MHA Universe, Earth, Japan, Musutafu.
Wearing a dark purple track suit, Akatsuki made her way to the waiting area for her practical exam. Looking around there were about forty other students waiting nearby. And in front of the group, there was a large metallic door separating the test takers from the exam venue.
'I wonder if there are any other main characters in this test group.' Akatsuki thought to herself while looking around at all the other students. '*Sigh* Unfortunately, neither Tatsuo-Kun or Alfonzo-San could remember all the students frm the two most important classes. Oh well, like Tatsuo-Kun said, at least three of them are not going to make it into the Hero Course now that we're here.'
Unbeknownst to Akatsuki, there was, in fact, another student that was slated to make it into the Hero Course in her group, a Class 1-B student named Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu. He was a young man of average height with neck-length grey hair, black eyes with tan eyelashes, and no visible eyebrows. He also wore an anticipatory smile that showed off his sharp teeth.
Unfortunately, Akatsuki, though she had heard the names of notable characters from the series, without having seen images of said characters, had no idea that there was someone of interest to look out for in her group.
"Well, whatever." Akatsuki muttered to herself. "I'll just do what I have to do. It's not my fault if someone important doesn't make the cut."
At the same time, Sakura was, wearing a purple and pink track suit, also waiting for the practical exam to start. However, instead of looking around to see if any notable characters were in her group, she stood alone with her eyes closed while lost in her thoughts.
'I really hope I end up in the same class as Tatsuo-Kun.' Sakura thought to herself. 'If I had to be separated from him for most of the day, there would be no point making it into the school. It would also make it hard to keep too many girls from setting their sights on him. *Sigh* Then again, that might be impossible even if I'm in the same class. Tatsuo-Kun is just too handsome.'
However, since Sakura was not paying attention to her surroundings, she did miss a student that would have ended up in Class 1-A. In fact, it was someone Tatsuo was familiar with, as they were classmates in middle school. And that happened to be Kirishima Eijiro, who had grown a few inches in the last ten months.
Then, there was Tatsuo. In his test group, there were no students who made it into the Hero Course in the canon. Because of that, he, like Sakura, kept to himself, not looking around the test group. Yet, all of the female students in the group could not help stealing glances while he stood with his eyes closed.
Eventually, Hizashi showed up on a platform high above all the test sites, which were walled off sections of an artificial city.
"I hope you're all ready~~~~~~~~!" Hizashi shouted, his voice echoing over all the starting points for the practical exam.
Then, without another word from Hizashi, all the doors leading to the artificial city opened simultaneously. Yet, very few of the students present moved, just looking up at Hizashi for instructions. The only exceptions were Tatsuo, Akatsuki, and Sakura, who immediately acted to start destroying Villain-Bots.
"What the...?"
"Hey! He's cheating!"
"That girl jumped the gun!"
"Teacher! She should be disqualified!"
"What are you talking about?" Hizashi asked with a wide smile on his face. "When it comes to being a Hero, there's no starting signal. You just go and help people!"
Hizashi's response to all the shouts of foul play caused all the students who were waiting for a signal to start to widen their eyes in surprise. A moment later, however, they all charged into their designated testing zones to start collecting points.
Meanwhile, Tatsuo, the fastest of those to act, [Blinked] into the middle of a horde of Villain-Bots with scores of either one or two points. A moment later, just as the Villain-Bots began to react to his presence, a pair of rippling, circular portals appeared on either side of him. Then, a pair of hilts poked out of the two portals while Tatsuo reached out for them.
"Okay, let's get started." Tatsuo said with a grin.
*Shing!* *Shing!* *Shing!* *Shing!*
Then, in one fluid motion, Tatsuo grabbed the hilts, which were the handles to a pair of short swords, and drew them from the portals before cutting off the heads of the two closest Villain-Bots. He then ducked his head, avoiding a punch from a two-point Villain-Bot that was standing behind him.
*Bang!*
In the next instant, Tatsuo's right leg shot up, connecting with the Villain-Bot's chest and sending it up into the air.
*Swoosh!* *Swoosh!* *Swoosh!*
Tatsuo was then forced to duck under the swipes of three Villain-Bots. However, instead of retaliating, Tatsuo leapt into the air, the tips of his short swords aimed at the airborne Villain-bot.
*Shing!* x 2
Before long, the two short swords were driven into the flying Villain-Bot. At the same time, the red light on its head dimmed, signaling that it had been deactivated. Then, Tatsuo pulled his body up and placed his feet on the Villain-Bot's chest. He then wrenched his body to the side, causing the Villain-Bot to twist midair. And once he was crouched atop the robot, Tatsuo kicked off while pulling his short swords out of it.
*Boom!*
And with the force of his kick, Tatsuo sent the Villain-bot hurdling down towards the remaining Villain-Bots, hitting several of them. He then [Blinked] back into the midst of the Villain-Bots before dispatching the ones who were not destroyed by his prior attacks.
"That should be thirteen points." Tatsuo said, his grin still on his face, before [Blinking] to another group of Villain-Bots.
Meanwhile, Akatsuki, putting her impressive speed to use, dashed through the streets of the artificial city. When she caught sight of the first group of Villain-Bots, she, with a focused expression, lowered her posture and reached under the back of her track suit.
At the same time, the group of Villain-Bots noticed Akatsuki and turned towards her to try and eliminate her from the exam. However, before they could act, Akatsuki disappeared from their perception.
*Shing!*
Then, before the Villain-Bots could locate their target again, a two-point robot's head flew up into the air, its neck having been sliced through cleanly. At the same time, Akatsuki once again reappeared in the perception of the Villain-Bots. However, before they could act, she disappeared again.
*Shing!* *Shing!* *Shing!*
The pattern repeated a few times after that. And with each sound of metal cutting through metal, another Villain-Bot's head shot up into the air before falling lifelessly to the ground.
However, because Akatsuki could not come and go in the same manner as Tatsuo, who could teleport, other students started reaching groups of Villain-bots. And while there were several students who seemed as though they could hold their own, Akatsuki was forced to abandon the rest of the group she was facing when she saw a female student get knocked down by one Villain-Bot while another was prepared to swing its arm down to crush her.
*Swoosh!*
*Shing!*
Activating her [Quirk] once again, Akatsuki slipped out of the encirclement. Then, she threw her dagger with all her might, piercing the descending arm and pinning it to a wall, simultaneously saving the girl on the ground.
"Thank you." The girl said as she scrambled to her feet, despite not being able to see the one who saved her.
"Just try to stay safe." Akatsuki said as she ran past the girl, still under the effect of [Sneak].
Akatsuki then reached the Villain-Bot she pinned to the wall, grabbed her dagger's hilt, pulled the dagger from the Villain-Bot's arm, and cut its head off in one motion.
"Those two are incredible." Sekijiro exclaimed from the monitoring room. He then turned to Shota and grabbed the shorter man by his shoulders. "Aizawa, you have to let me have at least one of them!"
"Back off." Shota said coldly as he swept Sekijiro's hands off his shoulders. "And you're too loud. Have you been spending time with Hizashi?"
"There are quite a few good seeds in this year's exam." Nezu said while folding his paws in front of his face and resting his chin atop them.
"Indeed." Toshinori added. Though, his sight was focused on a single screen where a green-haired boy, though nervous, was using his speed and strength to destroy Villain-Bots.
"Even so, I believe this girl..." Shota said after noticing that Toshinori was only focusing on one examinee. "Will have the highest score this year."
Hearing that, everyone turned to look at the screen Shota was looking at. When they did, they saw a girl with purple hair and pink eyes walking casually through the artificial town.
"Oh, that is Young Matou." Toshinori said with a smile. "Her [Quirk] is quite versatile."
At the same time, Sakura was walking casually through the artificial city. As she did, her shadow expanded, connecting to all the nearby shadows cast by the surrounding buildings. Those shadows then expanded to connect with more shadows. And after only about thirty seconds, nearly two blocks were completely covered in shadows, causing the other test takers to exclaim in surprise.
"What's going on?"
"This is really creepy."
"Where all these shadows coming from?"
While many of the students found themselves looking down at the shadow covering the streets, there were almost as many looking up at the sky to see what was casting the shadow.
All the while, the Villain-Bots continued to move towards the students. However, before the Villain-Bots could cause any damage, Sakura willed the shadows to move. And when the students, who were snapped back to the here and now, saw the shadows rising and wrapping around the various Villain-Bots, their jaws practically fell to the ground in surprise.
*Crack!*
A moment later, the sound of metal being crushed echoed through the test area as the shadows constricted, destroying quite a few of the Villain-Bots simultaneously. And because there were so many students who were distracted by the expanding shadows, Sakura not only received a high number of Villain Points, but she also received a high number of Rescue Points, as well.
"Yes, I have no doubt that this Matou Sakura will have the highest score in U.A. history." Nezu said after seeing Sakura's display.
Toshinori, Shota, and Sekijiro all nodded their heads in agreement while continuing to watch the screens.
Like that, time continued to pass. And when considering that the time of the practical exam was only ten minutes, it was astounding just how many of the Villain-Bots were destroyed throughout the various testing grounds.
During the test, a number of students stood out, but Tatsuo, Akatsuki, and Sakura, especially Sakura, showed themselves to be a cut above the rest as they smoothly destroyed Villain-Bots and rescued other students when they were in trouble.
"Well, the test is almost over." Shota said as he leaned against a wall in the monitoring room. "It should be just about time, shouldn't it, Principal?"
"Indeed." Nezu replied with a grin while staring at a large red button imbedded into the desk. "So, let's not waste any more time."
With that said, Nezu raised one of his little paws. He then slammed it down onto the red button with a gleeful smile on his face.
"Now, show me what you all can do." Nezu said while looking up to see the mayhem his action would cause in the practical exam.
*Crash!*
At the same time, the sides of the largest buildings in each section of the practical exam sites facing each entrance exploded outwards, raining glass and debris over the surroundings. And from the destroyed faces of the buildings, skyscraper-sized Villain-Bots, introduced as Zero-Pointers, stepped out onto the streets of the artificial city. And when the examinees saw these giant robots, most of them began to panic as they sprinted back towards the entrances.
Unfortunately, thanks to the falling debris and panicking students, not everyone was able to escape. Those moments were when several students really showed what they were made of. And that was what those monitoring the exam were looking forward to seeing.
For example, on one of the screens in the monitoring room, a girl with frog-like features extended her long tongue and pulled a boy out of the way before a large piece of debris fell on him.
Meanwhile, on another screen, the orange-haired girl Tatsuo saw in his written test venue, Kendo Itsuka, enlarged her hands and lifted a piece of rubble off of another student whose leg was trapped.
On a third screen, the brown-haired girl who helped Izuku before the exam started, Uraraka Ochaco, could be seen making pieces of debris float away from people who were trapped. However, because she overused her [Quirk], she ended up being trapped herself. On top of that, the Zero-Pointer was about to step on her, as well.
Yet, just before Ochaco could be trampled, Izuku, his right arm glowing with power while his legs looked as though they had been rendered useless, flew through the air and landed a devastating punch on the Zero-Pointer that blew away most of its torso.
"Yes, we definitely have some good seedlings." Nezu said happily as he watched the students doing their best to help others.
"But wait, why is there so little destruction in that area?" Sekijiro asked while pointing at a particular screen.
"Hmm... If I'm not mistaken, that was the site where Young Soramoto was undergoing the test, is it not?" Toshinori asked curiously.
"That's right." Shota replied. "But now that I think about it, why don't I see the Zero-Pointer?"
"Well, let's just rewind the tape and take a look." Nezu said as he tapped on the keyboard a few times.
With Nezxu's actions, the video showing Tatsuo's test site shrank, only occupying a corner of the screen. At the same time, another section of the screen showed the same video rewinding at high speed. Nezu then stopped it as the Zero-Pointer emerged from the tall building.
"Okay, here we go." Nezu said as he pressed play.
A moment later, the four fell silent as they saw Tatsuo appear in the air at the same level as the Zero-Pointer's head with his short swords in hand. He then raised the sword in his right hand, whose edges were glowing with black and purple light. He then swung the sword down, expelling the light towards the Zero-Pointer.
And when they saw the outcome, Toshinori, Nezu, Shota, and sekijiro found it hard to believe what they saw. Especially when they considered just how effortlessly Tatsuo swung his sword.
"He split the Zero-Pointer in two..." Sekijiro said absent-mindedly. "With just one slash of his sword."
"How is that possible?" Shota asked with his eyes narrowed. "And does he realize just how dangerous a technique like that is with so many people around?"
"Young Soramoto knows exactly what his [Quirk] is capable of." Toshinori replied while pointing at the screen. "Look there. Nothing other than the robot was damaged in the surroundings. Even the building it was walking out of sustained no extra damage."
And just as Toshinori said, other than the Zero-Pointer, nothing else in the area was damaged, causing both Shota and Sekijiro to marvel at Tatsuo's control of his [Quirk].
"That is quite incredible." Sekijiro said with a nod. "But just how does something like that even work?"
"Hmm..." Nezu hummed in thought while rubbing his furry little chin. "If I had to say, Soramoto-Kun must have used his [Spatial Manipulation Quirk] to divide the space the Zero-Pointer occupied. As a result, the robot was cut in half in the split-second the space was separated."
Toshinori, Shota, and Sekijiro widened their eyes when they heard that. However, before they could comment on what they just heard, an overly loud voice sounded through the speakers in the monitoring room.
{"Time's up, boys and girls~~~~~~~~!"} Hizashi shouted, announcing the end of the practical exam. {"Please make your way back to the gates where you entered the exam area. And please don't worry, U.A.'s very own Recovery Girl is here to help all of you who were injured during the exam. As for the results, they will be mailed to your residences in a week's time. So, until then, remember... PLUS ULTRA~~~~~~~~~~!"}
With that, the U.A. Entrance Exam came to an end as students made their way out of the exam sites, and teachers began tallying points while watching videos of the practical exams.