Coco: Hey, guys, it's me! Coco! And what I bring you is another BnHA story. For those of you who have read my first story, which is still ongoing, you already know I've been planning this one for a while and I finally have things in place as to where I wish to take the story. Now, a little warning is that this story is going to be a bit more darker than my other one. In you had to compare the two, I'd say Ayonic is Marvel while this story is more DC. I love both hero franchises and wanted to try my hand on the darker side of things. Hence why this story.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy and I hope to hear your thoughts and opinions very soon.

With heroes come villains. It's a simple fact. Especially in today's society. It's like saying with light comes darkness, or vice versa. No one can say with a hundred percent certainty what came first. Though many people lean towards darkness. So, does that mean it's the same for villains. Did the villains come first? Or the heroes? Though it didn't really matter which it was. The point was that heroes couldn't exist without villains.

And in today's society—a society filled with people with...unique abilities known as quirks—, all it took was one bad day to create another new superpowered villain for the heroes to fight. In this world you were either a good guy or a bad guy, and sometimes society didn't really give you a choice on what you were going to be.

If you're born with a dangerous, scary quirk—even as a child—many would label you as a villain or at least one in the making. If your quirk gave you an odd appearance—and made you look inhuman—in some parts of the world, you were discriminated against. In other words, if you weren't born with a quirk made for a hero or just a simple normal quirk, your life could be a tough one. It really was all about who you were, where you were born, and what quirk you developed.

And once society decided what category to place you in, it was near impossible to change their mind. Especially if you were written off as a villain. Though while it may be near impossible, sometimes these individuals have a chance to prove society otherwise. However, sometimes these individuals would rather be just left alone and let society say whatever they want about them. But in this kind of society, people don't always get a choice in who or what they want to be. Hero, villain, or otherwise.

U.A. High School the number one ranked high school for heroics, which makes it the top Hero Academy in Japan. Many aspiring heroes dream of being part of such a prestigious and most of the popular and successful heroes of Japan call it their Alma Mater. To get in to the hero program of this school, students were expected to pass two tests. The first a practical exam and the second a written test. Only the top 44 ranked students in these exams will go on to join the hero course, and considering just how many people applied to U.A. it was extremely difficult to get one of those 44 seats.

'And I have to do my best for one of those spots.' A teenage girl thought as she stood outside the prestige institution. 'Or Tía might kill me.'

The girl was average height with a toned figure as if she was athletic and she had an olive skin tone. Her hair was jet black and was pulled back into a tight braid that fell about midback. All in all, she looked relatively normal expect for her eyes. The sclera of her eyes was black and her irises were a burnt orange to almost red color, and they almost seemed to glow like embers of a dying fire.

'Though death might not be so bad,' The girl continued to think. 'It'd be better than this.'

She then sighed knowing she better head inside before she was late for the entrance exam. With that in mind, the girl walked into U.A. High. Following the directional posters and signs, she managed to find the auditorium where all applicants were to gather before the exam.

She soon found herself a seat near the back of the large room. She threw her bag in the empty seat beside her as she leaned back with her arms crossed. Obviously, her body language wasn't that welcoming, and she was hoping that fact would keep people away. And as the auditorium filled up, it did work for a while. Many would glance her way, but quickly move on.

But when seats were starting to dwindle, people started sitting closer to the girl, which had her frowning. She hadn't feeling crowded. It made her feel so uncomfortable. She liked having room to move. She sighed again as she slunk farther down into her seat. She just wanted to get all of this over with and go home. When a voice was cleared, her eyes flickered up to see a boy with blonde hair and was parted to the right with a black lightning bolt streak in it. His eyes almost matched his hair but definitely brighter. He had a friendly grin on his face as he looked at her.

"Hey, sorry to ask, but is it cool if I sit next to you?" He asked as he pointed to the seat that had her bag in it.

Her answer to his question was to silently move her bag, which had his grin widening even more.

"Thanks," He said as he sat down next to her. "I'm Kaminari Denki. What's your name, beautiful?"

The girl seemed unbothered by his flirtatious tone, which had him sweat-dropping slightly. Though his grin didn't falter.

"Sukōchi Santana." She replied.

Denki seemed pleased that she replied at all since she had been rather quiet earlier.

"Nice to meet you, Sukōchi." Denki said. "So, you excited for the exams? I mean, I'm a bit worried about the written exam, but I'm stoked at the thought of joining U.A."

'He's certainly a chatty one, isn't he?' Santana thought.

And if would seem as if she had some kind of luck on her side because before she even had to think of what to reply to this guy, the lights dimmed in the auditorium with everyone going quiet. Lights appeared on the stage below to illuminate a man who stood in front of a large screen behind the stage. Santana didn't know who this guy was, but she was guess he was one of the pro heroes teaching at this school.

"What's up, U.A candidates?!" The hero asked in a boisterous voice. "Thanks for tuning into me—your school DJ! Come on, and let me hear ya!"

He placed a hand to his ear. He was obviously waiting for a response from the gathered teens, but all he received was silence.

"Keeping it mellow, huh?" He asked as he tried to move on quickly from the awkward silence. "That's fine! I'll skip straight to the main show. Let's talk about how this practical exam is going to go down, okay? Are you READY?! Yeah!~"

He raised his hands high. Once more trying for some kind of pumped up response. Again, he was met with silence. Santana was actually starting to feel sorry for the guy.

"Oh, my goodness, it's the voice hero—Present Mic!" A boy practically squealed from a few rows in front of Santana. "So cool! I listen to his radio show every day of the week! It's crazy nuts that all the U.A teachers are—!"

"Will you shut up?" Another boy growled at the other in annoyance.

The first boy placed a hand over his mouth as his companion shot him a glare. Well, thanks to the kids gushing and Santana overhearing him, at least she knew who was talking to them now.

"Like your application says, today you rocking boys and girls will be conducting ten-minute mock battles in super hip urban cities." Present Mic continued. "After I drop the mic here, you'll head to your specified battle centers! Sound good?"

As he was met with even more silence, Santana looked down at the card she had been given earlier. It had her examinee number on the card and what battle center to report to.

"Okay!" Present Mic replied to his own question.

She noticed Denki glance towards her card before looking back at his own. He gave a sigh as he grinned slightly.

"Ah darn, looks like we're not in the same battle center." Denki whispered to her. "Bummer, huh?"

"Yeah, bummer," Santana deadpanned.

Despite her less than enthusiastic tone, Denki's mood didn't seem to dampen though he did sweat-drop for the second time in their very short acquaintance.

"Okay, okay," Present Mic caught their attention again as a mock city was brought up on the screen behind him.

As he gestured to the city three shadow images appeared around it with point values appearing around them.

"Let's check out your targets." Present Mic said. "There are three types of faux villains in every battle center. You'll earn points based on their level of difficulty! So best choose wisely."

The screen changed again to show a little computerized Present Mic going through the fake city to take on the faux villains. It looked very video game-like.

"Your goal in this trial is to use your quirk to raise your score by shredding these villains like a mid-song guitar solo!" Present Mic explained. "But—check it—make sure you're keeping things heroic. Attacking other examinees is a U.A no-no, ya dig?"

Well, Santana guessed as much. Wouldn't be very heroic to attack innocent people, now would it? Her eyes then flickered to a boy who stood up from his seat from several rows down.

"Excuse me, sir, but I have a question." He said.

"Hit me!" Present Mic said pointing at the boy.

All eyes turned to look at him as a spotlight appeared on him. Just looking at him, Santana could tell he was the uptight type. His posture was super rigid and his expression was so serious Santana wondered if the boy ever smiled. He was definitely a complete contrast to the super friendly blonde sitting beside her.

"On the print out," The boy began as he held up the paper. "You've listened four types of villains not three. With all respect, if this is an error on official U.A materials, it is shameful. We are exemplary students. We expect the best from Japan's most notable school. A mistake such as this won't do."

Oh yeah, Santana called it. This guy was definitely uptight, or rather he was just very serious about his academic studies. The boy then whirled around to look at the boy who had been gushing about Present Mic earlier.

"Additionally, you with the unkempt hair." He said to the boy who now looked a deer in headlights. "You've been muttering this entire time. Stop that. If you can't bother to take this seriously, leave. You're distracting the rest of us."

As the boy meekly apologized, some looked on in sympathy. They wouldn't like to be called out like that that's for sure. Though others found a bit of amusement in it as they chuckled. Santana just sighed. The uptight guy was calling out the muttering one for being distracting, but he's the one holding up progress. Santana just wanted to be given her instructions, take her exams, and go home to tell her aunt the deed was done so she'd lay off Santana.

"Alright, alright," Present Mic said calling the students back to attention. "Examinee No. 7711, thanks for calling in with your request. The fourth villain type is worth zero points. That guy's just an obstacle we'll be throwing in your way. There's one in every battle center. Think of them as a hurtle you should try to avoid. It's not that it can't be beaten, but there's…kind of no point. I recommend my listeners to ignore it, and focus on the ones on top of the chart!"

The uptight boy, who seemed content with having his question answered, bowed to Present Mic respectfully.

"Thank-you very much." He said. "Please, continue."

He sat back down in his chair with the spotlight coming off of him once he was done.

'So, the fourth mock villain is useless in terms of passing,' Santana thought. 'However, it is an obstacle nonetheless. Running from it while also trying to get points off the other mock villains will take up time. Perhaps a full-frontal assault to take it out of commission first thing is the best option.'

Though she supposes she might not even run into the thing if she just focuses on taking out the ones that are worth points. She'll just see how things play out in the beginning.

"That's all I've got for you today." Present Mic said. "I'll sign off with a little present. A sample of our school motto. As General Napoleon Bonaparte once laid down, 'A true hero is one who overcomes life's misfortunes'. Mm-hmm, now that's a tasty sell bite. You ready to go beyond? Let's hear a—Plus Ultra!"

No one responded to this call of Plus Ultra, but depending on how quiet they've been this entire time, Present Mic didn't seem surprised. Even fact his grin just widened as he pointed towards the students.

"Good luck!" Present Mic wished them well. "Hope you practiced more than hitting just books!"

Santana stood outside her battle center with several other students. She had changed out of clothes she had arrived in into simple white tank and black spandex running pants that fit her tightly. She also had on a pair of worn yellow converse that have definitely seen better days. They were her aunt's, which had given to her for good luck. Apparently, her aunt always wore them during all her major exams in college and always scored high. Hence why she practically forced Santana to take them with her today.

"Alright, let's start!" Present Mic shouted from a tall tower behind them. "Get moving! There're no countdowns in real battles! Run, run, run, listeners! You're wasting airtime here!"

Before he even finished the students were rushing the battle centers. Though Santana stood around long enough to sigh.

'Okay, time to get serious,' She told herself. 'Though this is a drag, failing isn't an option.'

She then hurried after the other students while knowing she needed to be swift and hit hard to rack up as many points as possible. She wasn't in the mock city for long before a robot came crashing through a building towards her. Based on its appearance it must be a three pointer. Well, looks like the big guns were raring and ready to do.

"Let's do this." She said as she held her arm back.

It engulfed in a deep red burning flame, and when she shot her fist forward, a torrent of fire threw at the robot. The power and heat behind the fire punch a hole right through the robot's head, which had it shutting down as it fell forward. Santana didn't stick around as she continued on. It was a ten-minute exam, so she had to work quickly. Santana rounded around one of the street corners while quickly having to dodge a robot that took a swing at her. She then pushed off the robot's arm like a springboard to get behind it. Lighting her fist up with fire once more, she sent another torrent of flames out. This time it punched a hole right into the robot's chest.

She left it behind to run and find more but they found her as she was soon surrounded by three one pointers. She had to duck down to avoid a hit to the face and roll across the ground to void behind run over. While still on the ground, she spun around, kicking off the converse on her feet. And while still spinning she pinwheeled as she shot flames from her feet at the circling robots. The flames did their job and took down the robots with ease.

"I was expecting more a challenge from Japan's top hero program." She said to herself as she retrieved the shoes she kicked off.

She wondered if the school had to be careful with the exams so to keep injury down to a minimum. Still if they want to train the top pros of tomorrow, a harder test seemed fit. She supposed it wasn't any of her business though how they decided to test upcoming students. And she really didn't have time to worry about it either.

Just as Santana was going to put back on her aunt's lucky shoes, two more robots came barreling towards her. With shoes still in hand, she jumped forward while delivering a flame covered kick to the robot's head. It popped off and while she was still in air, she sent a gush of flames from her other foot to give her a nice spin, so she out stomp a while through the second robot.

'Maybe I'll just keep my feet bare for this,' She thought as she tied the laces together.

She hung them around her neck for safe keeping as she hurried on to find more robots to battle. She ran a few blocks before finding her next few targets, but just as swiftly as she took out the first six that had crossed paths with her. And that one appeared to have friends as four more robots—two and three pointers—whirled around the corner after her. She made quick work of them. She then glanced at her watch to see barely over three minutes have passed. Eleven robots down, twenty-two points racked up.

'I can do better than that.' Santana thought as she kept moving. 'It's unlikely that the other candidates here have the same experience I do when concerning combat with hostile forces, which gives me the advantage. Doesn't mean I should get cocky. I keep my head in the game and keep pushing forward without pause. That's how I'll stay ahead of the competition.'

She nodded to herself then jumped over some rumble before giving her surroundings a quick survey. She saw a large grouping of robots and students to her left as the battled in large plaza area.

'Looks like I found my next targets.' She thought.

She rushed forward passed a few students as some hesitated at the sight of the large horde of robots. Others were taking their time against one opponent and before they could move onto the next, she was going to steal their prey. Both of her arms lit on fire as she jumped into the fray. Making sure to take out all opponents down with one hit, Santana soon found herself with six more enemies defeated. Before anyone could really process what happened, she was already moving on.

Up in the teacher's viewing area, Snipe let out a low whistle as he and the other teachers watched.

"That girl is quick," Snipe commented. "She doesn't hesitate and doesn't waste time with her opponents."

"Yes, it would seem she is a promising candidate for the hero program," Nezu agreed. "Thought I suppose it's to be expected from her."

Some of the teachers looked at the principal curiously as he continued to watch the girl with the fire-type quirk.

"That would be the problem child sent here from America." Nezu said. "The one that Drip pushed through for a spot in this exam."

The Aquatic Heroine: Drip was a smaller known hero in Japan though the pro-hero had started off in America. While she might not have any connection to U.A., Nezu couldn't ignore her plea to have her niece Santana be allowed to take the entrance exam to U.A. despite the deadline for all paperwork and forms to be turned in passed months ago. Besides, when hearing the girl's story, Nezu knew saying 'no' wasn't an option.

"I'm curious as to how things will turn out for her," Nezu said.

He then smiled as he watched Santana save another examinee by destroying the robot that had managed to knock him over. She barely gave a glance to the kid before moving on, but it was the most she paused since the exam started. While she might have really just went after the robot for the point, she at least looked to see if her fellow examinee was alright.

'She might be a problem child,' He thought. 'But she isn't heartless it would seem.'

As the horn blared to signal the end of the exam, Santana, who stood in a circle of destroyed robots, let out a breath. In the time she had had, she took down several high point robots with precise, one hit moves. She hadn't stopped to see what the others were doing nor did she let herself become distracted during the entire exam. She had kept up at her pace until the ten minutes were up.

'I didn't even see that zero pointer that was mentioned,' She realized as Present Mic gave them the okay to stop.

She supposed it didn't matter. As long as she did what was needed to pass. All she had to worry about now was the written exam. She really didn't have a lot of time to study or anything considering how last minute her signing up for this exam was. And while she might just barely score high enough to pass, hopefully how well she did in the practical exam will be enough for her to get in.

'Let's hope so anyway,' She thought. 'If I don't get in, Tía will kill me for sure.'

There aren't many things or people in this world that scare Santana, but her aunt ranked pretty high on the list of things that do scare her. She has seen the woman angry and would rather avoid being the one to piss her off at all costs. Just thinking about what her aunt did to her uncle on her father's side of the family, had her shuddering uncomfortably. Her mother's side of the family never liked her father's side of the family, and her aunt hadn't wasted time to take an opportunity to strike when her uncle did something to piss her off.

"Um excuse me," A voice spoke behind Santana.

The girl turned seeing some boy had come up to her. He was a bit taller than her and had kind dark eyes that matched his equally dark hair. Santana blinked while tilting her head to the side as she tried to think about why the guy looked kind of familiar.

"Hi, I'm Rin Hiryū." He said giving a polite bow. "I wished to thank you for helping me out earlier."

It suddenly clicked in Santana's head as she remembered the boy who had been knocked to the ground by one of three-point robots. Really, her intention wasn't to save the guy. She hadn't even noticed him at first until after she hit the robot.

"Don't mention it." Santana replied as she slipped back on her borrowed shoes. "Like, seriously."

She almost added how she was only going for the points, but bit her tongue. Her aunt told her to try and be friendly to perhaps make new friends, or in her case, not scare anyone off too quickly.

"If you insist," Hiryū said before adding.

Santana was then saved from having to make anymore awkward conversation when it was announced over the speakers for the examinees to go get changed, so they then could perform the written test of the exam. Santana gave an awkward wave goodbye before she made a beeline for the changing rooms.

Santana let out her hundredth or so sigh of the day, but this one was of relief as she entered the safety of her aunt's home. Santana had left U.A. feeling rather confident with her performance. Yes, the written test had been a bit of challenge, but she feels as if she had grasped the material enough to get a passing grade at the very least.

"Tía, I'm home!" Santana called out as she kicked her shoes off her feet.

She set them down to the ones laid out neatly next to the door as she heard a distinct sound of clicking across the hardwood floors. She turned her head smiling slightly as her dog—Toro—running towards her with his trimmed nails clicking against the floor.

"Toro, mi Toro." Santana greeted as she crouched down to open her arms to the large dog. "Me has extrañado?"

Toro rumbled at her happily as Santana affectionally scratched behind his ears and spoke kindly to him in Spanish. Toro as sad as it might sound is Santana's only friend. The only person—er, dog—she could speak with without feeling awkward about it. Maybe it was because she knew Toro would never judge her as a person would. Either way, Toro was really the only one she kind of lowered her guard around.

"He has been moping around all day." A new voice spoke up, which had Santana looking up.

The one who spoke was a woman who looked to be in her late twenties to early thirties. She had long dark hair that matched Santana's though hers was loose and curled down her shoulders to her waste. Her complexion was much paler than Santana's skin tone. Her eyes were also similar to Santana's but instead of red, her eyes were a pale blue. This woman was Santana's aunt—Sukōchi Akua—and she was also Santana's legal guardian as of four months ago.

"So, how did it go?" Akua asked with a hopeful look in her eyes.

Santana let out snort as she stood up from her crouched position in front of the pit bull-mix at her feet.

"Don't worry," Santana said. "I gave it my all just like you asked me to, Tía. You said as long as I did that then I would get in, right?"

While Akua looked positively relieved, Santana wasn't exactly happy. And, when seeing her niece's unpleased expression, Akua's expression turned gentle.

"I know this isn't ideal for you, Santana." Akua said as she walked forward to kindly stroke Santana's hair, which Santana had let down after leaving U.A. "And I'm sorry how things have turned out for you, but this is for the best, I promise. I'm sure you'll like U.A. Just give it a chance."

Santana nodded her head, which had Akua smiling once more. She then turned to head back into the kitchen while telling Santana over her shoulder about what she was preparing for dinner. Santana didn't really listen as her hands curled up into fists. People involved in Santana's situation just kept telling her this was for the best, and telling her how lucky she was that U.A. had allowed her to participate in their exam. Or they were the complete opposite and telling Santana that for someone like her trying to become a waste of time. But no one ever stopped to ask what Santana wanted. No one ever lets her decide, but in her little world, she just simply wasn't allowed that…luxury.

Coco: So, hope you liked the first chapter of Santana's story. I know her quirk seems pretty straight forward and kind looks like she just has a similar quirk to Endeavor, but it is different. Which will be seen the farther we go into the story, I promise. Until next time, everyone!