Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Chapter the First

A young man was in the middle of a large field, no trees in sight. He was pulling a duct tape-covered, threadbare, moderately sized bag onto his back. Next to him a large hound, bearing bone-like protrusions on its back and very large, sweeping horns, was adjusting the feel of the bags on its back.

The young man wore a red t-shirt with a black bisected circle that ended at the shoulders, and a white circle inside. Atop his head, holding back his swept-back red hair, was a well-loved, but worn out, faded and sun-bleached green bandanna. His gray cargo pants lay atop a pair of hiking boots, both of which were a faded sky-blue with some violet splashed in from old paint.

He was currently patting down his pockets and glancing around the clearing with brown eyes. “Alright, everything is packed. Right?”

The canine rolled her eyes a bit. “Yes, Zez, you checked four times.”

Zez deadpanned, “And I’ll check another ten more times. Don’t think I won’t, Din.”

Din huffed a bit of laughter even as she rolled her eyes, went behind him, and started pushing him. She took great care in making sure she didn't harm him with her horns. “Hurry up, we don’t want to be late to that contest because of your sass.”

“I haven’t even begun to sass.”

“Yeah, I know. I’ve put up with your shit for ten years.”  

Zez chuckled and finally started walking under his own power. Din stepped up to his side, and he absentmindedly placed a hand on her back. They took a couple steps out of their campsite and into the clearing -

- and appeared in the middle of a forest. Zez stumbled out of pure shock and had to catch himself on Din’s horns. Din had to make sure her head didn’t move too much or else impale either, or both, of them. Though she did manage to catch herself and keep from falling over.

A moment later, Din was giving Zez a look of great concern. He was busy gagging and coughing roughly.

“Zez?”

He held up his hand as a signal to wait. “Ugh... fuck.”

“You alright?”

“...blegh. I swear I’m tasting something weird as fuck... is this what green tastes like?” Zez leaned away and had to spit off to the side. “So gross... why aren’t you feeling like this?”

“Hell if I know. But are you alright?”

“I’ll be fine.” He straightened and looked around. “Well... I guess we have to see where we are.”

Zez reached down to his belt and plucked four round objects from his belt. A couple were red and white, one was a mix of blue, white, red, and the last was black and yellow. After pressing the buttons on them and tossing them to the air, four creatures emerged from them in bursts of white light.

The four creatures had vastly different appearances.

The first was a large, raven-like bird. She was larger than Zez by a good two feet, covered in what appeared to be dark navy armor, and her bright red eyes were glancing around and taking in everything.

Second, a creature resembling a large feline was already making his way over to them. He had smooth blue fur on his belly, on part of his legs, and on his face and ears. On the back of his front legs were stripes of yellow, to match the yellow of his inner ears and the four-pointed star on the end of his tail. His eyes held strikingly bright yellow in the pupil, surrounded by crimson red.

Next to the raven was a bipedal dragon-like beast. Her eyes were covered by what appeared to be red goggle lenses, or something similar to protect them. Aside from those, the only other red on her was the outline of her wings, and the outlines of the three points at the end of her tail. The rest of her was two different shades of green. She, like the first, was also taking in her surroundings.

Last, there stood a quadruped that resembled a mix between a canine and a feline. His paws had a bit of a pink fur, as did his ears, tail, and the top of his head. He appeared to be wearing a pink and white bowtie that led to two white ribbon-like feelers, both of which were gently wrapped around his barrel. There was another bow around his ear that also led to two feelers, both of which were sitting lazily on his neck. His bright blue eyes looked up at Zez as he sat down to wait and hear what he had to say.

Din smiled warmly as the feline came forward and nuzzled her neck lovingly.

“Love you too, Paarl.” she murmured softly.

Paarl purred quietly at that. He took a moment to glance around. “So... looks like Zez didn’t trip into another fight...”

Zez groaned. “That was only once! ”

“Twice,” the bird said. “It was twice. At minimum.”

“Eileen, shush.” Zez pointed up. “I need you and Eldin to do a quick look around. Paarl, would you use your x-ray vision? See if anything threatening is nearby?”

As the two flyers took off into the air, Paarl nodded. The yellow of his eyes glowed for several seconds as he took in his surroundings. The last one came over and gently wrapped a ribbon around one of Zez’s arms.

Zez gave him a smile. “Thanks, Syl.”

After a moment, Paarl blinked away the glow in his eyes. He shook his head at Zez. “All clear.”

Eileen came down to hover nearby, Eldin landing next to her.

Eldin pointed behind her. “There’s a large human city in that direction.”

“Which doesn’t make sense, we were at least a day’s walk from our destination,” Eileen mentioned. She finally moved over to a particularly thick branch and landed on it.

Zez frowned a bit at that. 

“What are you thinking of, Zez?” Syl asked from his side.

“I’m thinking of going into the city and scouting it out before I bring you all in.”

Five different voices immediately voiced their issue with that plan.

Zez interrupted them. “Look, we just got teleported to Arceus knows where. There’s a city around here that isn’t on the map. And we don’t know how to get back. So for now, I can go in alone.”

“...I don’t like it. But he isn’t wrong.” Eldin sighed. “And what of us? Hide?”

Zez shrugged. “I’m thinking that will have to do, yeah. Somewhere out here. I have that solar-powered radio. You can all use it to keep ears open for the news, just in case. I’ll know the direction and can come back easily enough.”

“Yeah, but knowing you, you’ll slip on a banana and find yourself in the middle of a fight.”

Zez gave Din a halfhearted glare, even as he pulled his backpack off. “Shush you. I’ll be fine. I’ve still got that aura training from that old Lucario. We won it a few years ago, remember?”

Paarl looked up at Zez. “You mean the aura that feeds into your ability?”

“...ability?”

“Yeah. It’s called Shit Luck.”

Zez shoved Paarl’s face away from his and put the backpack down. “I’m leaving before I get bullied more.”

Less than twenty minutes later, Zez found himself rolling up off the ground and taking up a fighting stance. He glanced behind him and noted that, at the very least, it wasn’t a banana.

A half-rotten apple wasn’t much better, though.

He was rather justifiably distracted, at least in his opinion. Everyone around here looked so weird. On his way into the city, even as he made sure to take note of the street names so he knew how to get back to his team, Zez saw people with scales, some with fur. Someone was walking around hunched over, like an old lady. One issue, though: they didn’t look old, and instead had what looked like a set of wheels on his back.

...or they looked like wheels. Rocks? Horns? Who knows because on one of the demo TVs in a store window was a woman with snakes in her hair.

What the actual fuck?

And now, behind Zez, was a woman in some sort of costume. In front of him was some punkass man dressed in all the cliche gangster/punk gear ever. Until Zez had slipped through the crowd and into the fight, the woman had been throwing chunks of concrete at the guy. And yelling something about him being a villain.

The villain was some dude that was nearly ten feet tall and was more than willing to use that bulk and muscle to fight.

The guy looked at the young Pokemon Trainer like an easy target, and the woman behind was yelling for him to get out of the way... well. Zez gave a satisfied, this-is-gonna-be-fun grin, and met the challenge head-on.

Tall Man swung a punch towards him. He stepped slightly forward, into Tall Man’s range. His arms went up around the strike - and Zez had immediately grit his teeth at the heat. Perhaps it had to do with Tall Man’s size, but his skin sat at a very high temperature.

Zez flooded his hands with his aura and continued with his movement. Tall Man’s eyes widened as the kid half his size was suddenly throwing him into the ground.

The moment Zez had the man on the ground, he saw an opportunity to knock the guy out. So he took that chance to --

Oh shit! Zez had to abort his attack and stumble back from the chunk of road that crashed onto Tall Man’s face.

Apparently, that was all it took for Tall Man to be knocked out cold. Within a minute, the guy was cuffed, and the police in the crowd were stepping forward.

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“You have got to be fucking kidding me.”

After the fight, Zez had been snagged by the police for “Illegal Public Quirk Use”. So now he was sat across from some guy that was questioning him for it.

The “Some Guy” had introduced himself as Detective Tsukauchi. He did his best to not sigh. “Young man, you were found using your Quirk illegally in a fight between Hero Yeeter and a villain. This is standard procedure.”

Zez groaned and planted his face onto the metal table. “Fuck my life. Fine. What do you need to know?”

“Name?”

“Zez,” he answered. Paused for a moment. “No, that’s it. That’s literally all of my name.”

Tsukauchi looks like he aged another year at that. If Zez strained his hearing, he could hear him mutter about how much of a pain it will be to look that name up. “We were told that your Quirk appears to be Self-Enhancement. Is that true?”

The fuck is a Quirk? That power thing, like the woman was using on the street? “...sure.” Let’s just go with that.

“What are the names of your parents?”

“I don’t know, I don’t care.”

Tsukauchi paused. He looked up from his little notepad. “You don’t care?”

“No.” Zez shrugged. “Grew up in an orphanage before I left it. They never saw fit to leave any info on who they were, so why should I bother caring?”

Tsukauchi had to take a moment to straighten his thoughts. His Quirk was registering all of that as true. Then he looked back down at his notepad and carefully wrote it down. “What school do you go to?”

“I don’t go to school at all.”

Tsukauchi looked like he needed a stiff drink. And it wasn't even noon yet. “Where do you live?”

“I’m more of a nomad.”

“Alright.” Tsukauchi stood up. “Thank you for your cooperation, I’ll return soon.”

He stepped out of the interrogation room, down the hall a couple feet, and into the room on the other side of the double-sided mirror. It was a sparse room, with the recording equipment, a trash can, and a table with a coffee maker. The moment he stepped in, Tsukauchi blew out a big sigh and groaned. It’s been less than ten minutes and he can already tell that this kid was going to give him a massive headache.

Tamakawa Sansa, a police officer working with Tsukauchi on this issue, held out a mug of fresh coffee. Tamakawa also happened to have the head of a ginger tabby, but that was old news.

“I’ve already got a search going,” Tamakawa mentioned as he sipped his own mug. “But given the lack of info, I don’t think we’ll really find anything.”

Tsukauchi grunted. He glared at his notepad. It stubbornly refused to spontaneously combust. “Unfortunately. We don’t know the extent that his Quirk can go to. Hero Yeeter --” Tamakawa politely ignored the mutterings of how dumb that name was -- “reported that Zez apparently jumped into combat the moment the chance presented itself.”

“But given that Yeeter has been known to exaggerate things sometimes, we don’t know how accurate that is.”

“Which is another part of my concern. So we have a teen, with an Enhancement Quirk of an unknown level, who reportedly jumps into combat. If we’re not careful, we’ve got a budding vigilante here.”

Tamakawa gives a slight grimace. “Any ideas on a plan?”

“I’ll need to ask a few more questions, first. See what else we can learn.” Tsukauchi put his now-empty mug on the table next to the coffee maker. “But I don’t want to just throw him out onto the streets.”

“Or into Tartarus?”

“No reason to. So far all he’s done can be argued as self-defense. Some of the officers at the scene say he slipped on something into the fight,” he explained as he leafed through his notes again.

“Any lies?”

“None.” Tsukauchi sighed and made his way towards the door. “So far, anyway.”

“I’ll have another mug waiting for you when you get back, sir.”

Tsukauchi flashed Tamakawa a grateful smile just before he left. As soon as he turned to head back into the interrogation room, the detective just about jumped out of his skin. Eraserhead, the damn sneak, had to catch his instinctively flung notepad.

Eraserhead is the code name of another Pro Hero, similar to Hero Yeeter, though with a far different focus. Tsukauchi knew him better by his real name, Aizawa Shouta.

The man looked just as he always did in his Hero Costume. A man with disheveled-looking black hair, some stubble on his chin. Around his neck sat what appeared to be a large, ridiculously long off-white scarf. The rest of it was a black jumpsuit, accented only by a utility belt around his waist.

Aizawa held the notepad lazily. Without shifting the dead-eyed expression on his face at all, he spoke. “Evening to you too, Detective.”

Tsukauchi huffed and snagged his notepad back. “What brings you by today, Aizawa? Unless Mic finally convinced you to make a social visit.”

Aizawa snorted. “No. Came to turn in a report. The internet's down at my place. One of the junior officers said you were questioning some kid you found in a villain fight.”

“Ah, your curiosity got the better of you again.”

“No.”

Even as he denied it, both men knew he was lying through his teeth. The detective didn’t even need his Quirk for that one. Tsukauchi rolled his eyes and opened the viewing room door for him. Tamakawa looked confused for the two seconds that the door was open before Tsukauchi made his way into the interrogation room. 

Aizawa snagged one of the styrofoam cups and filled it with coffee. He proceeded to take a sip without waiting for it to cool down in the slightest.

Tamakawa winced. “I still don’t get how you can handle it like that, Aizawa.”

Aizawa simply took another sip. “Who’s the kid?”

Tamakawa rolled his eyes a bit, and didn’t even bother trying to hide it. “Says his name is Zez. No parents to speak of. So far all of his answers have apparently been true.”

“No parents?”

“Apparently he doesn’t know where or who they are, and doesn’t care.”

Aizawa almost resisted rolling his eyes. Almost. As he watched and listened into the questioning, he felt a headache beginning to form. It didn’t help that he had an idea that he really, really did not want to voice.

“I can mention him to Nezu, we can keep an eye on him at U.A.” Dammit.

Tamakawa glanced at him. “Are you sure?”

Aizawa responded by pulling out his phone and calling for Nezu. He wouldn’t have done this if his damn mouth hadn’t run ahead of him. I’m blaming Hizashi for this stupid habit.

After several awkward moments of waiting, the “damned rat” -- as Aizawa knew him -- picked up his phone.

“Ah hello, Aizawa,” Nezu greeted cheerfully. “Has Yamada finally convinced you to perform social calls?”

“No. There’s a kid here at Station 5. No parents, no place to stay, and apparently he jumped into a villain fight.”

Nezu hummed. “So a budding vigilante. What are you suggesting, Aizawa?”

You know what I’m suggesting, dammit. Aizawa managed to not say that aloud. Instead, he said, “He needs a place to stay. I’m suggesting throwing something together at U.A. for him to stay, and we teach him laws and proper Quirk use.”

“Perhaps. But I do not see a reason to allow him in to U.A. so easily, Aizawa.”

“Throw him at the Entrance Exam.”

“If he passes, we teach him. If he fails, he has community service. That is your line of thinking, yes?”

“Yes.”

“Bring him over. I’d like to meet him before I make my decision.” There was a pause for a moment. Aizawa heard the sound of tea being poured. “I look forward to meeting this child that has gained your attention, Aizawa.”

Then Nezu hung up. Aizawa groaned and shoved his phone back into his pocket, sipping his now-lukewarm coffee as he did. He glared at the mug as if it was the source of all his problems. And that is how Tsukauchi found him. 

Tsukauchi cleared his throat to get Aizawa’s attention. “The boy tells me that he’s seventeen this year.”

Aizawa grunted. “I’m going to take him to Nezu. We’re considering having him at U.A. this year.”

“It’d be a good way to keep an eye on him...” Tamakawa mentioned. “With the security and the Pro Heroes around, if he causes any trouble, we can apprehend him quickly enough.”

Tsukauchi sips a fresh mug of coffee as he considers the idea. The three men in the room glanced at the door when a junior officer opened the door and held out a small manila folder. By the time Tsukauchi was looking at the one paper inside, the door was closed again.

The detective grimaced slightly. “Turns out we were right, no find on the kid. They started a new profile for him for anything in the future, though.”

“Alright.” Aizawa glanced at his phone when it buzzed. “Keep the suppression cuffs on him, Nezu is just curious enough to meet him. He’s got a temporary place for the brat to stay.”

“Fine with me. That’ll let me get back to the other cases I have instead of focusing on some vigilante-acting kid.”

With that, Tsukauchi and Aizawa headed back into the questioning room. Zez barely glanced up from where he was picking at his nails.

“So? What’s the plan?” Zez asked. “Do I get to sweep the station? Help kids learn how to not be stupid? Maybe help Hoboman here learn to shave?”

Aizawa’s eye almost twitched. “No. You’re coming with me.”

“This is Eraserhead, a Pro Hero.” Tsukauchi introduced the man. “He’ll be handling you for now.”

Zez raised an eyebrow. “Eraserhead? The fuck kinda name is that? What, you erase heads?”

Aizawa let his eye twitch that time. Kill me now.  “No. Hurry up.”

Zez rolled his eyes yet again, but he stood up. When they didn’t immediately move to the door, he gave them a very bored, expectant look. Aizawa sighed and felt himself slouch over just a tad from the sheer bullshit this kid was already giving him. Tsukauchi, the bastard, didn’t show any sympathy at all to him.

Aizawa led the way out towards the front of the police station. On the way, he resolved to not bring Tsukauchi coffee the next time the man was pulling a late shift with him. Aizawa is petty like that, and he knows and enjoys it. The two men and one young man stopped by the front of the station to sign a few things because paperwork kept the bureaucracy quiet for just a bit longer.

While they were there, the cuffs Zez was wearing were removed. In their place was a slightly thicker metal bracelet that sat firmly on his wrist. The officer putting it turned the key to one side. After a couple seconds of holding it, there was a soft beep before faint red lights filled the line encircling the bracelet.

“This is a Quirk Suppressing Brace,” the officer explained idly. She sounded bored, as if this is something she says everyday. “It’ll keep you from activating your Quirk. Try not to force past it, I’m told that tends to lead to migraines.”

“I’ve got a car ready to take you, sir,” the receptionist mentioned as he tucked away the paperwork.

“Thanks.” Aizawa headed out of the station. He heard the kid moving to keep up with him.

Zez wasted no time in giving the man his sass. “So. You’re the babysitter of the hour now.”

Despite all his time as a teacher, all his time working on his patience...

Aizawa still had to close his eyes and count to ten. I’m gonna kill this damn brat.

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When they reached their destination, it was by some miracle that, somehow, Zez was still alive and... okay, he wasn’t well . His team was out in the forest past the city limits, and he was in a cop car getting escorted somewhere. He’d managed to continue to keep track of the streets they drove through to get here. The man before him -- Eraserhead, that Detective said his name was -- seemed to be doing his best to not strangle the young man.

Probably because Zez talked a good portion of the ride over. And it was almost entirely shit talking. Things like how a Pro Hero doesn’t know how to shave. Or the overly long scarf thing that looks like a giant ribbon repurposed to be a scarf for looks.

You know, the usual shit talk.

It helped that, luckily enough, Zez’s language was similar enough to Aizawa’s. It would have been a major pain in the ass to have to deal with a language barrier.

That glare of yours is absolutely adorable, old man, Zez taunted silently. He didn’t quite manage to suppress the shiver as a memory flickered through his mind. Then he was being directed to step out of the car. “...so this is the place? What are you and your colleagues compensating for, exactly?”

Aizawa grunted and just headed in through the gate. Zez was forced to follow quickly. He may not have liked going along with this, but it wasn’t like he had an idea of anything else to do. Or where to go. Plus this way he’d already learned quite a lot about this world.

And hadn’t that been quite the realization? It wasn’t like there could be any other logical answer. Appearing near a city not on any map he knows, his GPS finding no signal. So it had to be the answer. 

Probably. 

The young man was doing his best to put off the full weight of it as long as he could. It wasn’t like he had anything waiting for him back home, but...

Well. It’s not like he could do anything about it right now.

“In here.” Aizawa interrupted Zez’s musing, holding an abnormally large door open.

Zez went in, barely glanced at the well-dressed rat, bear, whatever the fuck it was behind the desk, and sat in one of the plush seats. He may, or may not, have sat down with his arms crossed. A plaque on the desk read, ‘Principal Nezu’. The now-named Nezu stood, hopped off his chair, made his way around to the front. In one of his paws was a small tea cup.

“Hello!” Nezu greeted cheerfully. “Am I bear? A mouse? A dog? Who knows?!”

Zez simply raised an eyebrow and waited. After a moment of nearly-awkward silence, Nezu sipped his tea.

“Would you like some tea?”

“No. Tea’s not my thing.”

Nezu sipped his tea. “I’m not sure you’ve been told this, but Eraserhead is one of our teachers here.”

“Teachers? So this is some kind of school?”

“Yes. A school to train, and teach, children to be pro heroes.” Nezu paused to sip his tea. He nodded over to Aizawa leaning against the door. “Eraserhead is one such hero who went through our curriculum.”

“Hm. So I am here because you wish to teach me?”

“Honestly, no. I have been told by Detective Tsukauchi about your Quirk. And about your apparent budding interest in vigilantism.” Nezu paused. “But I have been told that you also do not have parents, or a home to return to.”

“Don’t need a home. I wander around.” 

“With no supplies?”

Zez narrowed his eyes at the rat. No. But I’m not about to give away the location of my team.

“Mm. I see.” Nezu sipped his tea once more, reached up onto the desk to pull down a large packet. “I have been told that apparently you have some promise as a hero. Therefore, this is the compromise I would like to offer. Take this preliminary exam.”

Zez hesitated long enough to glance it over when Nezu offered it. Then the young man took it and started leafing through it.

“If you pass sufficiently, I will enter you into the entrance exam.”

“And if I fail or refuse?”

“Then it’s either community service or jail time.”

Fuck. I can’t afford to be here too long. Zez didn’t notice, but he had his hand around his chin, a finger plucking at his lip. Eileen and Paarl are good at hunting. Din and Eldin help me cook all the time, so they can do that. Syl... would probably be trying to sneak into the city to look for me. Or keep morale up. By the sounds of it, what I did is apparently a pretty serious issue. For whatever reason.

Zez glanced up at Nezu to see him calmly waiting. A look over his shoulder at the old hobo man revealed no other information, either.

I don’t know if we're going to be the only ones coming to this world, he mused. As it is, I have no way of escape. “Fine, I’ll give it a shot.”

Nezu smiled. It wasn’t a particularly nice smile, nor was it too harsh. He and Eraserhead led Zez out to an empty classroom, labeled 1-A. The young man didn’t notice the way Eraserhead rolled his eyes at Nezu, or the way the rat stifled a chuckle. Instead he focused on sitting at an empty desk. On it sat a few wooden pencils and erasers.

“I will be here facilitating your test.” Nezu said. “Begin when you are ready.”

Zez shrugged and got to work.

It wasn’t too hard... until he got to the advanced math. He knew some of the basic algebra stuff, from when the orphanage in the middle of a Hoenn forest had taught him. But the... extended weird-looking ‘f’ thing? Some questions on history were a dead-end as well, especially considering the change in worlds. Zez just shrugged and left them blank.

All told, the test took three hours and some change. And now Zez knew what it meant for his brain to be wrung out like a wet towel. Nezu claimed the papers and was already reading through them.

I’ve spent, like, two weeks in a proper school setting after the orphanage, Zez mused, rubbing his forehead to ease the oncoming headache. Only now do I understand what they meant by “my brain hurts” after a test. Fuck, why did I go for this?

“Well.” Nezu barely obtained Zez’s attention when he spoke. “You passed.”

Zez grimaced slightly at the score he was shown. If he had missed just two more questions, he’d be working to escape jail or community service or something. “Alright, so now what?”

“Now, you get to be a test subject,” Nezu started leading the way again. Eraserhead was no longer anywhere in sight. “To see if dormitories are a sound investment or not.” It was already a time-consuming effort to try to get the school board to agree to add them to the campus; so far, a futile one.

“Staying on campus, then? So you can test that and keep an eye on me. Great. Joy.”

The rat ignored him and just led him to a small room. Inside was the most basic desk one could imagine, pushed against a wall. Across from it sat a small bed, and next to the desk was a shelf of books. And there was an attached shower/bath. It wasn’t as nice as the hotel room Zez had reserved -- dammit, now my money’s gone to waste for that!

“This is where you will be staying for the time being. We’ll have one of Lunch Rush’s assistants bring you lunch soon.”

Zez nodded and stepped into the room. He went to pull his backpack off, but paused when he remembered. Fuck, that was so dumb of myself.

The young man settled on the chair at the desk and sighed. Behind him, Nezu had already closed the door and left. As the principal walked, his memory flicked back through the test results. His Quirk, High Specs, helped him to review the memory near-flawlessly. (It helped that he’d practiced doing that for years.)

He’d initially marked some of the given answers as wrong. In the context of the question provided, they were; the answers themselves, however, roused Nezu’s insatiable curiosity. A few key words that made no sense on their own. In the context of the questions and answers given, however...

Nezu let slip a slight chuckle. This is going to be so interesting!

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Nearly four days had passed. During this time, Zez had yet to find a way off campus. They’d given him some kind of access badge, taken off the fancy bracelet. (Though that came with a warning that it would be put on at the first sign of trouble.)

And Zez had yet to find a way to contact his team. If he grew more irritated and tired of the adults’ bullshit and maybe snapped at them a bit, well, who could blame him? ...aside from the old hobo man. Whom Zez has come to learn was known as both Eraserhead, and Aizawa Shouta.

The young man had also come across a few other “Pro Heroes” in his time at this school. (Yes, he was still working on understanding that such a thing was an actual job .) Some guy that looked like a walking brick named Cementoss; a lady that was way too into BDSM named Midnight; the cowboy that called himself Snipe; and -- honestly Zez’s favorite of them all -- the loud Exploud-like human named Present Mic.

The guy was loud and boisterous, but he was also super cheerful and friendly. Zez tended towards a more subdued energy, but he could appreciate the energy. It reminded him of being with his team. Which meant that now that he was in a large auditorium, surrounded by a very large number of people, and seeing Present Mic approach the stand, Zez felt himself relax a bit. The written exam had been easier than the previous one, at least. Only because he’d spent the last three days cramming with the textbooks in his borrowed room.

“Heeellooooo Listeners!” Mic called from the stage. “Welcome to the show! Everyone say YEAH!”

Zez had always been someone strange by most standards. So perhaps it was a bit strange when he immediately stood and yelled back in return. Alone. Nobody else did. Then he sat back down of course, he wasn’t here to take the spotlight.

“Excellent reception! Alright, so this is how this is going to go, Listeners!” Mic waved at the very large screen behind him. A pixelated city appeared in the center. “Everyone will be going to a fake city scene in seperate groups. In these cities, you’ll encounter different fake enemies.” On the screen, three robot-like silhouettes appeared. “But just because they’re fake, doesn’t mean you get to fake out your skill! Each of these will be worth different points!”

On screen, above each of the silhouettes, three different bits of text appeared. 1-P, 2-P, and 3-P. Presumably relating the amount of points each robot was worth. Seconds later, someone raised their hand and cried out their objection. Right as they stood, too. Zez groaned and very nearly planted his face onto the desk in front of him.

“--four types of villains! If this is a misprint, then --”

“ Oi , Robocop!” Zez called out. “Sit down, shut up , and save your questions for the end!”

The boy whirled around to face Zez. His glasses flashed in the spotlight. He opened his mouth to speak some more.

Zez’s already thin patience neared the breaking point. “No! No arguing! Shut your mouth, sit down, and wait your fucking turn to talk.”

Glasses glared at him. But the spotlight shut off and attention was forced back towards Present Mic. Zez took the time to just lay his head down and focus on breathing. In slowly. Hold. Out slowly. His slow breathing gradually returned a small portion of his patience as he repeated it several times.

Unfortunately, it was interrupted when Mic called for everyone to start heading to their designated testing zones. A quick glance at his info card told him to head over to Test Zone F. Thankfully the wait time and bus ride didn’t take too long. Once Zez and the kids were let out, he started his stretches. Groans escaped him slightly as he did so.

“GO!”

Zez will not deny that he very nearly yelped at that sudden call. Then he noticed that doors were opening. Right as Mic -- who else could that have been? -- scolded everyone else for waiting, he was shoving his way into the fake city.

If he had a mirror, Zez would have noticed the grin growing on his face. It was not a nice smile.

It’s been way too long since I’ve had an actually good fight!

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Aizawa Shouta. Pro Hero Eraserhead. Experienced teacher of U.A.’s Hero Course. Professional jelly pouch consumer and nap taker. (That last one was from Hizashi.)

He was leaning against the wall furthest from the monitors. Sitting in front of them, his coworkers were all watching the student hopefuls take the Entrance Exam. He still utterly despised this form of Exam. There was a level of bitterness that black coffee couldn’t even hope to reach. (And was held onto with the stubbornness of a mule.)

Even with all that, he was watching the hero-hopefuls. And something he saw made him frown. Zez, the kid he’d dragged in, was enjoying this far too much.

The brat was grinning like a loon. He kept taunting the robots, even when it meant they nailed him with a solid hit. There was more than one time where Zez had to pause after a fight, and appear to take stock of wounds. At least the little shit had the heart to at least help out a few other hopefuls.

The kid would stop by some of the other testers and help them catch their breath. Or distract a robot to give them an easier shot. Or, in one particular case, fully teaming up against some three-pointers.

But Zez did it all with that same overly cheerful, careless attitude.

“Well. I think it’s time for the big finale!” Nezu mused cheerfully several minutes later. He reached forward to a panel in front of him. Twisted a small key, lifted a cover, and pressed two buttons simultaneously.

Then there were a set of loud thooms that rumbled throughout each of the testing areas. Aizawa’s eyes flickered between most of the screens, attempting to take just about everything in.

He noticed Zez at least had the sense to try to get out of the way. Though the damn kid seemed to be trying to find a way to fight the zero-pointer.

“Whoa! Test City B!”

Aizawa’s eyes were torn away from Zez. Cementoss -- civilian name Ishiyama Ken -- rarely spoke up so excitedly. He tended to be a rather calm gentleman. His attention was caught in time to see a small, green-haired kid appear in front of the zero-pointer’s face. 

And then the zero-pointer’s face was caved in with a single punch.

Aizawa did not look pleased or impressed. He broke three limbs doing that. He’ll be useless out on the field doing that. Aizawa glanced back at Zez, and became even less happy. 

For green-head, he at least charged in with the intention of protecting or saving that girl. Zez seemed to be trying to stop the giant robot for the hell of it. Aizawa may have missed something. But god dammit , now he was going to have two reckless dumbass teenagers in his class.

The meetings for results and class assignments didn’t start until tomorrow.

But where else was Nezu going to place these two morons?

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Zez stretched his arms above his head, groaning slightly. Bruises were already settling in on his legs and arms. Some of them on his torso, too. The bigger robots had a wonderful tendency to hit hard.

Oof. I’m gonna be super sore... Zez mused silently. He waved off the nurse. The bruises would heal soon enough. But fuck that was fun. Aura’s somewhat low, though. I’m at, what? Twenty... no, ten percent? Ish? Either way, hopefully it’s enough to convince the fucking staff to let me stay. It’ll be easier than dealing with whatever the fuck they were going to make me do.

Zez was still more than a little bitter. He held some suspicions that they were going to make him still do something. Dishes, sweeping, or whatever they think of. The trainer was silently enjoying his time as he stuck around, watching all the other kids leave. Some of them gave him strange looks. Seventeen years of being the odd one has got him ignoring them like a pro.

I hope my team is doing alright...

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Eileen squeezed through the small entryway. Once inside, she gave a small huff and shook her wings to settle her ruffled feathers. “Can we please widen that? It’s hard enough to get in as it is.”

“You’re the one with steel on your feathers and claws.” Din reminded her. The Houndoom was currently slowly warming up some berries from Zez’s backpack. “You’d have the easiest time doing it.”

“Fine. I’ll do it later.” Eileen came closer and settled next to Syl. “I found a couple wild Pidgey.”

“Wait really?” Paarl looked up from where he was relaxing. “I thought we were the only ones to be teleported.”

“I thought so too. I promised them some Sitrus Berries. In exchange, they’re going to give us periodic updates on Zez.”

“Ah. Smart thinking.” Syl commented. He used his ribbons to reach into the bag and pull out the Sitrus. “We have... ten to spare.”

“Alright. So we can ask five times.”

“Four. Let’s save two for emergencies.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Eileen ruffled her feathers a bit again, sighing as she noticed a crooked one. “...I’m worried about him.”

Eldin reached over and gently pulled the bird in for a hug. “I know. We are too.”

Silence fell over them. It lay across the party like a thick, suffocating blanket. But at least now they had help to look out from under it.

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Zez walked into his loaned room grumbling. He grabbed his damp shirt and threw it against the wall, letting it slide into the provided hamper. It had been two weeks since the Entrance Exam. And they’d had him do cleaning and dishes every single fucking day since then.

“It’s not a free ride,” Zez mimicked mockingly. “Earn your rent.” Zez finally got the damp clothes off. “Fucking pain in the ass adults.”

Only once he got on some shorts did he notice the small metal disc on the desk. He glanced around. Nobody was around. After a deep breath, he pressed the button on top. Shortly after, it was projecting a small holograph. It was showing Present Mic on it.

Zez admittedly tuned out when the man started rambling, but tuned back in when rankings were shown. His name wasn’t in the top ten, which was fine with him.

“So with 21 Villain Points, and 32 Rescue Points,” Mic continued. “You’ve made it into the Heroics Course! You are assigned to Class 1-A! Congratulations, Listener!”

The trainer rolled his eyes. He turned off the disc and chucked it into the trash. He didn’t have any doubts that he’d pass. (He wasn’t lying to himself about that. He wasn’t .) He snagged the small badge that had sat next to the disc. On it was a small headshot photo of Zez, as well as his name, and that he was a student of 1-A. There was a small note with it, too.

Zez - 

This badge will allow you onto U.A.’s campus. If anyone here questions if you belong here, just show them this.

It will not allow you to leave the premises without permission, or being accompanied by a teacher.

Meet at Principal Nezu’s tomorrow by 0800. We’ll be getting your uniforms.

 - Present Mic.

Zez rolled his eyes. He tossed the note back onto the desk and flopped onto the bed. If he was lucky tonight, he’ll get a full night’s rest this time.

He hadn’t realized how much he relied on cuddling with his team to sleep well. But now that he was forced to go without them...

Fuck. Zez pressed his hands to his face. He didn’t bother trying to fight or hide the tears. Fucking hell, I miss them so much.

Sleep didn’t come easily that night.

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Midoriya Izuku. A small, lightly tanned, unassuming-looking boy. His hair was a mop of nearly untameable black-and-green curls. His hair barely reached his bright, hopeful green eyes, and failed to hide his face of freckles. 

A year ago, he’d been a rather frail, Quirkless child. Now? Now he had plenty of muscle, and All Might -- the All Might! -- had given him a Quirk: One For All. Those ten months of training had been utter hell , but... well. Midoriya would be lying if he said he wasn’t at least a little proud of how far he’s come.

Although that pride was kind of invisible right now. Since he was jogging through the halls of U.A. Trying to not be late on day one. It had been bad enough when his brand new Quirk broke his legs and one of his arms on its first use, but being late? On day one?! Unacceptable!

1-A, 1-A... where is it?! Izuku’s thoughts raced as he glanced at every door he passed. There!

Right ahead was his assigned classroom. The door was... absurdly tall. Though given how some Quirks manifested, it sort of made sense. Izuku took a shaky deep breath. His nerves didn’t settle.

I can’t stand here and stall all day. Izuku grit his teeth and finally just yanked the door open.

Instantly the sound came through.

“-can’t believe we all-”

“-this place is huge -”

“-get your feet off the desk!”

Izuku’s shoulders slumped a tad. He recognized that voice from the exam.

“Eh? What’s it to you?!”

Izuku almost, almost groaned at that. He could recognize Kacchan’s voice in his sleep. That tended to happen when one grew up with their childhood bully friend. Bakugo Katsuki -- or Kacchan as Izuku called him -- was someone with a fantastic Quirk suited for Heroics.

He was also in a shouting match with the tall kid with glasses and black hair. The one that had stood up in the practical exam explanation; the one that had scolded Izuku at their testing site when he tried to talk to the brown-haired girl. Currently, the glasses-wearing student was moving his arms in a very robotic, perfect-angle fashion.

“What middle school did you go to, Four-Eyes?!” Bakugo demanded.

“My name is Iida Tenya, not ‘Four-Eyes’!” Iida proclaimed sternly. “I had the honor of attending Soumei Junior High!”

“A private school, eh? No wonder you’re such a noble stuck-up shit!”

Iida waved his arms around more enthusiastically. Almost angrily? It was hard to tell. “Is that any way for a potential hero to talk?!”

“So...” Izuku will admit to jumping out of his skin when he heard the new voice behind him. “Are you going to go in, or...?”

Izuku turned on his heel and backed up into the room. He bowed a bit to the teen in front of him. “I-I’m sorry!”

Izuku straightened in time to see the teen shrug. “It’s fine. It’s not a big deal.”

“DEKU?!” Kacchan leapt from his desk. Snarling and explosions marring his desk as he did so.

Izuku froze . He’d been hoping to avoid this for a while longer, but it seems fate had other plans. Then Iida Tenya was marching to him... and bowing to him?

“My name is Teny--”

“I know!” Izuku blurted out. Crud, my mouth went ahead of me again... “I-I-I overheard, sorry. My name is Midoriya Izuku.”

“I must apologize!” Tenya straightened up. “I misjudged you at the exam. You saw through the secrets of the exam! You... you are a better student than me...”

“Uh - that, uh...”

The teen that Izuku had apologized to was the next to catch Tenya’s attention. He started waving his arms angrily, once more keeping them to robot-like movements. “And you! You’re the one who embarrassed me in front of the entire auditorium!”

“No, you did that to yourself,” the teen retorted. Izuku noticed a bit of a down-tick in his eyebrows and mouth. Annoyance, maybe? “You’re the one who interrupted Present Mic because you jumped to conclusions.”

Iida seemed to bristle in anger. It was hard to tell with how robotic he was being, though. “What are you even doing here? Our class has twenty students, we are at capacity. You are in the --”

“You’ve just done it again.” He sighed. “You literally just did it, again . You need to learn to stop making assumptions. All it does is make you look like an uptight asshole.”

Izuku just stood by and watched as the teen shoved past them both. Then Izuku’s attention was caught by someone behind him. The brown-haired, lightly pink-cheeked girl from the exam. Almost immediately, Midoriya felt his face start burning.

Then an oversized yellow caterpillar with a face appeared in the door.

“If you’re here to socialize, get out.” Oh. A talking oversized yellow caterpillar. It pulled out a nutrition pouch from somewhere , consumed it in like two seconds, then stood up. He took a second to get out of the sleeping bag. “I’m your homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shouta. Welcome to U.A.’s Hero Course.”

Aizawa glanced around the classroom lazily, almost like he was bored. “Go to the locker room. Put on your gym clothes and meet me outside. You have seven minutes.”

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Zez finally exited the locker room with about three seconds to spare. Or less, but who was counting?

Aizawa glared at him. “You’re late.”

“You said seven minutes. It’s been six minutes, fifty-four seconds.” Okay, so Zez had been counting.

Iida Tenya gaped at Zez. “You do not talk back to a teacher! It is highly disrespectful!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

Shouta once more had to take a deep breath. I’m not allowed to kill the kid. Not allowed to kill him. “Bakugo. What was your softball pitch in middle school?”

Bakugo snapped to attention when he was addressed. “About sixty-seven meters, I think.” 

“Right.” Aizawa pulled a metal softball from the bag at his side. The kid caught it reasonably well when it was tossed. “Throw it. Do whatever you want, just don’t leave the circle.”

Bakugo had already been moving to the designated circle. It, and the field in front of it, resembled a discus throwing field. But when the ash-blonde student heard those instructions, he grinned. His grin was wide, overflowing with confidence, and full of teeth. He reared back to launch.

And when he did, a large explosion erupted from his hands. “ DIE! ”

Aizawa, unlike many in the class, didn’t even blink at the display of power. Zez had jumped quite a bit. He still wasn’t accustomed to everyone having these powers. Or Quirks or whatever they were called. 

“We get to use our Quirks? This is going to be fun!”

Zez almost rolled his eyes at that. When Aizawa growled about that, he absolutely did roll his eyes.

“You think heroics is fun? ” Aizawa chuckled. Some of the kids blanched with how dark and ominous it sounded. “Alright... how about some fun. Whoever does the worst gets expelled .”