Katsuki took a deep breath as he looked through the gates of UA high.
Pass or Fail, this is where Katsuki would get to see where he measured up.
Walking through the gate, Katsuki noted Izuku already making his way into the school.
Ignoring the greenette, Katsuki made his way towards the testing area.
Sitting down in his assigned seat, Katsuki waited for the proctor's motion to start.
As if in response to the thought, a creepy looking dude in a trenchcoat stood up at the front of the hall.
"Alright, now that the doors are closed, here's a quick reminder. This examination will be 3 hours long and cover a range of topics, mostly focused on Hero Studies. No external quirk use is permitted within any of these examinations. You will also be supervised at all times by myself."
As he finished talking, the hero split into multiple copies of himself.
After the clones finished spreading themselves throughout the auditorium, the called out.
"Begin."
Katsuki flipped open his exam booklet.
For the most part, the exam was fairly similar to the mock-tests that had been distributed to various schools so students had an idea of what to expect.
Katsuki had been studying previous entrance exams that had been made public and had a good idea what he would have to know. Apparently, a couple of the other applicants weren't so prepared.
'Examinee 2463. You are disqualified on grounds of external quirk use. Please put down your pencil, turn over your paper and leave the venue. If you contest this ruling, you may place a formal complaint and your situation may be reconsidered at a later date."
Katsuki shook his head.
'Fucking moron'
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The next 3 hours passed fairly quickly.
Katsuki walked out of the exam hall satisfied with his performance in the exam. There were a couple curve balls, but nothing he couldn't deal with.
Moving into a different auditorium, Katsuki moved over to his assigned seat.
He almost grimaced as he noticed that he'd been seated next to Izuku. UA must sort their applicants by school.
Shaking his head, Katsuki took his seat and studiously ignored Izuku. A sentiment the boy didn't seem to get.
"Kacchan! Great to see you here. Lets both do our best!"
Katsuki turned his head and shushed the Greenette as the presentation started.
Spotlights at the front of the room as a massive screen lit up. At the front of the room, a teacher stood up on the podium. Some radio themed hero Katsuki didn't know the name of. Unlike someone-
"I think that's Present Mic! He runs a radio show I listen to sometimes. This is gonna be awesome!"
Who didn't know that they were supposed to stay silent during exam orientation.
"Shut up."
"Four all you examinees listening in today, welcome to my show! Everybody say HEY!"
Awkward silence echoed out through the auditorium.
Katsuki wasn't stupid enough to bite that bullet and interrupt the announcer.
Katsuki shot Izuku a glare before the greenette could say anything.
Slightly disappointed by the response, The announcer continued.
"Tough crowd today. Well, if you all want to get down to it, I'll get started on explaining your practical exam! Are you ready! Yeah!"
Katsuki shifted in his seat and pulled out the informational pamphlets they'd been given earlier.
"As it said in the application requirements, all you listeners will be conducting 10 minute mock urban battles after this presentation. You can take whatever you want with you, and you'll get on the bus to your specified battle center. Okay listeners?"
More awkward silence as Mic tried to fill the dead air while everyone pulled out their examination cards with their battle centers listed.
Katsuki's site was listed as site E.
As he was reading over his exam info again, he heard Izuku speak up again from the side.
"Too bad we aren't in the same examination center Kacchan. Then I could help you out."
Turning his head, he saw Izuku doing the fucking annoying back of the head rub agaian. The one he does whenever he feels embarrassed.
"…Izuku, let me fuckin make this clear. I neither need nor fucking want your help. I'm gonna do this by myself."
Izuku let out a sigh.
"Fine Kacchan. Do your best."
"I will."
"Alright listeners, there are 3 different types of faux villains in each battle center. You earn points for them based on their level of difficulty."
As the examiner continued, an animation appeared on the screen behind him.
"Your goal, dear listeners, is to use your quirks-"
'or skills,' Katsuki almost growled,
"-to earn points by immobilizing the faux villains! Of course, attacking other examinees and any other unheroic actions are prohibited!"
Suddenly someone stood up a few rows in front of them.
"May I ask a question?"
Present Mic quickly answered.
"Sure!"
Katsuki leaned forward as a spotlight illuminated the questioner. Did they have one of those for all the seats here?
"On the printout all of us were given, there are 4 types of villains. If this is a misprint, then UA, the most prominent school in Japan, should be ashamed of that foolish mistake!"
Katsuki nearly snorted.
'What a blowhard. The explanation isn't even finished yet.'
"We examinees are here in this place to be molded into exemplary heroes! In addition, you two back there!"
He rotated to point at Katsuki and Izuku.
"You were talking to each other in the middle of the explanation! It's distracting! If you aren't here to take this seriously you should leave immediately!"
Katsuki was practically growling as he started to lean further over his desk.
"Oi. You want to-"
Katsuki's incoming murder was cut off by Present Mic speaking up again.
"Okay, okay. Examinee number 7111, thanks for the message."
A fourth silhouette appeared on the display above.
"The fourth type of villain is worth 0 points. That guy's an obstacle, so to speak. There's one in every battle center, an obstacle that will go crazy in confined spaces."
The animation showed the Present Mic running away from the villain.
Katsuki scoffed.
'A real hero never runs away from a villain without a plan.'
"It's not impossible to defeat, but there's no reason to defeat it either. I recommend you listeners try to avoid it."
At that point the blowhard finally sat down, the spotlight flicking off as he did so.
"Thank you very much! Please excuse the interruption!"
Many of the examinees started muttering to each other as Mic wrapped things up.
"That's all from me! Finally, a present for you guys from us at UA. Our school motto!"
"The ancient french emperor Napoleon Bonaparte once said: 'A true hero is someone who overcomes life's misfortunes. Go Beyond. Plus Ultra!'"
"Now, everyone, good luck suffering!"
Katsuki felt a grin growing on his face.
'I get the feeling I'm gonna love this school…'
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As Katsuki got off the bus to the exam area, bat over his shoulders, he could definitely see why UA was the best school in the country.
The training area was massive, a chunk of the city center built in the middle of the sprawling UA campus.
And they had six more just like it, for cityscapes alone.
Still, didn't change what he had to do.
Giving a couple practice swings with his bat, Katsuki got ready to run.
He wasn't in a hero suit, just wearing a comfortable pair of pants and a tank top, but it would work just fine for the practical.
Doing some stretches to limber up, Bakugou moved to the front of the crowd near the entrance, getting into a sprinters pose.
If he wanted to get points fast enough, he needed to be quicker on the draw then anyone else.
And then he waited for the opening mark.
After around 20 seconds, one of the other applicants walked over.
"Uh, dude? They haven-"
"Okay, start!"
Present Mic's voice echoed out from the speakers on the nearby observation tower.
Instantly Katsuki took off through the opening doors in front of him.
"What's wrong? There are no countdowns in real fights! Looks like one of you gets it!"
Rushing forwards, Katsuki was met with a pair of 1 pointer robots.
The cameras on the two bots rotated to face him, speaking in unison as they burned rubber towards him on their singular wheels.
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"Target acquired: I'll kill you!"
Katsuki charged to meet them.
"NOT IF I KILL YOU FIRST YOU TIN CANS!"
Ducking their swings, Katsuki aimed for the most obvious weak point he could see.
Sure their heads looked the most obvious, but with robots there was no way to tell if they were truly important.
However, points in this exam were based on immobilization.
And to Katsuki, those singular wheels looked like one hell of a design flaw.
"DIE!"
With a massive swing, Katsuki smashed the wheel wells of both bots.
Unable to stabilize, both bots immediately tipped over, unable to move.
'2 points'
Seeing the speed quirk users catching up with him, Katsuki moved into the alleyways.
Fewer applicants to compete with for points there, even if there might be a few less bots.
As he rushed into the narrower street, Katsuki was met with another villain bot, this one with with four legs, a 'head' on top, and a long dexterous 'tail' sticking out the back.
Noting the same red 'eyes' he did before on the previous pointers, Bakugou decided to try a different strategy.
Hopefully one faster then removing all the legs one by one.
As he approached, the bot's eyes flashed as it swung it's tail towards him.
"Villainous Comment: You are outmatched hero!"
"SAYS THE FUCKING MOOK!"
Deflecting the swinging tail with his bat, Katsuki swung as hard as he could to take the bot's head off.
Then before the bot could readjust, Katsuki stabbed his bat as hard as he could into the fragile looking sensors positioned on the bot's body.
After a moment, the bot slumped to the ground. Defeated.
'4 points'
Before he moved on, Bakugou noted something on the bot he'd wrecked.
Kicking the bot to shift its positioning, Katsuki noted a hidden panel on the side.
Yanking it open, Katsuki noted some very delicate looking electronics.
Slamming the panel shut and running off again, Katsuki had just one thought.
'That looks like a fucking weakpoint'
Leaving the alley and entering another street, Katsuki found this one filled with bots.
Katsuki grinned as he rushed into melee.
"WHO WANTS SOME!"
"Situational assessment: You are outnumbered hero."
"JUST THE WAY I LIKE IT!"
As he moved in Katsuki tried to spot any possible panels on the 1 and 3 pointers.
The 1 pointer's was fairly obvious. Right in the middle of its back, impossible to easily reach with them rushing you.
Deciding that 1 pointers weren't worth the hastle, Katsuki just knocked off the bot's head with a swing.
Ducking under a barrage of missiles from the lone 3 pointer of the group, Kattsuki swung his bat into the maintenance panel of a 2 pointer.
As he'd expected, the thing immediately slumped to the ground when the panel was destroyed.
Rushing the remaining bots, Katsuki noted that the 3 pointer had turned it attention to a different student that had frozen after exiting a different alleyway to find themself staring down a 3 pointer.
Finishing off the other bots, Katsuki noticed.
"FUCKING DUCK AND COVER DUMBASS!"
Heeding Katsuki's advice, the unknown student dropped to the floor as a flood of missiles flew over their head.
Spotting the hatch of the 3 pointer facing towards him, Katsuki wound up and Hurled his bat towards the weakness.
The robot froze as the bat impacted, then slumped with a few sparks as it's ammo stores detonated.
'17 points'
Running up to the fallen bot, Katsuki grabbed his bat and started checking it over for damage.
Glancing over, Katsuki noted the other Examinee rising to their feet.
Some purple-haired extra that looked like they hadn't slept for a week and had never worked out for a day in their life.
"If you can't handle a 3 pointer, fucking duck or bolt. Don't freeze."
The extra seemed to be struggling with something.
Katsuki finished checking his bat over. It was starting to deform at this point, but hopefully would last through another group of bots.
"Hey! Wait!"
Satisfied, Katsuki started leaving, ignoring the calls of the examinee behind him. He didn't have any time to waste.
'7 minutes left'
Rushing back onto the main street, Katsuki found it full of Villain bots.
Feeling right at home in the melee, Katsuki rushed in.
Spotting a distracted 3 pointer firing on a different student, Katsuki gave it a swing as he rushed past.
Moving faster, Katsuki took the head off a 1 pointer as he passed by.
He still wasn't moving fast enough. Bots were gonna start getting rare soon.
Moving through the bots, taking opportunistic swings as he went, Katsuki kept racking up points.
"Villainous laugh: HA! HA! HA!"
"LAUGH IN PIECES RUST BUCKET!"
Every once in a while he had to save some other examinees from their own stupidity with a swing or two, but nothing that big.
'39 Points'
Then, when only two minutes were left, something changed.
It started with a rumble, shaking the buildings around them.
Worried that the buildings were gonna collapse, Katsuki rushed back out to the main street.
When he got there, he noted all the examinees running in one direction.
Looking back, Katsuki found himself face-to-face with a massive metallic monster, one that dwarfed the buildings around.
Katsuki didn't have time to deal with this shit.
Sure, maybe there was a weakspot on this giant thing just like the others.
Maybe there was something he could jam.
But all that would do is eat up his remaining time.
Katsuki's bat was basically scrap at this point, but he still had enough time to go looking for more villain bots.
He'd beat their asses with his bare hands if he had to.
Then he noticed a moron sitting on the ground clutching his ankle nearby…Right in the path of the 0 pointer.
Fuck.
He probably had enough points by now, right?
…Fuck it, if he did it fast, he'd probably have enough time to snag another point or two.
It would probably just waste time to try and carry his bat and the idiot at the same time.
Katsuki took another glance at his bat. Then at the 0 pointer.
…It was never going to last past this exam anyway.
Better to give it one last hurrah.
Winding up as best he could, Katsuki chucked his bat as hard as he could towards the bot's face with everything he had.
Shaking out his arm from the throw, Katsuki looked up to see what was left of his bat embedded near the center of the zero pointer's chest.
…It would do.
'For now'
Walking over to the confused examinee, Katsuki picked them up in a shoulder carry and started jogging away as the 0 pointer continued moving forwards
As they gained distance, the 0 pointer seemed to rampage, perhaps in response to registering an attack.
Still, at that point Katsuki and the examinee had made enough distance for it not to matter. Though for some reason the dude wouldn't stop yelling.
Finally deciding they were far enough away, Katsuki carried the examinee into the front entry of one of the buildings.
Katsuki figured the bots were mostly confined to the streets, so the guy should be fine here.
Katsuki lowered the dude to the ground. Now that he was looking closer, the dude seemed to have one arm that was far more muscled and green.
"You good to wait here till the end of the exam?"
"Y-Yeah."
"Good."
After stretching for a second and rolling his shoulder, Katsuki spotted a 1 pointer rolling out of a nearby alleyway.
Grinning, Katsuki rushed to meet the one-wheeled waste of parts empty handed.
"Taunt: Your struggle is meaningless."
"NEVER!"
Just as Bakugou prepared to duck around to the back of the machine, a voice echoed over the speakers.
"Time's up."
Instantly, the robot halted in place, powering down as a siren echoed over the city.
Katsuki slowed to a walk as everyone in the test center stopped what they were doing.
Katsuki waited and caught his breath as another announcement echoed over the speakers.
"Alright listeners! Please just wait in your assigned battle center for a faculty member to arrive and escort you off campus. If you are injured, please stay in place and await assistance."
Seeing no reason to dawdle, Katsuki looked over at the kid he had carried here.
"You still fine to wait for medical help?"
The boy responded, his voice a bit subdued.
"Yeah."
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Katsuki jogged towards the examination entrance, passing other entrants as he went.
As he reached the entrance, Katsuki noted an tiny old woman stepping out of a car. She stopped him as he was heading for the bus.
"Hello there sweetie. Would you like some help with your hands?"
Looking down, Katsuki noticed that his hands had started bleeding at some point during the exam.
Must have happened while he was swinging his bat.
Shrugging, Katsuki extended his hands to the woman.
For a moment he was surprised as her lips extended a good foot to kiss it, then he saw and felt a green glow spreading across his entire body, though more focused on his hands.
After a second, the glow dissipated, leaving Katsuki feeling a bit lightheaded, but with all his muscle aches gone and his hands healed.
After a moment the head rush passed however, leaving Katsuki feeling better then he had walking into the exam honestly.
He looked over to see the nurse looking at him with her head tilted.
Then she offered him a handful of gummies.
"Here, it will help with the exhaustion."
Shrugging, Katsuki took a few and swallowed them down.
"Thanks Gran."
Walking away, Katsuki took his seat for the ride back on the bus.
It was time to head home.