Katsuki Bakugou was at the top of his school, unrivaled in all categories. Smarts, Strength, Charisma, and most importantly his quirk. A raw offensive power with plenty of mobility options, and he could use it however he wanted in that exam.
There was very little doubt, if any, about his capability as a hero. For most of his life, that's what he's constantly heard from all the extras. That's what he's come to expect from people whenever they run into him. Even those that mocked him, that thought themselves as above him, knew how capable he was.
Except Deku, who thought of himself as better, even without a quirk, had that determined look in his eyes all the time, and kept getting in the way. He was always following, always there with those puppy dog eyes … until he wasn't.
He hated it. He FUCKING hated it. He hated that the loser would always follow him, HATED how he chased after an impossible dream, and most of all, he hated, HATED that...that he just disappeared. No more mumbling, no more stalker notes, no more cries of wanting to be like All Might...something just felt...empty.
The old hag hadn't stopped crying since the news of the Midoriya's disappearance. Aunt Inko was gone and that bastard Hiashi dropped was nowhere to be found. He's had a lot of time to reflect and retrospect, people gave him space whenever he growled at them after all. And in that time he realized that it may not have been very … 'hero like' to screw over Dek-Midoriya like that.
So he worked to change, not like he was gonna suddenly change overnight, but more a change in target. Only attack villainous people and assholes who were clearly asking for it. He didn't want some nobody-extra's life constantly hanging over his head like Dek-Midoriya was. Just attack the biggest asshole around and work from there.
Damn it, now he was bumping into shoulders cause he was so lost in thought. He was at UA, he didn't have time for this. "Watch where you're going you-...Deku?" He stared at the innocent eyes and fluffy hair.
"Oh, sorry. I'm Iruma Suzuki, nice to meet you." No, it wasn't Dek-Midoriya. The voice was off, the eyes and hair were blue, no freckles, and he wasn't shaking nervously as if the devil himself was about to approach him.
"Whatever." Some part of him wanted to yell at the Dek-Midoriya clone, but it would've been a waste of breath, especially if he was just some no name with no ties to him whatsoever. "Don't get in my way, Extra." The boy just looked at him weirdly before Katsuki made his way up the steps, running into some round face extra that was also in his way. "Move it." He bumped into her probably a little harder than he intended, because she was now falling backwards towards the stairs.
"Hey watch-" Round face yelled out, before her fall was stopped by not-Dek-Midoriya.
"That would've been a bad omen to fall before the test." Not-Dek-Midoriya said before Katsuki rolled his eyes and entered the building. With any luck, he wouldn't have to see the Dek-Midoriya clone ever again.
==
Tenya Iida was a proud student, always following the rules, studious on his studies, and bringing honor to his family … clearly this mongrel intended to do the opposite! To bring such shame to a prestigious institution like U.A by talking through the announcements. Surely nothing good could come from this delinquent!
Him and the blonde scoundrel apparently had some sort of issue with each other that erupted in the blonde barking angrily and the blue haired miscreant shrieking in what sounded like terror, obviously neither knew the stakes of what today held.
The conversation continued on even during the explanation given to them by a great pro hero … if informal. "You'll all be divided into multiple cities based on your seating and school experience!"
"Huh, I don't even think I know anyone from my school taking the exam..in fact I don't know anyone from my school at all." The blue delinquent muttered.
"I know for sure no one from my school is going to show their dumbass faces here, I made sure of it myself." The blond delinquent spoke under his breath.
This was a serious problem! "You'll be fighting robots, three types. One pointers, two pointers, and three pointers. Each one is more dangerous than the last."
"So video games then." The blond muttered. "A piece of cake."
"Huh, probably the one time playing video games would've helped me." The blue delinquent continued. "Too bad I've never played any before."
"Any questions?" The man asked, finally, for some control over the situation. He would raise his hand and wait to be called however, like a good student. "Yes, examine 107?" That was him!
"Sir, the pamphlet lists four enemies, not three. Is this an error in the paperwork? As a prestigious school this mistake must be corrected!" He then looked at the delinquents. "And you two!" He pointed. "You have been talking and disrupting the listening of others this entire time!"
"Are we?" The blue delinquent turned to his conspirator. "Feels like someone would've said something earlier if that was the case." Because he wasn't being as disruptive as you and waiting for a chance to speak!
"It's just some elitist extra with a stick to far up his own ass. Hey Glasses! Why don't you mind your own shit?! You're the one calling attention to yourself by pointing it out!" He was already calling out an error, here was just pointing out their flaws.
"No need to get rowdy, little listeners." The hero known as Present Mic intervened from his podium. "And to answer your question, examine 107, the fourth enemy is more of an obstacle rather than an opponent. Think of it like a Chain-chop, it's something you should be avoiding at all times." What was a chain chop?
"Wait, is the game thing on purpose?" The blond delinquent asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Don't tell Nintendo, it's in the contract you signed to apply."
"What's Nintendo?" The Blue delinquent asked the second question that popped into Tenya's mind, and suddenly half the auditorium was staring at the boy. Still distracting everyone. This would not stand. Clearly this boy's machinations were downright villainous, taking away everyone's attention off their instructor!
"Now then everyone, good luck, and remember to Go Beyond!" Ah yes, the chant everyone knew! Even he would join in this moment!
"PLUS ULTRA!"
"Plus what now?" Now even he felt concerned. The blond actually shared his sentiment. "I mean … yeah .. that cheer … better head to the changing room!" And with that the boy ran off. This has to be a terrible liar, never hearing of the UA motto? Preposterous.
==
Toru Hagakure's head may have been a little out of it at the moment, but could you really blame her? That blue haired guy from the announcements was hilarious! The idea of someone not knowing the most popular phrase in the world was just too ridiculous to not laugh at! She had to meet him in person after this was all said and done. She could stand to meet a new face or two while she's here.
Well everyone else seemed pretty good too. Round face who was getting into the spirit of things, sparkle boy, drill head, and mr stick and stiff. Oh, stick and stiff was yelling at the blue haired guy, lame.
Remember Toru, be nice, energetic, and cheerful. Genki girls got all the attention, and it's the only way you could get some yourself. Forget being nervous. Forget the fact you're always naked in order to fully use your quirk and forget that it's probably the only reason why boy's notice you. Your personality and skill was all you needed to succeed today!
"AND START!" Oh, that was the cue? The blue cowlick guy rushed ahead pretty quickly. "REAL HEROES DON'T GET COUNTDOWNS, GOGOGO!"
Guess it was, she began running with everyone else, stick and stiff already making headway with leg engines. Round face heading to the left, and sparkly just kind of staring out into space looking at something she couldn't figure out.
Eventually the blue haired kid that ran in front of them came back, running from a group of robots. "They have guns! Why do they have guns!?" That was a pretty good question. The kid was doing well to avoid the line of fire, so he was probably fine.
"Oh, seem's it's imminent we take advantage of the bait, don't you think, cherrie?" Sparkly guy gestured to some random girl, who looked so done the moment the guy started talking to her. He had the look of an instant tool, so that wasn't a surprise.
The front runners met the robots head on, causing chaos of sparks and scrap to fly around. It was a massacre of epic proportions. "Please spare me, I have three computer chips at home." Maybe a very intimate massacre.
It went like this for a while. Occasionally she would hear someone shout 'DIE' over and over from one of the other sites, stiff and proper kept kicking away robots, and Round Face made them float in the air before crashing them. She was lucky these guys came with off switches on the back, she wouldn't be able to be as flashy as the rest of applicants.
"Look out!" Blue hair shoved her out of the way from a stray piece of glass that would have hit her head. "Are you okay?"
"You..you can see me?" She was a bit slow to respond. It looked like he was looking right into her eyes..no..he WAS looking right into her eyes.
"Well yeah, I saw a pair of boots and gloves on the ground, and a shadow next to them. You didn't get hurt, did you?"
"Um, I, no. I'm not hurt." She wasn't hearing blood drip, so she wasn't bleeding. "Thank you, for that."
"Yeah..no problem. Just doing what I can to help..someone else is in trouble!" Blue Cowlick noticed a green vine haired girl about to be ambushed from behind. "Watch out!" He rushed and pushed the other girl out of the way.
He … went on, helping people so bravely. And he noticed her … he paid attention to her …
BADUMP
Her savior and soulmate. She had to learn more.
==
In retrospect, Iruma didn't quite know what bunny-sensei was fully talking about when he told him he was training for the hero course. Yes, he was aware heroes and villains were a real thing, but whenever he thought about the idea of being a hero, his mind would wander back to the hero manga he'd look over occasionally while he worked on the coloring for First Love Memories.
And that was a secret spy from a third dimensional agency that grew into a giant of light to punch out Kaiju. So maybe he didn't have the best experience in judging heroes. But he did get that it meant saving people. If someone looked like they were in trouble, then he needed to help them. It was almost no different from how he lived his before.
He counted himself lucky saving the invisible girl. He saw a glimpse of her before the robot riot began, and just made a broad guess where she was based on loosely-based evidence. Luckily the other's who needed saving were much easier to help. The Vine Girl, the belly lazer guy, that metal dude, all of them were safe now.
But now he didn't have any points. How was he supposed to do good if he couldn't even beat the test? Was it that important for him to be in the hero course? If Bunny-sensei just needed to give him a quirk, couldn't he just go out and start helping people now? He didn't even need a quirk to do that, just put him in one of those silly costumes and he'll save people if Bunny Sensei asked him to.
And speaking of quirk, he didn't feel his supposed! Bunny sensei said to clench your butcheaks and yell smash, but all that did was get people to look at him weird and made his hand hurt when he punched a robot. There was only one logical explanation, Bunny-sensei was a liar! Just like the bad touch men that mom told him not to help.
Damn it, he disliked how his stupid parents never taught him to do anything other than say yes to anyone that said please. Sure it made them a lot of money, but was it worth it when it constantly put his life in danger everyday?
And now the ground was shaking, just great, an earthquake! Did the universe just want to treat him like a joke or something!? "Is THAT the Zero Pointer?" He followed the random kid's shouting, curious, and saw a … robot the size of a building.
"How the fuck is that supposed to be a chain chomp!?"
"Why is it so big!?"
"Please tell me it doesn't see us!"
"GET OFF MY PROPERTY!" Well it saw them, and was rushing to them right now. Pieces of debri were starting to fall all around them, but luckily the one thing Iruma had going for him was his 'uncanny crisis evasion tactic', which was a weird name to give simple dodging, but Bunny-Sensei wanted to give it some sort of title for some reason.
This didn't change the problem of him with zero points, no quirk, and now needing to run from a giant robot the size of buildings! But who knows, maybe he just needs to run fast enough and hopefully the problem will fix itself. "Ow!" Iruma followed the cry, seeing a girl laying in the rubble.
The robot was getting closer, it was heading towards her! What could he do!? Everyone else was running away, even the scary glasses guy was heading in the other direction. He couldn't punch robots, he didn't have a quirk, he didn't even want to be a hero! He..he didn't even know what he wanted!
"Somebody please help me!"
The only thing he did know about life was that you should always help someone if they said please! No exceptions! It didn't matter if he couldn't do anything, he had to rush in and help her. He put pressure in his legs to give him a running start … and found he could put in more pressure than before. Far more pressure, it felt like filling a balloon. Finding it weird, but not having the time to focus on it, he placed all he could into it and leapt forward … a hundred feet in the air.
The buildings and people were so far below him, he could feel the wind breeze past him, the robot approaching fast. Bunny-sensei wasn't lying. "Bunny-sensei isn't a bad touch man!" He shouted with glee, so this is what it was like to have a quirk! "What was it that he told me to do?" Squeeze your butt and shout really loud! Right! "RIGHT HOOK PUNCH!" He was certain that's what Bunny-sensei would say!
The robot flew backwards and crumbled into pieces. So that's what having actual power was like? Owning something that he earned the right to use? That felt amazing! For the first time he accomplished something outside of making his parents money! With this kind of power he could lift a cargo shipment all on his own! The raise he could get with that alone! "One minute left little listeners!"
Shouty mc cool guy was right, he needed to get his head back in the game. Iit would be easy to do once he landed, he's been in the air for a while now though. A few more seconds passed before Iruma realized he was falling to his doom. "It's okay, I'll just punch the ground and we'll be good, right?" His right hand wasn't in front of his face. Looking at it made him realize he should be screaming in pain right now.
"AHHH MY ARMS ARE NOODLES!" Well one arm and both his legs, and more accurately, they were the burnt old kind that even he had a hard time eating. Not that he wouldn't, food was food after all. Dang it, he only had that hair to eat today, he completely forgot about lunch! Maybe after he crashed the hospital would have nice menu options? Oh man, he would have to add paying the hospital bill to his list now. That was going to suck.
Oh, the ground was getting close. Let's see what his options were. Dodging? No, you can't dodge the ground unless you can fly. Jumping? No, his legs were broken. Punching? Maybe, he still had one arm left. And if he punched the ground hard enough maybe he could make it submit and not hurt him, like turning fruit into jelly! Yeah, that would work, right?
"Okay, mash the potatoes, mash the potatoes, mash the potatoes!"
==
Ochako watched as the boy fell. The one who helped her not fall at the front gate, the one that seemed to not know what Nintendo was, the one who just saved her for crying out loud! "AHH MY ARMS ARE NOODLES!" Indeed they were, most of his limbs were an unhealthy shade of purple and wiggling with the wind like worms.
He...he didn't have a way to land himself. He jumped up at the robot knowing that and still did it? How selfless was this guy? He gave up everything for that one punch!
Well it was time for her to return the favor. Ignoring how much it hurt, she shoved the rocks off her body, and crawled with her broken ankle over to a robot head. She slowly began climbing it as the boy entered a delusional state from the pain. "Mash the potatoes, mash the potatoes, mash the potatoes!" Clearly not right in the head.
She had one shot at this, she needed to time it right, so she floated herself higher with the metal head, arm winded and waiting. It was just like baseball, you hit the target or it's game over and everyone loses, no pressure. She had to do this in the most precise and careful manner.
SLAP
She slapped the boy's face right as he entered her line of sight, and he started floating just as he was about to touch the ground. She saved him, yes! This was a success! Her stomach however, seemed to disagree. She was going to hurl. She needed to be released now or she'd pass out like when she was a kid.
"Re..release." She sputtered, and the boy landed with a bit of a thump. That probably hurt him a little, but it was better than him being dead. "Are..are you.." She tried to speak to him, but her breakfast was coming back up. "BLEEH!" She threw up. Her delirious state made her imagine it as a rainbow.
"Heh, pretty rainbows." Oh so he saw that too. That was either good news they were both okay or so horribly in agony that they shared hallucinations. The latter had more concerning implications. The boy gasped suddenly. "Points, I need to get them, still at zero!" He was at zero points!? "Bunny-sensei trusted me! I can't let him down!"
" THAT'S IT, LITTLE LISTENERS! TIME IS UP!"
"I let Bunny-sensei down!" The boy shouted … right before hitting the ground. Oh shoot, that couldn't have been a good sign.
"Hey kid, you okay!?" A pair of boots ran over to the boy, and might have been looking him over? It was very hard to tell. "Why do you have so much damage, why are you unconscious, and why do you have a slap mark on your face!?"
"I..never used this...quirk before." The boy muttered in delirium before closing his eyes, passing out completely. This was his first time using his quirk too, for her?
BADUMP