered his name. The purple haired(?) stranger turned to him sluggishly. "What do you want?" Izuku was prepared for this person to be upset over this. He could do this.

"*Sigh* Look, there's no need to get upset-"

"That's easy for you to say."

Izuku huffed. "No, it isn't."

"… Huh?"

"I'm a late bloomer." Izuku said briefly. "If it wasn't for the fact that I had already done a ton of physical training, I wouldn't be able to handle any of this power, because I would have spent my life being depressed over being Quirkless. And the only reason I scored so high was because I went way over what my body could actually handle." He was taking an awfully big risk to help someone out, he knew, but he really didn't need to expose a great deal about "his" Quirk to make his point. "Look, your chances at being a hero aren't gone. Like Aisling-sensei said, you can talk to Administration about applying for General Studies."

"How will that help? Aren't those students just there to have a small shot at sidekick for life?"

Izuku had endured Bakugo's taunts and belittlements his whole life. He was infinitely too patient to let such a disrespectful comment deter him from helping. "Maybe they don't all have a shot at going pro or even being heroes, but the truth is, not everyone has combat-oriented Quirks that work in such a short-sighted test. A lot of students with such Quirks normally apply for general studies knowing this and wait until the annual U.A. Sports Festival."

Mineta's confusion was so obvious. "Wh … What does that do for them?"

"Based on how they perform in the festival, the staff considers moving them into the hero course. From what I've seen, your Quirk is much better used practically than for physical tests. You would do very well in the festival, definitely well enough to make an impact on the heroes scouting out sidekicks." A hopeful look adorned Mineta's face, and Izuku was quick to tell him the other half. "But be warned, since you're behind, that means you'll have to work harder than anyone else. If you want to make it in the hero course, you'll have to take Aisling-sensei's words to heart and work and be ready to run yourself through the wringer."

Silence hung in the air as the smaller of the two ingested Izuku's words. When he thought about it, it was true. This was the best school after all. If they were to endure being worked to the bone, they'd have to have worked hard even before that. He clearly hadn't been working as hard as he should have, but hope wasn't lost.

"Work harder…" He thought aloud. "O-okay th-th-thanks, I…. could… could you give me a minute? I… I just need to… thank you."

Letting a satisfied smile grace his lips, Izuku nodded and left the boy to his thoughts. "Hey wait!" Before Izuku could leave the locker rooms, the boy called out to him one last time. He turned to look at him. "I'm…uh… I don't know if we'll see each other again but … I'm … I'm Mineta Minoru. What's your name?"

Izuku smiled. "Midoriya Izuku. I wish you the best of luck, Mineta-kun."

"T-thanks Midoriya." Mineta said, trying his best to put on a determined face. "I-I'll try to not let it go to waste."

With that, Izuku nodded at him and head out of the school building. He quickly caught up to the rest of the class, who was standing in front of Aizawa again, who was elaborating further on the dormitories.

"This is where you will be staying after class hours." The disgruntled began. "Your curfew is at 10pm and breakfast and lunch will be served in the cafeteria, unless you get permission otherwise. Dinner is your responsibility. Leave all your juvenile problems until after classes so none of you are my problem anymore."

Some students giggled at this. Mina was bold enough to openly laugh.

Their teacher glared at them.

They all silently stood at attention.

"Since your first day here is done, get settle into your rooms, and try not to do any property damage. And expect your new classmate in before the day is over. I'm going back to sleep."

When the students walked in, they were greeted with the sight of a massive common room, with a kitchen and dining room sized to match. The last two were bare, but had big refrigerators, freezers, three stove/oven combinations, and four microwaves. One of the coffee tables had a thick stack of papers on it After each taking one, the students discovered they were maps of the building. Quarters for boys and girls were separated. There was a laundry room for clothes and study rooms that seemed soundproof for use. The dorms had separate bathrooms big enough for a sauna, which they did have. After careful study, they each went to where their respective rooms were designated. (5)

Izuku had just finished with setting up his room (Thank goodness he'd been able to fit all of his merchandise into his luggage. It was too close to his heart.), when he heard a knock on the side of his open door frame, and saw Mina and Itsuka standing there, the former smirking at his decked out room while the latter gaped slightly. They had kept in contact, but she had never gotten a proper look at his room.

"Dude," the martial artist managed to get out, "I can understand a passion for heroes, but this?"

"I know, right?" Izuku spoke with chipper grin, unabashed. "Some of the merchandise you see here are some of my most prized material possessions. How could I not worship these heroes like they deserve?" He was not embarrassed by his excess of memorabilia. He had learned through Eijiro how to wear his passion on his sleeve.

"Fanboy." Itsuka smirked.

"Hey, if you're more into patterns, try Micchan's room. It's so loud, sometimes I think the pink-with-leopard-print wallpaper is actually screeching at me." The named simply crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks out in irritation as Itsuka giggled. "Hey don't worry. You bring it together."

That brought her around surprisingly fast. Boy, what a flatterer she'd fallen for, huh? She suddenly perked up in thought. "Hey, we should hold a room showcasing contest sometime."

"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea." Itsuka agreed, before looking slightly bashful. "Although, my room isn't exactly colorful."

"We should at least wait until the new student gets here." Izuku supplied helpfully. "We don't want anyone left out."

"Yeah," Mina agreed, "which means we'll have to wait for the dorm meeting too. Phooey."

"Well," the Quirk inheritor supplied helpfully, "on the bright side, we can try meeting everyone individually."

When the three walked out, they encountered Nicola, who seemed to be walking around with her head down, one of the few students left who was still wearing their school uniform, except her tie was untied. She lifted her head enough to acknowledge the three of them.

She looked like she had something weighing her down.

They couldn't just walk past that. Itsuka was the one to speak up. "Do you want to talk?"

The girl paused, seemingly regarding them with apprehension.

"I know we don't really know each other at all, but I think it would help to have someone to talk to.

Surrendering under the weight of her apparent doubts, she leaned against the wall, and slid down it when she could not stand up. "I … may have made a mistake coming here." The German girl admitted shamefully. "I got here based on recommendation. Did you know that?"

"I speculated." Izuku admitted. "We happened to see each other's entry places from the results of the practical, along with our own. I don't remember the name Nicola."

"That's right." Nicola confirmed. "I wasn't too surprised at first, but when they instruct me to demonstrate my Quirk, I'm even excused from taking the same tests as the other recommend students."

Izuku was slightly in awe of that. But he kept his head on the situation at hand. He could inquire as to the details later.

"And then I find out our teacher has the right to do as he pleases with us. The next thing I know I'm facing the same fate when I try to speak out, for one of the few times in my life. I deserved it though. I didn't even have anything to back up my little idea, just that he didn't have the authority, which I was obviously wrong about. Do I even …"

Izuku firmly planted a hand on the wall behind her.

"Stop." She was silenced by the surprisingly strength the boy had put into saying that, despite the soft tone. Behind him, Mina looked on knowingly, and Itsuka was a bit caught off guard herself. "You most certainly do. You do deserve to be here. Because you are here." He looked her directly in her eyes, and she looked back, at his iridescent orbs, which seemed to be glowing intensely with warmth she had never experienced in her life.

It was astonishing.

"You may think you're being logical, questioning your shortcomings, but doubting yourself will not do you any good. You'll only go down a blank path that has no end. So you made a mistake today. You have years to bury under loads of successes." (5)

"So let's do our best." He finished, extending a hand which she took to help him lift her up. Finally, she was standing back at her full height. "My name's Izuku Midoriya, by the way. It's nice to meet you."

"I-I'm Nicola Wilhelm." She said, smiling genuinely. "It's Nice to meet you too, Midoriya-san."

Behind them, Mina and Itsuka had decided that Izuku had this under control. "Well," Mina moved Itsuka along, who couldn't help but feel a slight pit in her stomach, "this is awesome and all, but you two seem to be having a moment, so we'll just move ahead. C'mon, Itsu-chan! Let's go meet our bros and bro-ettes."

"Uh, okay." The orangette agreed.

And just like that, the two of them were on their own, and as Izuku turned to look up at her, and was finally able to properly get a good look at her, it struck him. It struck him like a Detroit Smash to the gut: she was … Beautiful! She was a bit taller than him, and her face was slimmed down. The hair she had tied into a spiky ponytail was long and silky. The way she carried herself suggested a very sophisticated background, and her dark gray eyes shone. She was also very … well-endowed for someone their age, not that he was paying too much attention to that! He swore on his mother and father!

He hoped his cheeks didn't look as hot as they felt.

"So, uh, if you don't mind me asking, what exactly is your Quirk?" He hoped finding out would distract him from the beauty of this … girl? Woman?

She paused for a moment before she turned away and told him. "I can create any non-living object, so long as I know its exact molecular structure.

Her heart clenched when she turned to see he was looking at her with a star-struck expression

"Holy woah! Memorizing all those formulas takes a lot of concentration! You've gotta be a genius! See, you deserve to be here. Not just anyone can truly wield a Quirk like that, especially to create some of the thing you made out there! And you scored second without breaking a sweat!"

"Right behind you." There was no jealousy or malice behind it. It was really just an observation. If she had to be more specific, she had to wonder why he was so impressed, in spite of out-scoring her. Granted, Creation was versatile by nature, but it lacked the raw power displayed by many other quirks, including Midoriya-san's. And he was correct when he said it took considerable mental effort.

"Well," He scratched the side of his head. "I sort of strained my body with a higher level of enhancement than it could handle without strain. But enough about that for one day. Come on." He gestured for her to follow him "Let's go meet our classmates."

"O-okay." She quickly followed behind him. This was nothing like the private schooling she had been receiving back in Germany. The other students were so … open. There was no reluctance to speak to one another, and no judgement of others for their quirks, or actual Quirk. True, some were more … her thoughts turned to the vulgar blonde with the pyrotechnical Quirk … volatile than others, but they weren't evaluating each other with every interaction.

And then there was this boy, Izuku Midoriya. No one had ever really told her she … could do anything. She'd really only ever been told what she was supposed to do. And when she finally did something right, it was just on to the next thing. No particular congratulation. She was just supposed to follow a set path: work hard, study hard, keep her parents' company alive. When her Quirk had developed, and she had figured out how she could use it, becoming a hero was the closest thing to her decision she had ever really had. She had not expected to make any friends upon entering. Was this … was this what it felt like?

Just like one of my romance novels. She thought Idly

… Oh. (5)

About an Hour Later

Just outside the 1-A dorms

Comhghall Reagan did not know what to think right now.

Three weeks ago, he had gotten his acceptance letter into U.A. His dad and his sister were ecstatic to have heard the news. Just today, he had managed to stay awake during the dreaded entrance ceremony, and not make a fuckin' idiot of himself during orientation. Then he'd gone through a series of test where he couldn't find a way to apply his quirk – not that he had been worried – and before his first day had even ended, he got a notification from his teacher, Blood King, that he was now being transferred because apparently "that damn maniac had expelled someone again" to quote his ex-homeroom teacher, and apparently he had been chosen to replace them in an agreement among the staff.

So basically, he recounted as he scowled at the dormitory for no particular reason, a bag slung over his shoulder among the many behind him, he'd be getting along with a different crowd from who he'd thought. Guess that was what he could think right now.

As he walked in he was greeted by the sight of three people on the couch playing a fighting game of some sort (Mortal Kombat, if he remembered right). A blonde dude with a black bolt in his hair, some ripped guy with a red spiky rock for a hairdo wearing a headband not unlike the ones he like wearing, and a string-bean of a guy with whale's teeth and swollen elbows. He saw a total alien of a chick with the pink skin and horns, upside down on one of the armchairs, and down the hallway came a short Japanese kid with green-and black curls, and a tall babe with a spiked pony tail.

Well, here goes nothin'.

"I'm Comhghall Reagan. Nice to meet ya." His tone did not suggest so.

Fortunately he apparently didn't screw up too bad, judging from how the bi-colored haired kid skipped up to him with a friendly wave and a smile that looked too real for a teenager. He idly noted he was only a ½ inch shorter than himself. "Oh! Hi! I'm Izuku Midoriya. Our teacher said we'd be getting a transfer replacement. Is that you by any chance?"

"Yeah, that's me." He gestured outside. "Could I get a hand moving my stuff in? I don't wanna be a pain in the ass walkin' back and forth."

"Oh certainly." Izuku took out a sheet that he had gotten from Hector for this same occasion, since they'd agreed he should be the one to greet their new mutual dorm mate. "Here's a map of the dorms, and this slip has your room's location on it. It's the same as the student whom you're replacing."

Izuku and Fumikage helped the circular-eyed boy move into the room that was supposed to have occupied by Mineta. It was a lot of heavy stuff; a wooden desk, an anvil, an electric guitar … but they didn't complain a bit, and the Weld user was openly thankful for that.

"So," he decided as long as the day was technically over, he should try to strike up a conversation, "what's the deal? Why'd the guy get expelled?"

"Did your class take an apprehension test too, by any chance?" Izuku asked. A short not was all the confirmation necessary. "Well, he placed at the bottom, and our homeroom teacher said last place had no potential for U.A."

"Well, shit." Comhghall couldn't stop himself. "I'm gonna love this guy, aren't I?"

"He's not quite so cold." Fumikage assured him, as Izuku had taught him to do for people. "It was actually for his own good. Being a hero is dangerous business. It's better if we are protected from it when we are not suited for it."

"Is it too late to transfer out?"

"For certain."

"Fuck."

Thirty Minutes Later

Common Room

The students were sitting in a sort of circle around the room, Mina having finally gathered them for the desired meet. It hadn't been too hard to convince Hector and Acantha, and the rest of the people Izuku knew personally were immediately on board. It was divided work to convince the rest.

"Hi hi, everyone!" Since we're gonna be roommates, I thought It'd be awesome if we got to know each other a bit more!" Okay, this was simple. Don't ask anything too personal. There is plenty to learn about someone without making them uncomfortable. These were things she had taken the time to learn, not everyone was as far-out as her. She could do this. "Let's introduce ourselves. We'll tell our names, our Quirks, and something else that's totes random. I'll go first. I'm Mina Ashido. My Quirk is Acid. I can secret acid from any part of my body and control its solubility, but if I secret from any body part too much, I lose my own resistance to it. I love natto and okra, and breakdancing, and I don't like bullies. I'm lookin' at you, Baku." For this, she received a double bird.

Izuku meanwhile, seeing this as the perfect chance to gather data on his primary allies for the rest of his school career, had whipped out his newest notebook, Hero Analysis for the future: Student Edition; Volume 1.

The first person after Mina to stand up was the blonde French boy with the sparkles about him. "Bien rencontré, everyone. I am Dior Beauregard. My Quirk is none other than the magnificent Navel Laser! It needs no explanation, save for that if I fire it continuously for too long, It hurts my tummy! My interest include mirrors, glitter, and all other fabulous things in this world … including myself, of course!" With that, he sat down, sparkling.

What the heck? Was everyone's simultaneous thought.

After Dior went Tsuyu. "Hello. I'm Tsuyu Asui. My Quirk is Frog, and as you can see, It gives me the appearance of a frog, and I can do basically what any species of frog can, including jumping, having a long tongue, and swimming good. I like rain and Jelly, and I say whatever's on my mind." With that, she sat back down.

Hector went next, standing as stiffly as ever. "I am called Hector Anderson! My Quirk is Engine. I can use the engines in my calves to enhance an aspect of my physical prowess based on what type of engine it is! For example, I can manifest an industrial engine for strength, or the engine of a motorcycle for speed! I enjoy studying, and Beef Stew! I hope we can all get along!" With that he sat down, and somehow managed to do that stiffly too.

Once he had finished, Georgia stood up, seeming slightly fidgety. "Uh, hi. I'm Georgia Sherwood. My Quirk is Zero Gravity. I can remove the influence of gravity on any object by touching it. I can remove a total of 7 tons worth of gravity at once, but if I try any more, I get nauseous to the point of vomiting. I can lift myself, but it seems to have the same effect has trying to lift slightly more than my maximum, and I get dizzier the longer I hold it. Oh! And I can hold my maximum weight for about 2 minutes. As for something about myself, I like sweets, like mocchi. I hope we can all get along." She quickly sat down.

At the beginning of the next row, Itsuka stood up and smiled. "My name is Itsuka Kendou. My Quirk is…" she paused for a moment, before remembering she had decided to get it renamed, "… Giant fist. I can enlarge my hands to enormous sizes, turning them into huge blunt weapons. I can use them to lift heavy objects or entrap people between them. The thickened skin also makes them thick enough to stop knives. As for something about myself, I know seven different martial arts, and I enjoy motorcycles and black coffee. I hope we can all be friends." Well that one was certainly a step up.

Right after her, the American boy with the black-streaked blonde hair seemingly jumped up, holding his hands at his sides in a "rock on" pose. "Wassup, everybody. I'm Derrick page. My Quirk's Electrification. I can cover myself in electricity and fry everything I touch, but I can also internalize it and increase my strength, my speed, and even my agility. But I can also release it all at once for a big shock! I enjoy fast food, and all things trending." He did a stage bow and sat back down, seeming rather impressed with himself, in contrast to everyone else, who noticed he hadn't stated his Quirk's drawback.

Next was Eijiro, who simply stood strong, and let out his purest shark-toothed grin. "Yo! The name's Eijiro Kirishima! And my Quirk: Hardening. I can make my whole body harder than cement, and most metals. I can ignore bullets, lift tons with my strength, and I'm resistant to the harsher elements, like fire or shocks. And I enjoy meat of any kind, and manly things of all kinds!" He crossed his arms and sat down, a satisfied grin on his lips.

Acantha stood up calmly, with her hands folded one over another. "Geia sas, everyone. My name is Acantha Euphemia. My Quirk is Vines. I can manipulate the vines that are my hair to my will. I can extend them several meters each, and do things such as grab objects, bind opponents, defend from attack, and use them for mobility in the same fashion as a spider's legs. I very much enjoy gardening." As if with practice, she sat down slowly, directly into her seat, without having to scoot into position; easily the most lady like way of sitting down any of them had ever seen.

The British boy, Solomon, got out of his seat rather casually, his hands in his pockets, and a serene smile on his face. "Greetings, my classmates. I am Solomon Arnold. My Quirk is Mimic. By touching someone, I can mimic any Quirk, even Mutant-class Quirks, for ten minutes for each I obtain. I can mimic up to three at once, at the cost of dividing time between them. I enjoy French cuisine and Franco-Belgian comics." And then he sat down. Some were rather suspicious about the lack of information.

Next stood the tall boy with the six arms, not betraying any emotion with any of his movements, save for uncertainty. Much to their surprise, he spoke from his hand; or rather, from a mouth where his left-middle hand used to be. "Hello, everyone. I am Simon Mathias. My Quirk is Dupli Arms. I can duplicate any part of my body onto my arms, including other limbs and sensory organs. I have no worldly desires, but I like takoyaki and squid ink pasta." He quickly sat down, as if to avoid probing.

Behind him, the Korean girl with the earphone jacks for earlobes stood up brusquely, not really seeming to care. "What's up. I'm Than Lan. My Quirk is Earphone Jack. I can pick up super low-key sounds, and I can also project sound waves from them with the frequency of my heart rate. I'm into music of all kinds, both playing and listening, but mostly rock and roll." She sat down, and went back to twirling on of her earlobes between her fingers.

Izuku could have sworn the boy next to her had bounced out of his seat. He was the Spanish boy, with a flat, grinning face full of whale's teeth and tape dispenser elbows. "Buenas, people, I'm Hernando Salvador. My Quirk is tape, and I can shoot tape of any kind from the dispensers in my elbows. The adhesive on it is fueled by my hydration, so if I shoot too much adhesive, my skin dries up. I love oranges, soy beans, and any other healthy-lookin' stuff." He sat down, looking quite relaxed for someone with such a comparatively lackluster quirk. Izuku totally understood though.

Fumikage stood up next, coolly as ever in Izuku's opinion. "I am called Fumikage Tokoyami. My Quirk is called Dark Shadow. I can manifest a life form of pure darkness from my body. My Dark Shadow is excellent for defense and offense, and even capable of rescue, provided he does not scare anyone. As a living creature, he possesses a measure of personality on which I would prefer not to elaborate. He becomes bigger and stronger in darkness, but harder to control. By contrast, he is small and weak in the light, but far easier to subdue. He is also capable of shape-shifting, provided he is big enough to match the object. I am partial to apples, dark places, and medieval paraphernalia." He quickly sat down as coolly as he stood up.

The British boy with the exotic red-and-blue hair and bi-chrome eyes stood stiffly, though not as much as Hector. Izuku couldn't help but feel that his eyes, gazing across the room, were looking through everyone, like they didn't exist … or didn't matter. "I am called Samuel Brenton. This Quirk, half-hot-half-cold, allows me to generate fir from my left side ice from my right. I enjoy cold noodles." Was all he said before he sat back down. How strange, Izuku thought.

Izuku was not prepared for a female school uniform to float out of the couch. There was legitimately nothing distinguishing her except for the lack of features. It was clear that she was invisible, and that she was a she, but that was it. "Hi hi, everyone." And apparently she had a lot in common with Mina. "I'm Alaia Amets. My quirk is Invisibility. Guess what it does!" She teased. Yep, a whole lot like Mina. "But it works specifically by refracting light off my body, so when I eat stuff, it totally disappears. I like caramel and shows about hidden camera surprise pranks." There was no one else, Izuku decided as she jumped into her spot on the couch, who could grab so much attention both in spite of and because of their innate power to be unseen. Except possibly Mina. Having such a big family was part of the reason for that.

Katsuki stood up next. Izuku was not prepared for how formal he sounded. He sounded calm; as calm as someone like him could sound anyway. And while his eyes were scanning the room, just like the exotic Brenton (Where had he heard that name?), except he was looking at each and every one of them. What? "My name is Katsuki Bakugo. My Quirk is called Explosion, but that's an oversimplification of what it actually does." Okay… was he about to actually elaborate on his powers, instead of just brag about how awesome it was? "I generate sweat with nitroglycerin properties and ignite it on my palms to create explosions, which is where the name comes from I can use it to create overwhelming area-of effect type attacks, blast it behind me to propel myself, or just use the light for an effect similar to a flash bang. I like spicy food and hiking." Okay, now Kacchan was starting to scare him. He wasn't loud, he wasn't boasting, and he wasn't even setting his quirk off to prove a point. Was he really acting like a civilized member of socie-… "And I'm gonna be number one here. No matter what it takes. So don't try getting in my way."

Oh thank All Might. Kacchan was starting to scare him.

This was it, Izuku thought standing up. This was his chance to make a good impression on his classmates. It was also a chance to put the story behind his Quirk to the test. With that in mind, he stood up, folded his hands like Acantha, and wore his most genuine smile. "Hello everyone. My name is Izuku Midoriya. My Quirk is called Prowess. It is an internal energy source that I use to enhance myself, including strength, speed, and endurance. More specific enhancements include my lung capacity, to allow me to inhale or exhale greater amounts of air. I can also project bursts of energy as a ranged move, and I can control the energy even then. I enjoy note-taking, katsudon, video games, and collecting hero merchandise. I hope we can all get along." Still wearing the smile, he sat back down.

The Irish boy with the circular eyes and the head band stood off the floor. Izuku couldn't help but think the way he waylays scowled was similar to Kacchan's "Hey everybody, I'm Comhghall Reagan, and my Quirk is Weld. I can fuse two objects together at the atomic level, or any level that comes before it, but only if I touch both objects. I can merge a total equal to what takes up the same amount of space as an RV. The welding lasts about as long as if it were done by an actual blowtorch, that is to say it'd have to be broken off, if someone can manage that. If I do too much welding, or if the objects are too big, I overheat. And I'm really into mobile games." He sat down unceremoniously.

Nicola stood up last; standing with her hands folded one over another, just like Acantha and Izuku. "I am Nicola Wilhelm. My Quirk is called Creation. I can make any non-living objects as long as I have sufficient lipids stored in my body, as they are the source for my materials. I have to understand the exact chemical composition of the object I am creating, or it will not be produced, and it will be physically incomplete if I do not have enough body fats. I love reading Encyclopedias, particularly of the illustrated variety." And she, just like Acantha, somehow elegantly sat down.

After that, everyone found some to talk to, except for Samuel and Than Lan, who had decided they would rather spend the remainder of their days in their rooms.

"Dude, you can electrify yourself?" That's manly!"

"Turning into a living rock is pretty cool too! Hey, wanna finish our Mortal Kombat rounds?"

"You are friends with Midoriya-san?" Acantha Incquired to Tsuyu.

"Indeed. And you're the one he told us about who spoke for him after exams?"

"I just wanted to do something for him after what he'd done for all of us, Asui-san."

"Call me Tsuyu. Kero."

"Oh? Okay … Tsuyu." Acantha allowed herself a small smile.

Izuku, meanwhile, had decided to learn a bit more about Nicola. He had finally realized that she was actually sitting right next to him, seeming a bit too red in the face.

"I … look forward to the time we will spend together, Midoriya-san."

Izuku smiled. This was going to be an awesome four years. "Call me Izuku, Wilhelm-san."

So, I ended this long-ass chapter on that note. Any forming bonds you know from canon will also exist. I will only actively indicate otherwise interactions.

(1) Credit for Izuku's 4th Quirk goes to Discard205, who is apparently a big fan of Kenichi: History's Mightiest Disciple. I ought to check that out some time.

(2) Credit for Izuku's 9th Quirk goes to Shogun lord poke burst, who suggested it via PM. Thanks, dude. Since it was technically Izuku's Quirk, I decided to introduce it in a way similar to the original introduction of his One for All: Defeating the big one in a single shot, and more power than his body could take.

(3) Admit it. You were a little curious where everyone else placed.

(4) I will admit, the way I phrased Mineta's expulsion was inspired by the same scene from For Want of Izuku's Toe Joint by Raeigh, but the fact that it happened at all was my idea too. Why isn't anyone else doing this? Come on, you guys!

(5) Courtesy of inspiration by Epsilon110's Total Command, who I am now giving this story a belated Dedication to. I have very few original ideas, but a whole lot of desires.

For those of you who didn't notice, I made the effort to not use up words on displays of Quirks that were already in Canon. This Chapter is already nauseatingly lengthy.

Katsuki Bakugou

Age: 15

Gender: Male

Height: 172 cm / 5' 9"

Weight: 77 kgs / 170 lbs.

Eyes: Red

Hair: Ash Blonde, Spiky

Nationality: Japanese

Date of Birth: April 20th

Handedness: Right

Blood Type: A

Likes: Spicy food, Hiking

Dislikes: Losing, Izuku Midoriya, getting help, Deku Midoriya, sameness, that fucking nerd Deku, admitting he's lost, DEKU!

Character Theme: Sick Puppies – One of Us is Going Down

Quirk: Explosion - Katsuki's Quirk allows him to secrete nitroglycerin-like sweat from his palms and detonate it at will. The more Katsuki sweats, the stronger his explosions become. Katsuki usually uses small, powerful explosions from his hands to not only blast his opponents but to propel himself and navigate through the air as well. His thick skin – developed through repeatedly destroying himself through continuous release of blasts until the point it no longer affected him – allow him to withstand the force of his blasts. He cannot create explosions if he cannot sweat, and thus has issues fighting in lower-temperature environments. Also, Katsuki's largest explosions damage the nerves in his hands, leaving him less capable of using them each time.

Costume: A fitted black sleeveless V-neck tank top with an orange X with the top half borders his shirt collar. A seemingly metallic neck brace fashioned and used as a collar with three holes in both sides. Sleeves reach from within large grenade-like gauntlets to biceps. Belt, which also carries grenades, holds up baggy pants with knee guards. Underneath guards are black, knee-high combat boots with orange soles and eyelets. Hero mask has large, flare-shaped cloth.

Fighting Style: Close/ Medium Range

Skills:

Enhanced Strength: Katsuki possesses an above average physical strength. He is able to use his Grenade Bracers without any recoil due to his strength.

Keen Intellect: Despite looking like he'd just be a punk with no brains, Katsuki has proven to be extremely smart and strategic. Even Pro Heroes have mentioned several times his great potential and battle-sense. Shota Aizawa stated that it is in battle where Katsuki shines his brightest. He is considered a natural born genius.

Musical Talent: Katsuki is highly skilled at playing a drum kit, having gone through classes in the past.

Krav Maga: To compliment his style of fighting both with and without his quirk, Katsuki has become practiced in this deadly art which involves simultaneous offense and defense, repeatable strikes, preemptive and counterattacking, weak point striking, and maintaining awareness of surroundings.

Special Moves:

Blast Rush Turbo: Katsuki throws his hands back and uses explosions to propel himself. He uses this both on the ground to increase his speed and through the air to achieve a pseudo form of flight. He first used this technique on the ground during the Quirk Apprehension Test. The first time he used it to fly was during the Obstacle Race.

Stun Grenade: Katsuki starts by creating a sphere of light between his hands that explodes into a large scale flash. Similar to the effect of an actual stun grenade, the flash of light blinds anyone close by. He first used this technique to defeat Fumikage Tokoyami.

Zero Distance Stun Grenade: A variation where Katsuki fires off his Stun Grenade at point blank range of the opponent to immediately stun and immobilize them with little lasting damage.

Howitzer Impact: Katsuki takes to the air and uses explosions to propel himself in a circular motion to create a tornado. This tornado builds up oxygen to fuel the incoming explosion. After colliding with the ground, Katsuki releases the powerful aforementioned explosion.

AP Shot: Katsuki stretches out one of his hands and uses his other hand to form a circle on the palm of his outstretched hand. Katsuki then fires an explosion through the circle, which creates a concentrated blast beam. By focusing the path of his explosions into a single point instead of around his whole palm, Katsuki creates a concentrated blast with reduced area of impact, but with enough power to successfully pierce solid concrete.

AP Shot: Auto-Cannon: A rapid-fire version of his AP Shot Technique. The explosion power is reduced in order to avoid dealing severe damage to human targets.

Explode-A-Pult: While in mid-air, Katsuki grabs an opponent with one of his arms, then propels himself in a spinning motion by firing explosions with his free arm. Once he gains enough momentum, Katsuki forcefully throws his opponent with the aid of another explosion.

Stats

Power - 5/5;

Speed - 4/5; B

Technique - 5/5; A

Intelligence - 4/5; B

Cooperativeness - 1/5; E