Chapter 184 - 4-6

Chapter 4: August 23/UA Entrance Exam

I stayed like that, allowing all that weight to press down on me, as Queen, aka one of the best bands of all time, continued to play.

When I was kid, I'd watched the 2004 Punisher movie. In it, there was a scene where Punisher left a dude whose arm was trapped with his other arm outstretched, a small bomb in his hand, a wire tied taut to the detonator. If the dude's arm dropped, the bomb went off. A small bomb. Only about five pounds.

But enough weight, over enough time, without rest? Well…

I stayed like that, bent over the pair beneath me. All the weight of a marble building on top of me, with nothing but time and music around me.

The kid and woman were not the cheery sort. I don't know, something about the situation seemed to bum them out.

So I started talking, using my hopefully much better Japanese. "Hey," the mom looked up at me, while the kid continued to cry. "You both good? You get-" I tried to remember the correct word. "Hurt?"

"N-No," the lady said, looking down at her kid. "I'm okay. He's okay..." the last part was said with a deep and warm smile of relief as she brushed a hand through his hair.

"Kaa-san," the kid mumbled. "Is he a hero?"

She gave me a sad look. I got it. In a situation like this? Of course a kid would look for a hero.

"I'm not," I admitted slowly. The kid stared at me, his eyes wide. "But there's a hero out there. A friend. Cow Lady. She's fighting a villain right now, gonna save us all," I grinned at him. "I'm not a hero. But we've got some here."

From the looks of it, the kid seemed to take some solace in that. Good thing I'd made sure to learn how to pronounce Tauren's hero name correctly. Ushi, cow, and Oishii, tasty or delicious, sounded WAY too similar.

"Are you okay?" the mom asked me.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I adjusted myself a bit, allowing the immense pressure on my back to rest more on my shoulders. Fuck me, the shit was heavy. It felt like my spine was getting cooked slowly, my arms and legs cramping. I kept it up though. And I kept talking.

"So, you like heroes kid?"

"Yes!" the kid still looked scared, but he was a lot calmer now. "I like Fat Gum!"

Fat Gum? Well damn, I was really expecting All Might. Still…

"Fat Gum is pretty darn cool," I pushed up a bit, raising my arms up to grip the weight above me better, feeling like Atlas under the sky. "My favorite hero is…I like the old comic book ones, like Superman," I explained, saying the last part in English.

"S-Supaman?" The kid asked, while the mom's eyes widened in recognition. "Who is that?"

Ah. What a crying shame. The mom and I shared a look. "Superman… well, I guess you could say he's the hero in the old days. He was the All Might back then. One we looked up too, even if he wasn't real."

"He wasn't real?" the kid's smile dropped. "Then he doesn't matter."

"Of course he matters," I grinned. "All Might is real. Fat Gum is real. Even if they ain't here. They give you hope, teach you what's right, makes you do better, you know?"

I thought that maybe my weak Japanese and the kid's youth may have combined to weaken my point, but the kid was simply staring at me.

"Is that why you saved us, Mister?"

"Um…" I kinda chuckled as Queen's 'I Want To Break Free' played from my phone. "No. I just kind of ran in to be honest," the mom stared at me aghast. "But they are part of why I want to be a hero."

Wonder what the OG Bowser would have thought of that. Then again, he probably thought he was a hero, always getting cockblocked by Mario and his dastardly plans. Then again, you don't call yourself a Demon King without being a little self-aware...

"...What can Superman do?" the kid asked, tears now drying into tracks across his dusty face.

I grinned. "Well. Let me adjust the bi-ru on my back, and I'll-"

"Bi-ru?" the woman asked, surprised. Then she let out a little, 'ah' sound. "You mean building! Biru."

"...What did I say?"

She leaned over and whispered so the kid couldn't hear. "Beer."

Japanese is hard man.

I sighed, but continued. "Well. Superman. The story is old. And told often. But there is something that is always the same. Doomed planet. Desperate scientists. Last hope in the form of a rocket. Good parents. A man, with all the power in the universe. Who just wants to help people have a good life."

God. What a nerd I was. Sat under a building of pure stone, and I was telling the story of Superman to get my mind off it. Well, hopefully the kid would enjoy it. Based on the look in his eyes, he seemed to like it.

------

We were under there for around an hour or so. I was in the middle of explaining Superman fighting Braniac, after telling the story of him becoming friends with Krypto, when the weight atop me began to lessen.

"Get closer to me," I warned them as the rubble around us shifted, the sounds of people slowly digging towards us. The two pressed close to me. After a long moment of stone on stone and the sounds of a huge amount of people, one of the stones got shifted before light shone in on the three of us from the front. WAY too bright a light. What the heck?

"Hey, tone it back!" I barked, eyes closing as I stared out. I pulled my head back into my shell and glared out of my shell as I continued to hold up the rubble.

"Bowser!" Tauren was a dark shadow backlit by that bright-as-fuck light to my eyes. She climbed in and grabbed the mother and kid, handing them to a cop who was out there. "You okay?" she asked me.

"I need to find a chiropractor that works on shells," I grunted. "Am I okay to let this weight go?"

"Yeah, you're fine," Tauren told me, shifting to her minotaur-like bull form and pushing up on the rubble, pushing it safely off of me long enough to get me out of there.

God. Relief. You would not believe it. I stumbled forward, head popping out of my shell, the rubble collapsing behind me while Tauren caught my two-ton body and helped me. My arms and legs were cramped up, and I felt like my spine had shortened, like my muscles had been getting cooked.

"You did good, sugah," Tauren told me.

"That means the world to me," I told her honestly.

I looked out as we left. Cameras surrounded us. That was a surprise. Not just camera phones, but reporters standing there with their bright as fuck cameralights shining on us. "Wow, can you all tone down the-"

I was cut off by a blonde blur rushing forward to hug me around my waist. I felt two horns click against my face.

Pony. Her eyes were closed as she hugged me tightly. I wrapped an arm around her, while Tauren hugged her as well, the three of us ignoring the cameras around us.

------

Later on, a cop was talking to Pony and I. A medic had taken a look at me already, and decided I was okay except for exhaustion, though he recommended I see a specialist if my back continued to hurt, as I might need someone special considering the shell that was in the way.

The main cop who was speaking to me was interesting looking. He had a bee's stinger poking out of his chin and a pair of see through wings on his back, and looked exasperated, two of his friends watching. "You did a good thing, but you also took an enormous risk. If you messed up-"

"But he didn't," Tauren said nearby, looking annoyed. "Seriously, it's not like they did anything that crazy!"

"They don't have hero licenses and we have reports that your daughter and the young man used their quirks to either save people or fight off the vines," the police officer said calmly. "Horns to pick up those inside could have stabbed someone by accident. The fires he used to drive off the vines could have burned someone."

"We only wanted to help…" Pony said sadly.

I didn't say anything yet, only listening as he sighed and jumped back into the speech he was giving as the other two officers watched. Technically he was right, but I wasn't about to agree that I shouldn't have gone in. Maybe something could have gone wrong. But I wasn't going to regret my choice.

I looked over at Pony. She looked up at me, still looking down. That, more than anything, prompted me to speak.

"We had two choices," I said, cutting off the officer. "Get in trouble and save lives, or do nothing and watch the building fall on everyone."

"You didn't have to use your quirks to-" the officer began to say.

"Yes, we did," I growled. The cop stopped talking. I guess I was more intimidating than I expected, even to a cop. I continued.

"We didn't use our quirks for the hell of it. There were elderly people, children, and plant vines literally ripping the entrance way apart. We hadto use our quirks in the moment to help everyone we could. We'll be careful from now on," I looked at Pony for agreement, and she nodded emphatically. "We know why the law exists. We get it. And if we'd had the choice, we would have stood by and let the authorities handle it."

"But there wasn't anyone else to help," Pony said. "Momma was fighting the villain. I promise mister, we wouldn't have done it otherwise!"

"...Ugh," the cop rubbed his beesting chin, fingers running along the point with the edge of long habit. "Well… You understand why I'm worried."

"Yeah," I shrugged. "I get it. And we aren't the vigilante types. But we had to do it. If we had to pick, well… I'd do it again," I looked over at the crowd. The mom and kid were with an ambulance crew. The elderly couple Pony had saved were being hugged by their family. They kept looking over at us. The looks they gave Pony and me…

"Me too. It was worth it," Pony said softly.

The police officer, a helpless look on his face, looked over at Tauren, but she was grinning widely. He sighed, then turned and walked away, his fellow officers following. Tauren walked over to us as they left.

"Come on," she chuckled. "I need to yell at you guys myself."

"You're going to yell at us?" Pony yelped.

"Well, not really," Tauren joked. "I'm mostly happy you two are okay. So we'll really just go get some food and head home… I forgot the groceries!" Tauren said suddenly, clutching her face as she realized why we'd headed out in the first place.

As Pony laughed at her mom's antics, I saw the police cart away a dude who I took a double take at. He had a head shaped like a tomato and arms of green vines. He also looked bruised, beaten, and tired as hell.

"Was he a hard fight?" I asked Tauren as we walked away from the scene.

"Hell yeah he was," Tauren gave the guy a glare. "He was on trigger. The stuff makes any minor quirk a hell of fight," she sighed. "But it's over now. Let's get our food and go home, dahlings."

We went on our way.

That night, I would have a nightmare. Of the world, crushing on me, threatening to destroy things that were important.

Very nice brain. Couldn't be more symbolic? Had to just basically restate the day's events?

Good motivation though. Because I woke up that morning and immediately headed to the quarry. If I was ever going to be a hero, I'd have to keep getting stronger. I knew I could do it now. I had proof. I just had to keep it going.

And when I showed up at the quarry to see Pony balancing on her horns, a look of determination on her face, I knew I wasn't the only one who felt that way.

------

We spent the rest of our time off training like crazy. Then we went back to school in September. Our time there was mostly just normal trickling back into our lives again. Classes, teachers, and homework. I kept up my training as best as I could though. Pony became a minor celebrity after footage of her saving people hit the internet, which she was adorably bashful about. She deserved it though.

I got hit with a bit of that as well. Not as much as Pony, but there was this one video going around of me breathing fire and holding the rubble up while the Gamera theme song played. I mean… what the hell? Who put that kind of work into something like that?

Also, it turns out Bowser can blush. Well, I can at least.

My studies continued to be interesting as hell. The world of the future was full of very interesting history. Right up until just after 2030, things were pretty normal. The highlights, you know, Titanic, United Nations, Batman, Elon Musk, Twitter.

Then, Quirks. And chaos. I'd have thought, after all the comics we had warned us about the kinds of things a world of superpowers might lead to, we'd have been somewhat able to withstand those problems, but there goes me hoping people would listen to good ideas.

Nations that had already been at war lit aflame. Entire cities were wiped out. Huge portions of the society I once knew were now gone. Hell, even the internet was entirely different. Nowhere and nothing was safe. Technology did continue to advance, but at a much slower pace. And superheroes or supervillains took a while to become a thing. Super-soldiers were more of the norm. Men and women tied to nations, not ideals, not to what may have been right to do.

It was only recently that something close to peace had finally come. And that was built on a mountain of bodies.

Seriously. I'd thought the reason that I didn't see brand names in the season of the anime I watched was because of copyright issues. Turned out, most companies simply disappeared as time passed.

Except some like Pepsi and Coca-Cola. That was never ending.

So yeah. Interesting history. Bleak, sad, history, with heroes, bad guys, and some people just doing what they could to survive. But interesting.

All that aside, things in my life finally got into a routine of sorts. School, hanging with Pony, training, then school again. I practiced my shell spin and trained with Pony in basic combat, the two of us playing cops and robbers for keeps. I pushed myself to learn as much Japanese as I could, helping Pony along the way. And she would push me

I jogged a lot. Running around the town, trying to get my cardio up. And then, as time went by… Well.

I headed to the beach on my days off. I'd go out, see the sun shining over the ocean, the sands, people hanging out. And, well… I didn't go there for the view.

Somedays I would see them. Somedays, I would just miss them. I didn't go to talk to them, though I'd sometimes train nearby. It felt, I don't know, awkward, seeing them in the distance. I didn't know if I should even try to approach.

But they were there. A tiny green-haired kid, picking up trash on the beach. And a tall blonde-haired man, cheering him on. Deku and All Might, working their asses off to get him ready.

I left middle-school that year with Pony. My grades weren't perfect, but they were better than the last time I was in middle school. And in those final months before we would apply to UA, I started taking Pony with me to the beach. We'd go running a lot of the time, but we did some more unorthodox training as well.

Pony would go surfing whenever we would go to the beach, on my recommendation. She was still having trouble balancing on her horns, so surfing turned out to be a damn good way for her to practice it. She got really into it as well.

For me, I started swimming around with her, wearing my extra big swim trunks. Turns out, I was pretty damn fast at it. I'd zoom back and forth in the water, diving deep under the waves. That's how I found out my fire breath could temporarily work underwater, create waves of steam. That gave me an idea for some kind of steam move, but I had yet to figure out that whole thing.

We'd also keep practicing with our quirks as a whole, though that would only be something we could do in the quarry or at a designated training area. But we did it as much as we could.

Pony used her experience with surfing to get better flying on her horns and practiced her accuracy, tossing those horns without controlling them towards anything I could toss up for her.

For me, more shell spinning. I'd do my best to simply stay in one place, spinning as fast I could. Turned out, I needed to master the fine muscle control needed to keep myself going. I didn't get dizzy, since my body was built to do the move, but I would sometimes lose control and go skating into things if I wasn't careful. Good practice though. Eventually I could spin in place without worrying about keeping it going too much. Next would have to be actually moving around like that...

Then, came that day. On a day when we were supposed to be getting ready for the upcoming exam later that day, Pony and I were standing on the beach. The sky was still dark as we stood there in awe. He was pushing a car atop a massive pile. A goddamn car. Slowly, carefully, as the sun began to come up over the horizon. He got the top of the pile of trash we'd seen him cleaning up for the last ten months. Finally, he got up there and stood tall. As the sun finally rose, he let out a cry.

That sound echoed across the beach. Triumph. That's all I could think. If any sound could encapsulate that word, that would be it. Triumph. And a man, in the distance, yelled out in turn.

"OH MY GOODNESS!!!"

"He did it," Pony said softly, looking around with a finger to her lips as she watched the now clean beach. "I didn't believe it but… he really did it."

"Yeah…" I said softly, watching as he fell only for All Might to catch him before he could hit the floor. "He did."

I probably should have been more amazed. I mean, one of the most awesome moments from the anime, brought to life in front of me! But all I could think of it was what it really meant. That time was up. Really up.

"We better go," I told Pony, turning around.

"Bowser-kun?" she asked me, hopping over to me. "Are you okay?"

I smiled down at her. "No. I'm nervous as hell. But we're ready for the exam. Right?"

Pony smiled shakily, then nodded her head, fists clenched. "Yes! We can do this!"

I held out my fist, which she bumped with her own. Then we went off to get ready for UA.

------

I stood before the gates of the UA High School Entrance Exam Location by myself. Pony had gotten there before me, cheerfully telling me on the phone that she would see me there. That was fine. I was still feeling nervous, so a bit of time to myself would be nice.

God. After a full year, finally I was going to the exam. All my training, schooling, and work had been for this. If I failed, well. It was all for naught. I had to get in.

So, no pressure or anything.

I was still staring at the big yellow 'UA' sign when I saw a familiar blonde head of hair enter the gates. Katsuki Bakugo walked under the gates with an air about him like someone had shit in his cereal bowl, ignoring my gaze on the back of his head. That, more than anything, prompted me to finally walk in.

I stopped in the courtyard to watch as the blonde asshole teen barked at someone. Bakugo walked into the building, but I wasn't looking at him anymore. Instead, I saw Deku. The kid was in mid-fall when a friendly young girl stopped him with a tap on the shoulder. I started to feel kinda creepy as I watched Ochako Uraraka talk to a shocked Deku, but I couldn't help it.

I went over to him as Ochako gave him a friendly goodbye and walked away. I stopped next to the kid and gently bumped his shoulder as he was still freaking out over his first 'conversation' with a girl. I could relate.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Gaaaaaah!" he jumped, reeling back from me. Then he blinked at the sight of me. "Ah, you're the turtleman from the beach!"

Guess he'd seen me whenever I jogged past. I did tend to stand out after all.

"Yeah," I grinned at the kid. "And you're the trashman."

"T-Trashman?" he seemed to sink into a depression at that. "Ah. I guess I was picking up trash all that time…"

I couldn't help the chuckle that brought out of me. I bowed down politely. "I'm Koopa Bowser. Nice to meet you, fellow beachgoer."

"Ah," he was unprepared for that. But he recovered quickly, bowing as well. "M-Midoriya Izuku! It's nice to meet you too!" We rose up from our bow. Somehow, as I watched Izuku grin up at me, I felt just a bit less anxious. "Let's do our best!" he said nervously but enthusiastically.

"Yeah," I turned to look over at the UA building, Izuku turning to face it as well. "Let's do this."

Walking in side by side, I felt my fists tighten. Soon, we'd be in for it. But the hard part was first.

The written test.

Chapter 5: UA Entrance Exam

I wasn't kidding when I said the written exam was hard. Mostly because it was all in Japanese, so I had to keep doing that thing where every once in a while I would mentally translate words just to make sure I was understanding the context of the questions.

At one point I looked over at Pony. The students were separated out into their schools, so she was seated closer to me than I'd expected. She'd been biting her pen thoughtfully, eyes narrowed in thought, sometimes letting out little 'ah!' noises before scribbling things down. My eyes very briefly panned over the rest of the room.

With all the recognizable characters in the room, it felt like I was at an anime convention where all the cosplayers had been given an impossible budget. I could see Mina Ashido further down in front of me, her pink skin and hair super recognizable, yellow horns bobbing up and down as she wrote energetically. A black crow diligently and calmly writing his own answers had to be Tokoyami. I could recognize most everyone. I tried finding Kirishima. Back home, he'd been one of my favorites of the class 1-A crew. But for some reason I couldn't find his distinct head of red spiky hair. Weird.

I noticed Vlad King, one of the homeroom teachers, eyeing me as he walked down the steps that split up the students. I nodded seriously to him, then went back to my work. He kept an eye on me, but once he realized I wasn't looking around to cheat he seemed to drift away.

I got my paper done as I thought to myself about what was next. The practical. AKA, as I'd been calling it for the last few months, Operation: Let Loose the Dragon of War.

Somewhere inside me, I felt my blood almost boil. I'd get to fight. To really fight. To blaze in and feel my claws break something, feel something hit me. Fighting Tauren and Pony wasn't like that. Tauren was way too skilled for me to have any chance of beating her, and Pony was my sparring partner. We could never really try to hurt each other. And believe me, while I could hurt Pony, she could also do some real damage to me if she was smart about her powers.

But in the practical exam? We could actually just… BREAK shit.

Wonder what part of me was so excited for that? The Bowser part, or the sheer wonderful joy of breaking things without consequences?

------

After everyone was done with the test, it was time for the Presentation for the practical exam. So I got to see yet another pro hero in the flesh.

"For all you examinee listeners tuning in, welcome to my show today!" A man with a MASSIVE blonde hairdo and the sweetest shades this side of Kamina, grinned on stage as he snapped his arms out. "Everybody say HEY!"

He turned, holding a hand up to his ear excitedly.

"Hey!" I barked out with a wide grin of my own, ignoring the students giving Present Mic and myself aghast looks.

"Hoho, a lonely yet passionate response!" Present Mic pointed in my direction proudly before continuing. "Then it's time for the rundown on the practical exam! Are you ready!"

I made sure I said it at the same time as the Voice Hero. "YEAAAH!"

I could hear Pony giggling while the rest of the students seemed just as aghast at us as before. One kid in the corner groaned, placing his head in his hands.

Well, they were nervous. Understandable.

The rest of it went as it had in the anime, with Present Mic explaining the points system, using images of Link fighting Zelda villains and getting points. I listened with a half-ear. After so long waiting for this day, I'd replayed the exam's point system a thousand times over.

So I wasn't surprised when Tenya Ida got up and started telling off Present Mic for the Arena Trap being worth zero points. Nor was I surprised when he turned to lambast Izuku for the horrific crime of mumbling to himself. But I was surprised when he then turned his attention to me.

"And you," Ida's eyes narrowed at me.

"Me?" I asked, leaning forward curiously.

"Yelling like that is just as distracting as mumbling!" he said with the air of a man laying down the judgment of God. "If you have time to do something so-"

"I was responding to the presenter's call," I snapped, cutting him off. "And if you want to complain about being loud, then talk to a mirror, goggles. Or let the teacher answer your question instead of yelling at everyone around you."

"Wha-" Ida seemed aghast. "You rude-"

I tuned him out immediately. I liked Ida, I really did. But the man really needed to work on his self-awareness.

Present Mic cut in before Ida could continue his sputter of anger. "Well, there is an answer, listeners! Keep your ears open!"

The rest of it went as expected, with Present Mic explaining the Arena Traps being considered obstacles, rather than actual villains. The presentation ended in Present Mic's little

"The great hero Napoleon Bonaparte once said... 'True heroism consists of being superior to the ills of life.' Plus Ultra!! Break a leg, everyone!!"

...Wait, was Napoleon technically a hero? Then again, that might have been my American perspective on history talking. Maybe a hero in the traditional sense of being one, where it meant just being a famous badass. Like Gilgamesh's smug ass...

Then we left that room and entered the buses to head out to the testing sites. And if my bus was leaning real heavily on the side I was sitting on, I was definitely not to blame...

------

We came to a stop in front of Battle Center B. And when I got out to see Izuku standing there nervously in his workout suit, it felt oddly like destiny. Then again, Pony had gone to Battle Center A, so more likely they were trying to break up the kids who went to the same schools.

I looked around. I didn't recognize most of the kids. Wow. Were so many kids really going to fail this exam? That was kinda crazy to realize in retrospect. Some of them looked like real badasses too.

While I was distracted, Hurricane Ida struck again. Izuku had started to walk forward, heading towards Ochaco, when Ida came forward and gripped his shoulder to stop him, startling the kid. I walked over to them.

"That girl appears to be trying to focus," Ida pointed out seriously. A good point, in his defense. Ochaco was fanning her face and taking deep breaths to calm herself. Then he jumped to conclusions. "What are you doing here? Are you taking the entrance exam to interfere with everyone else?"

"N-N-No, of course not!" Izuku jumped back, waving his arms frantically. That's how he bumped into my chest. He stopped, startled, and glanced up at me. "B-Bowsa-san?"

"Hey," I grinned down at the much smaller green-haired kid, then looked up at Ida, frowning. "Tenya Ida, right? You mind toning it back? He's nervous, not an asshole. Besides, who the fuck would take a whole entrance exam just to mess with people. Are you that lacking in self-awareness?"

"You again," Ida glared at me. "And such language. Are you really trying to be a hero?"

"Now more than ever," I said with a smirk, which only seemed to anger him. Weirdly, the fact he was so annoyed by me only made me like him more. Context, I suppose. "Oh, and we better run in now! Izuku, come on!"

"W-What?" Izuku gaped as I started running, booking it for the doors.

"H-Hey, we aren't done!"

"Out of the way you fucks!" I shouted as I rushed towards the group of kids, who had been watching Ida, Izuku, and I talk.

"Whoa, what're you-" one dude yelled, before a far louder voice echoed.

"OKAY, START!" Present Mic called.

I didn't hear the rest of the speech. I was already running my ass into the arena.

The place within looked like a city. Like a full city! It even had street signs and glass windows and shit. How much money did UA have?

A wall smashed to my right. A green machine came flying out in a spray of concrete and glass. On one panel was a big number '1'. It's red eyes glared at me as it reached for me menacingly. "Target Acquir-"

"YEEEESSS!" I roared, smashing into the robot with my claws. I felt steel bend and twist under my strength, wires snap, the entire thing breaking beneath my power! "YEESSSS!"

The robot was turned into scrap behind me as I continued running. Another robot, this time with a number three. "Target-"

"NOM!" I bit down into its head as my full bulk hit the guy like a damn truck. I slashed outward with my claws, ripping through the robot's chest, it's arms bouncing off my shell when it hit me back. I pulled my head up, my jaws ripping off the robot's head. Two robots with the number '2' rushed me.

I blasted one with fire, pouring on the flames, when the other got hit by a burst of motion. Ida, moving at lightning speed, his jet boosters blazing, kicked the other like a damn rocket in flight.

"Nice job!" I barked at him before he could say anything. "Good luck, okay!"

"E-eh?" he stopped, gaping at me. I ran forward to go for the next one, my blood boiling.

Finally! Finally, after all this time! I could let loose! I could really hit things, break them, feel them hit me back!

A 1 came zooming around a corner long enough for me to bash my head into it. I pushed it up into the air, then jumped up over it as it let out a keening screech sound. I brought my legs up as I began to fall.

"BOWSER BOMB!"

I dropped on top of the robot with every bit of my bulk, the robot turning to pieces. A three and two rushed me, smashing me as I was still recovering from my drop. I felt metal fists smash into my chin and chest. Then I pulled my arms and legs into my shell and started spinning, hearing robots smash to pieces!

Robots! I decided I loved villain robots. For the first time, I could really let loose and not worry about hurting anyone. Basically…

"I can be as hard core as I want and it'll still be PG!" I roared as I came out of my shell, literally and metaphorically.

A 3 fired missiles at me. Probably some low level ones, basically just paint bombs, but still. I unleashed a blast of flames, blowing them out of the air in a move I'd practiced with Pony (I briefly wondered how she was doing), then tackled into the robot, smashing into a building, then out the other side of it, concrete exploding around us.

"HAHAHA!" I laughed as I grabbed the missile pods on the 3 and lifted it up. "Yes!" I spun the robot around and smashed it into a 2. When the 3 responded by weakly smacking me in the chin, I ripped it in half. My claws dug into the sputtering pieces and I grinned around me, only to stop when I saw some kids staring at me in shock. "Oh. You guys want this spot?"

"Please," one kid said quietly.

"All right. Later!" I rushed off, still holding the halves of the robot. When a 2 approached me, I hit him with a right, using the piece of robot like a boxing glove, and following with a left hook to get it while it was dazed.

I went for the next, hitting a 3, then a 1. And a 1… And a 1? What the hell?

I got another 2, slashing through it, but I was beginning to have to hunt down the robots, rather than having plenty of them coming to me. We'd barely started!

Well. Desperate times.

I started smashing through the buildings, running for every loud sound I could hear. Sure I likely couldn't just kool-aid myself through whole buildings as an actual hero, but for now it helped knowing literally no one lived or worked in these things. I dropped down on 1s, tore through 2s and found myself forced to toss the pieces of some robots at others that were too far away for me to take down efficiently.

I got to 42 points or so when it showed up. The 0 pointer.

The city shook. And a giant fucking robot came out of nowhere.

I glared up at it as a hand clenched at a building, sending debris falling down. I noticed some debris beginning on a roof just above a shocked pair of kids and ran over to grab them, pulling them away just as that roof shattered to drop stones and mortar where they had been. I let the shrapnel bounce off my shell to protect the kids, nonchalantly glancing up at the robot.

Well, I say 'nonchalantly'. In truth, the thing was fucking impressive. Giant robots. Always impressive.

"You two okay?" I asked the kids. They were both young men, one with a light brown nose shaped like a rock.

"Y-Yeah!" the kid with the rock nose said shakily. The other, a normal looking dude with white hair, was just staring upwards before he finally spoke.

"What the hell is UA thinking!? This is so crazy!"

"So is hero work," I pointed out, helping them up and pushing them gently. "Go on, get some more points."

"T-Thanks, Turtle-san!" the rock-nosed one said as they ran off.

I slowly gazed up at the giant fucking robot as it slowly plodded forward, coming towards the students. They were all running away and okay, so no worries there. Then I looked to my right. Another 0-pointer was further away, but it was so tall it was easy to make it out. I ignored the one that was approaching, instead turning to run towards that one. This part. This part I wanted to see.

I saw Izuku running towards the robot. I saw Ochaco there, under the rubble. Then… the dust flew apart. He rocketed into the air. I felt chills across my scales, running along my spine beneath my shell.

"SMAAAAASH!"

The impact of Deku's fist on that robot made caved in its fucking face! And when that face was the size of a small building and set off several small explosions all along the 'spine' of the robot… I wouldn't want to be hit by it. I felt the gust of the impact from all the way from where I was standing.

Damn. Damn. Deku may not have been able to control his power without breaking a limb, but he might be able to knock even my invulnerable ass out with a hit like that.

He fell out of the sky, legs waving weakly in the wind before Ochaco smacked him in the face, stopping his fall. Seriously clutch.

I was there in time to see the round-cheeked young girl… er, well. Release the rainbow, as it were.

I got over to Deku- fuck me, I kept calling him that mentally. Izuku. I got over to IZUKU just as he was dragging himself along the ground, tears in his eyes. I heard him speak.

"If I can get just one point!" he sputtered. "Just-"

"Here," I kneeled down, grabbing his uninjured arm. He gaped up at me in surprise as I lifted him up. "I'll help you man. Let's see if we can find another one for you to-"

"Time's up!" Present Mic called out, shocking me. Izuku started up at the sky, tears still in his eyes as I held him with one arm. Alarms rang out through the city, echoing.

"...Fuck," I mumbled.

Izuku passed out in my arm, his broken limbs falling limply.

"..." I shook my head sadly. For the cameras.

Inside, I was chuckling. 60 points, well earned. It was funny to think of that.

I gently placed him on his back, and sat down to wait, looking over at Ochaco, who was still lying limply on the robot she had floated on to save our boy. "You okay?"

"Uuuunghhh," she said weakly.

A bunch of kids approached. "Are you all okay?" one brown haired kid with a green headband asked.

"Yeah, we're good. Just waiting for the medic," I noted a certain blonde kid standing nearby, a confident bounce to his flamboyant step. "Hey. You do okay, Laser Show?"

He seemed surprised to be addressed, but still winked. "Certainement, mine turtle ami!"

Aoyoma really was a classy as fuck dude.

"Man, that was a hell of hit," one of the other kids said in awe, staring at the remains of the destroyed giant robot. "Who would have thought a kid that timid could hit so hard?"

As the peanut gallery spoke, Iida walked over. The spectacled speedster looked like he was thinking heavily, and seemed ready to just standby.

"Oi, Ida-san!" I called out to him.

"E-eh?" he said. I waved him over. The tall (for a human teen) young man walked over, his blue hair glistening with a bit of sweat.

"How did you do?" I asked.

"Oh. I obtained 52 points," he said, though he didn't seem too proud of that. The kids around us, on the other hand, started whispering in shock. Couldn't blame them. That was pretty damn impressive.

"Nice job," I said honestly.

He gave me an odd look, then looked down at Izuku, then Ochaco before finally speaking. "You are… Bowsa-san, I think he called you?" Ida said awkwardly.

"Koopa Bowser," I bowed as best as I could while sitting. "My apologies, I forgot to introduce myself."

"Ah, I am from Somei Private Academy! My name is Tenya Ida," he bowed back, then took a deep breath as he rose. "I'm sorry," when I only blinked in confusion. "I assumed you-both of you," he glanced at Izuku. "Weren't taking this exam seriously. But I see now that you saw more to the exam than I did. I misjudged you! I'm sorry!"

Damnit Ida, stop being a lovable dork dude. I grinned at him. "Hey, you didn't misjudge me. I'm a big violent fuckhead who can't stop cussing and wants to be a hero. You nailed it on the head."

He shook his head seriously, but before he could say anything else, a diminutive older woman came over. As Recovery Girl began treating everyone's wounds (Which was super cool to see, even with the old woman cooties clearly involved in the process), he looked over at Izuku with a serious look in his eyes.

Ida really was way nicer once he started loosening the stick up his ass. Like Dek-IZUKU said. Not mean. Just earnest. And really lacking awareness of others emotions.

As for me? Well… I was happy.

Maybe I wouldn't get into Class 1-A. But I was sure I'd get into the school. And I'd done everything I could, pushing myself to the limit.

A full year of training and hard work. All over now.

Tomorrow I'd find out the results of my training. For right then, it was time to see how Pony did. Then, I'd prepare for what would follow.

Chapter 6: First Day and Quirk Assessment

A day after our exams. Pony and I got our exam results, and met up at her house to open our letters together.

"I'm so excited!" Pony said as she held her envelope tightly in one hand, Tauren and I watching carefully. We were all sitting in her living room, me on the couch, Tauren in a chair, and Pony on a pillow in front of the table in the center of the room.

"I think I did well in the practical, but I just hope my written exam doesn't bring me down!"

"You'll be fine," I reached out my hand and rubbed her head, getting a squeak of surprise from her. "Open it! I want to see your score!"

Tauren coughed. At a guess, she knew about the rescue points, but didn't want to tell us since that would ruin the surprise. I myself was wondering what my rescue point score would be. I'd deliberately avoided 'rescuing' anyone, since that felt a little shit. What's the point of 'rescuing' anyone if I did just for the score? I got 42 villain points, so I figured I'd be happy with that.

But Pony, at her core, was a hero. She was the type to help others first, and her quirk was made for it. So what would her score look like?

"Okay," Pony took a deep breath. "Here we go!"

She opened the envelope, pulling apart the fancy wax seal, and found a letter inside, as well as a metal disc with a small depression in it. "Huh?"

She placed the disc on the table, ready to open the letter. So when the metal disc created a holographic screen, she yelped in surprise.

"Ah! What-"

"Greetings, young Tsunotori!" HE appeared. Dressed in a snappy yellow suit with a blue tie, the man himself grinned that famous grin. "I am All Might! The Number One Hero!"

"Ahhhhhhhh...." Pony whispered, eyes wide and fists clenched under her eyes. "All Might knows my name…"

"What is he doing in this?" Tauren asked, though she had just a bit of the same awe in her voice as Pony.

"You may be wondering why I am sending you this message, yes? Well, I will become one of your teachers!"

"Oh, that makes sense," Pony mumbled. Then the last part struck her. "Wait! 'Will become?' T-Then-!"

"Yes," All Might said as though he had heard her. He smirked proudly. "You were incredible, young Tsunotori. First, you defeated enough villains to reach a full 28 points. An admirable score, young one! But there is more to the exam than simply defeating villains…" he spread his arms wide. "We are heroes! We do not simply score based on defeating opponents, but also for aiding others! For rescuing those who need help!"

Footage began to play of Pony. She was sending out her horns in battle, a cute look of determination on her face as she took a 3 robot down. But, it wasn't to obtain points. Behind her, I could see a group of scared kids. She was defending them.

The screen changed again. And an Arena Trap was reaching out for a kid who was desperately and fruitless trying to run. Then, a horn came flying out of nowhere, zooming around to pick him up and lift him out of the way of the hand, while another horn moved past him.

"How can a hero course ignore such selfless acts?" All Might said, his deep voice echoing as the footage changed back to him. He smiled. "I am proud, young Tsunotori," Pony began to cry her lips quivering upwards. "To know that heroes like you are joining our school. To prove that our job is more than lip service. And so! Rescue Points! Given by a panel of judges!"

A screen appeared, showing the top ten students there. And shining at number ten?

Pony Tsunotori: 28 Villain Points, 30 Rescue points.

Pony began to cry harder, as Tauren pulled her into a hug. "Waaaaaaaa!"

"I'm so proud of you!" Tauren wailed back, hugging tightly

I watched as All Might continued to speak in that bombastic way of his. "You passed with flying colors, young Tsunotori! You will make a fine hero one day. I should know! HAHAHA!" he said with a booming laugh. "Come! To your Hero Academia!"

Pony was crying happily as the hologram emitter shut off, hugging her mom. "I got in!"

"You did!" Tauren laughed happily for her.

Warmth filled my chest as I watched them. Then I stared at my own letter, so small in my clawed hands. After a moment, I carefully opened the letter. Pony and Tauren calmed, watching as I placed the emitter on the table. It came to life, shining light across my face.

------

Just After The Entrance Exams: All Might/Toshinori Yagi

"Now, Koopa Bowser," Principle Nezu, a stout animalistic looking man with the head of a mouse with circular black eyes, a large scar over the right one. He smiled as an image of the young man in question appeared. "Quirk: Dragon Turtle. Has all of the strengths and abilities of Dragon Turtles like the Lóngguī from Chinese myth.

"Now that is a big boy," Midnight, a beautiful woman with abundant spiky dark purple hair which was made up of layers of varying lengths and sky-blue eyes, pressed a red nailed finger to her bottom lip. "No wonder he did so well in the practical exam."

Indeed. Toshinori eyed the screen in front of him. The young man on the screen clearly had a mutation quirk. He was almost as tall as himself in his All Might form, but built like a spiked turtle, muscles bunching up underneath his scales. He was roaring in the image taken, claws ripping through the robots in front of him.

"Yeesh, he's as violent as that Bakugo kid," Power Loader mumbled, the orange-haired man with a yellow helmet on his head looking around. "How'd he do, anyways?"

"42 points," Nezu said firmly. "While he wasn't able to get more due to his limited mobility, he never had any issue destroying the robots he was able to face. On the contrary, he seemed to treat it as some sort of game."

"A game, huh?" Aizawa, a pale man with massive bags under his eyes, cloth hanging around his neck, and black hair, glared at the screen. "So he wasn't taking things seriously?"

Cementoss, a teacher shaped like a humanoid block of cement with black eyes, spoke up. "More likely he had never had the chance to unleash his power in such a way. We've all known the type. Students who had never been given the chance to truly push their quirks to their limits."

Aizawa grunted. "Huh. What about his written exam?"

"Middling to fair in everything, though his answers to our questions testing morality were interesting," Nezu said cheerfully.

"Interesting?" Toshinori spoke up at last, drawing the attention of those around him.

"Yes," Nezu chuckled. "But still, a pass. Now. His practical. Have a look."

The screen in front of them began displaying images of the young man in question. To Toshinori's surprise, he had been speaking to Midoriya before the exam began. Then when the exam started, he was the first to enter the arena. And immediately let loose.

It was really something. The comparison to Bakugo was well-earned. Both seemed to take a joy and relish in ripping apart their robotic opponents. The main difference was in how they did so. Bakugo used his explosions to speed across the battlefield, using his blasts as ranged and close combat attacks to destroy his opponents, almost single minded in his assault. Koopa was not as fast, but he was just as brutal, using superhuman strength and durability as a weapon in itself. While he did use his claws, he was just as likely to simply use his massive bulk to crush his opponents underneath himself.

In point of fact, his quirk was extremely versatile. Fire breath for ranged attacks, strength for close range power, and immense durability. At one point he even retreated into his shell to spin at immense speed, smashing two robots that came close. Koopa had clearly put a lot of thought into the uses of his power.

The closest student to Koopa in terms of versatility would have been young Tsuyu Asui. Both had the luck to have a quirk that allowed them multiple abilities, much like heroes such as Gang Orca or Ryukyu.

There was a moment that had All Might wince. When Koopa smashed his way through buildings near the end of the time limit, using that as a shortcut to get to the other streets. Efficient, but not exactly an approved method of getting to villains. Property damage was frowned on for good reason. Still, it was an exam. He could be taught to avoid such tactics if it did end up being an issue later.

At one point, he ended up in a street full of robots and students. While he did take down two of the robots, he then moved to a different street to allow the students there to get their own points. Toshinori smiled in approval at the selfless action.

Then, the Arena Trap appeared. Koopa stared up at it. And… he was mildly impressed.

"Man, kid's got a pair on him," Power Loader said with a smirk.

"Is it possible he already knew about it?" Ectoplasm asked. "He's a friend of Tauren's girl, isn't he?"

"If that was the case, she would have told her daughter as well," Nezu pointed out, while Toshinori desperately tried to remember who Tauren was.

The footage continued, showing Bowser running up to a pair of students who were about to be hurt by falling rubble, and pulling them out of the way. Good enough.

The last part, however, made Toshinori smile. They'd already seen it. After Midoriya's wonderful saving of young Ochaco, Bowser had tried to help Midoriya obtain points. It hadn't worked, as they didn't have enough time.

"Well," Nezu asked the group. "What do we think?"

"I think that rescue points are supposed to be based on actual courage," Aizawa said, immediately bringing down the mood. "I was willing to let giving Midoriya so many points go-" Toshinori glared at Aizawa. He hadn't let it go, he'd fought tooth and nail against it. "But Bowser wasn't rescuing people despite his fears. He was just doing the bare minimum any human would."

"So harsh…" Ectoplasm mumbled.

"It's the truth," Aizawa leaned forward. "I'm willing to allow him some points. But he wasn't testing his courage in a tough situation. Until he gets that, until he is truly pushed to his limits, he will never discover if he has what it takes to be a real hero."

"..." Nezu rubbed his chin. "I am tempted to show you footage of something our young Koopa-kun did before the exam. As it is proof he has some idea of the meaning of heroism. But-"

"We can only go off the tests right in front of us," Midnight finished for the Principle, who nodded.

"So. What will his score be?" Toshinori asked carefully.

Aizawa opened his mouth to answer…

------

Pony Tsunotori

"42 villain points, and 13 rescue points," All Might said dramatically, smiling at Bowser-kun. "Enough to pass. You are now a student of UA!"

Pony looked at her friend excitedly. He was smiling softly, eyes glimmering. "Finally," his shoulders rose, then fell, shaking his head. "Finally. I'm in."

"Congratulations, Bowser-kun!" Pony said, drawing her friend's eyes. He grinned, his fangs flashing a bit.

"Thanks, Pony. I just… after so long," he whispered the last part. He shook his head, eyes wide. "I guess after this, I'll have to reach for a new goal."

Pony felt a bit of confusion at that, before he ran a hand through his fluffy red hair, laughing. "Sorry, sorry I'm just freaking out! Dude, Pony, we made it in! We're going to get trained by pros!"

"What am I, chopped liva?" Momma said.

"No, you're awesome, but you also don't teach math," he said with a grin.

Pony giggled. Bowser-kun must have been really happy, because his tail was wagging back and forth really fast. He never seemed to notice it, but whenever he was in a good mood, his spiked tail would raise up and wave quickly back and forth. It was so cute! It made him look less like a dragon and more like a happy puppy!

"So. I guess we better get ready," Bowser-kun rubbed his chin, still not noticing his tail. "It's going to be a wild year."

Something about the way he said that… He was staring at her. "What's wrong?" Pony asked, moving to sit next to him.

"I'm just… worried, I guess. Becoming a hero is going to involve a lot of danger. I don't want you to get hurt."

She couldn't help the warm feeling that gave her. He was like a big brother that way. Always worrying about her and trying to take care of her. But... "I'll be okay. I'm going to be a hero one day. Besides," she smiled cheekily. "I got more points than you. So maybe I should worry about you getting hurt, right?"

Bowser-kun groaned dramatically. "Oh really, Miss 'Destroy-The-Neighbors-Car' is going to make fun of me now?"

Pony blushed. "I thought it was you!"

"Oh, that's fine then, it was me that you were going to impale with twelve horns. That's fine then."

"They would have bounced off of you! And mom was chasing me! And you threw a hay bale at me really hard!"

Even as they continued to argue though, Pony was still smiling.

------

First Day Of School: Koopa Bowser

"Class 1-B?" I asked Pony as we walked through the school.

"Yes!" she said happily. "I'm going to be right next to you, so we can go to lunch together!"

"Well, let me know if anyone acts like an asshole around you so that I can watch you kick their butts," I joked.

"I won't hurt them!" she said happily. "Unless I feel like it!"

"That's my girl," I said proudly. I stared down at the map in my hand again. "Fuck me, where the hell are we?"

UA was HUGE. The main building was just a big old pair of skyscrapers shaped like the letter H. For Hero.

Even knowing that from the show, actually going to school brought that fact to life more than before. Seriously, the high school was more like a full-size college campus. I heard back in my world that in later seasons, the kids would end up staying in dorms. Made sense they had enough room for that.

"Right here," Pony took my arm by the elbow, pulling me along. I let her guide me. The young blonde was a lot better with directions than me. "See, this hallway!"

We came unto the doors in question. Pony stared up at the one that said 1-B. "Waaaa! So big!"

"Guess I'm not the only giant who's been to this school," I joked to her, looking further down at Class 1-A. My class. We'd be in different rooms. We'd still see each other a lot if I had a say in it, but…

"...So. You're not going to forget me now that you're on your way to being a superfamous hero?" Pony joked.

"Me? Come on," I reached out and rubbed her head, getting a giggle. "You're way cuter than me. You'll be signing modeling deals before the end of the year, I guarantee it."

She smiled at me, then ran forward to give me a hug. "I'll see you at lunch!"

"Yeah, you will," I gave her a hug back.

Then I watched as she entered her classroom. As the door opened, I could briefly see some of the students inside, one of them a kid with a head shaped like a comic bubble of all things, another a pretty young girl with orange hair in a side ponytail. I had enough time to notice the comic bubble display the word 'Turtle!?' before Pony closed the door behind her.

Then I walked over to the Class 1-A, staring up at the doors. Finally here… Man. I took a deep breath, reaching my hand out and opening it, slipping inside.

A few students were already in there. One of whom I knew immediately had been there first. Well, two really, but this one walked up to me.

"Ah, Koopa-san!" the ever-diligent Ida walked over to me. "It seems we will be classmates now!"

"Yeah, it does," I grinned down at him, chuckling. "I'm glad. I could use someone who can run circles around me. No point in being in a hero course if you aren't getting challenged."

"What a manly answer," a redhead I recognized as Kirishima said.

Ida nodded seriously, looking up at me. "Indeed, I am honored to join you as a fellow student! I had no doubts that you would pass!"

"Same for you dude," I said casually, moving inside the class and looking around. "You strike me as the kind of guy who doesn't take anything less than 100 percent on a test."

"That would be correct!" he declared proudly.

"Man, you're huge!" Mina Ashido, the pink-skinned and haired girl with black eyes and yellow pupils chuckled as she stared up at me. "How much do you eat!?"

"As much as a rhino," I answered easily. "Nice to meet you all by the way. I'm Koopa Bowser."

The other kids introduced themselves, though I noticed Shoto Todoroki just coolly stared at a wall.

So far, there was Mina Ashido, Mezo Shoji, Eijiro Kirishima, Tenya Ida (Of course), Koji Koda, Rikido Sato, Minoru Mineta, Momo Yaoyorozu, Yuga Aoyama, and Shoto Todoroki. The last of whom hadn't introduced himself, because he was that cool of course.

As we finished introducing ourselves, a young woman entered the room, looking around when she saw that Ida and I weren't in seats and were talking to the others. I waved.

"Hi! I'm Koopa Bowser. Nice to meet you."

She blinked up at me, placing a finger to her lips. "Tsuyu Asui. You can call me Tsuyu-chan."

...Oh my god. She's adorable.

Pony was going to love her, I could tell. She looked behind me, blinked, then smiled happily.

"Huh? Something happen?" I checked to see what she was looking at.

"Your tail!" Mina said.

"What about it?" I asked, confused.

Mina stared at me, then looked at my tail before grinning. "Oh. Nothing. Just noticing it!"

Mina, Momo, and Tsuyu shared a mysterious smile. It was one I'd seen on Pony and Tauren a time or two.

"..." I decided it was just them being weird. I looked around. "So, is there a chair here big enough for me?"

"Right between us," Sato said cheerfully, pointing at a giant chair in the back of the room between himself and Koji, the large flint faced kid waving at me.

I walked over to join them, grinning. "So, the big guys all in one row then?"

"Yeah!" Sato lifted a fist, which I tapped with my own, while Koji blushed. Then I sat down, noting the others taking their own seats.

More kids filed in, introducing themselves. Kyoka Jiro. Hanta Sero. Fumikage Tokoyami. Toru Hagakure… and then, I noticed it. There were only three seats left.

Deku. Bakugo. Ochaco. And I was in the class. Including the others, that was 20 kids, same as in the show. So who was missing?

Before I could realize what must have happened, the door opened. Katsuki Bakugo walked into the room. I leaned my head on one hand, watching as he prowled past us.

"Hey, nice to meet ya!" Mina said cheerily towards him.

The chilly glare she got from him for that made her recoil a bit. The pissed off blonde came to his desk, kicking out the chair from it so that it went spinning in a circle before he flopped into it. Then, brought his left foot up onto the desk.

Ida gasped, horrified. I watched as he got up and moved in front of Bakugo. "Don't put your feet up onto the desk!"

Bakugo's glower became a proud and over-the-top smirk. "Huuuuuuh!?" he said mockingly.

"Who is that kid?" Sato asked under his breath.

"Bakugo," I whispered to him, getting a surprised look.

"Wait, the kid that got the top score in the practical exam?" he sounded shocked.

"Yeah. Strikes me as a bit of a prick," I said casually back, getting a snort from Sato, while Koji gave me a shocked look.

I was ignoring them though. Because Izuku Midoriya was at the door, staring at Ida and Bakugo with trepidation. "Oi, Midoriya!"

Bakugo and Ida stopped arguing, looking at me, then at the man of the hour, as did everyone else in the class. He jumped in surprise, then gaped as I got up, walking over to him. "Good to see you man!"

"L-Likewise!" he stuttered, a shaky smile on his face.

"Midoriya-kun," Ida came up alongside me, a serious expression on his face. "I am Teny-"

"I-I heard," the greenette said in a hurry, looking just a bit scared.

Ida blinked in surprise, then seemed to take it in stride. Instead, he slowly lowered his head and closed his eyes. "Gomen."

"Hm?" Izuku blinked, confused.

"Midoriya-kun, you realized there was something more to that practical exam, didn't you?" Ida said seriously.

"I doubt it," I said, Ida looking at me in confusion, while Izuku winced. "More likely he just went to save the day on pure instincts. Which makes it better. He didn't do the heroic thing for selfish reasons. He just did it because it was right."

Izuku blushed, rubbing his head, while Ida hit one fist into another. "You are right, Bowser-kun! That does make more sense. Well done, Midoriya-kun!"

"I, um, well," he sputtered, trying to figure out what to say.

"Ah, that curly hair!" Izuku turned to see a certain brunette there. "You're the plain-looking one!"

I winced. Damn. Ouch. Izuku, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind, as he just stared at Ochaco with a heavy blush. She cheered happily at the sight of him.

"You passed, just like Present Mic said! Of course you did! That punch was amazing!" she raised a hand and started raising and lowering it enthusiastically as Izuku continued to break down in the mere presence of a girl. "Break! Break! Break!"

Adorable. Ochaco had been one of my favorite people in the show back in my world, and seeing her in real life was leading to a dopey grin on my face.

I looked around the class, noting Bakugo glaring in our direction. I raised an eyebrow at him, which he returned with a look like he was trying to stab me in the face with his eyes.

Now. If things would continue as normal…

Ochaco continued after Izuku gave a brief explanation of how he knew she'd tried to give him some of her points. "I wonder if today's just the entrance ceremony and orientation?" she asked excitedly.

"Why don't you ask the teacher?" I pointed behind her. Izuku, Ochaco, and Ida all followed my finger.

Aizawa stared at us from his yellow sleeping bag, looking like he'd had too much caffeine, not enough sleep, and was starting to realize that would be his life from now on.

"..." the others stared at him, nonplussed. I scratched at my chin thoughtfully. He slowly blinked those dead fish eyes.

"Hm…" he mumbled. "Go somewhere else if you want to play at being friends. This is the hero course."

Wait, seriously? Even me pointing him out hadn't stopped his speech? Was this a whole 'in spite of a nail' type thing, or was Aizawa just always going to do this?

He rose up, slowly unzipping the sleeping bag around him to reveal his gray bandages and black outfit. "Okay, it took you eight seconds before you were quiet. Time is limited. You kids are not rational enough."

He strode into the room, and I slowly pulled at Izuku and Ochaco's shirts to give him some room. "I'm your homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa. Nice to meet you."

Yeah, that last part sounded like an absolute lie.

"It's kind of sudden, but," he reached into a bag and pulled out a gym uniform. "Put this on and go out to the field."

The kids were confused. Me? I had a smile on my face like it was Christmas morning.

Awesome. Time for the Quirk Assessment Test.

------

It was when we got to the field that I finally realized who was missing from the class.

Ojiro. The kid with a tail that could crush concrete.

The second I realized that, I had to hold in my reaction. I liked that kid. But beyond that, well. He was someone who was trying to be a hero. And I'd taken his place…

I pushed the thought down. Maybe he was still in school, in Class 1-B or the General Education? I'd hunt him down later. And I'd… shit. It would be impossible to apologize. 'Oh, I'm sorry my existence pushed you out of a class you were supposed to be in.'

Damnit, why couldn't Mineta be the one who got kicked out?

That thought was brushed aside as we all gathered in the field, wearing our gym uniforms.

"How do you even put that on?" Jiro, the young girl with earphone jacks for earlobes, asked me as we waited outside, looking at me in a gym uniform. "With a shell and everything?"

"Well, my shell does have just enough room for me to still wear a shirt," I showed her where the shirt sort of slipped into my shell. "I have to have them custom made though, since part of my spine is fused to my shell."

"Oh, interesting," she hummed quietly. "Tsuyu, Koji, do you guys ever have to deal with anything like that?"

My fellow mutation quirk holders shook their heads. "Not really, kero," Tsuyu said. "I did have to deal with some stuff when I was little. I didn't have control of my tongue as much, so my mom would need to unwrap it from around me when I woke up some days."

Koji patted me gently on the back, giving me a sympathetic smile that I returned.

Before we could continue discussing that sort of thing more, Aizawa started talking, and all of us looked up to pay attention to him. Though I knew what he was going to say already.

"Time for your Quirk Assessment Test," he half-mumbled.

"Quirk Assessment Test?" a lot of the class said in unison.

I basically tuned out for the rest. It would all be stuff I'd heard before. Instead I started thinking to myself.

Before I'd started living here, I'd only barely conceived of the idea of Class 1-B back in my world. But now that I was here… Huh.

Aizawa was about to say something else when I cut him off. "Aizawa-sensei. What about Class 1-B? Will they be doing something like this?"

He gave me a look like I'd something extremely stupid. "Does it matter? Focus on yourself first. What that class does is their business."

I glared at him for that. That was clearly not what I was asking. Fine. I'd talk to Pony later.

Things went predictably after that. Bakugo did his throw of death, Aizawa warned everyone they would be expelled if they got last place, panic. I was a little worried. Not for myself, but for Dek-IZUKU dammit. I needed to stop calling him that mentally. Anyways, he was in real danger.

After all. Aizawa ABSOLUTELY would expel him if he felt like he wasn't up to the challenge. And I didn't have a guarantee that Izuku was going to come to the same conclusion on his powers as he had last time. But should I even interfere? There's a difference between backing someone up and babying them after all.

"Okay. Start with the 50 meter dash," Aizawa told everyone. He gestured to the section of the field in question. I stroked my chin as we all walked over to it.

"Nervous?" Tsuyu asked me curiously as she saw how I was acting. At some point, Jiro, Tsuyu, Sato, and I had ended up half-grouped together as we walked.

"Yeah, but not for myself so much," I admitted.

"Seriously dude?" Sato asked me, the big sugar hero chuckling. "I wish I had your confidence. I'm trying to plan for what event I need to use my powers for."

"Do you really think he'll expel one of us?" Tsuyu asked him.

"No way, they wouldn't allow something like that, right?" Jiro asked nervously.

"Well, we aren't here to fuck around," I told them, ignoring the small looks of shock I got for my language. "We're here to be heroes. So. Lets go kick some ass," I told them. Then, I saw Izuku. The kid looked like he was panicking. I sighed. "One sec."

I walked away from them, moving to stand with the small green teen. "Oi."

"Hm?" the sweaty teen glanced up at me. "B-Bowsa-kun!"

"Midoriya," I mumbled, coming to a stop along with the rest of the class. "You okay?"

"O-Of course!" he chuckled nervously. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know, why would the kid who has been working out on a beach every day for the last year be worried about a FITNESS exam?" I asked him pointedly. "Kid, I've seen you pull fridges across sand, why do you look nervous?"

He winced. "Oh. Well… I'm just worried about something else." He shut down, staring straight ahead.

"...Is it that quirk of yours?" I asked, as though I didn't already know. He glanced at me. "Yeah, I saw it break your arm and legs. I can relate."

"You can?" he looked up at me, surprised.

"Yeah, I didn't really get used to my quirk until recently," I chuckled. "I mean, technically my body has always been like this," well, this version of it at least. "But I'm still getting used to controlling it. I have this move I'm working on, my shell spin. It still sends me careening all over the place when I'm not careful. What about yours?"

"Mine…" Izuku looked down at his hands thoughtfully.

"...You know, we are students in a school," I pointed out carefully, trying to pick my words right. "We're all trying to be heroes. And part of that is helping each other learn, right?"

He frowned thoughtfully. Then, while I was about to speak, he suddenly started… I don't know what to call it. High-speed mumbling, but somehow SO much faster than I could have expected. "That's right as fellow students we should be helping each other, I suppose that would make sense,muchlikeinanormalschoolsomethinglikestudygroupsmaybeagoodideaaslongasthey…"

"Uh, is he okay?" Jiro asked, walking over, joined by Kamanari.

"Maaaybe," I jostled Midoriya, who blinked. "Hey, you alright dude? You kind of went off on a tangent."

"Ah, I'm sorry!" he winced, but seemed calmer as well, somehow. He looked over at Jiro and Kamanari, who were kind of staring at him nonplussed.

"You do that a lot?" I asked. "Go into little monologues where you try and figure things out at high speed?"

"I don't think I do," he said thoughtfully. "That might be the first time."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bakugo give him the most epic deadpan stares I could imagine.

"Huh… Oh, hey, Jiro, Kaminari," I turned to look over at the lightning user. "You have trouble controlling your quirks? Midoriya and I are kinda trying to figure out how he can manage his. You know, so that he doesn't knock himself out of commission every time he uses it and ends up needing help from others to survive."

Blunt as that was, Izuku seemed to take that to heart, wincing.

"Me?" Jiro pointed at herself thoughtfully. "Um, not nowadays," she took hold of one of her earphone jacks. "I can control my quirk pretty well now. I can even use them like a whip."

"Oh, that's cool," Izuku mumbled. "How about you, Kaminari-san?"

"Hehehe," he rubbed the back of his head. "Not really. I mean, my quirk is awesome! But uh," he raised a hand, displaying lightning shining around it. "Whenever I let loose, it kinda explodes everywhere? I'm still working to control it."

Izuku stared at his hand. I spoke, hoping I could get him there. In the first season, Izuku eventually learned to control his power by using it in just his fingers. Maybe one day he could go beyond that, but my goal was to make sure that he would figure out the ability that had saved him from expulsion the first time.

"Wait, so it just explodes outwards? You can't focus it in one place, like your arms or finger? Hell, toes even?" I asked Kaminari.

"Yeah, basically," he sighed. "I mean, I can kind of let it buzz over my skin, but when I try to actually do anything, it just sort of blows up everywhere."

Izuku pressed a finger to his lips, thinking. Okay. Hopefully, that sent him down the right path. I doubted it would have any really meaningful effect, but someone once told me that the best way to get someone to do something is to trick them into thinking it's their idea. So it was worth a shot.

But while Izuku was doing that, Kaminari's problem drew my attention.

"Wait, then are there side-effects?" I asked him.

"Uh, kinda?" Kaminari mumbled. "When I use enough, my brain shuts down for an hour. I wish I could aim it away from my brain-"

"Why not use a lightning rod?" we looked over at Izuku. He quivered under the attention but pushed on. "Something to direct your lightning away from yourself?"

Kaminari blinked slowly in thought at that.

"Oy, Koopa," Aizawa called, drawing my attention. When I looked, he pointed a thumb at the track. "You're up with Uraraka."

"Ah, yes sensei," I turned to the kids. "Talk it out, I'll be right back." I ran over to the line, seeing Ochaco tapping her shoes with her hands, a pink glow briefly surrounding them. "Hey. Ready to roll?"

"Yeah!" she pumped her fists excitedly, lowering to the ground with a determined look on her face. I moved next to her, overshadowing her like a mountain. A machine at the side of the track spoke in a high-pitched voice.

"On your mark. Get set…" it released a sound like a gunshot. And I started running.

Ochaco was very quick to get ahead of me, creating a wide gap. I didn't let it bother me, just pushing myself to pump my arms and legs. I knew from long practice that I took a bit to get to my top speed. True to form, I managed to just barely overtake Ochaco at 7.10 seconds to her 7.15.

"Woo, better than I was in junior high!" Ochaco said proudly.

"Nice job!" I raised my hand for a high five, which she slapped.

We went back to the group and I grinned at Ida. "Didn't get close to your score, but I did my best."

"An admirable effort," he said seriously. "I only hope to continue doing my best as well!"

Heh! He really was a hardworking sort. I could admire the type.

Aoyoma and Mina were next. She took her shoes off, while Aoyoma simply turned around. She skated across the ground, using her acid to slide over it, while Aoyoma blasted himself across the ground. That was actually pretty smart on both their parts.

"Mina, that was awesome," I said to her as she came back. "It's too bad you have to take your shoes off first. Though I guess you could always just melt them off."

"No way, that would cost so much money," she said with a grin. "Oh, but I have this idea for shoes with holes in them I can spray my acid out of!"

Before we could talk further, Deku and Bakugo went up next… Oh goddamnit, I called him Deku again. I sighed internally but continued to watch.

"Koopa-kun," Ida asked, drawing my attention. "I saw you speaking with Midoriya earlier. Were you attempting to advise him?"

"Er…" I rubbed the back of my head, claws running through red hair. "Kind of. He's having trouble with his quirk, I think, so we were brainstorming-"

The sound of a starting gun went off. Bakugo ran for it, hands raised and explosions propelling him forward-

BOOM!

A green blur blasted off, zooming forward in a scream of noise. Bakugo crossed the finish line. And just a second after him, a green head of hair rolled over it, stopping with a gasp of pain.

"Midoriya-kun!" Ida called, shocked, while I gaped at the scene before.

What. What? What the hell just happened!?

"Guak, cough!" Izuku, spitting out dirt, shakily rose to his feet.

"4.16 seconds!" the machine announced.

Bakugo stared. I stared. The pair of us just watched as Izuku winced in pain, looking down at his feet. The toe of his right shoe. It had been blown apart. And his big toe was… bruising purple.

"B-Bowser-kun!" Izuku looked up at me, a wild and insane look of pained determination in his eyes. "I think I found out something that works!"

This kid… this kid!

"You insane badass!" I said without thinking.

"DEKU!" Bakugo spun around, focusing on Izuku, striding towards him angrily. "Tell me what's going on you bastard!"

Oh, fuck!

I moved forward while Bakugo reached out for Izuku. Damnit, he was way closer than me! I thought I'd need to step in later, not in the middle of the first fucking test-!

And dozens of long bandages wrapped around Bakugo's face, chest, and arms, the explosions he'd been letting off from his palms stopping.

"W-What the-!?" Bakugo struggled, trying to get to Izuku, but unable to move. He snarled like a raging tiger. "Why can't I explode!?"

"I erased your quirk," that dry voice drew Bakugo and a shocked Izuku's attention.

"...Really?" Aizawa said dryly, glaring at Bakugo. "Attacking another student in the middle of class? What a waste of time."

"Dude, is that really the issue here?" I said, moving over to Izuku. "You okay-"

"Those goggles," Izuku mumbled. "And that quirk!"

"Oh, I'm being ignored," I said, though I was mostly joking.

"You can erase other people's Quirks with yours with a single look! The Erasure Hero: Eraserhead!"

As the other students stared, gossiping about that, I bumped Izuku's shoulder. "Oy, you okay? You literally broke a toe."

"Ah?" he glanced at me, then grimaced in pain. "Y-Yeah! I'm okay!"

"Good," I chuckled. "At least you'd still be able to fight if you had to," I looked over at Aizawa. "Do we continue?"

"If we had to stop every time a student broke a digit, the hero course would never get anything done," Aizawa said bluntly, removing his bandages from around Bakugo, who was still glaring at Izuku.

"The PTA must love you," I noted dryly.

"The trick is bringing chocolate chip cookies and coffee to meetings."

I stared at him, but he didn't flinch. Wait, was he serious?

"Get back in line," he gestured.

Izuku and I walked over to the others. When Bakugo glared at him, I moved in the way. He turned that gaze on to me. It was kinda… insane. Eyes quivering, teeth grit, a look that was way more over the top than it should have been.

He looked like one of my ex-girlfriends at her angriest.

"Who the hell are you, extra?" he said with a voice like he'd been gargling sandpaper.

I thought about how to answer that. Man. The balls on this kid, to call a 7-foot tall spiked dragon turtle an extra. I continued walking as I mused on that. It was kind of impressive, but then, Bakugo was the kind of guy to dismiss anyone who hadn't gained his respect. Which was kind of admirable. I mean, you shouldn't treat people like shit, but I kind of thought some people were too respectful to those who didn't deserve it. I guess that's part of a bigger debate though, but it's all about balance-

"Hey, I'm talking to you!!!" Bakugo roared, distracting me from my thoughts.

He had been? I glanced at him, pursing my lips.

"Hmm? You say something?"

I might as well have slapped him with a fish. I think it had been a long time since anyone had simply ignored him. Funny that.

I joined the kids, turning to watch, while Bakugo fumed his way to the other side of the group and Ochaco ran over to Izuku, who began to blush heavily when she asked him if he was okay.

I looked over at the other kids and-

Momo was turned away from everyone, a bicycle appearing in front of her as she held her uniform open. Mineta hadn't noticed, thank god, because she soon had a bike in front of her and had closed up again.

I quickly turned away, but that was kinda awkward.

------

Once done, the next test was grip strength. I took a look at the machine in my hand and looked over at Sato next to me. "I guess this is where we put our all into it?" I asked my fellow strongman.

"Yep!" he said with a smile. "This and the ball throw are going to be my best events."

"What about the long-distance jump?" I asked while lifting the handheld device in my hand and getting ready to squeeze. "I think I'm going to suck at it since I'm huge, but you've got a lot of power to put into it. I can jump pretty high, almost double my height, but I ain't so good at putting that into forward momentum yet." Not until I mastered the shell spin at least.

"Oh, right," he mumbled, putting some candy into his mouth before beginning to squeeze down on the grip machine. I did the same.

Two pop sounds filled the air, then a creaking and the grip strength machine in my hand twisted into scrap in my grip with a squeal.

"..." I stared at the machine. Then I looked towards Aizawa. He stared back at me. Then he placed a hand to his head, sighing as he dragged his hand along his face.

"Another one," he grumbled before writing something down on his clipboard.

"Waaaaa," Kirishima said nearby, my fellow redhead gaping at the remains. "That is so manly!"

"More like insane!" Kaminari mumbled.

"And inconvenient as fuck," I mumbled. "Now I have no idea what my score is."

"Wait, that's your first thought?" Mina asked, the pinkette giggling when I nodded seriously. "I think it'll be okay."

"It is impressive," Shoji said, the masked boy wandering over with his own grip tester. A score of 540.0kg shone from it. "I didn't break mine, and I'm using three arms to do it."

I looked over at Sato. He was gaping at my hand, still squeezing down on his own grip tester. I looked over at it. 309.7 kilograms.

"Damn dude, you two must have a right hook like a Greek god," I told Shoji and Sato.

"I do try," Shoji said humbly.

"Guess we know who the studs in class are!" Mina said jokingly, winking at us.

Sato didn't seem to focus on that though.

"Ehn," he grunted, sounding way more caveman-like, sweat beading on his forehead

I gave him a look as he kept squeezing down with everything he had. Damn. He really seemed to lose a massive amount of brain cells even with a small dose of sugar. That side effect of his quirk really sucked. There had to be something that could be done for it. I needed to look into treatments for that. Maybe he could inject himself with something at the same time he ate the sugar to help counteract the negative effects without limiting his strength?

Off to the side, I noticed that Momo was also pushing her grip tester to the limits by… using a clamp I assumed she made on the spot.

"Man, talk about busted quirks," I said.

"Hm?" she looked over at me, then held a hand to her cheek in worry. "Is this not okay?"

"Of course it is," I said without hesitation. "I'm just commenting on how dope your quirk is."

"D-Dope!?" she said, looking at me in shock.

"Cool, awesome," I added.

"O-Oh!" she sighed. "I see."

"Besides, if we aren't pushing our quirks to the limit for this test, then what's the point? If you ain't 'cheating' you ain't trying," I said, making air quotes with my claws.

"Oh, that's a good one," Mina said, rubbing her chin. "I'm stealing that."

"I'm not sure that is the correct attitude to have," Momo said weakly.

------

The next test was the long-distance jump. I went for it, jumping as far as I could, but only landed in the sand.

Izuku broke another toe leaping over the whole thing though, landing hard but still having a wild look of glee on his face. Which was way better than he did in the anime, but it was also worrying. You can't just go for broken body parts as your main method of battle, I don't care how hardcore you are.

Shoto was interesting. He literally launched himself across on an ice pillar, which was impressive.

After that of course, there were the repeated side jumps. I fell on my ass. Hey, can't win them all. I was more agile than anyone would expect, but I had my limits. I did what I could though, the ground shaking with my jumps.

At least I didn't look super ridiculous like Mineta who bounced between his sticky balls like a pinball. Then again, he did get a great score, so props to the little perv for creative use of his powers. He'd done something similar to leap over the long-distance jump.

Then, to my joy, finally came the ball throw. I waited with the others, clenching and unclenching my fists.

"Koopa. You're up," Aizawa called.

I ran up to the circle, taking the ball in question into my palm. Damn. It was tiny. I bounced it up and down a couple of times. Then, with a grunt, I reared back, then launched it!

But, the damn thing was so small that I misjudged my throw. Instead of flying into the horizon, like I planned, it went zooming down the pitch. I watched as it smashed into the ground far down the field, driving into the dirt before coming to a stop.

"...Well. You made it 232 meters. 3 of which were into the ground," Aizawa said dryly.

"I should get points for that," I argued.

"You'd lose them for missing," he said without skipping a beat. "Back to the group."

Grumbling, I walked back to join the others. I joined Shoji and Sato. "Guess you two beat me," I told them.

"Nah, I think the fact the ground stopped you makes yours better," Sato said casually, his brain back to full function.

"Technically, it does not," Shoji pointed out. "As impressive as it was."

"Yep," I patted Sato on the back. "Our rivalry as the Class 1-A beefcakes continues."

"We have a rivalry?" Sato asked, looking over at an amused Shoji.

"For the muscle part, ya," I said casually. "I think Kirishima and I are durability rivals."

"Hey, I'm down!" Kirishima raised a hand that he hardened up. I raised my own fist and we bumped them, a sound like stones smashing together filling the air.

Everything else went as normal, with Ochaco's infinite score and Izuku's breaking a finger to break Bakugo's record by point 1 meters. Unlike in canon though, Bakugo's reaction was just an insanely pissed-off glare, rather than his earlier rage. Guess he'd spent it early.

We continued from there.

I didn't do anything super impressive with the distance run, seated toe-touch, and sit-ups.

In fact, the last two were kinda hard due to my body type getting in the way.

"This is bullshit!" I yelled while I fruitlessly tried to touch my toes, claws stretching out. "And totally unfair for those of us with weird body types."

"Take it up with the school board," Aizawa said, marking my failure.

Sit-ups had a similar problem.

"Okay, your turn!" Kirishima said, my partner for that test. I gave him a look as I moved into position.

"Um… You think you got this?" I asked carefully.

He grinned, his sharklike teeth flashing. "Yeah, I got your back! Go for it!"

Well. If he was sure.

I slowly leaned back tensing my muscles and working hard not to end up on my back and get stuck.

I will not be a stereotype!

"Ah!" Kirishima yelled, holding tight as he started to realize just how much weight he was counterbalancing. "How much do you weigh!?"

"Like, two tons?" I said hesitantly.

"...Hey, Sato, Shoji, can you guys help!?" Kirishima called out. "Oh, and maybe Mineta should use his balls to attach you to the ground."

Wow, way to make me feel fat.

I felt better for the long-distance run. At least I had crazy endurance-based off the fact I was able to run at top speed for longer on the mini-marathon than the rest of them… except for Momo who had made herself an electric scooter for the challenge. Izuku, on the other hand, barely made any progress. Breaking two toes made running, seated toe touches, and sit-ups a BITCH to do.

At the end though, the score was up on the board. I looked up at it, reading the score. It went as follows.

Momo Yaoyorozu 1st

Shoto Todoroki 2nd

Katsuki Bakugo 3rd

Tenya Ida 4th

Koopa Bowser 5th

Fumikage Tokoyami 6th

Mezo Shoji 7th

Eijiro Kirishima 8th

Mina Ashido 9th

Ochaco Uraraka 10th

Koji Koda 11th

Rikido Sato 12th

Tsuyu Asui 13th

Yuga Aoyama 14th

Hanta Sero 15th

Denki Kaminari 16th

Kyoka Jiro 17th

Izuku Midoriya 18th

Toru Hagakure 19th

Minoru Mineta 20th

I looked over at Mineta. His face was pale and shaking. He looked like he was going to vomit.

Izuku, on the other hand, looked as though he was going to cry. Scratch that, he was crying. He clenched his fist, a single broken finger wrapped with a bandage resting there as he smiled at the results.

Meanwhile, I was kinda shocked. Like, my plan had just been to make sure that Izuku would be able to show some level of potential. And instead, he jumped up two levels. Hell, if it wasn't for the pain holding him back, he might have got more.

Well. Task failed successfully I guess?

"Oh, by the way, I lied about the expulsion," Aizawa lied.

"..." the class stared at him. He showed his teeth in something way too mean to be a smile.

"It was a rational deception to draw out the upper limits of your quirks."

"What the hell!?" Mineta screamed, relief mixing with rage. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Well of course that was a lie," Momo said, a hand on her hip as she gave the others a skeptical look. "It should've been obvious if you just thought it through."

Ah, you sweet summer child. You really do think the best of people.

Some of the others seemed to take her and Aizawa at their word though. I'd wait till he left.

"With that, we're done," Aizawa said with the air of a man who had enough of our bullshit. "There are handouts with the curriculum and such in the classroom, so when you get back, look over them."

Izuku let out a sigh of relief. "Midoriya," Aizawa handed him a piece of paper. "Have the old lady fix you in the nurse's office. Tomorrow will be packed with more rigorous tests. Prepare yourself."

And with that, he was gone. I waited a bit longer, watching the kids begin to walk away.

"He wasn't lying."

When I said that, Momo blinked, looking over at me. "What?"

"Aizawa-sensei would have expelled last place immediately if they didn't have any potential."

Everyone froze, staring at me. Momo shook her head, long black hair swaying, a look of disbelief on her face. "That's impossible, he can't just expel us without cause."

"The cause would have been life or death," I didn't take pleasure in the looks everyone was giving me. "Aizawa once expelled an entire class."

The looks I got. The horror on the faces of those like Mineta, Izuku, and Ochaco. Momo looked at me as though I was ruining her whole world.

"And he would have been right to do it."

"What!?" Kirishima stepped forward, a look of anger on his face. "What are you saying?"

"That we aren't trying to become office workers," I told him seriously. "We aren't going to become mechanics, fast food employees, or tech support. We're trying to become superheroes."

"Today, the risk was expulsion. But one day, we'll be taking the actual lives of people into our hands. Failing to jump across a gap might end in a fall to our deaths. Not throwing a bomb far enough away might cause others to explode. If we didn't show potential. If we just couldn't step in any possible way. We were done."

I looked over them. Bakugo smirked. Momo's betrayed look became something thoughtful, while Shoto and Izuku had similar looks of introspection.

Ida spoke up in a serious tone. "Of course, the life of a hero is full of challenges and if we were not up to the task… it would only be right," the speedster stroked his chin. "That makes sense. But then, why did he say he was lying?"

"Because some of us, I won't say who, looked like they were going to shit their pants," I said with a grin.

I got a classwide look of disgust at that.

"How unfabulous," Aoyoma said with a sad sigh and shake of his head.

"That's hero life, baby," I joked. "But hey. Be proud guys. We show potential. That means, on some level that grumpy teacher thinks we have a shot. He's willing to take us on. Let's try to live up to that."

A few of the group seemed to take heart in that.

"You always do big speeches like this?" Jiro joked, swinging her earphone jack around. "That'll be annoying if you keep doing it. Trying to become a politician one day?"

"I was called a King in my first life," I said wisely, following the class as we finally turned and walked away.

Quirk Apprehension Test. Complete.