Izuku rushed towards the Exam Hall, drenched in sweat from running and earlier that morning. When he made it through the arc and in front of the building, he stopped to rest and let out a shaky sigh of relief.

"I made it..."

Suddenly, a familiar deep voice behind Izuku said, "Outta the way, Deku."

Izuku turned around to see Bakugou sauntering towards him, hands in his pockets and his gakuran unbuttoned. Izuku's hearted stopped for a moment and he froze, before hastily stepping out of the way and bowing in apology. Bakugou 'tsked' and walked past him with a scowl.

Izuku let out another sigh of relief and let his shoulders relax. Bakugou hadn't been so harsh on him since the sludge villain incident, so there wasn't any need for being so scared of him. It was probably just out of habit.

Izuku shook his head and looked toward the building. Bakugou was just a ways ahead of him, glaring at the people who talked of the villain attack ten months ago.

Izuku has come so far. There was no point in turning back now. Not with all the support he'd been given.

He took a step forward, toward his dream, and immediately fell over. Before he could even think of bracing himself, he shut his eyes tight, waiting for impact.

But it didn't come.

Izuku opened his eyes to see the floor just a few inches away from his face. Flustered, he squirmed about to find that he was floating in midair, not being able to move from his spot.

"Eheh, sorry about that!" A high voice said from behind him. Izuku turned his head to see a girl with short hair come up to him.

"I had to use my quirk to catch you. Falling right before the exam would be bad luck, wouldn't it? Are you alright?" She asked.

Izuku nodded as she stood him upright and pressed her fingers together.

"Release!" He heard her say.

Suddenly, he was released from the hold on him and fell back into gravity's grasp.

Izuku turned and bowed at the girl in apology.

"No no, it's alright!" The girl waved her hands in protest. "Glad you're okay!" She gave a grin, which Izuku returned, only half as bright.

He bowed once again in thanks as she waved and walked towards the building. Izuku scratched the back of his head awkwardly before walking towards the Exam Hall as well.

———————————————

After Present Mic had explained the basics of the exam, all test takers were ushered to the test grounds. Izuku could at least see one hundred people, and there were probably more. His limbs twitched with anxiety and nervousness. He grabbed one arm to calm it down.

Izuku searches through the crowd and scanned the competition before his eyes landed on a familiar brunette.

"That girl from before..."

Izuku shook his head and took a step toward her before a hand blocked his way. He looked up at its owner and his eyes widened in surprise.

The guy who'd asked a question during Present Mic's explanation, and called him out for fidgeting in his seat, stood there, arm out and face stern.

"What do you think you're doing?" He asked.

Izuku scrunched his eyebrows. With his index finger, he pointed toward the girl who had saved him earlier that day.

"Can't you see that she's concentrating? She's trying to calm down her nerves. Don't approach her," He said, adjusting the glasses on his nose.

Hesitantly, Izuku nodded in response before watching the guy walk away.

Izuku sighed. What was that about nerves? Because he certainly didn't help him calm down his own.

Present Mic's loud voice was heard through the speakers, enabling the start of the exam. In a matter of moments, everyone other than Izuku sprinted off. Before the test even really started, he was already behind, watching everyone move ahead. Alarmed, Izuku shot forward after them.

As soon as Izuku entered through the gateway, robot remains scattered the fake cityscape. 1 pointers, 2 pointers, and 3 pointers. Any in sight were already in battle with or being destroyed by the other test takers. This was definitely gonna be harder than Izuku thought, but then again, since when was anything easy?

Suddenly, a wall near him broke and a 1 pointer raced toward him. It was just a few feet taller than Izuku, about a meter, and racing towards him, gun like arms aimed straight at him.

Izuku urged his legs to move and make a run for it, but they didn't budge. He was frozen and he couldn't move or even defend himself.

Suddenly, a bright, sparkly light blue beam shot in his direction and destroyed the robot in a matter of seconds. Izuku turned to his savior.

"Thank you very much for distracting that thing for me!" A flamboyant looking blonde called out, posing strangely. "I doubt we'll be seeing each other again, though. Au revoir!" And with that, he took off.

Izuku stared in the direction he ran off before his eyes trailed to the ground. He hadn't done anything. He just stood there in fear. How was he supposed to become a hero like that?

"Three minutes left!" Izuku heard Present Mic shout out.

His eyes widened in alarm and anxiety and adrenaline rushed through him. Izuku ran deeper into the test grounds to attempt at snatching some points.

When he reached an intersection, robot bits scattered the area. There were still some people left there, taking out the few points they could get their hands on. Izuku saw the girl from earlier and overheard her as she dropped a 2 pointer.

"That's 23!"

Shock ripped through Izuku.

"23?! I don't even have one yet!"

The intimidating guy with glasses ran by and muttered a, "47!" making Izuku's nerves act up again. Could he even pass the test at this rate?

Frantically, he searched around for any remaining points but was met with disappointment. A sudden explosion from a nearby building made him jump. He turned around to see a robot the size of a building. No, it was larger. Crushing half of the buildings next to it just with its robot hands. Izuku immediately recognized it as the 0 pointers. The ones that were supposed to be obstacles.

Everyone around him ran in the opposite direction, either out of fear or after seeing that it had no point worth. Izuku was just about to do the same before he heard a cry for help. He turned back once again to see the girl from before trapped in some rocks and debris from the 0 pointer's attack.

He looked straight into her eyes and an image of Bakugou flashed in his mind. His body moved on its own again.

"When you want to use the power of One For All, squeeze your butt cheeks together, brace yourself, focus the power in your arm, and shout in your heart, 'Smash!'" All Might's words echoed in his mind.

Unconsciously, he rushed forward and jumped. Even with the rushing wind and at the height he was at, his focus was all on the robot. Nothing else. Izuku pulled his arm back into a fist and punched it square in the face. It was like punching a hole in putty. The face of the robot collapsed in on itself and explosions wracked its robot body.

It didn't come to him until a few seconds later that he was falling so high at such an alarming rate. He panicked even more when he realized that all his limbs but his left arm were broken. They flopped around in the rushing wind, broken, swollen, and numb from the pain.

Izuku eyed the ground as he got closer to impact. He tried to come up with a plan to at least cushion the fall, but he came up with all the things that could go wrong instead, so he tossed the idea aside.

Izuku could feel himself starting to loose conciseness as his vision started blinking in and out. The numbness in his limbs were starting to subside, making him feel the pain.

He couldn't die. Not yet. He wasn't done. He wasn't a hero yet. He couldn't go.

Just a few seconds before he hit the floor, Izuku felt something brush against his arm and, before he could be sure that he'd made impact with the ground, all went black.