(Uraraka POV – Training City)
"WHOOAAA!" Aoyama and I scream in unison, clinging for dear life to the railing beside the emergency gate as the air whirls around us in a furious spiral.
Thirteen's voice booms over the rushing wind. "That's far enough, students!"
Her finger is raised, the swirling black vortex in her glove roaring like a vacuum as it tries to suck us in. Chunks of debris and dust are dragged toward it.
"And we were so close!" I shout, legs flailing as my grip on the rail starts to slip. The suction is so strong that I can barely breathe.
"That was a close one." Thirteen says calmly as she steps forward, the dark miniature singularity still spinning on her fingertip. "You almost escaped."
"She's getting closer!" I yell, straining to keep my hands locked on the bar. My arms are shaking, and if I let go, it's game over!
'How are we supposed to fight someone whose quirk just erases everything it touches?!' I panic inwardly, shooting a desperate look to my partner.
But instead of a plan, I get—
"Heh heh... now that's one quirk that constantly sucks." Aoyama manages to smirk, despite clinging to the railing beside me like a windswept flag.
"Now's not the time for jokes!" I bark. "We're literally about to die!"
He flips his glittering hair dramatically, ignoring the danger. "Ma chère Uraraka... I am the picture of calm under pressure."
"You're the picture of useless!"
"My costume…" He begins, voice dripping with theatrical flair. "Transmits from my navel…" He bends his knees, and the disks on them beginning to hum with energy. "And when I'm in a pinch—voilà!—I shine even brighter!"
Before I can question what he's doing, twin beams of light fire from his knees, slicing through the air straight at Thirteen.
For a moment, I actually believe it might work.
Then—
"I can also absorb light." Thirteen says smoothly, and the beams bend midair, twisting and shrinking before being devoured by the black hole with a soft shhhk. "Annihilated down to the atomic level." She finishes matter-of-factly.
Aoyama blinks, deflated but pretending not to be. "Très rude…"
I grit my teeth. "This is not a joke! What the heck, Aoyama?!"
"I am what I am." He replies, shrugging his shoulders, even as his feet dangle closer to Thirteen.
'Okay. Think, Ochaco. Think! If I were Deku—'
"Hey!" Aoyama cuts in, a sly tone creeping into his voice.
"Hold on, I'm trying to—" I start, but he interrupts again.
"You were just thinking… 'If I were Izuku Midoriya,' weren't you?" He teases in a sing-song tone. My heart jolts.
"H-huh?! What are you talking about?!"
"Oh, là là~" He sings, grinning despite the chaos. "You like him, don't you?"
My face goes scarlet. "Wha—?! That's not—!"
The shock makes my hand slip from the railing.
"Huh?!" I squeak, as the black hole drags me forward with terrifying speed. The air rips past my ears. I see Thirteen's visor widen in alarm.
"Oh no—!" Thirteen yelps, instantly shutting down her Quirk to avoid actually killing me. The sudden drop in suction sends me tumbling forward uncontrollably.
I hit the ground and roll, my heart hammering. And my body moves before my mind can.
Gunhead's training kicks in, and I twist my body mid-roll, planting a foot and launching myself upward. My heel slams into Thirteen's helmet with a crack, making her stagger backward.
Before she can recover, I grab her arm, pivot on my heel, and flip her clean over my shoulder, slamming her into the ground with a heavy thud that echoes across the training zone.
Then, without thinking, I pin her arm behind her and snap the cuffs onto her wrist.
"Hah!" I exhale, my breathing ragged, and adrenaline buzzing through me. And as my mind finally catches up with my body. 'Wait… did I just—?'
All around, the artificial wind fades, replaced by a calm, mechanical ding from the speakers.
[Exam Complete. Team Uraraka–Aoyama have passed!]
I blink down at Thirteen, still kneeling over her. She's motionless for a moment, then chuckles. "You've improved Uraraka. Excellent work."
It takes me a second to process. "We… passed?" I breathe, half-laughing, half in disbelief.
Aoyama strolls up, smoothing his hair like he didn't almost die. "Of course we did. We make quite the dazzling duo, non?"
I groan, still catching my breath. "You almost made me fall into the black hole!"
"All part of the plan." He says, striking a pose, while I roll my eyes.
As the adrenaline fades, I smile faintly, looking down at my hands.
'Thank you, Gunhead… for teaching me to move without thinking.'
(Kata POV – Monitoring Room)
One by one, each team wrapped up their exams, and honestly… a few of them surprised me.
First up is Momo and Todoroki against Aizawa.
If things had gone according to canon, Momo would've been unsure of herself, and let Todoroki lead, leading to them getting cornered by Aizawa quite quickly.
But this time, she was confident, certain, and discussed her plan in detail with Todoroki before they acted.
The two of them huddled together at the start, speaking in low voices, eyes darting toward the rooftops where Aizawa was hiding. She was the one mainly doing the talking, while Todoroki listened and gave his own input.
They moved like a proper team, with quiet, measured steps through the mock city's alleys. Momo created a few small devices on the go. Flashbangs, compact stun guns, and making sure both her and Todoroki were well equipped.
Then she pulled a risky move, "accidentally" stepping right into Aizawa's line of sight, while pretending their plan relied on Todoroki using his ice to subdue Aizawa, while she used herself as bait. Predictably, he took the bait, his scarf whipping out as his hair floated upward.
And that's when it all unraveled for him.
Todoroki's flashbang went off like a mini-sun behind Aizawa, which forced him to close his eyes and deactivate his quirk. Then Momo fired her stun gun right after, which Aizawa barely dodged, and that moment gave Todoroki the perfect window to freeze him from the legs up.
And shortly after, Aizawa was cuffed, and the match over.
I couldn't help a smile forming on my face. 'As expected of Momo. She's really brilliant.' I praise internally.
Next was Asui and Tokoyami against Ectoplasm.
Their fight played out more or less how I expected. Ectoplasm flooded the arena with clones, and slowly cornered them, while they ran for the exit. They did beat quite a few clones, but it was pointless since Ectoplasm would just make more.
Tsuyu stayed calm, even when they got trapped by one of his bigger copies right before reaching the escape gate. Tokoyami then used Dark Shadow to attack while trapped, on on one of the collisions, Tsuyu retrieved the cuffs from her stomach, giving them to Dark Shadow discreetly, and cuffed Ectoplasm's leg on their next collision.
Efficient, simple, and sneaky. I approved.
Then came Sero and Ojiro's match against Midnight… and, well, that one went downhill fast.
Midnight was guarding the gate like a queen on her throne, eyes half-lidded, and a seductive smirk on her lips. Ojiro tried to rush her from the front, tail sweeping like a whip, but close-range against someone who weaponizes sleep gas is a bad idea. But what else could he do?
Sero tried to back him up, but his tape barely got halfway before her own whip cracked through the air, slicing cleanly through it.
"Sorry boys." She purred, blowing a kiss before they both slumped to the ground. "Playtime's over."
It wasn't interesting, nor dramatic. The environment wasn't in their favour either, as it was flat, barren rock. And their opponent was a terrible matchup.
Shoji and Toru, though… they were phenomenal.
The moment Snipe fired the first warning shot, Shoji shielded himself with his arms and eyes, calmly analyzing his position. The guy's a wall, but he's also smart. He kept moving, dodging each bullet by using his enhanced senses to keep track of Snipe, as well as predict the bullet trajectories. He did all that to keep Snipe's focus on him.
Meanwhile, Toru… well, she had her own strategy.
She went completely invisible by ditching her clothes.
I have to give Snape credit for trying to find her, and he did a few times, based on little disturbances she caused as she ran, but with Shoji's interference, and Toru's own stealth abilities, the gate eventually buzzed, signaling their victory as Toru escaped.
I sighed, leaning back in my chair. 'I really do need to keep my promise and get her a proper costume. One that turns invisible with her.'
Then I realized…
'She knows I can see her… but she was still wearing her hero costume?!'
I grapple with trying to figure out if she simply had no other option, or…
I choose not to think further about it.
Kirishima and Sato's match was rough to watch.
They charged in like two wrecking balls, fists first, shouting about manliness and power.
Cementoss didn't even flinch. He just raised a hand, and walls shot up around them like a blooming flower of concrete.
Sato tried to punch through them, while Kirishima climb over, digging his fist into the cement as he climbed up… but Cementoss calmly thickened the floor beneath them, trapping their legs as the walls sealed shut.
Within seconds, they were caged in, and restrained.
They fought as the cement engulfed them, but… there's only so much you can do against an infinite flood of cement.
Then came the last match.
Nagant versus Bakugo and Izuku.
The moment her name came up on the display, I straightened in my seat. Even All Might leaned forward, albeit for different reasons.
I was interested in how Nagant, who's quirk was designed to kill, would defeat them, given how powerful they are, while All Might was probably interested in seeing how his successor would fare.
Either way, it's bound to be an interesting match.
***********
A/N: Hello Everyone. How are you? If you've enjoyed the chapter and book thus far, please consider leaving me some comments, reviews, or power stones. It really helps the book out.
So, first of all... I wanted to apologize. Lots of things I'm sorry for. Firstly... Continuity. All the exams are happening simultaneously, so on Kata's POV, it's hard to switch between them and narrate all in real time, which is also confusing. So I wrote it to be done sequentially, which was wrong of me🫠😭😔.
Secondly... I couldn't follow through and do a POV of each fight. After doing Uraraka's, which was 700 words for that short snippet, I realised doing each one would've taken like 3 or 4 chapters, so I summarised. Majority of them aren't too important, or similar to canon, so repeating them for that long would've just sucked.
And another sad thing... 8/19 of the class has failed the exam🫠. Wild. Class B is gonna laugh about it, and it's quite tragic really. But that's what it is🫠.
But onto the positive side of things... We're though! Nagant vs Deku and Bakugo is next. Do let me know if you'd prefer a full fight, or if you'd rather it be a summary like the rest. I think a full fight would be interesting, and it's a chance to humble them, or have them grow regardless, but if everyone wants Kata vs All Might, we can speed run to that too.
You can also read 10 chapters ahead and support me at [email protected]/AMV_WEAKLY
So yeah. That's everything I think. Hope you all have a great day/night 🌉!