Chapter Text
It was finally here. After all this time, Son Goten was gonna take his test to get into UA. The written exam had been difficult, but the years of hard studying from his mom had come in handy. Now, the few sparring sessions and martial arts training from his dad would have to help him. His quirk would be useful as well. He was always proud of it. But this would be the toughest test he had ever seen, and he had no way of knowing what it would be.
1 Month before the entrance exam
“I’m just so glad that you got that growth spurt!” Goten’s mom chirped as she gave him breakfast.
“That was like a year and a half ago, mom. But I’m not saying I don’t appreciate it.” Goten replied.
“Yeah, your dad was the same way,” Krillin said as he came out of the hallway and into the kitchen.
Oh, Goten forgot that Uncle Krillin was over. As Krillin talked about how his dad “shot up all at once”, Goten thought. He thought about how rarely it was when Dad came over, yet he didn't care. He loved him just as much as anyone else. Weird.
“Hey, at least you got the growth spurt earlier than your old man, Goten. But not as fast as your brother.” Krillin remarked, snapping Goten out of his thoughts.
“Like your one to talk. You never got it!” Goten replied.
“Well, hey- you- come on!” Krillin said, flustered.
“Now, Goten, haven't I taught you to respect your elders? Now, go to your room and get changed. You don’t wanna be late for school!” Chi Chi said.
“They grow up so fast, don’t they sis?” Krillin asked as Goten went to change.
“Oh, you shut up!” Chi Chi said as she slapped him.
Later, in class, Goten sat waiting patiently for the day to end. After he got home, he would be able to see his dad and brother again! They were so cool, and he only got to see them about once a month. Gohan, his brother, was studying in university, and his old man’s area of patrol was far away. He still wondered why it was like that. But for now he just had to wait. His mind wandered, only half listening to the teacher as he gave his lesson. Then, his mind found something. He thought about high school. He had applied to UA, the most prestigious hero school. Has a below 1% acceptance rate, especially for the hero course. Of course, that's the one he applied to. Thankfully Krillin had advised him to apply for general studies like his uncle once did in the past. Goten had no idea which course he would get into, or if he would even make it into the school at all. In two weeks, he would take the written exam, and two weeks after that, the physical test. He almost got excited thinking about all the strong people that would be there. What would the test even be? Would they fight each other? Maybe they would be sent out to the streets? Only time could tell. Suddenly, the bell rang. As Goten got up from his seat and grabbed his stuff, he remembered what being home meant. He quickly said goodbye to his friends as he dashed out of the classroom and out the school. He realized for UA he would probably have to take the train, which would be interesting. Then he realized… he would have any friends going into UA. He was the only one out of his friend group applying. But he wasn’t worried. He was sure he would make new friends there, if he got in. But he did make a mental note to bring a physical note with his phone number on it if he met any new friends at the exams. With that, he was home.
“Dad!” Goten yelled as he burst through the door and tackled his father with a hug.
“How’re ya doin, son!” Goten’s father embraced him. Once he was out of the hug, he greeted his brother next.
“Hi Gohan!”
“Hi Goten.” Gohan said calmly before patting Goten on the head. “I feel like you’re taller than we last met.”
“Well that’s how aging works, no?” Goten said while waving his brothers hand away
“How was school, Goten?” The boy’s mother asked while preparing dinner.
“Pretty good. No tests or anything.”
“Well that’s good, because you got a big test coming up, right?” Krillin remarked.
“Yes, you’ve applied for UA High School, correct?” Gohan asked.
“Yep, It’s all official!” Goten proudly said.
“Man, your boys sure are going far, huh Goku?” Krillin asked his old friend.
“Yep, they sure are, Krillin.” Goku replied.
“Dinners ready!” Chi Chi yelled.
As they all gathered around the dinner table. Chi Chi put out a feast fit for the Son boys' large appetites. Everyone started grabbing food and chowing down as much as they could of Chi Chi’s cooking. As they all started to slow down, casual conversation broke out. They each started to talk about their daily lives. Gohan and Goten talked about their research and classes, Goku told some interesting stories of hero work, with Krillin popping in every now and then to add on. It was nice.
As they all cleaned up from dinner, Goten asked his father something.
“Hey dad, can we do a quick sparring session once we digest all of this?”
“Of course, I'm always up for a spar!” His father ecstatically replied.
“Alright, and I’ll heat up the popcorn!” Krillin said jokingly.
Like they promised, an hour later, Goten and Goku stood outside in fighting stances.
“I won't expect you to hold back!” Goku yelled out.
“Then I won’t!” Goten yelled back, before propelling himself at his father to attack him.
Goku expertly dodged and threw back his own punch, landing squarely into Goten's gut. Goten recoiled, but got back up in time to block an incoming kick from his father. He was able to land a punch into Goku’s side before jumping back from a round house. This was perfect. He backed up slightly more, giving him just the right amount of range for his quirk. He shot his hand forward in an open palm, with a small energy ball forming in the center of his hand. The ball fired out and sped towards Goku, who blocked it with his arm, causing a mini explosion. Goten started repeating the motion with both his hands, firing out as many energy balls as he could. Goku grunted as he dodged the rapidfire attacks and made his way forward. But Goten knew that that wasn’t a normal grunt. His father’s quirk, psych up, allowed him flat boosts in aspects that helped him with fighting. Power, durability, speed, and the most important ones for right now, awareness and reaction time. They all got boosted in multiple stages, right now Goku was in stage 2. Goku got right next to Goten and landed a nasty uppercut, before jumping up above Goten for a finishing, aerial attack. Goten shot both hands in front of him and used a widespread energy attack covering his father’s whole body.
“Special Move: Flash Grenade!” He thought in his head.
Giving Goten just the right amount of time to dodge out of the way. The father and son continued sparring as everyone else watched.
“My brother’s got a really versatile quirk, doesn’t he?” Gohan remarked.
“Sure does, Gohan.” Krillin replied. “Speaking of, you find any animals with interesting or versatile quirks like your brother’s?”
“Nothing like Goten’s, but one time I did a paper on some ants I researched that had quirks similar to dad’s!” Gohan excitedly said.
The night after, Goku, Gohan, and Krillin all said their goodbyes to Goten and Chi Chi.
“So, the next time we see you, you’ll be in UA, right Goten?” Krillin chuckled.
“Maybe.” Goten replied, also chuckling.
“Oh, we don’t even know if the acceptance letter will be here by then.” Chi Chi pouted.
“Good luck, Goten.” Gohan said.
“I bet you’ll be so good you won’t even need luck!” Goten’s father encouragingly told him.
“Thanks dad, thanks Gohan.” Goten replied to both.
With that, we’re back where we started. Goten standing outside of UA, Ready to take the physical exam. He saw some interesting faces there. As he walked in, he saw a girl with vine hair, a large man with strangely large lips, and even a girl with pink skin! Goten could only imagine what they could do (some easier than others). He settled into the auditorium as they started to explain how the test would work. A hero with yellow hair walked out and began to speak.
“What’s up, UA candidates, thanks for tunin into me, your school DJ! C’mon and lemme hear ya!” He said to a crowd that did not speak. Nervously, he said, “keepin it mellow huh? Well that’s fine, I’ll skip straight to the main show. Let’s talk about how this practical exam is gonna go down ok?” Flamboyantly, the hero said, “Are you ready, yeah!”
Goten then heard someone near him start muttering, but he couldn’t make out what he was saying.
“Like your application said, today you rockin 'boys and girls will be out there doing ten-minute mock battles in super hip urban settings! Gird your loins my friends, after I’m done here, you’ll head to your specified battle center, sound good? Okay?” To silence once again.
Goten looked at his card. Battle center D, huh? He heard some more people speaking, probably talking about their battle centers.
“Ok, ok, lets check out your targets.” The hero said as a pixel version of himself came on the large screen behind him. “There are three types of faux villains that appear in every battle center. You’ll earn points off of their level of difficulty, so choose wisely.
The pixel version of the hero started going around and destroying robots. Goten understood what was happening. The hero also told them that there was no attacking other examinees, which Goten thought would be obvious. Suddenly, another student spoke up.
“Excuse me sir, but I have a question.” The examinee said.
“Hit me!” The hero replied as a light shone on the examinee.
“On the printout, there are four robots shown, not three. With all respect, if this is an error on official UA materials, it is shameful. We are exemplary students, we expect the best from Japan’s most notable school. A mistake such as this won’t do. Additionally you with the unkempt hair. You’ve been muttering this entire time, stop that. If you can’t bother to take this seriously, leave. You’re distracting the rest of us.
Goten now knew who was muttering. The examinee speaking almost reminded him of his brother, too. The hero then explained that the fourth villain type was worth zero points. Just an obstacle. The hero finished up, and sent them their way with a quote.
“A true hero is one who overcomes life’s misfortunes.”
Well, now Goten was outside his testing area. He felt a little nervous, sure, but nothing compared to how excited he was for this. It was time to get in, and kick robot butt! And when he started fighting, all that nervousness washed away. He was blasting them left and right, and even took some down with his bare hands and strength. He was doing pretty good. Suddenly, the whole arena started to shake. There was smoke everywhere. Was it an earthquake? Had something gone wrong? Then, a massive robot taller than the buildings appeared from the smoke. What was that thing?! It had tons of eyes and a really thick neck.
“It’s the zero pointer!” Someone shouted out.
That was it. It was the obstacle. But why was it this big? People around Goten started to run. What was he supposed to do now?
Hanta Sero had not been sure how he would do in the UA exams. He might do good. He might do bad. All he could hope for would be to scrape by and make it in. He thought he might be able to become an ok hero, and make enough money to live quite well. He had been doing ok so far. But when a giant robot bigger than two apartment buildings came out? Nah. He’s not doing that. He probably didn’t have enough points but he didn’t care. He wasn’t dealing with that. He ran like his life depended on it, which it kinda did. He looked back to see the giant one more time and- there was someone running towards it?! Was he insane?!
“Yo! Dude, what are you doing!” Sero asked the boy, who had black hair that was somewhat down, with some spikes, mainly in the front.
“I’m gonna fight it!” He replied.
“It’s gonna crush you!”
“No it won’t! I’ll be fine!”
“No, literally! You gotta dodge!” Sero yelled his caution.
Realizing what he meant, Goten looked up at the hand about to squish him. He jumped as far as he could as fast as he could and got out of the way. Finding new opportunity, he jumped on to the robot's hand as it lifted back up. With the new height, Goten shot a small blast at one of its eyes. Unfazed, it moved its other hand to try and sweep off Goten. Goten squatted down and jumped up to the other hand as it went by. Seeing its mistake, the robot simply flicked its hand up and sent Goten flying.
“AAAAAHH! WHERE AM I GOIN!”
“Oh, for god’s sake!” Sero, realizing what he had to do, ran forward.
He shot tape from his elbows and launched himself up. He grabbed Goten with his tape and pulled him in.
“Gotcha!”
Sero swung down, coming in for a bit of a hard landing, but nothing the two couldn’t walk off.
“Thanks for the save!” Goten said to his unknown savior.
“You’re welcome, but what were you thinking?!” Sero asked.
Before he could give his answer, someone spoke from the speakers.
“The test is now over! Please leave the testing grounds immediately.” The voice said.
Goten lost the boy who saved him while leaving, but found him shortly after when leaving the UA building as a whole.
“Hey, you!”
Sero turned around, seeing the crazy boy from the exam.
“Uh, yeah, what do you want?” Sero asked.
“To give you this.” Goten handed him a note. “It has my phone number on it, so you can call me later. By the way, my name is Son Goten.”
“Uh, ok. My name’s Sero.” Sero replied confused.
“See ya later, Sero!” Goten said as he left.
Sero stood there for a little bit, confused why this random boy had given him his number. Then he chased after him.
“Hold on, Son?! As in Son Goku, aka Dragon Fist, the number 5 hero?!”
“Yep, that’s my dad.” Goten casually replied, before once again walking away.
Sero was now even more confused. He had just saved the son of the number 5 hero, then got his number. What?! When Sero got home, he didn’t know what to do.
“Hey, I’m home.”
“Oh, hello Hanta, how are you doing?” Sero’s mom asked.
“More importantly, how’d you do?” His dad asked.
“I’m feeling pretty good, and I'm not sure how I did. I’m not sure what’s good or bad.” Sero replied to both.
“Did you make any new friends?” His mom continued the questions.
“Not re- actually, I did.” Sero answered.
“Well that’s great, honey.” His mom replied
“Alright, I’ll be in my room, Ma.”
“Dinner’s ready in 30!”
In his room, Sero contemplated calling Goten, but decided that there was no reason not to.
“Hey, this is Sero, is this Son Goten?”
“Oh Sero, glad you called! But I’m actually eating dinner right now, so I’ll text you later.”
About ten minutes later, Goten texted Sero.
“Hi, are you there?”
“yeah”
“how are you doing?”
“pretty good”
“you think you’ll get in?”
“maybe. what about you”
“hopefully”
Goten then sent a selfie of him smiling wide and putting up a peace sign. After contemplating it, Sero sent his own picture. Then he put up Goten’s contact, putting the picture as his image.
Then, they both thought at the same time, “Maybe I will have a friend going into high school.”