Hello! I hope y'all enjoy this chapter and the song above! I have a sneaking suspicion that the next chapters I write will be sad ones...
Time flew by and before Class 1-A could realise it, the Provisional Licence Exams. Excited and nervous the class waiting by the bus for Mr. Aizawa; Shinsou was with the class too as he had finally joined the class after completing his catch-up training with Aizawa's mentorship and showed by the wore capture gear wrapped around his neck.
Chopping wildly, Tenya ordered robotically –
"Everyone! We must wait here for Mr. Aizawa's arrival before we can enter the bus!"
Then came Mr. Aizawa, looking as dead as all ways, his lips parted –
"Right. Today you will all be participating in the Provisional License Exams. Usually only Second Years do the Exam, however with recent events, Nezu saw fit to let you all attempt to get your license. Some may fail, some may pass. All I ask is that you go Plus Ultra."
When he finished, he flopped forward, and crawled into the bus, the class following behind talking quietly; the bus driver looked at them as if they were insane, and to be honest they're not far off the mark. Screeching, the brakes lifted, and the bus drove off, the rowdy teenagers getting more and more excited for what is about to come. Izuku watched with a fond smile, his family was excited for today, he nodded encouragingly at Shinsou, who nodded back, and walked over to sit by Shouto's side, holding his hand for support for both parties.
A voice comes from the front;
"Okay. We're here, get off."
Blinking, Izuku realises that they were at a massive stadium with thousands of other people walking into the place donned in their costumes. Izuku looks to his family again, seeing them become jittery and nervous all of a sudden at the sheer volume of the people and decides to raise their spirits;
"Guys!" The class look at Izuku, "I know that you might be nervous, but think, we have trained hard for this; we've gone through hell and back, we can do this, we will do this! PLUS ULTRA!" Confident, Izuku finishes, and the other raise their fists, crying our –
"PLUS!!"
"ULTRA!" An unknown voice ends the chant, making the class jump in fright.
Marching up to them was a bulky man clad in a sailor's outfit with his right fist covered in a gauntlet. Izuku sees Shouta's eyes narrow and Shouto's eyes widen, and Izuku thinks;
'Both of them know this guy...'
The sailor walks over and says enthusiastically –
"I've always wanted to join in on that chant!" He looks over the class, "It's nice to see U.A students!"
Behind him, a girl comes out, and tells him;
"Inasa! We need to go, like now, fam." Said boy throws a wave and leaves. As they leave, another person comes to the class, this one wearing a friendly smile, offering a hand saying;
"It's so good to meet the famous Class 1-A of U.A!"
Instinctually, Izuku lunges forward, meeting the hand, plastering a fake smile of his own –
"It is nice to meet you to..." Getting the hint, the boy answers.
"Shindo Yo."
Leaning to the boy's ear, Izuku whispers threateningly in his ear.
"You may fool my classmates, but you cannot fool me. Your smile doesn't reach your eyes. You better watch your back."
Going back, he sees Aizawa scowl as a woman with an orange bandanna comes over;
"Eraserhead! Marry Me!"
Izuku smiles at Shouta, knowing how much Ms. Joke gets on his nerves and scoots away to let the man deal with her himself. The class looks on in confusion before Izuku fills them in;
"That is Ms. Joke, she used to have an office close to Eraserheads, sometimes worked together."
Pushing Ms. Joke away, Mr. Aizawa turns to his class;
"Righty. Be prepared for anything. Good luck."
Breathing in, Izuku walks into the stadium with his class following behind him as they enter a large room with a stage at the front. Five minutes pass and the lights begin to dim as a man who looked as tired as Mr. Aizawa stepped out;
"I don't know why I'm here... Oh... Right. Well then, welcome to the Provisional Licence Exams. Due to the rise in villain activity instead of the majority going through, only 100 examinees can go through now. The first test is to take down people with markers. Lit up three markers and you're through. First 100 people to complete this goes to the next round." The man explains dully.
With that, everyone gets into groups to prepare and the spectators leave to the stands to watch. Izuku scans his family; all of them had nervous determination written on their faces and looks to Yaomomo, giving her, a nod and she steps into the centre –
"Everyone, I think we should come up with a plan to deal with this. I propose we stick together to make sure all of us are covered." Shouto perks up;
"If I am in a group, I run the risk of injuring them with by powers. I think I should go alone." Izuku adds –
"We should also be careful; the other participants know our quirks due to the Sports Festival, but don't worry, we have come a long way since then and they won't be able to survive!" the class nodded and a horn sounds off, the room walls around them falling as the ground lifts up into the large arena around them.
Environment wise, it was mostly rough, mountainous terrain where they were, but there were different sectors much like the USJ. Getting into a defensive formation, the class walked steadily through the area until hundreds of people hopped out from behind the terrain and whizzed the balls at the class. Swiftly, the class acted, Yaomomo created shields to protect and the powerhouses knocked back the balls as the others played recon and defence. Izuku saw the boy from before – Shindo – vibrate rapidly, his arms blurred, and he was about to punch the ground but Izuku was faster; he used a new ultimate move;
"VIRIDIAN DAWN: ECLIPSE!"
Everything stopped; all light was absorbed by Viridian Dawn, leaving white outlines of everything as time halted. It was a blend of Sixth's Star Platinum's special ability and Izuku's power over fire.
The Eclipse of the Sun.
Using Dawn's eyes, Izuku could see through the darkness, and hopped over the Shindo using One for All, knocking him out with a quick strike to the pressure point, and moved back to his former position.
"The Light returns."
On the cliff, Shindo fell knocked out, and the rest of the attackers looked to their trump card only to see him knocked out, Izuku saw the hesitation and yelled;
"Let's go!"
Firing up his telekinesis, Izuku picked up a dozen balls and made them circle him as he looked for targets; there, throwing his hand out, three of the balls followed the direction and hit their marks, and the announcement was made;
"Izuku Midoriya has passed."
Leaving the pitch, Izuku goes to the lounge where he sees the big guy from before drinking, and remembers what the boy did; He wiped out over 200 people, he must be extremely powerful...
As time ticked on, Izuku watched as more people came through the door, most of the class made it except from Shouto who had left before the ambush. Tapping his foot, Izuku nervously waited for his boyfriend and when he caught sight of red and white hair split down the middle, he walked over to see a tired Shouto and gave the boy a hug and a kiss on the cheek. All of Class 1-A had completed the first half...
On the stands, Shouta smirked at Ms. Joke, he knew that his class would make it; they dominated the U.A Ambush, and Shouta's smirk widened when her mouth fell open at her best student being knocked out by an unknown force. He made it through though, much to Shouta's disappointment. However, he was proud of the class; all of them had made it without too much hassle, he knew that if Shindo separated them it would have been harder but him being knocked out allowed them to work as a team to win. His smirk weakened when he realised the next part was a rescue mission; he knew his class had more combat-based lessons rather than rescue, but he knows they can do it...
Izuku listens carefully. The tired man from before steps up onto the stage.
"All right now. 100 people have passed the first half and have moved onto the second. In this trail you will rescue people, who are volunteers, in a simulation modelled after the Kamino Ward Incident. You will have 30 minutes to rescue the volunteers and they will be marking your efforts. That's all." The man slumped back onto the podium and pressed a button, causing the floor to rise once again to reveal a wide city scape with rocky terrain around; cries rang out as the alarms signalled for the exam to begin.
Izuku left right away. He knew that Yaomomo can take charge of the situation with Tenya, both can help in their own way. Searching in the city, Izuku tugs on the soundwaves with his telekinesis to draw them to him to allow him to find people faster. He got a hit, 15 people in his area, so he got to work finding the closest to him; there wondering the streets was a young boy, crying as he carried a teddy. Calmly, Izuku walked over to the boy, giving him a smile, saying –
"Hey there... Are you hurt?" He prodded gently, the boy looked at him teary eyed, and said –
"No... But I don't know where my parents are..." Izuku placed a gentle hand on the boy's shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile;
"That's okay! I'll find your parents for you!"
"You will?!" The boy asked excitedly.
"I will!" Izuku reaffirmed.
Guiding the boy, Izuku took him to a station just outside where the wounded were being kept and told the boy to stay here as he finds his parents and if he has a problem, ask the heroes around him.
Time was running out, and Izuku had rescued most of the people in his zone; he only had one left and they were in a building about to collapse. Activating his quirk, he absorbed the fire and held the building up with his telekinesis as he sent in Dawn to get them out of there. Izuku saw Dawn come out carrying a lady bridal style, a deep gnash of her thigh, and Izuku took out some bandages and wrapped it carefully, saying to her –
"Don't worry, I've got you! You don't have anything to fear!"
His reassurance made her feel better as he carried her back, the boy he rescued first noticed the lady and hugged her, shouting;
"Mama!"
It was sweet, but before he could celebrate, he felt the ground vibrate and a loud explosion rang out. Across the stadium, the number 10 hero Gang Orca made his entrance, with his sidekicks. Villains had entered.
Izuku looked to see that there were many focusing on the evacuations, but not many trying to take out the villains; he knew that if they weren't dealt with, they would be overrun fast.
Shrugging of his main coat, it left Izuku with only a form fitted under shirt without sleeves and fingerless gloves. He summoned Amaterasu – It was in the stands – and activated Ethereal Flames, feeling the familiar gold and green lightning arch of him as flames flickered of him and the ghostly form of Viridian Dawn stood proud behind him.
Hopping into battle, he twirled around like a dancing hitting the sidekicks with Amaterasu as Dawn provided defence whilst punching of fireballs at some people out of his range. Izuku kicked another sidekick, spinning Amaterasu to block a pellet of cement as he threw a disc of fire at another, he picked up some large rocks from the ground and threw them at the gathering sidekicks to split them up.
As he crushed the sidekicks beneath him, Izuku moved towards the main battle were Shouto, the big guy – Inasa – and Shindo were all fighting Gang Orca. It was going sideways, apparently, as neither Shouto or Inasa could worked together and Shindo was taken out by Orca, leaving him defenceless. Izuku watched as Shouto fired a blast of fire at Orca, but Inasa had used his wind, sending an inferno out; Izuku reacted fast, leaping over to the defenceless Shindo and absorbed the flames heading towards him, and got him away from the battle. A sonic blast paralysed the arguing boys but Izuku shouted at them;
"What are you two doing?! You almost injured Shindo! Pull yourselves together!"
Watching, Izuku saw them mix their powers together to form a huge tornado of fire, trapping Orca and weakening him severely; the heat caused his skin to dry up, but he had prepared and pulled out a bottle of water to hydrate himself. Back to fighting shape, he fired a sonic blast at the boys and knocked them back and disabling them and their powers. Moving for the finisher, Orca didn't notice Izuku charging up a kick until a moment too late as a huge force hit him on the side of his head, and repeated blows followed directly into his undefended chest regions; sending the hero flying back, wounded, and as he hit the ground a jet of fire much hotter than the tornado hit him, causing the water to evaporate and dry him out.
As he regained his bearings, Orca felt a warm metal blade on his neck as a voice enters his head;
"Gang Orca, you are being detained by Nova Blaze, do not resist."
From behind, his hands were cuffed; signalling he had been defeated. Orca looked up to see Izuku with Viridian Dawn by his side, Amaterasu against the hero's neck and lightning arching of his figure along with fire. Sirens blared as a voice came through the intercom –
"And that is the end. Please make your way to the entrance as we finish your scores."
Making his way over to Shouto, Izuku held his hand out to help the boy then lifted him up over his shoulders, carrying him and asked curiously;
"Sho, why did you and the tall boy start arguing; you're not one for fighting with others..." Izuku couldn't see Shouto's eyes well, but he got a glimpse and saw a deep sadness in them. Shouto sighed;
"He... He compared me to Endeavour. He told me that my eyes are the same as his..." In his mind, Izuku was planning on visiting the boy to teach him a lesson with flames and broken bones; but Shouto comes first. Izuku smiled and told Shouto.
"Sho... Like you said to me, you are not your father, nor are you your mother; You are yourself. Do not listen to them; Your eyes are beautiful and warm and so full of life! So very different to Endeavour, and you are not him, not by a long shot." Izuku lean over a gave Shouto a kiss on the lips, which was gladly returned.
Brightly, Izuku smiles as He carefully carried Shouto over to the medical station where a white-haired man with a red beard that was shaped like a flipped U beneath his mouth was working tirelessly. He was helping the examinees with injuries when a crash was heard, and the helper looked up, blue eyes narrowed as he shouts;
"Blasted thing! I needed that!!" The man released a tired sigh, then looks to Izuku. Perking up, Izuku asks;
"Doc! Do you think you can help him?" The Doc deadpanned at Izuku, sarcastically saying;
"Puh-Lease! I think I can handle it." The Doc marches over and Izuku spies a look at his name tag.
'Ratchet' (If you know, you know...)
From Ratchet's right forearm, a blue light comes from it, moving up and down Shouto's form, scanning him thoroughly. Another sigh and a slight groan and Ratchet says;
"He only has slight disorientation and external bruises. Nothing too serious. Now leave, I have work to be doing." With that, Ratchet waved off Izuku and Shouto; said boy had yet to be released from his boyfriends' clutches.
After leaving the infirmary, the duo met up with the rest of the class as they stood in front of a stage hooked up to a screen. As everyone conversed, the tired man from the beginning stepped up, his dull voice coming through the speakers.
"And that's that. Well done for completing the Provisional License Exams. Here are your scores. Any who failed can redo the test at a later date in Remedial Classes." He pressed a button and the screen behind him, which was once black, flickered to life, showing the scores. Izuku had gotten 100/100, making him the highest scorer; the only one who failed in Class 1-A was Shouto, however only by a few points.
As they left, Izuku saw the boy that compared Shouto to Endeavour and walked casually over to him. When he got closer, he waved at Inasa, saying,
"You know, comparing Shouto and Endeavour wasn't very nice. Did you apologize at least?" The boy looks guiltily at Izuku as he replied;
"I couldn't find him after the exam... I was going to say sorry! I knew that Endeavour bad and Todoroki isn't like him at all, it just brought up bad memories that's all..." Humming, Izuku said back;
"That's no excuse. You better go and apologize before Sho leaves or I'll make you suffer a fate far worse than death... and that is a promise." The grins at the boy before leaving the stadium and to the bus waiting for him. Inside his pocket was his licence and he pulled it out as he left.
Outside, Izuku gazed at his license in awe. Being a hero was so much closer now, it was in his grasp, from illegal Vigilante to Licensed Hero. He couldn't help but reflected on everything that had happened in his life; Once he was a criminal with no friends or family, the mute quirkless kid, the freak with scars, and now he had a vast array of quirks, a family he could have only dreamed of and the love of his life by his side; he may have issues still, scars that won't heal fully, memories of his past haunting him, but what he has now is perfect, his friends and family are beside him to help him no matter what.
Izuku looks to the sky, watching as the sun sets in the west; a feeling of dread overcomes him, a deep instinct blaring that something bad is happening or going to happen soon...
Deep beneath the grounds of a business office in a bunker hidden from the prying eyes of heroes, a girl clad in clouded grey clothes cries. Her arms covered tightly in bandages, stained in crimson blood as tears spill onto the cloth and the floor.
Footsteps echo through her tiny, cramp room as the girl cowers in absolute terror at the noise.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The girl scampers into the corner, her red eyes darting around the room in a futile attempt for shelter, her hands shake as the light in the room flickers off. The girl raises her hands to feel around until she feels the familiar stone-cold texture of the wall and follows it until she finds her little corner, giving her a sense of security for a few moments until the steps get even closer...
Tap. Tap. Tap
Creaking open slowly, the steel door lets in a sliver of light, before it's shadowed by an imposing figure with a bird mask on. It speaks in a voice as it enters the room, cold and commanding;
"Let's go, Eri..."
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The girl leaves and screams of agony and pure terror follow her tiny form...