Chapter 13: Dusk Before The Dawn (UA Entrance Exam, Part 1)
Izuku stood alongside Uraraka, looking up at the gates of UA.
"Hard to believe we're already here."
The girl sighed. "Yeah. It's been a crazy few months."
Izuku nodded. "You can say that again."
Uraraka giggled. "And I'm still getting used to your hair! Gosh… we've changed a lot, haven't we?"
Izuku looked at his friend, who was dressed in plain black athletic wear, with a long yellow scarf draped around her neck. For some strange reason, Uraraka reminded him of someone. But he couldn't place it…
"We have."
"How has your progress with your new quirk been?"
Izuku smiled. "I can control one percent of the overall power."
Ochako sweatdropped. "That's so little…"
Izuku shook his head. "It seems like it, doesn't it? But when I got One For All… something changed. It's been fused with this newer power. It's strong… far stronger than what we trained for."
Ochako worried her lip. "You didn't get hurt when you used it, right?"
Izuku smiled softly. "One percent will be enough. That's what matters."
"Izuku. Did you get hurt?"
The white haired boy sighed. "Only when we went a bit above that. It's really fine."
"Please be careful…"
"Honestly, a bruised arm pales in comparison to what my mother did to Mr. Yagi, so-"
"Hey, lovebirds! Get outta the way! This is UA's entrance exam, not some bloody soap opera!"
Izuku and Ochako quickly stepped aside as students began filing in. "I guess I'll see you when we're done?"
"Y-yeah…"
And with that, the two took their next big step towards their future.
->*<-
Toshinori sat in his seat, hunched over and pondering the practical exam screens.
"You do know that they won't get to the practical for at least another hour, right?"
Toshinori snapped up to see one of the hero professors at UA. The erasure hero, Eraserhead.
"Aizawa-"
"Professor Aizawa." The man corrected. "Here, we are the ones who make the rules. We can't sit around worrying about desired outcomes."
Toshinori sighed. "You're right…"
The man sat down. "Nezu tells me you have your eyes on someone this year. That's why you came to teach as a guest professor. Do you even have the proper credentials? Or are you just surfing on the coattails of your title?"
Toshinori coughed in embarrassment. "I have a degree, just like the rest of you."
"It takes more than a degree to be an adequate teacher." The decaffeinated hero spoke. "You've never taken students before. What makes you think that you have what it takes to keep them from dying during a mission?"
"I'd like to think that I will learn just as much as the class I teach," Toshinori replied. "While you are correct that I am new to this, I would prefer that we set aside our views so that any student we teach may receive proper instruction. If that means you correct me when I make a mistake, so be it. I will do all I can to make sure that our students are prepared."
The man smirked in response. "Maybe there's hope for you yet, Yagi."
The blonde hero nodded and went back to pondering the blank screen. Unbidden, his mind drifted to the time when Izuku first used his power. Two months ago.
It had been terrifying to be next to him. Even with the full power of One For All coursing through his body, he had felt fear.
Izuku was more than he could deal with alone. He was honestly thankful that Aizawa was here at UA too.
"I believe we have everything in order."
Toshinori suppressed a shudder at the voice of the Dean of UA. Nezu was by all definitions a masterful manipulator. Though he was a mixture of animal features, which made him look more rat-like, his intelligence rivaled that of the greatest minds in history. In this day and age that made him far more powerful than a mere inventor.
"All of the students for General Education will be released after the written exam. The support examinees will be led to the workshops on ground Theta. We will keep them there for the overnight examination, where they will have six hours to create predetermined support items for us to review and grade."
The assembly of teachers nodded as the Dean continued.
"Marketing students will be kept for three hours after the initial written test so that I may observe their analytical skills. Students hoping to go into our law course will of course go with Midnight, to complete written exams on law and a practical exam in public speaking. We have a few examinees aiming for our police course this year. They will attend the same written test and public speaking practical."
Toshinori tapped his fingers over his schedule booklet, where all of the information had Bern written down. Each of the tests were designed to collect the best of the best and help them to improve. Human services attended a seminar about the different nonprofits across Japan and their designated areas of expertise. Art students were taken with Ectoplasm, who divided his attention through his quirk to properly examine each student in a two hour long studio exam. On and on it went, until-
"Nursing examinees and Hero course examinees will be kept until tomorrow afternoon. Nursing students will be given basic classes on first aid overnight, while the hero course hopefully will be sorted into groups and placed in each of our model cities. They will have until tomorrow morning to prepare for the practical examination, which will take place across each cityscape. As we all know, these professions can work extremely long hours due to injuries from villain attacks and long missions. That is not to say that other professions don't hold unforgiving hours, however, in our current age of heroism, first responders and medical personnel are expected to be able to answer the call whenever they are needed. Are we all understood?"
Aizawa leaned over to Toshinori. "Nezu gives the same speech every year. Here comes the part about liability waivers and city scenes."
The man was dead on the money with his observation as the Dean flicked a button on a remote, cutting on a projector and displaying the template for the UA entrance exam liability waiver.
"The goal of these exercises is to put each examinee through a simulated shift as a hero or first responder. Due to the nature of our profession, it is only fair to note that injuries may be unavoidable. However, should any examinee be in the path of a lethal threat, it is our job to step in. UA prides itself on our top rank among hero schools worldwide. We are one of the few schools privileged enough to examine our students and provide them with temporary hero licenses. Do not let a single bad lawsuit take that away."
The Dean clicked his remote again, displaying a list of names.
"Three hundred and twenty-six students will be tested in the hero practical. We are dividing them into Groups of forty, with one group having forty-six students."
The list shrank, displaying another list of names.
"Exactly four hundred students have applied to our medical program, meaning there will be groups of fifty 'first responder units' in each of our eight areas. Next, our list of areas and zone events."
The names all vanished in favor of a large city map. One that would be typical to find in the higher populated districts of Tokyo.
"Zone One: City Prime is host to our group of forty-six, as it is the largest area. The city is inhabited by a number of volunteer civilians which have been cleared by our screening process. Groups of villain robots will roam in alleyways, potentially pulling off crimes such as muggings or fake murders. Groups of robots may appear in order to rob banks or convenience stores. There is a team of supervillain-class robots prepped for the last hour of the practical and will only be activated should enough villains be eliminated. This zone will be monitored by myself and All Might, as well as two hero volunteers. Ingenium and Kamui Woods, thank you for being here."
The panel of teachers gave their applause to the two heroes and quieted down as Nezu continued.
"Zone Two: Village Eight is our next test site. A model farming town will play host to several rescue situations, including an earthquake. Examinees will be expected to assist those injured and evacuate from the village should Cementoss bring them to that point. The zone will be monitored by Present Mic and Power Loader, along with our two volunteers, Mt. Lady and Ryukyu."
Another round of applause came and went. Nezu took a drink of water and continued.
"Next up, Zone Three, or Cityscape four. This area is rigged with a multitude of systems to simulate everyday situations. Fires. Car crashes. Traffic jams. Even a train derailment. We'll be keeping it to civilian bots to avoid volunteer injuries. This area will be seen to by a crew of volunteers from the Endeavor agency, as they're particularly well-versed in situations involving fire. Then we have Zone Four: Coastal City Two. This city is rigged for a tsunami and flooding. Students will be given time to set up storm barriers and evacuate civilian robots. Gang Orca will be watching over this zone along with Selkie. While we're on the topic of coastal cities. Zone Five: Coastal City One is prime villain territory. We have pirates played by a number of sidekicks from various agencies, as well as our usual villain bots."
Toshinori wrote down more as the lecture continued. UA really didn't spare any expense on the test.
"We have two disaster zones. Zones Six and Seven. Both are crumbling cities where heroes will have to evacuate civilians. Both cities also have a compromised prison bus, and examinees will have to deal with eight specialized villain bots as they take their practical. Vlad King and Recovery Girl will monitor these spots with Thirteen as Backup, as well as Rock Lock. Thank you for coming."
"My pleasure."
"The final zone is the forest site. It will be monitored by the wild wild pussycats. The objective is for examinees to find a hidden bunker and flush out a villain's base. And that wraps up our talk about the zones. Are there any questions?"
Toshinori tentatively raised his hand. "Yes, Dean Nezu. While our attention is divided in these zones, how will we be able to accurately score each of the ninety-some students in the area? Yes, we are heroes. But not all of us are Director Type heroes, like yourself."
The dean nodded. "Thank you for asking. Each of the hero course examinees is provided with a utility belt, which contains basic first aid supplies, along with a false pocket that contains a monitor block. At the end of the exam, we will take the belts back and watch back through footage caught by the monitoring block. Specific students may also catch our eye as the examination progresses. We may make notes of their actions to submit for extra points."
Toshinori nodded as the Dean clicked his remote once more, displaying a simple graph.
"This is the practical grading rubric. Acts of heroism, such as defeating a villain or saving a civilian, will count towards a heroic points total. Damages to infrastructure or injuries caused to civilians will count against their score. Incredibly heroic acts to save other examinees or civilians, which result in injury equal to or greater than a concussion or broken bone, will give double points. Students are not notified of that little part of the exam, as we don't want them to jump in recklessly."
Toshinori nodded. Of course, Nezu thought of everything.
"At this time, examinees should be finishing up their written exams. I would ask those who are to direct our class major examinations to move to your examination areas. Those in here that haven't been assigned to a specialized examination area will escort the hero examinees to their cities and see to it that the meals that Lunch Rush- our director of nutrition- are distributed and in place for tomorrow's practical. I will see you all in a few hours."
Aizawa slowly stood up and stretched. "That's our cue. We'll handle the hero students and *Ehhgg* make sure that each group is set up as needed."
Toshinori nodded. "I'll follow your lead."
->*<-
Izuku rolled his shoulders as he walked from the written exam room to UA lecture hall A.
The test was fairly straightforward. Mostly general education questions for math and science, and a few written responses for history and language arts. While he had some trouble with some of the more advanced questions (Mainly those concerning college-level physics and chemistry), he felt perfect about how his written exam would score. All he had to do now was go through the practical.
"Welcome all! Please take a card and file into a seat."
Izuku grinned as he saw Ochako wave to him. Quickly taking a card from the lecture table, he walked up and sat down next to his friend.
"The cards have exam sites written on them. I'm in Zone One."
Izuku looked at his card. "Looks like I'll be in Zone Eight."
Ochako nodded. "You came in after I did. They probably have cards shuffled together for the different zones."
"That makes sense."
"ALL RIIIIGHT! Now that we're all here, it's time to give you all the rundown!"
Izuku and Ochako both looked to the front of the lecture hall, where The Voice Hero: Present Mic was grinning from ear to ear.
"Glad to have you all here at the UA Heroics Practical. We've got a lot to go over and only so much time to listen, so make sure your radios are on the right station and do your best to avoid the static!"
Izuku snickered at the man's use of radio terms, but kept his focus on the hero.
"As you've no doubt noticed, each of the cards you listeners have taken will be sending you to a different examination site. We'll be running you through a full day's work as heroes! Splitting you each into groups of forty over eight different zones, you'll be expected to patrol your area and solve your area's exam problem! No two zones are alike, meaning some of you may do rescue, while others are fighting villains. Make no mistake, there's more than enough work to go around!"
Izuku leaned back in his seat.
' So they're sending us to different zones. They won't all be cities; they'll probably have coastal areas and even uninhabited zones. UA really knows what they're doing…'
"In your preliminary application, you were required to read through and sign our safety waivers. We will have heroes monitoring each zone in order to prevent serious injuries. However, let it be known that jumping in without abandon and potentially risking your life could end badly. So jumping under a falling building, trying to run at hordes of villains like you're in a videogame, and trying to parry everything could end with you dead. Make sure to exercise caution on your patrols."
Izuku frowned. ' Odd. Heroes put their lives on the line daily. That's what I expected from the liability waivers. There's no chance we come out of this with no injury.'
"You caught that too, huh Izuku?"
The young man quirked an eyebrow at Uraraka, who was leaned back with her feet propped up on the back of the seat in front of her.
"The fact that they're basically telling us to not be heroes in an exam meant for hero hopefuls? Yeah. Seems a bit odd."
"I think they're trying to see how many students prioritize themselves over civilian lives. There's been an uptick in the number of heroes who have a 'higher than thou' attitude."
Izuku nodded. It made sense. UA would only want the best of the best. He would have to make sure to keep himself from sustaining too much damage.
Or causing too much damage for that matter.
"You're all authorized to use your quirks in these situations, so go to town! In a moment, we'll be sorting all of you into your assigned groups and taking you to your exam sites. You'll be given dinner and a place to rest for the night. The practical begins tomorrow morning, so be ready! For the moment, are there any questions?"
Izuku heard a few murmurs, but it seemed that nobody had any questions for the hero.
"GREAAAAAT! One last word of confidence. The great hero Napoleon Bonaparte once said 'True heroism consists in being superior to the ills of life' Plus Ultra! Break a leg everyone!"
"ALL THOSE ASSIGNED TO ZONE ONE, OVER HERE!"
"ZONE TWO! THIS WAY!"
"Guess this is it." Izuku smiled.
"See you on the other side, Midoriya." Ochako smiled.
"See you on the other side, Uraraka."
->*<-
The trip to Zone Eight was short. Maybe only ten minutes on the bus that their entire group had been squeezed onto. Izuku found it a bit comical that UA could afford test sites with villains and such for eight-hour tests, but didn't have enough funding for an extra bus.
' Or maybe, just like every other school with buses, they just don't have enough certified drivers.'
"Sick hair there dude. Really makes you stand out!"
Izuku turned to his left to see a young man with spiked-up hair that had to have been dyed. He had never seen such a bright crimson shade naturally. The man was incredibly well built, with broad shoulders and thick arms that looked like they could crush someone with a twitch. Added to all of that, he was tall. Standing at almost two hundred and ten centimeters.
"O-Oh. Same to you. I could definitely spot you in a crowd."
The redhead grinned, showing off sharp teeth. "Thanks bro! Make sure you watch out for me in the exam then. Heroes gotta stick together when the going gets tough."
Izuku smiled. ' He actually seems really nice.'
"My name's Izuku Midoriya."
"Eijiro Kirishima!"
"I'll make sure keep an eye out for you, Kirishima."
"Perfect! You seem to know what you're doing. I was sat by you and that girl with the yellow scarf when they filled us in on the practical stuff."
Izuku winced internally. "Oh yeah? Sorry if we were a bit loud."
"Oh no man, what you two were saying made a lot of sense. But seriously, don't worry about getting injured. Not when I'm around at least."
Izuku blinked as the young man sat down in the seat behind him. "Seriously though. UA already seems pretty hardcore. I mean, eight different exam sites? That's pretty crazy."
"You'd think they could spare some money for extra buses * Ribbit*. "
Izuku and Kirishima both turned to see a girl hunched over in one seat. She was dressed in what looked like a modified wetsuit, which left little to the imagination for how well it clung to her body.
Izuku blinked as he felt his cheeks get hot. "O-oh. Hi. I was just thinking about that."
The girl nodded. "I heard you muttering about it *Ribbit* . I'm Tsuyu Asui, by the way *Ribbit*. You can call me Tsu."
Izuku nodded, doing his best to ignore the blush on his face. "It's nice to meet you, Tsu."
"That's a pretty sick suit," Kirishima grinned. "Are we supposed to put ours on yet? I'm still in my dayclothes…"
"I think it's optional *Ribbit* . But I like wearing these suits. They help with my quirk *Ribbit* .
"Oh. They must have some kind of built-in heater, right?" Izuku blurted.
"Very observant of you * Ribbit *. Yes. My suit has a heater built into it."
"Oh yeah. Frogs are cold-blooded, like other amphibians, right?" Kirishima blinked. "Man, that means you have a pretty strong mutation-type quirk. Radical!"
"I'm flattered by your compliment, Kirishima. * Ribbit*."
Izuku sweatdropped as he noticed the girl's lack of expression. Maybe she was just a really straightforward person.
"Oh. Looks like we've stopped." Kirishima spoke, snapping Izuku from his thoughts. "Hey, I know I said to look for me, but if they let us, do you two wanna team up? Midoriya seems to have a pretty good head on his shoulders, and Tsu, you could definitely dish out some offense with some froggy-powered kicks."
Izuku chuckled. "I think that would be cool. I'm in if they let us team up."
"Me too * Ribbit *. It would be good to have someone watching my back."
Kirishima grinned as they were prompted to stand up. "The let's stick together for now."
They were led off of the bus and over to a series of tents which had been pitched around an open walled pavilion. Several heroes were there, preparing food as the examinees were funneled into a line.
Once everyone had food and had found a place to sit, each of the heroes began passing out utility belts as a group of four individuals in cat-themed hero suits stepped up and began speaking.
"Welcome all of you, to your practical exam! We're the Wild Wild Pussycats, and we're here to fill you in on your mission!"
Izuku pulled out a notebook and prepared to write down important parts of the mission as he simultaneously ate a bowl of spaghetti with meat sauce. Kirishima and Tsu both nodded from their own places next to him and leaned in to pay better attention.
"We're here at UA's forest site, which has been set up for the following prompt. 'A villain organization that is well known for their use of gigantifying quirks has kidnapped several civilians from the city and escaped to their base, hidden in a forested part of Japan. All of you are heroes who have responded to the raid call. Your duty is to find this hidden base, infiltrate it, save the hostages, and put a stop to the villain's nefarious plot. Direct acts of violence against other examinees are forbidden and lead to immediate disqualification."
Izuku stuck a piece of garlic bread in his mouth as he began writing out rules and potential stipulations.
"Each of you is being provided with a UA hero-grade utility belt. This contains basic first aid supplies, day rations, and your exam monitor, so don't take it off unless you want to quit the exam. Your test begins at sunrise tomorrow. Finish up your dinner and get to bed."
Izuku shoveled the last of his spaghetti into his mouth and grabbed the provided utility belt. He was happy to see that the belt was made to be fire resistant.
' That way I won't burn it off. Wonder if it's because of someone like Endeavor…'
"Man, this is pretty cool!" Kirishima grinned. "It's an actual mission!"
Izuku nodded. "We should strategize before we go to bed. Even if we have a full forty of us, we're going in blind. There could be traps and villains around every corner."
Tsu nodded. "We should also go over our quirks. It could be the difference between success and failure."
Izuku nodded. "There's also a few things about each of our lectures I think we should go over, just to be prepared."
Kirishima nodded. "You took a lot of notes after only three sentences. Did you pick out something specific?"
Izuku nodded. "They specifically stated that the villain organization was well known for its use of gigantification quirks. We can expect oversized enemies."
Tsu nodded. "Good catch, though we should still keep an eye out for villains with powers other than gigantification."
Kirishima nodded. "My Quirk can also help with that. It's basic hardening, but to a degree that can make my entire body unbreakable."
Izuku nodded. "We should rely on you for taking blunt force hits then. If something charges at us, we'll be counting on you to get in its way."
Tsu nodded. "Me next then. My Quirk is called Frog. I have a long tongue, dense leg muscles, and my hands and feet are webbed. I can camouflage myself to match my environment, and produce a paralyzing mucus from specific parts of my skin."
Izuku's eyes glimmered. "So cool! Okay then. Can you also stick to walls?"
The girl nodded. "Yes. Sorry if I didn't mention that."
"Then you'll be our infiltrator. You can creep through spots without being seen, so you'll be perfect for sneaking in to rescue hostages while Kirishima and I cause a commotion."
"I like that plan. And if I get caught I should be able to fight off whatever spotted me * Ribbit* . Alright. What about you Midoriya? * Ribbit*."
"Yeah man. You have to have some wicked kind of intelligence quirk, right?" Kirishima grinned.
Izuku chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "Actually, I have an enhancement quirk. I was a late bloomer, so I don't actually have full control over it yet…"
Kirishima blinked. "An enhancer? Woah… What does it do?"
"Well, I haven't really come up with a name for it yet, but if I had to chose something, it would probably be… Pulsar?"
"Like a star?"
Izuku nodded. "Yeah. I can increase my strength to an incredibly high level. When use it, it emits light and heat thats strong enough to turn sand into glass. I can only control one percent of it right now…"
"That's crazy! Dude, how are you not in the recommendation exam?" Kirishima gawked.
Izuku chuckled. "I want to get in on my own merit. Believe me, my mentor asked if I wanted to take the recommendation exam. I declined."
"Well we're glad to have you * Ribbit *"
"Thank you, Asu-Tsu."
The girl gave him a small smile and a nod. "We can strategize more tomorrow. It would be best to get some rest. * Ribbit*"
"I agree. See you in the morning?"
"See you guys in the morning!" Kirishima responded with a grin, standing up and lumbering to an unoccupied tent. Izuku and Asui followed quickly behind him, laying claim to their own tents and setting alarms in preparation for the morning's exam.
Chapter 14: Dusk Before The Dawn (UA Entrance Exam, Part 2)
Wednesday, August 14th. Time 08:00:00
[Exam_Site_One]
Ochako grit her teeth as she pulverized yet another villain robot. So far, she had taken down thirteen villains on her own, though it was getting increasingly difficult to do so without causing property damage, as her co-examinees leapt in with no regard for anything around them.
"WATCH OUT!"
Ochako turned just in time to see a young man with a tail leap forward to save an actual living civilian from a falling lamp post. Though it looked like he prevented injuries, he and the man he saved became trapped under the metal pole.
Ochako quickly ran over and lifted the pole up with her quirk. "I am so sorry. I really hope that wasn't from me…"
"As far as I can tell, young lady, you've been keeping your damage to a minimum! These other reckless younguns keep tearing everything apart as they have fun with their quirks!"
"They seem to be more of a challenge than the actual exam objective." The tailed boy spoke. "Let's get you somewhere safe, sir."
"My thanks."
[Exam_Site_Two]
Koji Koda gently fed an injured horse with some of the sugar cubes he had pocketed from his breakfast that morning. "There, there… it's going to be alright."
A man dressed as a farmer bowed as some other examinees worked to fix a broken fence. "I can't thank you enough for calming her down! I think all of the rumbles lately have spooked her."
Koda nodded and patted the horse's neck as he whispered to it. "You should probably go back in your pen. I promise we'll get you to safety if anything happens."
The horse gave a whinny and trotted back to its pen as a short examinee with purple spheres for hair finished using his quirk to glue the fenceposts back in place. "Nice job dude! If you hadn't calmed that horse down, some of us could have been trampled."
Koda smiled and nodded, signing a farewell to the exam volunteer and their horse. "We should be on our way er- Mineta, right?"
"Right. I'll follow your lead. It's worked out for me so far!"
[Exam_Site_Three]
It was quiet. Far too quiet for Katsuki's liking. The UA entrance exam was supposed to be action-packed. A perfect place to show off his superior quirk. So far, an hour had passed, and there wasn't a sign of anything.
"Psh. Guess I'll have to check the next block over…"
[Exam_Site_Four]
Mina Ashido, a young woman with pink skin and yellow horns, grit her teeth as she finished setting up a storm barrier.
"With that done, we should be able to redirect flooding away from the recovery zone!"
A young man with black hair and cylindrical elbows nodded as he finished wrapping an electrical cable in tape. "Good job! We should contact the others to start evacuating if they haven't already."
[Exam_Site_Five]
Tenya Iida slid beneath a rocket that had been launched by a villain robot. Quickly grabbing the ground, he used his momentum to roll back up, flaring his engine's exhaust to give a boost of speed, and ramming into the robot with a high-powered kick.
There was a loud shriek as his foot tore through the weak metal shell of the robots exoskeleton. The young man's leg continued forward, ripping off half of the green paneling from the faux villain and revealing its internal coils and motors.
"THIS ONE'S WEAKENED! HIT IT WHERE IT HURTS!"
A young man with yellow hair grinned as he leapt in and grabbed the robot's exposed wiring. "Thanks man. You're a lifesaver!"
A yellow spark flickered beneath the examinee's teeth, and suddenly the robot collapsed, its internal battery sapped of all power.
Iida screeched to a stop beside his fellow examinee. "You and I make a good team."
"I was thinking the same thing! A lot of the others are over at the waterfront, dealing with the pirates. I think they've left us with the heavy lifting."
Iida turned to see a platoon of faux villain robots roll out from a nearby alleyway.
"I think you may be right about that."
[Exam_Site_Six]
Kyoka Jiro winced as she heard more mechanical screams. Buildings glimmered as flames shot out from pre-planted pyrotechnic valves.
' UA knows how to make hell look real.'
"I'VE GOT THREE CIVILIAN BOTS TO MY LEFT! THEY'RE TEN FEET DOWN. I NEED A HEAVY LIFTER!"
"I've got you covered." A young man grunted as he took a bite of an apple. His muscles immediately inflated as he swallowed, allowing him to easily remove chunks of debris from the ground, revealing the damaged robots that Kyoka had located.
"I'll take this one. Are you good to carry the other two?"
The man nodded. "I'll follow your lead."
[Exam_Site_Seven]
"This is madness."
Toru Hagakure stood atop a pile of scrap metal, looking down on a section of collapsed apartments. In the windows, she could see damaged civilian bots, red lights on their shoulders flashing that they needed rescue.
"If only I had a light source…"
"Maybe I can help with that!" A young man with blonde hair grinned as he climbed over a pile of rocks. "You can… use light for something, madam?"
"My quirk lets me reflect it. If I had some, even for just a second, I could make a beacon."
"Would my laser work?" the boy smiled. "I can fire a laser through my belly button, though it's hard on my stomach. I can also breathe it out, though I need some time to how you say… charge it?"
"All I need is a moment!" Toru held up her gloved hand in a peace sign. "Lay it on me!"
"Très Bien!"
[Exam_Site_Eight]
Izuku crouched under a bush as he watched a spider like villain bot crawl through the forest. So far, none of the examinees had found any trace of the villain hideout, and had simply taken it upon themselves to eliminate as many villains as they came across.
' Idiots don't even know how to get proper information.'
Kirishima had stayed behind to distract the others when Tsu told him that she had spotted a bot. Knowing it was their chance, he and the amphibious girl tailed the bot. Now they were here.
"Midoriya. Did you see that? It just went into that cave!"
Izuku looked up, spotting a hole in one of the forest's cliff faces. There had been a few caves that had popped up, but none of them had shown any promise of hiding a villain base.
Quickly and quietly, Izuku followed Tsu up the cliffside, quickly slipping into the hole and dropping into a small rocky chamber.
"There's… nothing here?"
Tsu looked around before crouching and taking a deep breath. Her belly ballooned with air as she twisted up, before letting out a massive
*RIBBIT!!!*
The sound echoed around the chamber, making the walls shake. Izuku blinked as he heard the sound calm down, and an echo sound from… his left?"
Tapping on the wall, he found it to be hollow. Pushing against it revealed a door to an industrial-looking hallway.
"Well, how about that?"
"I'd be willing to bet every cave has a false wall *Ribbit*. We should go and tell the others."
"Good idea."
[Proctors_Room_ _ _ UA_Grounds]
"Looks like we have quite the crop this year."
Toshinori frowned as he watched the screens that displayed footage from zone one. "They are very determined to prove themselves, it seems."
Kamui Woods nodded. "But in their haste to prove themselves, they risk the lives of civilians. That, and their damages, are adding up. A few broken sidewalks might not seem like much, but together, they've ealready amassed roughly nine million yen on those damages. That's not even counting traffic lights, windows, and cars."
Toshinori winced as he watched a young man who had drills for hands plow a villain robot through a red sports car. Thankfully, the vehicle was unoccupied.
"Indeed. Though there seem to be a few with good heads for rescue, as well as combat." Nezu spoke as the screen shifted to a boy with a tail as he helped lift a chunk of concrete off of a civilian. The screen shifted again, showing a girl that Toshinori recognized as Uraraka using her quirk to catch falling debris from a building that had just had a robot thrown into it.
"Those kids are doing nothing but going on a joyride. For how many issues they fix, they create twice as many in their place!"
Ingenium nodded. "It makes me feel sorry for those two, who are now using their time to keep the city from falling apart. They and their allies are the true heroes on this field."
Nezu nodded. "How about you Shota? What do you think?"
The underground hero yawned as he checked his work laptop to go over video feeds from the other exam areas.
"I see a lot of promising students across the board. My eyes are on those with good instincts. Like this boy, from zone three. Mezo Shoji. His quirk lets him grow extra arms, and extra appendages from those arms. Says on his file he can grow up to ten extra arms to use for anything he wants, and this was last updated when he was twelve."
Woods nodded. "It sounds like a pretty strong quirk."
"The kid's no shrimp either. He's standing at close to two hundred and twenty centimeters tall. Even for his size, though, he's using his quirk in ways that I would never think were possible. He's merged three hands together and grew ears from each fingertip in order to make a sort of reverse megaphone. I'd bet he can hear everything going on from where he's standing. That's the sort of creativity I like to see."
Toshinori nodded. With a quirk and a mind like that, the young man would be going places. "Any others?"
"A young man in zone five, who can control what looks like a sentient shadow. He's used it to create a miniature submarine, wrapping himself up in his shadow to hold onto what could easily be a few hours worth of air."
"Interesting." Toshinori winced as he watched an examinee get thrown across a road by another examinee who wasn't looking before he fired his quirk. "That's gotta hurt…"
Nezu was the next to speak up. "Is there any movement in zone eight?"
"There is, in fact. That trio of examinees you were looking at was the first to find the villain base. Instead of going in alone, they're informing the rest of their group."
"Good on gathering information, and knowing when it is time to follow a villain instead of beating them to a pulp."
Aizawa nodded. "You are certainly correct about it being a good crop this year, sir. I might not even have to expel whoever makes it into my class!"
Nezu chortled at the thought. "They may have good heads on their shoulders now. But what happens when they are faced with a full crisis?"
Toshinori steeled himself as Nezu pulled out his phone and sent a text. Something told him that the exam was about to get a lot harder.
[Exam_Site_One]
Ochako stumbled as the ground began to shake. The loud roar of machinery echoes over the city as windows broke and civilians ran. Every examinee looked up in horror as three massive robots as tall as skyscrapers pulled themselves from the foundation of different city blocks.
"WE'VE GOT TO SAVE AS MANY PEOPLE AS WE CAN!"
Ochako shakily stepped back as the robots turned, their glowing red eyes scanning over the city befor ethey each released massive roars, firing out rockets, blasts of fire, and rubber bullets. Immediatly razing several buildings to the ground.
"SHIT!"
[Exam_Site_Two]
Koda walked slowly down the village path, humming quietly as he kept a watchful eye on his surroundings. Though little time had passed, he and his partner- a young man named Minoru Mineta- had managed to fix several issues when it came to animals and simple repairs. Though it didn't seem like much, Mineta was the one who pointed out that community service was the heart of heroism.
"I had to do quite a bit of it in highschool." The purple haired boy spoke, bringing a sphere from his quirk off of his head and using it to patch a crumbling section of a houses foundation. "I got into a lot of trouble, and I'm not really proud of that… But I'm here now, doing my best. That's what counts, right?"
Koda was inclined to agree. Though he was a bit nervous at the prospect of his partner being a troublemaker, it seemed that they had learned several lessons as they grew. He had no doubt that Mineta was destined for the hero course.
"There. All done." The young man wiped some sweat from his forehead. "Let's keep moving. There's got to be more to help-"
He was cut from his sentence as the ground began to rumble and bounce. Koda gave a squeak and quickly ducked down, holding on to the patched foundation of the house beside them. Cracks began to spread across the ground, opening up crevasses and sinkholes that swallowed a parked jeep.
"We'll be fine so long as we stay put." Mineta spoke as he crouched down beside Koda. "But for now, we'll have to wait this earthquake out."
[Exam_Site_Three_]
Katsuki gnashed his teeth as he finished walking around another city block. What was the point of this test if nothing was happening? Was everyone else keeping up, and just leaving him behind?
No. No that couldn't be it. Nobody could get far enough ahead to pull away. Nobody.
Muttering angrily to himself, the blonde boy pulled out a granola bar from his utility belt and took a bite. With no breakfast around the examinees, he was forced to rely on these wimpy hero rations. They could have done better than a tiny granola bar. At least something to keep him going.
The young man finished his ration quickly, crumpling up his wrapped and shoving it into his belt as he turned the next corner.
Chaos erupted all at once as glass windows exploded outward. Screams echoed between the walls of buildings as fires burned.
Bakugo stared up at the havoc in shock, his body refusing to move as he watched a scorched civilian robot fall from a window and shatter on the pavement below.
Shaking off the shock, he let his palms ignite with explosion and leapt up to a burning building.
If he wasn't going to be able to fight bots, he'd be sure to pull them out of a burning building.
{Exam_Site_Four]
Sirens echoed between the buildings as Mina ran alongside a group of young adults dressed in white uniforms. "I thought we had more time than this!"
One of the young men nodded. "But these things can happen. We can never predict a disaster with perfect accuracy."
Mina growled. "With how many smart people there are, how come they haven't figured this out yet!"
"HEY PINKY! LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!"
Mina stopped and turned, planting herself between those she was protecting and whatever was coming her way, only to turn pale pink as she saw a rush of seawater tearing down the city street.
"Shit. THOSE IDIOTS FORGOT A STREET!"
[Exam_Site_Five]
Fumikage Tokoyami panted as he stood aboard a pirate vessel, the crew sitting tied up to the side.
"That was really nice work, kid. We didn't even notice you coming!"
The bird-headed man shook his head as he found his way to the ship's control room. The vessel was moderately sized. Enough to hold the five men that had been aboard it, and whatever cargo they might look to steal. Still, Tokoyami felt that there was more to the ship than met the eye, as when he and Dark Shadow approached it, it was bigger underneath.
"Kinda glad we managed to lure all of the powerhouses out this far." One of the captured pirates spoke. "It's sure to make this exam exciting!"
"Shut up, idiot! We're not supposed to-"
But Tokoyami had already heard. The moment the villain confessed to luring strong examinees out he understood what was happening. Heart filling with worry, he turned to watch the fleet of ships closest to the shoreline pick up speed and leap onto the sandy coast.
Beaneath each boat was a large green robot, each fashioned to look like giant metal crabs. Dark Shadow peered out over Tokoyami's shoulder as the robot boats began climbing onto the city streets.
"This just got even more complicated."
[Exam_Site_Six]
Kyoka covered her ears as a piercing ring made her head throb.
"Hey! You okay over there?"
The man who had been working with her to save hostages knelt down and spread his sizable hands to cover her ears.
"I-I'm sorry. Something's interfering with- AAAGH!"
The ring came back as the man was thrown away from Jiro's side. The dust slowly cleared, revealing a robot with a menacing glowing red eye and a multitude of wickedly dangerous appendages.
"Oh, this is not good."
[Exam_Site_Seven]
Toru winced as the young man who had helped her threw up the remains of his dinner from the previous night.
"I told you you shouldn't have pushed yourself. I could make do with just a single second!"
"But we need to make sure the others see." The young man wiped his mouth. "So I will make sure you continue to have light."
Toru waved her hands. "We're good for now. We were able to put on quite the light show. Right now, we should start setting up a safe zone for victims."
As they looked down, Toru immediately grabbed her new friend's hand and pulled him down towards the danger zone.
"We don't have time. We have to save as many people as possible!"
[Exam_Site_Eight]
"So you're saying they've been using the caves as secret entrances? Sneaky little things, aren't they?"
Izuku kept his face neutral as the other examinees shared the information. Something about what they had found didn't seem right. Sure, it was normal to tail a villain and find their lair, but this is different. UA was well known for their use of tricks and traps. Izuku couldn't help but think they were all walking right into one.
"We'll prepare to go in from every cave. Corner the villains and save the hostages." Izuku listened to an examinee with hair that almost looked like a traffic cone as he planned their course of action.
"We're more than they are, and we have the element of surprise. Let's make sure we get in and finish the mission in one go!"
The other Examinees gave a roar of approval and charged forward, running to every cave they had mapped out and readying their quirks. Izuku grabbed Kirishima and Tsu, quickly pulling them aside. "We need to take our time. If this were a real mission, we'd already have given ourselves away. And we're here at UA. The exam proctors know what a real villain base is like."
Tsu gave a croak. "I don't like where you're going with this * Ribbit* "
"Let's just stick together." Izuku nodded to each of them. "We'll stick with the plan of Tsu being our assassin, Kirishima being our shield, and me being the strategist. If everything goes south, fight back with everything you've got."
"Understood."
Chapter 15: Dusk Before The Dawn (UA Entrance Exam, Part 3)
The streets shook as three massive robots roared to life. Gears clanked and pistons hissed- Olive green plating ground against the pavement of each city street, carving furrowed trenches into the concrete as if it was butter.
Civilian volunteers watched in shock as the three robots tore through buildings with ease. Though they noted each destroyed building had been marked prior to the exam- and as such held no living civilian actors- it was still a shocking and terrifying sight.
Hero course examinees trembled as the behemoths looked over the cityscape, letting out blasts of fire and volleys of rubber bullets.
"Screw this! I didn't sign up for suicide!"
The first examinee to break away and run towards the city exit was not the last. His movement prompted others to follow, and soon the group of ten hero course examinees had turned tail and ran from the destruction crawling through the mock city.
Ochako Uraraka dove to the ground as a volley of rockets smashed into the building behind her. Rubble tumbled down, blocking the street for anyone who would have wished to escape.
"Uraraka!"
The girl pushed herself to her feet as Ojiro slid down the pile of broken concrete, his tail helping him maintain a balanced descent.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Ochako nodded. "Just a bit scraped up."
"We need to get to safety." The boy grabbed her hand. "Come on!"
Ochako stumbled as Ojiro pulled her down the street, away from the rubble. After a bit of running, he pulled her behind an open alley wall. "We can take shelter here."
Ochako rubbed her wrist a bit, kneading away the sore feeling of being pulled down the road.
"Sorry if I was moving too fast."
"It's fine."
The two sat in silence for a while, crouching down instinctively when they felt the ground rumble.
After a few minutes of hiding, Ojiro spoke. "So, since we don't seem to be going anywhere, where are you from?"
Ochako ran her fingers along Nana Shimura's cape. "I live on the outskirts of Musutafu. My parents own a small construction business."
"I knew your name sounded familiar! You're from that company that was on the radio." The boy grinned. "You repaired that preschool playground, right?"
Ochako smiled fondly. "Yes. Miss Kitayama was quite happy with our work."
"Wow. You're like, a real hero then." The tailed man shook his head. "Your family's company went up against the bigger construction companies and delivered! The preschool would have been paying off debt for years if not for you."
Ochako shook her head. "We just did what anyone would do."
The young man chuckled and shook his head. "No way. You and your family were heroes."
"I like to think the real heroes were the ones who got the money together in the first place." Ochako smiled. "They volunteered to help with the construction, and the one young man even helped with designing the playground."
"Still, you answered their call when almost everyone else didn't." Ojiro smiled. "I think that's pretty heroic."
"You flatter me." Ochako stood up and peered out of the alleyway.
"What are you doing?" Ojiro hissed, jumping up and pulling her back. "If we go out there we'll be killed!"
Ochako pushed the young man away and turned back to the street. "There could still be people out there, Ojiro."
"What are you-"
Ochako smiled. "I'm answering the call."
She had vanished faster than Ojiro could blink.
->*<-
"Quite a shame to see so much promise turning tail and fleeing. They never even considered the civilians that could be in the wreckage."
Toshinori pursed his lips as the Dean spoke softly, making notes on a clipboard. "Knowing when you are in too deep is also a good trait to have as a hero."
"Perhaps that is true, but that has definitely not always been your own strongest suit, Yagi."
"I just wish to give the benefit of the doubt." The man shrugged.
"We do not have time to give the benefit of the doubt." Aizawa chimed in from behind him. "The world gets more dangerous with each passing day. Villainous plots, natural disasters. We can't just let everyone ignore someone who needs saving because they might get scratched."
"I am surprised Aizawa, I would think caution is something you value as an underground hero."
The man glared at Toshinori. "There is a fine line between caution and cowardice. One is defined by necessity. A need to keep moving forward. The other is a choice. The choice of a laughing stock. To run away when faced with a seemingly insurmountable issue is not caution. To wait and learn is caution. It is to adapt in the face of the impossible and to keep moving forward while always learning. That is caution."
"I understand." Toshinori sighed. "You do not have to lecture me like I am just another student."
"We are all learning, Toshinori." Nezu spoke.
"Some of us just don't have the privilege of doing it as the strongest hero in existence." Aizawa grumbled. "Hold on, we've got movement."
Nezu leaned forward as the screens changed to view a girl in athletic wear and a yellow scarf. Two of the colossal robots in Zone One could be seen in front of her, rumbling over buildings in the distance as she ran towards them.
"Young Uraraka…"
"So you know her." Aizawa nodded. "For those who don't, her name is Ochako Uraraka. She has experience in construction as her family runs a small company on the outskirts of the city. Her quirk lets her negate the gravity of objects she touches. A great quirk for such an industry."
"A great quirk for almost any industry." Ingenium spoke. "Construction, engineering. Definitely the hero track."
"So far, her monitor has recorded an overall score of two hundred and sixty-three. Between working with another examinee, saving civilians, defeating villains and preventing property damage. She seems very promising."
Toshinori leaned forward. "I met young Uraraka several months ago when her family helped to repair a playground I had raised money for. She has a mind for expenses and damages. Her quirk would be perfect for both combat and rescue as well."
"Looking at the recordings, she has combat experience," Aizawa spoke. "Though it's sloppy, she already has a good base for her own fighting style. Not only is it effective, but efficient in that effectiveness. She's been seen using any rubble as a projectile while steering away from launching attacks towards buildings. Not someone I'd want to face in close combat without my quirk. Cameras picked up a clip of her grabbing a villain bot and throwing it to intercept a blast from another kid's quirk that would have felled a building. She's got good instincts, and that quirk makes her throwing power into that of a cannon, with a choice on any size of ammunition."
"Seems you've found your first student then, Shota."
"I definitely want her in my class. The boy fighting alongside her isn't bad either."
The cameras shifted to a young man with a muscular tail, scaling a building with a worried face.
"Don't recognize him? That's fine. His name is Mashirao Ojiro."
Kamui leaned back. "Quirk?"
"Originally registered as Tail. Three years ago, it was updated in the registry and was renamed 'Wukong'. As you can see, he has that very useful tail of his, but it says here that he also has minor strength and speed enhancements that function on his mutated adrenal glands. The longer he fights, the stronger he gets, and he's definitely well-versed in martial arts. He seems to have a good handle on his quirk as well. Cameras picked up flickers in speed as he ran, with his top speed clocking in at one hundred and ten kilometers per hour."
Ingenium let out a low whistle. "Kids got some speed. He'd give me a good run up until I get to third gear."
"Like I said, he also seems to have good control," Aizawa spoke. "He's been zipping across the city constantly. He slows down to a normal pace each time he picks up a civilian or tackles them out of the way of rubble. He's been minimizing damage that his quirk could create by interacting with others at the average physical level."
Toshinori nodded. "Though you said he knows martial arts. If he uses traditional karate and judo, his attacks will most likely be too telegraphed. His speed may help with that, but up against an opponent who can match that pace, he's an open book."
"I think he's a good fit for my class as well. I can see him making waves in the underground." Aizawa spoke.
"I will make a note of that, Shota. For now, it seems that young Ochako Uraraka has made first contact."
->*<-
Ochako grit her teeth as she rolled under a volley of rubber bullets. A few grazed her, and would probably leave bruises, but she didn't care. She had to keep moving.
Up ahead, she could see damaged buildings, with several examinees lying prone under the rubble. A few had seemed to escape the damage and were doing their best to aid their fellow examinees, but there were only about five who had avoided injury, and mixed in with the injured hero examinees were several medical examinees.
A roar echoed overhead as one of the kaiju-sized robots fired an entire flat of sixteen rockets. Ochako dove to the side and rolled under a discarded sheet of metal plating from a broken villain robot. Two of the rockets impacted the metal, giving off tiny explosions of smoke and pushing her across the street.
' No time to lick my wounds. Gotta get to those who need help!'
She managed to bound onto the scene just as a section of wall collapsed, blocking the robot's line of sight.
"Are you guys alright?"
A young man with silver hair and sharp teeth growled. "Those things are way overkill! We were in the middle of evacuating a city area when they turned on!"
"How many of you are there?"
"We've got six here. Five hero students and a single med student. Eighteen more are trapped over here. One of the taller buildings collapsed and flooded the entire street with concrete chunks."
Ochako nodded. "I can help move the rubble. I'll just need extra hands to make sure we can do it quickly enough."
The boy nodded and flexed his arms, which rippled and became metallic. "The name's Tetsu. Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu. I can help with the heavy lifting."
"Won't necessarily be heavy, but it'll be lifting." Ochako gave a grim smile. "Come on. Get the others to pitch in too."
"ALRIGHT EVERYONE! WE GOT ANOTHER PAIR OF HANDS SO LET'S START GETTING THIS STUFF OFF OF OUR FELLOW EXAMINEES!"
->*<-
"Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu. His quirk lets him turn his body into metal. Says here he has some other aspects of it that he can control, like what type of metal his body becomes. But iron is the easiest."
"That might be better for Kan to take." Nezu spoke.
"My thoughts exactly."
"My my! That girl has turned the tables on this tragedy. Her quirk has already helped them uncover eight examinees!"
Toshinori hummed. "Still, they're short on time. The moment one of those bots breaks onto the street, it's over for them."
The four heroes watching the screens sweatdropped as one of the robots crushed the pile of rubble that had become a protective wall for the rescue squad.
"You just had to jinx it, Toshinori."
->*<-
Injured examinees screamed as one of the hulking robots began to rumble down the street towards them.
"THIS IS IT!"
"THIS IS HOW I DIE?"
Ochako heaved another chunk of concrete off of the pile as the ground shook. "Dammit…"
"DAMMIT!" The metal boy shouted. "WE WERE SO CLOSE!"
' These people are going to die because I wasn't fast enough!'
The robot grew closer and closer, its single red eye glowing as it locked onto the small recovery site they had made and prepared to fire.
' No.'
A flat of sixteen rockets opened up on the bot's shoulder, each one glowing as their thrusters were ignited.
' Not like this.'
Ochako reached down and gripped one of the iron support beams, feeling her stomach churn as she negated its weight.
"I WON'T LET YOU KILL THEM!"
The iron beam sailed through the air, knocking into the robot and causing it to fire its rockets off course. The missiles sailed harmlessly into the air as the beam fell back down and stuck itself in the center of the street.
"Woah! Nice one!" The metal boy exclaimed. "But I think you only bought us a few seconds."
"URARAKA!:
Ochako felt relief spread through her as Ojiro appeared in front of them. "Nice hit! You guys need some help?"
"Ojiro," Ochako spoke, her voice getting raspy from the effort she had put into the exam. "I need you to take the others and evacuate."
"What about you?"
"I'm going to try to stall this thing. There's only about ten minutes left in the exam. If I can just slow it down then-"
"That's suicide!"
The robot creaked behind them, its attention now focused on the girl who had hit it with an attack.
"It's focused on me now. I can get it away from you guys."
"But you-"
"JUST DO IT!"
Ochako pushed the two to the side as the bot fired a full magazine of rubber bullets. They burned as they hit her skin, and she knew that showering would not be pretty after the exam.
Shaking off the pain (Something which no person should be able to do after taking fifteen shots from a hundred meters away), Ochako pushed herself to run forward. She felt her stomach churn as she pulled a chunk of concrete up to block a gout of fire from the robot's weaponry, but still kept running.
' This is nothing compared to Gran Torino.'
Planting her feet, Ochako leapt upward, forgetting in her haste to activate her quirk on her own body. But that didn't seem to matter as she still rocketed into the sky. The robot's head tilted back as she flew upward, grabbing the end of the iron beam she had thrown and ripping it from the ground with her quirk.
"I won't let you kill them!"
The robot creaked as Ochako spun in midair, swinging the beam like a club and smashing it into the side of the robot's head.
The behemoth staggered back on its treads from the shock, and before it could retaliate, Ochako was already moving.
Those on the ground watched in shock as a single girl went toe to toe with the robot, using a broken piece of a building to smash it to pieces.
Ochako's head was exploding. She had never pushed her quirk this far before. She was completely over her limit as she smashed the beam into her target again and again. Through the haze of pain, she saw a spark come from the robot's eye as it flickered. She knew she was close.
Flipping over, Ochako smashed the beam into the robot's head one last time, using the force to push herself even further skyward.
"This is it for you," she spat, blood rolling up from her throat and coating her tongue in the taste of metal as she felt her insides twist. "Improvised special move."
The robot creaked as it tried to lock onto the girl above it with its failing optical sensors.
"Orbital HAMMER!!!!!"
Ochacko threw the iron support beam downward with all her might as her quirk deactivated, adding its substantial weight back behind its already weightless propulsion. It wasn't even a fair fight as the jagged and bent tip of the iron rod quickly sheared through the robot's armor, right through its internal framework and into the ground below.
Ochako felt herself plummet to the ground as she heard the robot explode.
' This is it for me then. Guess I won't be able to watch Izuku like I promised I would.'
The last thing she felt was a pair of arms catching her before she passed out from pain and blood loss.
->*<-
"Quite the show, I think." Nezu chuckled at the screen. "A remarkable resolve for one young lady to have."
"Power Loader isn't going to be happy when he learns he has to rebuild that robot from scratch," Aizawa spoke. "But I have to admit, she did well."
"So what would we award for that?" Kamui Woods spoke. "She saved all of those examinees. Took down a supervillain class robot, even at the overuse of her own quirk."
Nezu tapped his pen against his clipboard. "I say we start at the beginning. Twenty-four students. Twenty-five if we count young Ojiro. We award two points per civilian saved. Four if they are injured. We can just say four for each since they were all trapped in the line of fire… so that starts us at one hundred points. The supervillains count for fifty points each, and as she was injured, all of this is doubled. So overall, an extra three hundred points for young Uraraka."
"She was already in the higher numbers," Ingenium whispered. "Are we taking points away for damages?"
"All of the damages caused were from the robot, so no. We also haven't even factored in points for the teamwork between her, Tetsutetsu, and Ojiro." Toshinori spoke. "Nor points for the impressive feat of practically walking through heavy fire to get the job done.
"I think a flat four hundred points is warranted for this display," Nezu spoke. "It was quite an impressive showing, and I would be beside myself if we lost such a promising student."
Aizawa nodded. "So in the end, Ochako Uraraka passes the UA Heroics Practical Exam with fifty-two regular villain points. Eighty-one civilian rescue points. Eighty damage prevention points. Fifty teamwork points, and an extra four hundred combination points for her heroic sacrifice in saving her fellow examinees. That places her at a passing grade of six hundred and sixty-three overall points."
Nezu clapped his paws together. "Brilliant! What a student we will have with us this year. I do so hope the others can compare!"
A ringtone of 'Three blind mice' cut the group off and prompted Nezu to take out his phone. "Oh dear. It's Recovery Girl."
The Dean answered and immediately winced as the youthful heroine's voice echoed 9out of the device.
" NEZU! You little shit, I had to have one of Tensei's sidekicks run me over to Exam ground one to prevent this girl from dying! Significant overuse of her quirk has her intestines in KNOTS! The internal bleeding would have seen her gone if I had been here a minute later. Added to that. A concussion. Multiple bruises from those rubber bullets and a broken forearm. WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?"
The Dean calmly tapped his paws on his clipboard and replied. "Young Uraraka acted of her own accord and saved twenty-five of her fellow examinees. Her efforts have made sure she is passing with flying colors."
" DON'T GIVE ME ANY OF THAT SHIT YOU OVERGROWN SHREW! I can see her point monitor right on her hip. She was sitting pretty at over two hundred points. She would have passed anyways. You have Toshinori there. You should have sent him in."
"She seemed quite determined to help-"
" Do I sound like I care? There are twenty-three examinees spread across these exam sites, with each of their emergency monitors saying that they're in critical condition! You're lucky I had some of my older graduates show up to help me, or this entire new class of yours would be DEAD!"
"I apologize, Chiyo. We will dial the exam back for next year and-"
" The damage is already done. So help me, if you don't start these kids off with provisional licenses for their sacrifices on the field I'll march up to your office and rip that hairless little tail right out of your back before shoving it up your ASS!"
"I understand. Is there anything else?"
" AND I WANT A RAISE!"
The phone clicked as the elderly woman hung up, causing the Dean to collapse into a pile of shakes and mutters.
"Lord, I am afraid of that woman…"
Toshinori snickered before throwing back his head and laughing. He was soon joined by Ingenium and Kamui Woods, and even pulled a bit of a chuckle from Aizawa.
"It seems to me that you've brought it on yourself, sir. But do tell, would Chiyo be effective if she weren't so scary?"
The Dean shook his head. "No. That's why we still have a need for her." Standing up, he straightened his tie and turned control over the monitoring screens to Aizawa.
"Play back the footage from the other zones. Chiyo says there are twenty-three students in critical condition. We should see just exactly how far our examinees went to save the day."
Aizawa nodded, pulling up recorded footage from Zone Two.
"The rural zone is next. Says the top two students earned in the upper three hundreds when it came to points."
"Roll it." Nezu spoke.
And the recording began to play.