Private/Closed Our Hero Academia

[Tailon]

Just off the northern Chicago coast of Lake Michigan lay a small, man-made island, actually a peninsula, called Northerly Island due to its location. A few decades before it had been occupied solely by the planetarium, a seasonal event stage, and a large park, that being before the event.

When a baby in China was born with the inexplicable ability to glow, society began to change fast. Within a pair of generations, 80% of humans and even a few other animals had developed Quirks, unusual abilities that defied understanding. Quit quickly, those with powerful Quirks began to emulate the heroes of old stories, taking on personas to fight crime and the villains that sprang up to oppose them.

After a time, as these first generations of Heroes grew older, they naturally wished to pass on their wisdom and experience to the next generation, that they may carry on the legacy of justice, and so were born the Hero Academies. Schools like U.A. in Japan changed the landscape of how heroes operated, and more schools sprang up in their wake, including a shining bastion of glass and steel, 50 acres across, Northerly Island Hero Academy.

It was a balmy summer day, cloud cover and a light drizzle covering up the summer sun in the Chicago area. It was also testing day at NIHA, and entrance exams were to be held among the building facades of the southern part of the campus.

One of the examinees was a boy swathed head to toe in black, a tank top, his customary fatigue pants and boots, and a pair of heavy, studded, leather wristbands. His hair was as jet black as his outfit, styled in an impeccable undercut fringe. His name was Christopher, thought he preferred Chris, but in point of fact he made an active effort not to mingle with the other prospective students, of which there were nearly 100, culled already on the basis of grades and interviews before they had even been allowed to take the test.

After about an hour's wait, milling about the hastily erected temporary canopies and picking at a free lunch spread, too full of nerves to eat, Chris followed the other examinees as a P.A. system summoned them to a central canopy. Beneath that canopy was a small stage, where a woman in a fine suit stood behind a microphone in front of a white wall of canvas.

Once all the prospective students had gathered the woman spoke, "Good afternoon, everyone, welcome to the Northerly Island Hero Academy Entrance Examination. My name is Ms.Taylor, though you may also know me as the 'Rescue Hero', Caduceus; I will be conducting today's exam," as she spoke, a projector sprung to life, showing three robots in succession on a loop, "The test is rather simple, much like you may have heard about the U.A. exam, you will be in a live combat drill against three types of robotic opponent, worth one, two, and three points. There are a few differences however, most importantly, our robots have two special functions that can be activated by the examinees, on roughly a third, you will find a deactivation button, to simulate autonomous machines created by a villain, on another third, you will find two 'capture' buttons which must be activated and held for two seconds at the same time, and the last third must simply be destroyed or irreparably damaged. Also, any pre-approved gadgets are allowed. When I say so, you will have twenty minutes to rack up the highest possible score. The entrance to the testing area is directly behind me, the timer will begin as soon as you all gather there and the doors open. Good luck, and," she raised three fingers then, lowering them with her count, "In 3, 2, 1, begin!"

Immediately the examinees, made their way around the sides of the canvas screen, where a massive set of doors awaited, the more enthusiastic students already breaking into a run. As soon as they had gathered, a tremendous "click" was heard, and the doors slowly swung open.

As soon as the doors were open just a fraction, Chris took his chance, his body and clothing dissolving into a cloud of darkness, which quickly bypassed the other examinees and slipped through the small opening. The wraith quickly began targeting bots, forming spikes and claws to rip them apart, or simply surrounding them and activating their victory functions while their physical attacks could not harm him.

 

[Rex]

He had to admit, it was impressive. The Northerly Island Hero Academy was a shining example of American ingenuity in the age of superheroes. For Jake, it also represented a fresh start. New York City was almost eight hundred miles away, and with it, everyone that had ever known him or his family. He would spend the last years of his childhood in Chicago, and not return home until he had become a hero worthy of the title.

Of course, that depended on if he got into the school. He was confident he would pass the exam – no he really wasn’t, but he told himself he was enough times that he believed it. Fooling himself was a skill he had mastered long ago. He was a shapeshifter after all, if he couldn’t make himself believe he was the form he took, how could he ever trick others into believing it too? He wasn’t Jake Filcher, child of a villainess and inheritor of her powers. He was Rocket Raccoon, Guardian of the Galaxy.

He certainly looked the part, a four foot tall anthropomorphic raccoon. The rain matted down his brown fur to an extent, but it had all the right colors and all the right patterns. He’d gone for brown eyes, rather than red, the two colors seemed to be about equally common in the comics. He was lacking the jumpsuit, instead wearing a blue t-shirt and pants, a green vest and red bandanna. It made him quite the mix of colors. He’d get that orange jumpsuit, though. It’d be his hero uniform once he’d gotten into the academy.

He was also wearing a belt, with two holsters. The guns they held were of his own design, though he’d had to hastily modify them the previous day when he found out that only non-lethal gadgets would be accepted for use in the entrance exams. They fired electrical bursts, enough to incapacitate a grown man and fry most electronics, but not enough to kill. He did not think the rain would interfere with their functioning, but he hadn’t tested them in the weather since yesterday’s modifications. He knew they would work though, because he was confident. Even if he really wasn’t.

The school had offered food, and Jake had forced himself to eat. He needed the food to keep his strength up. He was glad it had, the food had warmed him up. It may have been a warm day by Chicago standards, but it was still cooler than he was used to in New York, and the rain didn’t help matters any. Any chance to sit under one of the canvas tents, out of the rain, was a chance he took.

He’d done some minor calculations while he ate, watching the other prospective students wander from canvas to canvas. Out of the likely thousands of students who originally applied to NIHA, only roughly one hundred had made it to this exam. And between them, at most a third would be accepted, based on how highly they scored on this practical. That meant Jake would need to be top thirty, but he’d shoot for as high as he could. He was confident he could easily make top ten, because that’s what he had told himself he’d do.

Before long, it was time for them to begin. A female hero, Caduceus, went over just how the exam was going to work. There were three types of robots they would be expected to fight, worth one, two, or three points, respectively. Each robot was divided into three color coded categories. One had deactivation button, a second had two capture buttons, the third needed to be destroyed outright. That meant nine ways to score points. They had twenty minutes to score as highly as possible.

And just like that, they began. Jake dropped down onto all fours and charged. Being smaller, he could get through the doors sooner than most the other students, but he was also saddled with much shorter limbs and thus shorter strides. Ahead of him, a kid turned into a black mist, and disappeared through the opening when it had barely opened a crack. The raccoon had to dodge around a couple stamping feet, but he made it through the door second once it had opened far enough for him to squeeze in.

He hooked a right, and ran a block or so to get away from the pack as the rest of the students made their way into the exam space. He didn’t stop until he could hear the groaning of mechanical limbs nearby. The raccoon stood, and drew one of his pistols. He didn’t have to wait long, a one pointer came plowing out of a glass storefront and tried to rush him. He noted the color, pointed his gun, and fired. It crumpled at his feet.

“One.”

A second robot, the same value and color as the first, practically flew out of an alleyway at him. He grunted, dodging out of the way as he drew his second pistol and fired. The robot’s forward momentum kept it going for a short time before it collapsed to the ground as well.

“Two.”

He ran down the alley the second robot had charged out of, on just his legs this time. He wasn’t as fast, but he could keep his hands on his guns. He didn’t need to, as it turned out. When he reached the street at the other end of the alley, a larger, two point robot turned to face him. This one had a different color, it needed to be deactivated. He holstered his guns. It charged him. He dropped onto all fours and ran at it.

He swerved to the side as it punched, he could feel the metal brush the fur of his tail as it collided with the ground. It was the opening he needed, though. He clawed his way up its leg while it was recovering, onto its back. He punched its button while it was in the process of reaching back to yank him off, then leaped off it as it fell backwards. That was closer than he might have liked, he wasn’t built to take a punch like the one he’d dodged. Still, he was off to an excellent start.

“Four.”

 

[Dark Soul]

Tara Glint kept to the sides of the commotion, nibbling on a grilled vegetable skewer as she lounged on some bleachers. Towards the middle of the two rows of food and drinks stands, and especially towards the gate, were the crowds of teenagers her age attempting to socialize, or eating away their nerves- much like her, in fairness.

She usually made attempts to mingle with a few others at events, but today she had a singular focus and there was no space for distractions. In a way, she had trained for years for an event like this, jumping from tree branch to tree branch over Archeus’ head, diving down onto prey with the speed and grace of a falcon. She hadn’t had quite as much experience with urban environments, though she’d spent enough time freerunning in San Francisco at dusk to know how to move and climb quickly. She wished she could already have the belt rocket booster she’d requested for her hero costume for this event. It would cost a few dozen precious seconds overall to get up high without it, so she would just have to put in twice as much effort.

A voice over the tannoy instructed all the prospective students to gather near the central canopy. Tara walked over, still keeping to the back of the congregation so no one could complain about her wings spoiling the view to the silver screen. One of the resident hero teachers gave them the rundown of the event, which Tara had studied before but still listened to intently. Three kinds of robots, worth more points the larger their size, and all with three subclasses, two with deactivation methods that needed to be used for the points to count. It was a straightforward game, and the winning strategy seemed easy; Get your hands on as many robots as you can within the allotted time.

They walked the short distance to the gate. Tara stretched her wings to their fullest, trying not to bump into too many of her peers; They felt like they were working perfectly. She quickly collapsed them again as soon as the countdown began, readying herself to start running as soon as the gates opened. The moment there was a gap small enough to fit through, people were running through, Tara among them. The students, jeering and yelling, filtered into the streets- But Tara took an immediate right, towards the closest building façade. It portrayed a brick-and-mortar shop, with decorative ledges on each of its four floors. It was perfect for her.

With a jump and a strained flap of her wings, her claws dug into the first ledge, and she pulled herself up and jumped to the one above with another beat. She cleared it to the roof in what felt like 20 seconds; Not as fast as her tree climbing, but good enough. Immediately, she took off towards the right side of the gated faux-city, where not too many people would have made it to yet- Meaning more robots for her. She ran from roof to roof, making long jumps over gaps, until she reached the last row of buildings before the concrete wall.

The plan was simple. Her strength didn’t lie in facing enemies head-on, especially not ones of this size and speed. Her powers lay in the element of surprise and the nimbleness of flight. She would strike from above, disabling them outright, and upon success, make her way back the buildings. It was more time-consuming, but she would get much more done than if trying to fight at ground level.

Two one-wheeled robots careened down the street below, passing her without notice. There were no buttons to be seen on their bodies, making Tara’s job easier. She dropped from four stories high without hesitation, extending her wings just as she felt the adrenaline rush of falling, and dove down at breakneck speed onto the pair, grasping the backs of their metallic skulls with her talons and braking with her wings. The robots’ momentum carried their bodies forward while their heads snapped back- and cracked, exposing sparking wires at the neck as the robots fell backwards and crashed loudly into the pavement, where they lay still.

Tara had no time to enjoy her victory as from a shadowed alley, something pounced- Landing inches away from her as she rolled aside. It was a four-legged, six feet tall robot reminiscent of a scorpion, with a tail that stretched to twice the length of its body, and menacing eyes glowing red. It gave a snarl as it went for her again. Tara made for the concrete wall, jumping up, digging her talons in and flipping backwards, the robot narrowly avoiding crushing her as it rushed into the wall. She landed on its back, where a big red button presented itself to her. She jammed her fist into it hard enough to crack the plastic it was made out of, and the machine thudded down onto the floor.

Her plan had gone sour almost immediately, but still she went for the buildings, this time making a speedier ascent due to a conveniently placed fire escape. Four points down, she thought, panting. However many it takes to go.

 

[Satoren]

As the large doors grunted open, Ren pulled his mask down and took a deep breath. He looked above the many heads of fellow examinees in front of him and noted a large machine peeking from behind the arena entrance they were scrambling to squeeze through. The robot was roughly 50 feet tall, standing about twice that distance away from where the examinees were. On either side of it, two rows of ruined buildings stood, possibly covering any accomplices it might've had.

Pushing forward into a jog, he noted the previously cramped crowd of students thin out into three lines. Several of them opted to run to either side, likely to take cover and approach the machine stealthily. The last group, notably made up mostly of Mutant type Quirk users, were charging forward, some of them yelling ecstatically. Whether they were being reckless or knew what they were doing, Ren didn't know; What he knew was that this test was a race, and those facing the challenge head-on had the right idea.

Ren accelerated his step, making sure to stay in the thick of the crowd of students. A hand close to the bag strapped to his right thigh, he noted the robot's movement as it, too advanced forward. Its steps were slow and heavy, shaking the ground with each foot it planted. Its arms waved forward; large menacing claws clicking open and close. Ren watched the five red lights shining from its head focus down on him and the others, emulating a cold and murderous gaze. He then looked over at the large compartments on its shoulders and hips; no doubt containing non-lethal smoke bombs to disperse the group.

It's likely it'll try to use those on us when we're within striking distance, he thought to himself. I only have six rounds with me, and I can't waste them all on just one of them. I'll have to wait until I can get in close, but...

Before he could finish his thought, the latches on the robot's shoulders flipped open revealing a set of 16 missiles on each shoulder. The projectiles shot out of their containers, breaking into a large formation. As they whistled through the air towards the young students, Ren instinctively cried out- "Incoming! Take Cover!!"

Although that was what he instructed, Ren did not follow suit. Taking another deep breath, he pushed his legs to accelerate further. All around him were the sounds of panicking examinees and missiles hissing out smoke. He kept running, trying to push his legs to the limit. The large robot's gaze did not follow him as he looked ahead, this was his chance. As he got closer, he pulled out a pistol-like device from his beltbag and raised it forward, aiming at the robot's legs. Pulling the trigger, a block-like magnet tied to a line shot out of the pistol's front and flew towards the machine.

Seeing the magnet tipped-line wound tightly around the robot's thigh, Ren pressed a button on the pistol and it suddenly pulled him forward towards the robot. He braced his feet against the metal giant's leg as he landed and then looked upward at the colossus; its head unable to look directly down at where he was.

Pressing another button to dislodge the grappling line, Ren began to hoist himself up onto the robot's hip. then continued to climb upward, careful not to lose a step every time his adversary moved forward. He climbed past the robot's torso and chest, and then up onto its shoulder.

From that vantage, he could see it- a fairly conspicuous button that was sitting right on top of the machine's head. Planting his feet, Ren then leapt from the robot's shoulder onto the flat surface of its head where the button was. Quickly he slammed his fist down onto the button, and in doing so caused the machine to lurch forward and eventually stop. As its numerous systems began to deactivate, Ren took a moment to sit himself down and catch his breath. Although he had ran through a similar situation several times, this was the first time that it wasn't a simulation. He surveyed the arena from where he sat, and saw smaller robots on either side of the large one he just deactivated.

His breathing returning to normal, Ren stood back up. He reached into his bag and took out another magnetic hook, which he proceeded to slide into place on his grappling pistol.

"Five left," he said to himself as he proceeded to get down from his resting spot.

 

[Shiny Motley]

Finally, she was here. Among the many people milling about NIHA stood a six-foot tall girl, a large, dark green hoodie covering most of the upper half of her body and a small drawstring bag on her back. Robin stared at the building before her, practically vibrating with excitement. She hadn't been sure if she was going to even make it this far, with such a silly and niche Quirk, but somehow she'd gotten the recommendations in middle school and passed the interview process well enough to get here.

She glanced around, hoping to gauge some of the competition. However, not many people seemed to be too willing to mingle, which meant almost everyone was keeping their cards close to their chest. Which was probably fine; all she really needed to do was get into the top whatever percentage. It shouldn't matter what everyone else's Quirks were, she should be focusing on her own skills. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves, though all that did was fill the surgical mask on her face with condensation.

She heard something over the PA system, but barely registered what was going on as she followed the crowd of students towards the central canopy. Too hyped up in anticipation, Robin almost didn't catch the contents of the entrance exam as Caduceus explained them to everyone. Thankfully, she did manage to grasp the important parts by glancing at the slides shown. Three point tiers, three ways to disable them. It was a simple enough system, she thought, though she wasn't sure what kind of strategy to use. I probably shouldn't go for the three-pointers, she thought to herself. I'm not really skilled enough to handle those yet.

Before she even knew what was happening, the swarm of people around her surged forward, and Robin nearly tripped as she was pushed along. Almost everyone appeared eager to prove themselves; why wouldn't they be? They'd all worked hard to get to this point. Several students had somehow made it past the rest of the pack with the help of their Quirks; if only she'd been lucky enough to win the superpower lottery like them...

When she finally made it past the large doors, most of the other examinees had already dispersed and were busy fighting the various exam robots around. Not wanting to fall too far behind, Robin flung her arm towards the nearest building and a long, white rope with a grappling hook shot out from her sleeve, which caught onto a ledge. Using her momentum, Robin swung forward and opened her bag, from which a similarly white parachute appeared, allowing her to float downwards easily. She spotted one of the colored one-pointers and unhooked the rope she was using earlier, aiming at the deactivation button.

Right as her rope hit its target, Robin heard the sound of more mechanical whirring coming from behind her. She spun around and shot out her other arm, from which a large web-like sheet appeared. The sheet entangled the robot and allowed her to decapitate it with a swift tug from her rope. Two points down; not bad, but she was going to have to step up her game if she wanted to place well enough.

She barely had time to process anything else when large, scorpion-esque robot appeared before her. It charged towards her almost as soon as she'd spotted it, and she just managed to narrowly leap away. A two-pointer; tougher than the one-pointers she'd seen earlier, but should still be within her skills to take down. She found the two capture buttons, and wrapped her rope around the robot's tail so that she could swing onto its back. She jammed her thumbs on the buttons and mentally counted the full two seconds, before releasing. That was more like it. As long as she kept up this pace, she should hopefully do well enough to place into the top however many it took to get into the school.

 

[Mr.RMA]

And he thought piddling little Columbus was a big city...

Chicago's skyline was nearly enough to completely take Gil's breath away. No question this was the right sort of place for a school of this reputation. By all accounts this was the big leagues, and despite everything, he had managed to make it this far. He'd felt pretty good about that, to say the least. Being seen as a prospect worth looking at definitely stroked at his ego, and this was ultimately a good thing too. After all, said ego was essentially the thin shell that kept his insecurities from taking over and having him immediately flee for the next plane back home. He had to have confidence, and he had to show it...

As such, the young man strolled into the convening of fellow applicants with a smug grin on his face, seemingly ignoring the fact that he was wearing sunglasses on a rainy day, or that he was wearing sandals to a physical exam. At the very least his tweed jacket was appropriate to repel the rainfall, so it served some kind of purpose. His strode up to the lunch spread as if he were some kind of celebrity getting the red carpet treatment, while of course, hardly anyone was paying any attention to him outside of a stifled chuckle or two at his attire. He attempted to pay them no mind as he awkwardly began to grab and munch at a tray of cheese cubes, his smirk having shifted to more of a shaking neutral expression by the time they had all been called up to the center and Caduceus began to explain the rules of the exam. He was sure he'd heard of a hero like her in the rescue trade before, but at that particular moment his nervousness was getting at him to such an extent he could hardly put forth the effort to remember any particular details. Her reputation wasn't the most important thing at the moment anyways. He had to figure out a strategy, his quirk wasn't going to be taking out swarms of these creatures, and he wasn't going to be breaking any speed records either, he had to use his brain if he was going to pass this test, and for that... he needed more time to think.

As soon as the gate began to open, Gil was one of the masses to swarm in as quickly as possible, but as soon as he did, he hastily made a throat-slash gesture, and the world itself seemed to come to complete stop. Of course, it hadn't really, despite the fact that being such a master of time would definitely have proven a much greater advantage, but instead, it was as if Gil was able to stop himself at this very moment and perceive the world from this one still-frame for as long as he wanted before it all resumed. Droplets of rain hung in suspension like floating glass bulbs, the crowd of his peers all frozen in place with their various looks of determination, some of them clearly already putting their own quirks to good use if that blob up ahead was any indicator. With a bit of a struggle, Gil could move his eyes and mouth but nothing else. That was all he needed though, the chance to scope out this training ground for a moment, draw out the best path to take. The larger pathways would certainly be taken by the largest masses, and therefore, only the speediest would be able to take out the bots over there. He needed to aim for narrower, darker regions, out of the way, easy to miss in such an adrenaline-pumping rush. Surely, a test like this would offer such a reward for quick observance, and after a matter of moments he proved himself right. Spotting the subtly placed corner he was looking for, Gil had his direction all set. Now it was just lights, camera...

"Action."

With that, reality was back in motion. Gil darted for his targeted pathway, clutching his forehead in pain for a moment before forcefully shaking that irritation off. He couldn't worry about those side-effects now, he had much bigger fish to fry. Indeed, as he made his way further down the path, he saw those metaphorical fish up ahead, in the form of several "villains", still ready for a beating. He had to act fast, with about 100 kids here at once, someone was bound to get here eventually, and he couldn't leave them any stragglers. Running directly for the robots, he quickly got their attention, placing himself in a loose sort of boxing position as he attempted to have as many of them come for him at once. He dodged a few swipes of their metal arms before noticing something unfortunate... He had hoped the majority of these guys would be of the fraction with some kind of deactivation button on them, but he couldn't spot any sort on the ones that were being particularly aggressive...

"Alright, plan B, goddammit think of a plan B," he gasped out to himself as his dodges became a bit more difficult to continue. He started to notice at least one of the robots' lunges going particularly far back after missing him... Enough to potentially hit something else... A new plan lit up in his brain and he hastily made a stretching motion with his hands, this time having time slow down instead of simply stop. His motions were slowed as well, but his mind was still working at full capacity. Timing things just right, he rolled past one robot's arm as it came down at him, just as another one of the bots, having eased back for another strike, began its next lunge. With another "Action," Gil could see the proceeding events go down just the way he'd hoped. The second robot found its punch being blocked by the first one's chassis. The unintended target sparked for a bit before deactivating, and the attacker found its arm jammed in the fallen machine's innards. Gil scrambled up the arm to reach the head of the machine, holding tightly to its neck with one arm as he waved and yelled at a third robot to provoke it. Fortunately it seemed intent on attacking him no matter what was at risk of getting struck collaterally, and as he went into slo-mo to time his jump just right, he managed to leap over the punching arm and on top of the third robot as it was dummied into scoring Gil his second take-down. This third one, to his relief, did have a big deactivation button on it, which he quickly pressed. Three down now... and no matter how many points they were, there was no way that would be enough on its own. Taking a moment to catch his breath, Gil ran away from the junk heap to see if he could use that little tactic of his to create another one. Hopefully he'd run into a few more with buttons though...

 

[Tailon]

Chris was not counting his points. He moved like a dervish through the area, pulling left out of the doorway in search of three pointers. On the few occasions he would return to his human body, it was only to scan the area, eyes wide in a state of hyperfocus. Shortly into the exam the first three pointer fell, audible throughout the arena. Chris swore, and immediately veered away from the sound, crushing the head of a two pointer scorpion with a distorted limb.

Weaving through the buildings, Chris heard a metallic groan. Swinging around, he spotted the second three pointer, yellow decals indicating it was to be deactivated. Chris's arm immediately dissolved into turbulent shadow. Breaking into a run, he tossed the clawed tendril at the machine, catching hold and swinging around wide like a spider, landing his feet on its back. Transforming his other arm, Chris quickly jammed a hard claw into the machine's plating, repeating back and forth as he clawed his way up its back. The robot swung around frantically, trying to reach him, but with one final leap, Chris transformed fully into the wraith, climbing high before slamming a black fist into the deactivation button.

The three pointer deactivated immediately with a loud, electrical sound. As it keeled over, Chris rode it down, leaping off as it crashed into the pavement and landing several feet away. With a roll of his head and a scowl, he transformed again, speeding away to try and find more.

 

[Dark Soul]

Tara was starting to feel the spirit of the hunt flowing through her veins, and she couldn’t help but crack a smile as the took another leap off the roof she was on to a roof below, her wings keeping her momentum so even that she didn’t even have to tuck and roll. This was the part of her Quirk that she could enjoy; The wind blowing against her face as she moved at top speed, her legs catapulting her into the air and her wings carrying her on the wind, sometimes skipping over a building entirely and landing on the next. Still, though, finding prey was her priority.

She still kept to the sides of the arena, where her peers were scarcely seen. As she paused on the front ledge of a roof to survey the street, she did see one straggler- A scared-looking blue-haired boy who had just managed to trap a two-pointer in what looked like a giant blue bubble of chewing gum. The boy simply looked at it, gritting his teeth, unsure of how to proceed. Just then, the robot’s flat scorpion tail burst through the bubble- and that was all Tara needed.

She almost fell more than she dove, her wings barely slowing her descent, moreso guiding it, and she landed with a loud crash as her talons pierced through the sheet metal carapace. The robot’s legs buckled under the force of her momentum, and she already had both her hands on the two buttons the moment she landed. The scorpion barely had time to lift itself up before it fell back down, deactivated.

The bubblegum boy looked up at her with a mixture of awe and indignation on his face. “Sorry, man.” She said. “You’ll have to be faster next time.” And with that she ran off again towards an alleyway, where she took hold of a drainpipe and clambered her way up to the gutter. There was a commotion nearby; Several panicked screams and heavy impact noises that she’d only picked up on in the distance before.

Tara’s legs and wings carried her as fast as they could to the source of the commotion. She skidded to a halt just before reaching the edge, looking down at just what she had hoped to see; A three-pointer, caught up in a fight with three contestants who seemed to be doing little damage to it. It was a monster of a machine, walking on four legs the width of tree trunks, leading up to a square base with two barrel-sized clawed arms and two rocket launchers at its top, all in all reaching the size of a minivan. It was fearsome, for sure, and no buttons seemed to be present on it- But Tara had to try, to stay ahead of the game. She aimed for the back of the machine’s neck, took a leap…

… And the machine turned to her rapidly, its arm connecting with her at full speed the moment she got close. Tara had no time to brace before it pummeled into her side, throwing her into a nearby brick wall. She fell to the ground, breathless, barely staying conscious from the pain.

Something put its arms around her, and she tried to swat it away, before she realized it was a person. One of the combatants had run over from the robot while the other two kept it busy, one by throwing ice spikes, the other by jolting it with electric arcs. The one trying to get her back on her feet was a girl wearing a strange kind of thick armour plating that covered her head to toe, her face visible behind a transparent visor. “Are you alright?” The girl asked with a worried look. Tara rose to her feet with the girl’s support, and nodded while she clutched her side. Nothing feels broken, but damn, that hurt.

The girl gave a smile. “Good. I have to get back now, can’t miss out on the kill!” She ran back to the scene of the fight some thirty feet away, but halfway, there was a whirring sound and her armour rocketed off the ground with heat blasting from the soles of her boots, and the armour flew in an arc towards the robot. The girl brought both her arms down onto the robot’s shoulder, bursting through the armour and leaving the arm hanging limply by the robot’s side, smoking.

I can’t miss out, either. Tara almost felt guilty for wanting to steal this girl’s kill, but she wasn’t going to let that stand in the way. She stretched her wings, ignoring her pain the best she could, and started running.

The robot saw her again, and had already begun swing its remaining functional arm in her direction. The combat algorithms of these machines were top-notch, and that’s what made them so hard to kill. She could defeat it only by being faster than it, and doing what it didn’t expect her to.

When the arm stomped down at her, she didn’t go up high; She slid downward, missing the arm by inches, planted her feet on the ground and jumped up, reaching the robot’s head with a mighty beat of her wings. With all the force she could muster, she dug her sharp claws into the machine’s ‘throat’, and as she flew past she pulled with all her might. The metal bent and broke off, wires sparking underneath. The force of her pull made her fall back to the ground, where she barely avoided the robot’s frenzied legs; It was rampaging wildly now, and her other peers backed off.

The robot’s arm came down on her again, and as she twisted to avoid it, using her wings to steady herself, she made one more, desperate jump- onto the arm, giving her legs the platform they needed to push off. In mid-air, she threw her talons forward, one landing just below the robot’s head, and one into the hole she’d previously clawed, closing around the entire bundle of wires surrounding the cylindrical pivot there. She pulled her leg back, ripping every wire as it came out.

The machine crumpled into a heap, but not before every rocket in its two launchers went haywire at once, firing out over the three other fighters and barraging a set of storefronts. Glass shattered and brick cracked, and the roar of explosions was so loud it hurt Tara’s ears.

Tara jumped down to the ground, limbs trembling and her breathing heavy. “Shit, these things are way too much work.” She panted. “I’m sticking to two-pointers from now on.” The ice-spike guy and the electric girl looked at her with contempt, not even gracing her with a reply before the ran off in search of new enemies. The girl in armour, however, looked at Tara with something like excitement. “I hear you.” She said, and smiled from ear to ear. “After that takedown, I’d almost ask you to team up with me, but I guess that won’t do either of us a favour.”

Tara smiled back. “You look like you got it covered yourself.” She said. “Good luck.” The girl nodded excitedly. “You too!” She ran off, then stopped suddenly and turned. “I’m Chase, by the way. Let’s talk later!”

Tara waved as Chase ran away at full steam, then sat down on the destroyed robot’s leg and caught her breath. She still had a few kills left in her, but she wasn’t so desperate she wasn’t going to give herself a well deserved break.

 

[Mr.RMA]

Gil had managed to get the drop on some more robots, figuring out the best climbing method in order to reach whatever buttons they had, but still, just as often, he would run into more of those types without any of the buttons available, and he’d have to pull off a variation of that first group takedown. It seemed all well and good, but it was getting pretty evident that Gil was starting to feel the strain. He’d lost his sandals in the midst of the last couple of skirmishes, and his reaction time was starting to ebb. Still, he had to keep going… He could hear the sounds of dozens of these machines falling by the wayside off in the distance. These fellow applicants were cleaning house, and though he stopped counting his kill count by now, he knew whatever his number was, it wasn’t going to be enough. To hell with the exhaustion, he needed to get more points.

He ran into one a bit larger than what he was used to, most likely a 2-pointer, and attempted to activate slo-mo, but ironically enough, he was too slow to get the gesture out in time before he felt a heavy punch land against his cheek, launching him into the adjacent wall. His aviators fell to the ground, one lens cracked. Gil slipped them in his pants pocket, trying to ignore the searing pain near his jawline. That cheek was almost certainly going to start swelling up, he was lucky not to have lost any teeth from the combined impact of the strike and the wall. His vision started blurring, it was getting more difficult to breathe, each raindrop felt heavier, his muscles were getting slower. Everything seemed to be hinting at him to hang it up, he’d had enough, but he refused to heed the warnings. Gasping a little to catch his breath, he turned to the machine as it appeared to be going after another kid, one that seemed to be shooting some kind of fire energy at it. A distraction… he needed to capitalize on this. Standing up, he briefly flinched to grasp at his stricken cheek before letting out a loud grunt to push through it, running up to the 2-pointer and making the stretching motion with his hands. As everything slowed, the pain he was feeling was lessened ever so slightly, and he could concentrate on the best point of attack. The robot had positioned itself in just the right way to climb up its back if he was precise with his steps. He had to be all the more careful with the rainfall for that matter, one slip and he was going tumbling right back down. Pushing himself off the ground, he managed to latch onto the mechanically simulated villain and scurry his way up to the top of it. The spots in his eyes nearly had him missing the capture buttons beneath him, but he managed to nonetheless press down on them both as he muttered “action” to bring time back to normal. In a matter of seconds, the machine crumpled to the ground, and the pain all came back to Gil in droves as he stumbled off the felled bot. The fire user merely ran off, of course not caring in the slightest about whether Gil was alright or not. Likely most of them didn’t care, not with the stakes so high.

Staggering his way through the area as the minutes were surely starting to wind down, still in search of more points, Gil spotted it… That was a three pointer up ahead, no doubt about it. It was too big and menacing to be anything else. Leaning against a building to steady himself, he pushed off the structure to force his legs to sprint towards the highly valued target. Several others were all trying to do damage to the machine from various angles, all of them clearly hoping to get the finishing blow. Though his mind wasn’t at 100 percent at that moment, Gil nonetheless decided to risk a pause as he made another throat-slicing motion, observing the sight, looking around desperately for the best possible way to take this vicious thing down. That’s when he noticed the rocket… it had been just recently launched from the look of it, and it was aimed right for a kid looking off in the other direction. That brief distraction was all it would take, no way would he be able to dive out of the way before the rocket reached him… Gil wanted points, he wanted to get into this school, it had been his dream now for years, but what the hell was a hero if they didn’t save people in danger…

As soon as Gil said “action” once more, he activated slo-mo as he ran towards the unsuspecting target of the 3-pointer, using as much energy as he could to dive for him, pushing him out of the way as the rocket detonated upon hitting the ground. The boy might’ve been out of vicinity of the blast, but Gil could tell he hadn’t been entirely granted the same privilege. Well, there was no point in delaying it… He weakly murmured one last “action” to let time resume, feeling himself flying off and thudding into the pavement, definitely feeling some bones crack on impact. He had enough energy to toss his jacket aside as he felt it catch fire from short distance of the explosion, but that was about the limit of what he could do. One of his legs was burning in pain, and the other… well… he couldn’t even really feel it that much at all. What he could feel was someone dragging him away from the chaos of the fight, under what little shelter there was left after all the action that had transpired.

“Hey… sorry I… got you hurt there… Thanks for getting me out of the way for what it’s worth…” he heard someone say to him before running off. So he was safe… That was good at least, Gil figured… A shame it had to take him out of commission. He did his best to stay conscious, wanting to at least be awake by the time the exam ended. At the very least he could show he wasn’t that weak…

 

[Rex]

He'd lost count of how many of these stupid things he'd broken. He'd mostly stuck with that type, not wanting to repeat his brush with multiple broken bones from his last go at deactivating one. His guns certainly gave him an advantage, allowing him to boost his score from range. He'd certainly stolen his fair share of kills from some of the more physically inclined students. He responded to their dirty looks with a teeth bearing smirk. It was a dog-eat-dog world out there, best they learn that now. This wasn't like other schools, where having a flashy Quirk made you the coolest kid around. Here you actually had to work to get ahead.

He blasted another two pointer, the larger bot took a pair of shots from both guns to go down. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Jake noted that that shouldn't be right. They might have been larger, but he doubted they were any more impervious to electrical attacks. A one pointer, capture this time, closed distance and made to attack him. The raccoon leapt to the side, holstering his guns.

"Come on, I don't have time for you or your d'asted buttons," he grunted. The robot, unfortunately, had more than enough time for him, though. He rushed past it as it tried to wheel around to face him, then ducked into a nearby alley, much too thin for the stupid think to follow. Fortunately for him, the robot he found waiting on the other side was a destruction type. Less fortunately, it was a large three pointer. Jake didn't regret the form he'd chosen for himself, but it sure made height differences a lot more ridiculous. Still, a grin split his face, and he drew his guns again.

"You'll make a good trophy." He squeezed the trigger of the gun in his right hand. It sparked and fizzled. He pulled the trigger on the gun in his left, it did much the same. "Flark."

Of course, they would choose now to break down. Perhaps it was the rain, perhaps his modifications weren't as good as he thought, maybe he just straight up overused them. They were useless junk now, all the same. He threw them to the side, looked up at the three pointer and growled, "Guess I'll have to break you the old fashioned way!"

It was big and imposing, but its size would also be its greatest weakness. He dropped onto all fours and rushed for its side. The large machine reared back it's car sized arm and tried to bring it down on top of him, but he feinted to the other side. The arm came down beside him, he felt kicked up asphalt scratch at his clothes and skin. He kept running, not wanting to give the machine another chance. Moving quickly, the raccoon hauled his way up the machine's front, then squeezed between its head and shoulder-mounted rocket launcher - wait a second.

"You've got some serious ordinance for a training bot," Jake grinned, "Let's see if we can do something with that." Now was a good time for his Quirk. The raccoon raised his fist, mentally imagining all his excess mass packing itself into the limb. Then he punched in the edging between two of the plates. He cursed, it hurt, but it had also done its job. There was enough space for him to reach in and pull the armor plate out of the way, revealing the wiring inside. Now for the hard part.

Rocket Raccoon could rewrite machines like this on the fly. If he wanted to live up to the form he called his own, Jake needed to be able to do that, too. He tugged at some of the wiring experimentally, then yanked a couple out and started splitting them. The raccoon - Jake, not Rocket - had built a turret once or twice, this mechanism shouldn't be too different. He grabbed two of the wires and twisted them together. One of the rockets fired, blowing out a storefront. Not the best use of a limited resource, but at least he knew it worked.

It didn't take long for a real target to reveal itself - that damn capture-bot from before came plowing out of one of the buildings neighboring the alley he'd escaped through. He wouldn't get any points for destroying it, but it was pissing him all all the same. He twisted another set of wires, the one pointer didn't have any time to react before it was smashed in the chest by a missile, which quickly detonated.

"Blam, murdered you!" the raccoon yelled over the sound of the explosion. Another one pointer and a pair of two pointers, all destruction types, were all quickly destroyed as well, emptying the launcher. On this side, at least. He scrambled over the machine's head, dodging its large stupid hands as they tried to grab him, and slid down to the launcher on the other side. Now it was time for a real lightshow. He repeated his personal method of gaining entry, then started pulling out wires.

"Now, all I have to do is disable to firing mechanism, and," he grinned to himself again. The raccoon yanked out a distressingly large bundle of wires, and then ran like his life depended on it. Because it did. He'd barely gotten back to the ground when the entire launcher exploded, taking out the machine's head and a fair amount of its side. He didn't stop running until he felt a rather large piece of debris slice through his side, bringing Jake to the ground.

He rolled over onto his back, looking down at the wound. It was on his left side, deep, his shirt and coat were well and truly ruined, cut open and blood stained. The fingers on his left hand were unaligned from punching the metal as well, and he had a few cuts on his right arm and leg from flying asphalt. His pants were likely also ruined. He focused through the pain, picturing his left side sealed up and repaired, as his Quirk made it so. Then he climbed to his feet as he fixed his hand, and then the cuts on his right limbs. Soon, all that was left to say he had been injured was the blood soaked into his fur and clothes, and the damage said garments had taken.

He still had some time, even though his guns were gone. Jake knew better than to try and tangle with another three pointer, though, and didn't like the idea of fiddling around the wiring of a smaller bot that might actually be able to reach him. Looked like he was going to be tangling with the capture and disable bots for the rest of the exam.

 

[Shiny Motley]

"18," Robin muttered as she managed to hit the capture buttons on yet another two-pointer. She hadn't seen a single-pointer for a while now, likely because most of the ones in the area had already been taken by others. Thankfully, she also hadn't seen any three-pointers yet. She knew there were probably a lot of people out there aiming to grab as many of those as they could, but she really didn't have the ability to take one down herself, not without seriously injuring herself. From the corner of her eye, she spotted another two-pointer, this one to be destroyed. She threw her rope towards its legs, but before it even reached them it exploded right in front of her eyes.

"Ya gotta be faster than that!" she heard someone say. She didn't bother looking for the source of the voice; there had been plenty of people taunting her and stealing her kills, especially now that most of the small fry were gone. She knew she had to be more assertive, but it just felt wrong taking credit for something someone else had done. Heroes should work together to help others out, instead of impeading each other to see who's the strongest, she thought to herself. She sighed and aimed her rope at the building closest to her, hoping to get high enough to find more robots to claim.

Robin had only just gotten herself into the air when she heard the sound of things crashing. She turned her head towards the sound and saw a large, mechanical beast barreling towards her. She didn't even need to look at the decal to know that it was a three-pointer. Someone else could deal with that, she thought as she prepared to flee the area. She honestly didn't think she had the skills to stop it, not with the flimsy rope she was hanging on nor with the torn net still dangling off of the remains of a couple of two-pointers.

Before she could make her getaway, however, she saw a boy leap behind the three-pointer, which turned and released a barrage of bullets towards him. He deftly dodged them all and leaped onto its back. The robot didn't seem too pleased with this, shaking back and forth in an effort to dislodge him. The action appeared to disorient him, for he let go and started falling towards the ground.

Without thinking, Robin redirected her rope to swing towards him. He was too far away for her to him get to him on time, so she took off her hood, revealing her long, white hair. She willed it to grow and somehow just managed to catch him on a mattress of the soft, fluffy matterial. "You alright?" she asked as she ran over towards him.

"Dude, what was that for? I don't need your help!" he said, shouting loudly at her over the rain. She flinched, and covered herself with as much of her hair as she could. She shouldn't be here, she thought. She wasn't cut out to be a hero like everyone else. Why did she think this would be a good idea? Maybe she should head home and call it a day before she seriously hurt herself like he almost did-

Another loud crashing sound interrupted Robin from her thoughts, and she spun around, prepared to either take on the source of the noise or flee should the situation be too dangerous. She was not prepared to see the three-pointer the boy had been flung off of toppling over the thick, white rope she'd been using to swing from building to building, its pieces clattering around them.

"Great, and you've even taken my points now!" the other examinee exclaimed. "Thanks for nothing." He stormed off, muttering something under his breath as she stared in shock at the now-destroyed robot in front of her. Apparently, that flimsy rope she'd been using actually wasn't so flimsy at all.

"... 21," she said, still stunned from the turn of events, before she absentmindedly stumbled away from the site.

 

[Satoren]

Ren noted that the robots seemed to be clustered into groups. After disabling another three-pointer, he observed that the smaller ones always seemed to be found nearby. One large three-pointer, a small group of five or six two-point robots, and then about a dozen one-pointers. As the robot he was currently standing on began to topple forward, Ren braced himself for the impact while mentally keeping score.

I took two of these big ones down, two medium ones, and four small ones. All in all that's 14 points. I also have three hooks left, he thought to himself. Looking down at the fast-approaching ground, Ren suddenly saw several figures framed in the robot's shadow. Ren looked closer to find that it was several one point robots all huddled together. No, they were surrounding someone! A young man was fighting them off in vain, all of them too focused on one another to notice the mammoth machine about to topple on top of them.

"Two hooks left," Ren prematurely corrected himself as he aimed his grappling pistol at a nearby building. Once it had stuck itself to the wall, the young man jumped off the large robot's head and swung around where the smaller robots were swarming the student.

"Give me your hand!" he yelled over to him. The boy and the robots all turned their head towards him as he swooped in. Quickly, the lad raised his arm up as Ren closed in. He grabbed the boy's arm and hoisted him up to cling to his torso as the two swung away from the horde. The robots could do nothing but gawk at their fast-disappearing targets before the larger robot came crashing down on them.

Ren released the hook from his pistol as the two were close to the ground and they both stuck the landing with a thud of their shoes. The two boys looked over at the spot where they had been only seconds ago, now being rested upon by a large machine and many smaller broken ones piled under it. The boy's eyes widened in shock at realizing how close he had been to being crushed by that same robot. Ren however only gave off an expression as neutral as the markings on his mask.

"Do you suppose those count for both of us?" he asked.

 

[Tailon]

"2 minutes remaining," The P.A. crackled throughout the exam area as Chris crushed the head of a one pointer. Good, he was beginning to grow tired anyway, the last few bots had been taken out with little more than a hardened kick or a button press, and transforming fully for traversal was growing more difficult. Shaking himself to stem the fatigue, Chris rushed off, hoping to find one or two more bots before time was up.

Two minutes later, Chris was out of luck. Most of the bots had been destroyed at this point and whatever last few straggler bots remained just happened to not be near enough to reach. With a whine, the P.A. turned on again, and Caduceus's voice rang out through the space, "That concludes the examination, please make your way back to the stage for the score announcement!"

The students filed diligently back to the gates, some having to stop at or be retrieved by a nursing unit with healing Quirks. As the prospective students arrived at the stage, the screen lit up again, and scores began scrolling up from the bottom as Caduceus said, "Congratulations on making it through the NIHA Entrance Exam, and to those of you whose scores are among the top 30 testers, congratulations on joining our new class! If you've made it into the top 30, please proceed to the building on my right, your parents will meet you in order to fill out some paperwork and get more information on the next steps in your admittance process."

Chris scowled as #1 appeared with 44/34, but quickly became enraged when his own name appeared second, with 74 Villain points and only 3 Rescue points, just a single point behind #1. Fuming, Chris turned on his heel and stormed off toward the admissions building, barely composing himself enough to tell his parents the good news, tainted though it was in his mind.

 

[Satoren]

Ren fashioned his last grappling hook into a lasso and flung it over at a pair of two-pointers. As it dropped onto their shoulders, he then gave a mighty tug which slammed the robots heads together in a tight embrace. He quickly dashed over to them as they struggled to seperate themselves while maintaining balance. Leaping onto their backs, he found both their deactivation switches and held them down. The lights in the robots' eyes faded as they crumpled into a deactivated slump.

As Ren retrieved his grappling hook's line, the PA system crackled out an announcement. Though somewhat muffled by all the noise, Ren could just make out that it was announcing the event drawing to a close. Looking around him, he saw many of the other examinees running off in different directions; metal carnage and robot corpses in their wake. Ren sprinted off a different direction himself, even though he didn't think he could find more robots in time. "Who knows, I might get lucky," Ren mused to himself with a chortle.

Ren was unable to find anymore robots to fight. The other kids with more offense-based Quirks swiftly went to work on the ones that remained. The most he could do was survey the area and see if there was anyone injured or trapped in the rubble. This was an entrance exam to a Hero school after all, and there's more to being a hero than beating up robots. Some hero academies are known to secretly have judges review the exam, giving extra points to those who went out of their way to help others on the field. While they liked to think of it as a secret test of character, it was a pretty well-known secret to the public, who looked forward to the annual exams and the potential viral videos of it that end up online.

-----

Returning later to the stage area, Ren glanced at the other examinees waiting alongside him for the final scores. Some of the students were already on their phones, eager to see if videos of the exam had already been uploaded. Ren considered doing that himself, but then pondered if his performance was even blog-worthy. Compared to the kids with the flashier and stronger Quirks, it was unlikely. He decided to save watching the exam's coverage for later. At least he had an evening of profiling the other students' abilities and Quirks to look forward to.

The crowd of examinees then stopped its whispering, only to follow it up with loud applause as Caduceus made her way back onstage. The stage's curtains parted away to reveal the large monitor once again as the heroine adjusted the microphone on its stand. Though Caduceus was giving a speech congratulating the examinees and giving further instructions on what to do afterwards, all eyes were on the monitor behind her, waiting for it to list the 30 students who were making it into NIHA. Finally, as the speakers played a drum roll the monitor lit up and shapes and letters began lining up on its screen. It was time for the moment of truth.

Ren rested his teeth on his lower lip as he saw names slowly being listed on the monitor. So far, his name had not appeared; but he took note of the points that the top scorers had. As he suspected, there were indeed rescue points awarded alongside 'villain' points. The scores so far varied from person to person. The top scorer had a somewhat even amount of villain and rescue points, but others below him would mostly have higher villain scores than rescue ones.

Finally, he saw it; though he was very surprised that it would be so high up on the list. Excitement welled up in Ren's chest and traveled up his throat as his name appeared on the list. Ranked at 7th place, he scored a total of 32 Villain points and 28 Rescue points; a somewhat even spread.

Ren pulled down his mask as he made his way to the next room where the other qualifiers had entered. His eyes were starting to tear up, and his mouth widened into an almost painful smile. He did not expect to place as well as he did. For a rare moment. he felt an immense amount of pride seeing his name; a pride he hadn't felt in a long time.

 

[Rex]

He was on the back of one of the capture robots, cursing under his breath, when the announcement came through. Two minutes to quitting time. He hadn't done so well since he'd lost his guns, he'd had to avoid the odd destruction type completely. Perhaps if he used Copycat like he had while taking down the three pointer, he could have destroyed a few more. Rocket Raccoon was not a shapeshifter though. Jake could justify in the heat of the moment using Copycat to gain access to the robots insides so he could take it down in a more Rocket-like fashion, and he could justify using his Quirk to heal his wounds. He could not justify using it to outright breaking the machines. If he wanted to play at super strength, he'd be a different hero.

The robot underneath him finally deactivated. Jake leaped from its back as it fell, and hit the ground running. Capture Bots seemed to make up the majority of the remaining robots, their two second timer dissuading potential students who wanted to score as much as they could as quickly as they could. Likewise, he hadn't seen very many two or three pointers in some time. Speak of the devil though, there was a two pointer now. His running had taken Jake far away from the sounds of the other students, this bot was well and truly isolated. Perfect prize for him.

The raccoon ran at his target from the side, dodging its scorpion tail, and hauled himself up its leg. He threw himself at the bot's button, and slammed it down mere seconds before the announcement was made of time up. No one could see him where he was, so Jake allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief. It had been hard, but he was certain he scored well. He took the time to heal any remaining cuts and scrapes he's gotten, a bunch of small things, mostly, then proceeded back towards the staging area.

Jake looked a mess, but he didn't need any help from the school's nurses. He walked right past them, ignoring any calls they may have made for him to come back. His tail flicked back and forth in agitation, he was fully back into his Rocket persona around other people. He ignored the hero as she prattled on about how everyone worked so hard, there was only room for thirty students in this class and the raccoon intended to be one of them. He watched the monitor behind her as it finally lit up and started displaying names.

First and second place had gotten point totals in the seventies, completely blowing the rest of them out of the water. Jake noticed that the top scorer had a decent total of 'rescue' points, more than his villain points in fact. The raccoon scowled slightly. They were being tested on that? Surely if all the students here were expecting to get into a school like NIHA, they wouldn't need rescuing from a bunch of attack robots. But there it was, apparently part of being a hero was saving other schmucks who thought they were heroes.

When his name appeared, the raccoon smirked. Fifty-two and five points, he'd netted ninth place. He said he'd make top ten, and he certainly had. Had his guns not fizzled out, Jake was certain he could have gotten even higher. His internal celebration was short lived, however, when the hero said something that made Jake's blood chill.

Their parents were going to be meeting them to finalize the paperwork. Jake looked down at his bloody and torn clothes. His parents were going to kill him. He nearly broke character in that moment. Instead, he set his jaw, and started marching towards the building Caduceus pointed out. He was going to have to face the music, might as well get it over with.

 

[Shiny Motley]

The last few minutes had been mostly unfruitful for her; anytime she'd gotten lucky enough to find a potential target, someone else beat her to the punch and would steal it. It also didn't help that her grappling hook had broken from all her swinging around, so she'd had to rely on running from place to place while also making sure she didn't slip in any of the puddles from the rain. If she had had any energy left, Robin might've cheered when she heard the announcement signaling the end of the exam. As it were, however, she was far too tired to even stand up properly, having to lean against a wall to keep herself from tripping over her own feet. She dragged herself over to the gate where she and everyone else had entered from. 23 points. Hopefully that would be enough to get into the school, but after having seen so many other people and their Quirks, she was fairly certain she probably didn't make it in. Well, there was always the El Paso exam I could go to next week, she thought to herself. That one would be much closer to home and probably save both her and her parents some money. It's not as prestigious as NIHA, but it'll probably good enough, I hope.

Deep down, however, Robin really hoped she'd somehow, miraculously made it into the school. She glanced up at the screen Caduceus was standing next to, and- wait, what? She had to double check and make sure she was seeing right, but there her name was at ranking number 22, with 23 Villain points and 10 Rescue points, for a total of 33 points. The 10 Rescue points surprised her. Was it for "saving" the guy who fell from the three-pointer? She couldn't think of any other time she might've done any rescuing, so it was probably that.

As she proceeded to the next building, Robin couldn't help but skip a little as she walked. She tried to brush it off in her mind as limping from exhaustion, but the wide grin on her face made it obvious to anyone around what she was really feeling.

 

[Dark Soul]

When the voice of Caduceus rang through the speakers, indicating that the exam was two minutes away from ending, Tara grunted and pulled back her arm through the hole between the one-pointer’s shoulderblades that it’d made seconds before. Around her, people were starting to panic somewhat, running off wildly in different directions to find some last-minute prey.

After the harrowing encounter with the three-pointer and her thirty-second breather, Tara’d had some sixteen minutes left to make up lost ground, and she felt like she’d done so quite well. At this point in time the population of robots had been at its peak, and some of them were crowding central streets, making for easy picking from the air as her peers on the ground distracted the machines. She’d overestimated the defenses of the robots at first; Their metal shells gave way to her sharp claws and gripping talons quite easily, which shouldn’t have as as much of a surprise as it did. Her talons could dig into stone walls deep enough to support her weight.

Her breathing was ragged, her wings were beginning to cause a sprain in her shoulders, but still she went in the direction she was most used to taking- Up. One labored ascent later, she was running alongside the storefront roofs one last time, feeling the seconds tick away. A one-pointer popped out of the hidden crevices between buildings and before any of the prospective students near it could react she was on it, smashing it against the stone wall and turning it around with one talon to press its bright red button, a second before the last announcement rang out, indicating the end.

A chorus of groans came from the people around her, but Tara let out a relieved laugh as she rested her hands on her knees. She had to have made it into the top thirty contestants- she wasn’t about to believe all her hard work had been for nothing.

Painstakingly, her wings folded in on themselves and against her back, groaning as they moved. There was a burning and tugging sensation in her back muscles and she knew she would be sore as all hell tomorrow, but she knew she would do it all again if she had to. She joined up with her peers, who’d started to make their way back to the grounds outside the gate.

There was only the slightest murmur around the central stage. Everyone was too focused on the giant screen behind Caduceus, anxiously waiting to see their name pop up. Caduceus congratulated the soon-to-be-known winners and gave instructions, then the summary began. The top result astounded Tara- 78 points, of which 44 for destroying villains and… 34 for rescue? Tara bit her lower lip. She had done little to no rescuing during the exam. There was one occasion where she’d shielded a cowering boy from the debris of a three-pointer’s rocket fire with her wings, but Tara could think of little else. She wondered if she would really have altered her plan had she known about rescue points. Rescuing took up a lot more time than battle.

The screen slowly filled up with names, making the tension in the crowd rise tangibly. At the halfway point, Tara’s heart skipped a beat as she saw her name pop up and she gasped loud enough to make people around her look. 15th place, with 44 points; 39 for villains and 5 for rescue.

Tara’s chest could barely contain her joy. Her talons were ripping into the grass below her as she waited out the full list, after which the tension faltered and the crowd parted, most people moping away in various directions. The lucky few made their way to the building Caduceus had instructed them to go. Tara couldn’t wait to see the smiles on Archeus’ and Mel’s faces.

 

[Mr.RMA]

When he heard the two-minute warning blare from the P.A. system, Gil tried to pick himself back up, but his legs just weren't working for him. Not enough to get on his feet without some considerable agony at least. He couldn't stand this, this helplessness while everyone else got their last few points in. There was little else he could do... so he moved his arms in a rolling motion, and the world sped up around him. The physical pain didn't feel any better, speeding up like this, but it was better than just waiting for 120 seconds or so like a useless extra in the back of a scene, blurred from view, forgetting where his blocking was. Best to get it over with.

In no time he heard the P.A. go off again, slowing back down to normal time just to hear the back end of the announcement that they were all to be called back to the stage. He made to crawl his way out, but thankfully it appeared the medical personnel were quick to scoop him up and carry him back at a much faster rate. Someone with quite the efficient healing quirk worked their magic and Gil felt all the momentum and strength in his legs return, pulling himself back onto his feet with a moment of rejuvenation, though that rather quickly shifted to dread once he looked up to see the scoreboard... He didn't count his kills but he knew he was lucky if he scraped the double-digit point, and the top scorers were... dear god... there were that many robots in the exam? He was tempted to just walk away before he even read the rest of the names, but... those "rescue points"... He hadn't worked those into consideration at all... Maybe... just maybe...

He hugged at himself anxiously as he peered through the rankings, fending off disappointment with each name that wasn't his until he reached the name situated next to the number 25... Gil Shannon, 10 Villain Points, 20 Rescue Points. A total of 30 points... He couldn't believe this... He was in! Against all probability, thanks to that decision to rescue that other kid, he managed to claw his way into admittance. The adrenaline pumping through him from the thrill of accomplishing this dream that seemed so impossible made him forget about all the bruises, sore spots, torn up clothes and lack of shoes as he clumsily sprinted his way towards the building that he and the other 29 had been directed to go to. He could only imagine the level of surprise his parents were probably experiencing, seeing their son get into NIHA of all places. They'd thought it was self-destructive of him to even try at one point, couldn't bear to see him waste his time going for something so unlikely, yet here he was proving them wrong. His confidence regained, he slipped his damaged sunglasses back on, wobbling a little as the cracked lens messed with his depth perception, but he wasn't going to not wear them during the most exciting and accomplishing moment of his life so far. That would be ridiculous!

 

[Tailon]

One month of dull administration and packing later, it was officially move in day. Chris had arrived alone at O'Hare International that morning, and now found himself brooding out of the back window of a chartered town car. The car crossed the Chicago River, glittering in the sun, and shortly after passed the famous Millennium Park, where the sculpture colloquially known as "The Bean", Cloud Gate, stood surrounded by tourists.

Chris gave a practiced scowl at each display of human enjoyment as they left the bulk of the city behind and crossed another bridge into the steel and glass of the NIHA campus. Passing the main administrative building, they followed the signage to the residence hall, where Chris hopped from the car without a word to the driver, transforming most of his lower body into tendrils that extracted his bags from the car before he turned, making his way inside.

The bottom floor of the residence hall was swathed in balloons and banners, welcoming the new class, and eliciting another scowl from Chris, who approached a temporary registration setup at the back of the lobby. A perky young woman, probably an upperclassman, barely flinched at the Eldritch contortions of his wraith form as she welcomed him, handing him a room key as she explained his room and that there would be "activities" later in the day for the new students.

Chris listened to her spiel silently, said, "Alright," and then walked away without pleasantly, following the directions she had given up to the second floor and to his room, 206, which he would be sharing with another student. The door was locked, which likely meant his roommate had yet to arrive. Still, not being one to take that kind of risk with another teenage boy, Chris knocked first, and only when he received no answer did he unlock the door and enter, dropping his bags by the bed on the right side of the room.

The room was modest, but not as cramped or uncomfortable as a typical dorm room, with two beds, desks, and nightstands provided, as well as an attached bathroom. Surveying the place, Chris decided the first order of business was to get some light out of the room, drawing the curtains and opened up the bag which contained his decorations, mostly dark posters to cover up the lighter off white paint on the walls.

 

[Rex]

It hadn't been easy, but he'd survived it. Jake's mother had run the emotional gamut from horrified to relieved to furious at her son's physical state and carelessness. His father, way out of his depth with all this superhero business, at one point suggested that NIHA might not be a good fit for his son, despite Jake's excellent showing in the practical. Thankfully, his mother came to his defense there, there would be no more schooling in New York for the raccoon, he'd earned his place in NIHA. However, she did inform him that should he continue to act in such a reckless manner, she would come to Chicago herself to drag him back home.

The next time Jake stepped foot on Chicago's Northerly Island, it was move in day. The month that passed since the practical exam had been a flurry of activity for the raccoon. He had returned to New York, built himself a new pair of guns - which he hoped would not suffer from the same design flaws as his last set - and packed, well, everything he could carry. This resulted in two decently large wheeled suitcases and a backpack. It wasn't easy - Jake might be stronger than he looked, but dragging his luggage behind him was awkward even with the wheels. He was wearing a pair of orange pants and a white sleeveless shirt that day. He had fur, any early fall chill wasn't too huge a bother to him.

He got a few looks from his fellow students as he entered the dorms, nothing he wasn't used to. Much fewer than he would have gotten on the streets of New York, however, or his old school, so that was a plus. An upperclassman who seemed way to happy to be here showed the raccoon to his room - he'd had to give her his real name to make her do so, not a good start to his NIHA career. His room was 207, he'd be sharing with another student. There were lots of different ways that could go, even if he played the whole thing completely in character. This would be interesting.

The room was decently big, though Jake supposed he shouldn't be too surprised. With only one hundred students at the school at any given time, space wasn't too huge a premium. His roommate wasn't here yet, which meant the raccoon got first dibs on which side of the room he wanted - the side with the door to the bathroom, of course. He roughly deposited his two cases on the floor at the foot of the bed, then dropped the bag from his back. The first thing he dug out of the bag was a portable music player. It wasn't of his own design, but he'd made a few modifications to it, to the point where he felt comfortable calling it 'his.' He placed it on the bedside table, and hit the device's play button.

"Good morning! Today's forecast calls for blue skies."

The raccoon grinned. It was time to get to work. Next out of the bag was a roll of tape. He technically had it for his less well put together gizmos, but it would also serve as a handy visual divider of his soon to be shared space. He dragged a strip of tape down the middle of the room, from the front door across to the far wall. The tape was then somewhat carelessly thrown onto his desk, he might need it later, never knew. Next came comic books, a decently sized stack of them, well worn but kept in plastic sleeves for their protection. A mix of individual issues and collected volumes in paperback and hardcover, in decent condition considering their age. Guardians of the Galaxy, Groot, Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon, and any other issue he could get his hands on that featured Marvel's cosmic heroes. They were the raccoon's treasured possessions, which, given everything there was about Jake himself, was likely not all that surprising. These got a drawer of this nightstand to themselves.

Finally out of the backpack came his new pistols. These were placed on his desk with a bit more care than the tape had been, they were still being tinkered with and he didn't want to mess up any of the more delicate parts before he'd properly broken them in. He looked from the desk, to his nightstand, and back. He did want to work on his project, but between flying into Chicago, dragging his luggage around, and dealing with far too many people, he was getting a bit tired. So he climbed onto his new bed, and grabbed one of his comics, carefully sliding it out of the plastic.

It was an 'annual' issue from the twenty-tens, some schmuck named Captain America had turned evil and surrounded Earth in some kind of shield, locking out all the good superheroes that were a threat to him. The Guardians were looking for a weapon that might let them break through the shield. Of course, when the comic came out the whole storyline it was a part of wasn't even half over, so the Guardians couldn't succeed in their mission, but it was a fun read regardless. As far as team issues went, it was one of his favorites. Of course, it was also a good refresher, he was supposed to be Rocket Raccoon, after all.

 

[Shiny Motley]

The days leading up to move in day had been pretty hectic. Robin had been quick to tell her brother and her classmates that she'd somehow made it into NIHA. Jared had pumped his fist in the air and cheered so loudly Robin was sure their neighbors could hear him. "Aw yeah, that's great! Just watch, sis, I'm gonna make it into the NIHA myself!" Her classmates' reactions weren't nearly as warm as his; most had given her a simple "congratulations" over text, though a couple of people who'd been closer to her went on about how they were going to miss her. Once the excitement had died down, though, Robin found herself having to pack up and otherwise put away many of the things in her room so that by the time she left her house, the only indication that the room she had been sleeping in was even hers was the vaguely Robin-sized impression she'd made in her bed, but even that disappeared as the mattress slowly fluffed back up.

The plane ride back to Chicago wasn't very interesting; there were a couple movies available for her to watch, but she opted to just take a nap to save some energy. Who knew what the school had in mind for her and the other new students? When she landed, it didn't take too long for her to find her pastel blue-and-pink suitcase, and she was soon on her way to Northerly Island.

Robin glanced around, a little nervous but definitely excited to be at the Academy again. She spotted the little registration booth and hurried over there. The upperclassman running the booth gave her the keys to her dorm and explained a few other things, though she merely nodded a couple times before dashing off, suitcase rattling loudly behind her.

Room 222... it was an easy enough number to remember. Second floor, right half of the building. She guessed the dorms were split by gender, with guys on one side and girls on the other. She wasn't exactly sure how many girls there were, but at least she wasn't going to be the only one since she knew she was going to have a roommate. She approached the door to her room and unlocked it, and peaked inside to see if said roommate had arrived yet-

Or maybe not. The room was very plain and devoid of any decorations. That probably meant her roommate hadn't arrived yet, right? Robin took the bed closest to her, which happened to be next to the restroom. A private restroom was better than a shared shower area, though that meant she and whoever her roommate was were going to have to clean it up every once in a while. She opened her suitcase and willed her bed sheets, pillows, and blankets to make the bed themselves, careful to keep an eye on them the whole time. She then slung the mint green backpack off her back and opened it to take out a couple of small stuffed animals, which she gingerly placed on her pillow, before taking out a slightly larger teddy bear, which she set on her nightstand. She stood back and admired her work; the pastel swirls reminded her of the rainbow sorbet her dad would get from the store sometimes, and made her feel hungry. Ah, well, lunch shouldn't be too far away. Satisfied, Robin threw herself onto bed and took out her phone, planning to spend the rest of her time browsing through the various blogs she followed until whatever the next "activity" the school had planned for her started.

 

[Dark Soul]

Tara tensed up as the engines rumbled and began to push the aircraft at breakneck speeds down the tarmac, forcing Tara’s back into her seat with her wings stuck between. She groaned, and wished silently that the plane would level as soon as possible, so she could reclaim some space.

There was a hint of irony in the fact that the girl who loved to fly held a disdain for air travel. Even though airlines knew to accommodate for people with mutant Quirks, and she’d be given a seat wide and deep enough to fit her wings and limbs quite comfortably, flights never felt enjoyable. Sitting cooped up in a metal can for hours, feeling like her fate was out of her own hands- those things were distressing. She was used to feeling the wind on her face and stretching her wings when flying, and in here she could do neither.

Tara tried to distract herself with the music coming from her headphones, and as the plane finally levelled and the seatbelt lights dinged off, she opened her eyes to the sight she’d fought to get a window seat for.

Clouds towered just outside her window, forming pillars of brilliant sunlit white that dwarfed the city of San Fransisco below them. They hung still in the air as the airplane coasted by, the sunlight projecting a circular rainbow around the shadow of the plane on the mountainous canvas of the cloud. Tara smiled as she kept her nose pressed to the glass. This part of the flight was almost enough to redeem the whole experience. Tara knew she’d been blessed with her two homes, but the sky always felt like a third, one she could could never quite reach. One day, she always promised herself, somehow, she would find her way there on her own wings.

She glanced at the tattoo on the inside of her right wrist, inked just after her acceptance into NIHA with Archeus’ begrudging consent- the words of Leonardo Da Vinci, a man who also dreamed of flight.

“Una volta che avrai
Spiccato il volo deciderai
Sguardo verso il ciel, sarai
Lì a casa il cuore sentirai”

~~~
The cab ride from the airport granted Tara some time to take in the sights of inner Chicago, though a few of them she’d already seen just a month ago. Archeus had taken it upon himself to drive Tara all the way from Yosemite Valley to Chicago for her entrance exam, a four-day trip in his rusty old camper van, while Mel had chosen to fly in. They’d spent the days driving, singing along to hokey country radio and the occasional rock classic and munching on gas station snacks, and the nights in forest clearings sat at a campfire roasting marshmallows before dozing off in their tents.

Tara smiled at those memories, though there was a tinge of sadness accompanying them. She was about to be away from Archeus and Mel for a long time, and she’d never been further away from them, always staying at either of their places which were mere hours apart. She could chat with them, of course, but they wouldn’t be there for her physically anymore. She was truly on her own two feet, making her own way forward- like the real adult she was slowly becoming, as Archeus had said on their last night by the fire.

She reached the gates of Northerly Island without having stopped too many times for traffic, which the cab driver assured her, in his unadulterated Chicagoan accent, was a miracle. She swiped her card at his dashboard to pay for the trip, after which he retrieved her two suitcases from the trunk, and Tara went on her way. She followed the signs to the residence quarters, which were fortunately quite close to the entrance, and went in.

The hall inside wasn’t as busy as she’d expected, and there was a central desk set up where a few senior students were giving out keys and pamphlets to other students her age. She strolled up and greeted one with a smile. The tall, freckled upperclassman gave her a quick speech about her room, handed her the key and notified her that there would be student activities later in the day.

“Also, I have the package that was sent over in your name…’ He bent over the desk and retrieved a sizeable cardboard box. “Right here. Don’t worry, the school signed for it.” Tara thanked him, placed the box on top of one of her rolling suitcases, and carefully pulled it behind her as she made her way to room 222.

When she found herself at the right door, she inserted her key, opened it and stepped inside- Startling someone who was already lying on the bed, surrounded by a few colourful stuffed animals. “Oh! Sorry, should’ve knocked.” Tara apologized, and after pulling all her stuff inside the room and closing the door, walked over extended a hand to her new roommate, a girl whose white hair was being covered up by a hoodie. “I’m Tara, Tara Glint. Nice to meet you!”

 

[Shiny Motley]

Robin scrambled up when she heard the door open and quickly pulled her hood over her head. That must be my roommate! I wonder what kind of person they are?

The girl who walked in was fairly short in stature, and wore dark clothes, in sharp contrast to the light green and pinks Robin herself was wearing. Robin vaguely wondered what kind of Quirk the girl had when she extended a black, metallic arm towards her in greeting. Well, that was neat.

"Hey there, I'm Robin, and it's nice to meet you too!" she said, her voice slightly muffled by the mask she wore. She took Tara's hand and shook it enthusiastically, careful to avoid potentially getting hurt by the other girl's claw-like fingers. "So we're gonna be rooming together? Sorry if my stuff is, um, kind of obnoxious, but Archibald and Maximus help me sleep at night." She glanced at the blue whale-like and the red dinosaur-esque plushie as she spoke, and smiled sheepishly.

 

[Satoren]

Pulling his luggage behind him, Ren took a moment to take in his surroundings. He had arrived late into the day and a lot of the other students were already either walking around or lugging their own possessions into the dorm. He recognized a few of them from the entrance exams some time ago. Not too hard to do considering their Quirks' exaggerating their physical features. As he made his way inside, he also noticed a few other students looking back at him. He didn't mind it for now; after all, he was one of the top 10 entrees into NIHA this year. That sort of title would get you a glance or two.

As he approached a table at the end of the lobby marked for freshmen students, he was met with a rather enthusiastic greeting from the young woman behind it. She asked for his name, then proceeded to scroll down a list in her hand to confirm is room assignment. "Looks like you'll be staying in room 207," she said before her eyes widened excitedly. "Ooh, your roommate's already moved in this morning!"

"Oh? Might I ask for his name?" said Ren, with a subtly amused expression.

"One...Jacob Filcher," said the young lady, looking at her list. "Well, I won't spoil whatever impression he might give you, but I hope you two'll get along!"

Ren chuckled. "Yes, I should hope so," he replied. After receiving his room key and further instructions for events later in the day, he thanked the receptionist and headed for the elevator.

-----

As Ren found himself standing in front of Room 207, he could hear music from its interior. So he's that kind of a roommate, he thought to himself. Perhaps this Jacob Filcher would be more respectful of his volume once he himself moved in; though he somewhat doubted that. If worse comes to worse, he at least had his own headphones to tune it out. He had to admit though, he didn't expect his roommate to have such a vintage taste in music.

Ren twisted the doorknob as quietly as he could, then opened the door slowly. The music increased in volume, finally able to escape outside the confines of the room. The first thing that he immediately noticed was a long line of tape dividing the room in half. Almost artfully, the empty sterility of one side of the room contrasted with the other side, which was also where the music was originating from. There, resting on a bed was what appeared to be his roommate- a large raccoon wearing clothes and reading a comic book.

Definitely that kind of a roommate, Ren thought to himself as he concluded his analysis. Without uttering a word, he proceeded to his side of the room and began unpacking himself.

 

[Rex]

He was about midway through his comic when the door opened. His roommate, Jake supposed, glancing up at the man as he entered. In particular, his eyes were immediately drawn to the literal green horn sticking out of the man's forehead. He was a stocky looking kid, not heavy set, but thick. No eyebrows, black hair and black eyes. Taller than Jake, but then most everyone was taller than the raccoon. The man said nothing to the raccoon, but he noticed the tape and seemed to understand what it signified. Good, that would make things easier.

Jake thought back to one of his other comics, which portrayed how Rocket met Groot. Rocket had initiated conversation then, asking Groot what he 'was in for.' But then, they were in prison together, such a question didn't work in a school setting. Being strictly anti-social wouldn't be out of character, either, though. Beside him, ELO faded out, to be replaced with Jay and the Americans, 'Come a Little Bit Closer.' Well, he guessed the music picked for him. Rocket sealed a friendship to this song, after all.

"So what makes you special?" he grunted at his roommate, flicking to the next page of his comic. He looked back down at the page, but kept one of his ears swiveled towards the horned boy to catch his response.

 

[Satoren]

As he put away some of his clothes, Ren heard his roommate speak up from behind his comic. Not a particularly charming first impression, but it looked like he was at least attempting to play nice. If that was the case, then it was only fair he'd do the same.

"So what makes you special?" the raccoon asked.

"Nothing too flashy," Ren replied as he retrieved more clothes from his luggage. In truth, his Quirk was something rather complicated to explain. And given that his roommate didn't seem wholly interested. Not satisfied to leave the conversation at that, he decided to try another subject.

"You're one of the top 10 examinees from the Entrance Exam. At least, I remember seeing you during registration," Ren noted as he started taking out items for his desk. He then tried to recollect other things he knew about his roommate based on his appearance. He remembered seeing some footage of him uploaded online after the exam. With his unique appearance, it was easy to spot him in the videos. As he recalled, he was seen fighting with weapons; a pair of pistols to be exact, not unlike the ones he noticed resting on their desk.

"Commercial armaments weren't allowed for the entrance exam. I take it you made those yourself then?" he asked while looking over towards the weapons.

 

[Rex]

The horned kid very quickly changed the subject, Jake noticed. Claimed their Quirk wasn't all that interesting, then brought up the fact that he recognized the raccoon. He had Jake at a disadvantage then. Truthfully, Jake hadn't paid too much attention to his fellow prospective students before, during, or after the exam. Nor had he trawled the internet for videos of their performances. Of course, Jake imagined he was fairly easy to pick out of a crowd given his appearance.

"Placed ninth," he supplied, allowing a hint of pride to sneak into his voice. Why wouldn't he be proud, son of a villain becoming the ninth best student at the most prestigious superhero academy in the United States. And besides, Rocket was a proud creature, so it was perfectly in character. Then the horned boy noticed his weapons, incomplete as the were, inquiring if he made them himself. As he mentioned, commercial weapons weren't allowed in the exam.

"By hand, with a box of scraps," the raccoon smirked. Their exterior shells were made of parts co-opted from other firearms, but the interiors were entirely custom. He may have accidentally fried the previous pair, but he had come prepared should something like that happen again. Alongside a toolbox, various bits of metal and circuitry made up one of the two suitcases he'd brought with him. The other was clothes, of course.

"You got a name, Greenhorn?"

 

[Dark Soul]

"Hey there! I'm Robin, and it's nice to meet you too!" The girl said quite excitedly, and she took Tara's hand carefully to shake it. Tara knew how to keep her sharp talons out of the way, but she was glad that Robin was mindful of them too- more than one person had been scratched up by unexpected grabs before. Robin didn't seem overly troubled by Tara's mechanical limbs or wings, as much as they starkly contrasted her own, which was reassuring; She'd hoped to not be gawked at.

"So we're gonna be rooming together? Sorry if my stuff is, um, kind of obnoxious, but Archibald and Maximus help me sleep at night." Robin said with a glance at her stuffed animals and a sheepish smile. Tara smiled, too; this girl was quite adorable. "Nah, I don't mind at all. Besides, it's your half- you can do what you want."

Tara lifted the cardboard package onto her untarnished bed. "I'll get to decorating too, actually, just so that's out of the way before activities start." She cut the tape holding the top of the box closed with the sharp end of her index finger, and pulled the two halves apart, revealing fresh linen- her dark grey tear-and-cut-proof mattress covers, blanket covers and pillow throws- and various decorative items, including rolled-up posters.

With some effort, she managed to ready her bed for sleeping, then moved on to her suitcases, from which she retrieved stacks of clothes to put on the shelves of the wardrobe, toiletry items that she put away in the bathroom cupboard, and amongst other things a large device that resembled an antique typewriter in shape, but featured a white rubber-covered QWERTY keyboard with larger than average keys. Tara flipped a translucent pane of plastic up from the keyboard and tapped a key, at which a holographic desktop popped up on the plastic screen. "It's my PC, designed for people whose Quirks don't mix well with regular devices." She explained to Robin as she placed the machine on her desk. "I kept breaking my old laptops with the whole Scissorhands thing."

Her remodeling was almost finished. She put an antique brass alarm clock on her nightstand, and lastly pulled her posters and a roll of clear tape from the box. She put them up one by one; a few older and newer artists, some fashion vogue shoots, and as the centerpiece, an imagine of endless blue sky and the same words inked on her arm, translated.

"Once you have taken flight
you'll decide
Gaze towards the sky,
you'll know that
that is where your heart will feel
at home"

 

[Satoren]

"Impressive," said Ren at hearing his roommate's reply to his query. He wondered if inventing gadgetry was related to the raccoon's quirk or a seperate one altogether. These were things he'd figure out in due time, however; and so he resumed organizing his things.

With his larger bags now empty, he went over to his shoulder bag to check its contents. Pulling out a laptop and a pouch containing miscellaneous gadgets related to it, he then placed them neatly on his desk. As he did so, his roommate asked him something. "You got a name, Greenhorn?" said the talking raccoon.

Heh. "Greenhorn," Ren thought to himself. He had not heard that name in a long time, and he preferred to keep it that way.

"You can call me Ren," he said rather solemnly. Turning over to his roommate, he gave a polite but forced smile. "I'm planning on taking up Support classes while I'm here. Maybe you can help me with that, if you can do so well with a 'box o scraps," he added with a chuckle.

 

[Shiny Motley]

Robin watched her new roommate fix up their half of the room, which reminded her that she hadn't even finished unpacking herself- her toiletries were still in her suitcase, untouched, and her clothes were in her still-unopened carry-on bag. She could deal with that at some later time, probably. She didn't want to hang everything up one by one, but she also didn't feel like showing off her Quirk just yet, not when she'd only just met her roommate.

When Tara brought out the odd typewriter-looking thing, Robin couldn't help but stare at it in awe. "It's my PC, designed for people whose Quirks don't mix well with regular devices. I kept breaking my old laptops with the whole Scissorhands thing," said Tara as she set the computer up. Robin wondered if the other girl had a similarly modified phone, but decided it would be rude to ask. However, curiosity did get the better of her, so she did the next thing she could think of.

"Um, if you don't mind, do you want to exchange numbers?" Robin said as she pulled out her own device. "Or any other form of contact, if that works better with you."

 

[Mr.RMA]

Gil's parents didn't seem to be able to fully take in the realization that their son had gotten into NIHA until about... two weeks before the move-in day, but the rest of the small suburban community seemed to pick up on it a lot sooner. Suddenly Gil, someone who was hardly a blip on the radar for most people, was being treated exactly like the type of celebrity he liked to pretend to be. Kids who often looked the other way or maybe just gave a small obligatory wave were now approaching him excitedly, asking him all sorts of questions, most commonly some variation of "How the hell did you make it through that exam? I heard that was impossible to score high enough on!" Particularly, the guys who used to harass him a lot for his quirk seemed the most blindsided by this, though, fortunately, even the most bitter ones didn't really make a fuss out of it, outside of a few glares and jealous utterances here and there. Attention like this was a pretty big confidence boost for Gil, and needless to say he was feeling plenty confident that entire month. This was good, as it helped offset the stomach-churning nervousness he started to feel as the move-in day got closer. He vividly remembered just how massive Chicago looked... how imposing those sleek buildings along the skyline appeared, how much it made it him understand why his corner of the country hardly ever appeared on any maps. This was a pretty big jump, sure he had to prove himself worthy to get in, but he remembered the condition he was in when that entrance exam concluded... He doubted the majority of the high-scorers looked so beaten up after it was all over, or at least, they could probably all walk out on their own. There was a good chance that could prove how his time in the academy would play out in full, he was going to have to work his butt off to keep himself at the acceptable levels the school required and expected of their students. They wanted the best, and dammit, he was going to have to give them his best.

On the day of his departure, a gathering of people had dropped by to see Gil off, a bunch of well-wishers, family and friends. It really brought home just how much this seemed to mean to the community, having this level of representation, and he made sure to tell them he wouldn't let them all down as he and his father passed through the security gate towards his flight. He was more than happy to fast-forward through the plane ride, but before heading off to the academy, he had his father touring him around the city, just to really take it all in directly. He had been too nervous the day of the exam to do any of that, but now that he'd gotten in, he wanted to take the opportunity to really take in the sights of such a brilliant-looking place. His father had done business in the city plenty of times before, so he proved a capable tour-guide, keeping them from wandering into any not-so-pleasant parts of the town, making sure to hit all the major stops, leading up to the Adler Planetarium where they could see NIHA's campus in the distance.

"You ready?" his father asked as they stood beside one another, merely gazing at the illustrious hero school for a time.

"I mean, ready as I'll ever be and all that... I can't hold it off any longer anyways, everyone's probably already nearly all settled in by now."

"You'll be fine, we've got plenty of time still to get your stuff over there. Just want to make sure you're ready for this. I know you are, you've proven that to me pretty damn handily. You just gotta believe it yourself, bring out that confidence that got you in the first place. You've proven you wanted this enough, now you've got it. You just keep that mindset going and you'll do great, I'm positive about that." He gave his son an assuring pat on the shoulder before they began moving towards the academy.

Upon their arrival, Gil's father gave him one last hug goodbye. "You keep in touch with mom and I alright? I'll let you know when they've got me working here again, you can tell me all about how much of a badass hero you've become by then." They both chuckled at that, but it was clear he truly believed his own words.

Saying their goodbyes, Gil walked alone to the residence hall, being greeted by the same energetic welcoming crew as the rest, though it appeared to have slightly dispersed by now, and after hearing one of them saying something along the lines of "that's the last one I think," he could understand why. A young woman handed him his key, telling him he was in room 206, and that his roommate was of course, already there. He thanked her as he readjusted his newly bought sunglasses before making his way with his suitcase up to his designated room. The place seemed kinda... dark though, at least from under the space of the door... Usually there was some kind of light that flooded out of these things when someone was occupying it. Still, better to not barge in he figured, taking a few deep breaths to get his more outgoing side running as he knocked on the door, shave-and-a-haircut style, just to hammer in that dorkiness early.

"Hey, roomie! You decent?" He called through the door, before apparently forgetting his own attempt at politeness and slipping his way inside the room anyways.

 

[Dark Soul]

"Oh, sure! That's probably smart if we need to get in touch about anything." Tara replied, and she pulled her phone out of the pocket. It was a standard size smartphone, set into a black, industrial-style case made of metal and plastic. From one corner she pulled a stylus that she clenched between three fingers to tap the screen with. "Here's the code, I'll accept your contact invite." She held up the screen with the QR code for Robin to scan.

"So, you excited to get started?" Tara asked. "I managed to scrape by enough to get into Heroics, though I was thinking about Support before that. I'm good with the digital stuff, but not so much the technical stuff." She said, gesturing vaguely towards her computer. "I can't wait to see what the classes are like!"

 

[Shiny Motley]

Robin scanned the code while mentally berating herself for ignorance. Stylus. Of course that's how Tara could use the phone, even people who didn't have claws for fingers would sometimes use one. "Alright, I've sent the invite," Robin said with a grin. As Robin put her phone away, she said, "I want to be in Heroics, though it looks like I'm in the waitlist for now. If nobody above me decides to drop out of it, I'm probably going to have to go with... I dunno, Support, I guess. I'm not really into doing the finance and legal stuff, so I'll leave that to the people who're actually good at that." She paused for a second. "Wait, 'scrape by'? How- um, if you don't me asking, how high did you rank in the entrance exam?"

 

[Rex]

So his name was Ren. That was about the first piece of useful information he'd gotten out of the horned kid. Apparently he was in a giving mood, though, because he followed that up with the fact that he'd be in the Support classes. This meant that as well as being roommates, they would be classmates. Jake wondered if they were assigned to room together based on that, it would certainly suggest they had some kind of compatible interests. Of course, gadgets was Jake's thing because it was Rocket's thing, this boy probably had much different reasoning for going into support.

"I'll think about it, Greenhorn," he said, "I'll be in Support, too, got to focus on my own work, can't drag you along."

 

[Dark Soul]

Tara tapped once on the invite’s ‘Accept’ button and stored away the phone’s stylus as she saw Robin’s full name pop up in her list of contacts. Kapadia- Now that was a name she hadn’t heard before. Then, of course, most people hadn’t heard of Glint, either. “Oh, I placed fifteenth. Just enough to warrant getting bumped up to Heroics, I guess- I think a few students who placed higher than me must have transferred to one of the other classes.” She shrugged.

“And don’t beat yourself up about it if you end up not getting into Heroics. Honestly, Support is just as important to the work that heroes do as being out there in the field, which you’ll still get to do anyway, if you pick the right internship!” Tara tried to reassure Robin. “Speaking of, can I ask what you do? I mean, your Quirk?”

 

[Satoren]

Ren scoffed at his roommate's words. Joking aside, he had no intention of relying on others if he could help it. However, he was in this school to learn; and learning required an open mind reasonable amount of humility. Despite the buttons his roommate had already pressed, he turned over to the raccoon and maintained his polite grin; leaning on his desk with his hands resting behind him. "I don't expect to be dragged around by anyone; but since we seem to have a few things in common, I'm hoping we can at least get along," he replied. "I have no intention of getting in your way, but there is a lot more I can learn here than just what the teachers and text books tell me."

The young man then looked over his side of the room to check if everything was in place. Satisfied with its appearance, he decided his next course of action was to go downstairs and find something to eat while getting better acquainted with the building's layout. "Anyway, I'm going to go grab some lunch. I suppose if you'd like, you could join me," he said.

He then walked over to the door and as he wrapped his hand around the doorknob, he turned over to the raccoon. "By the way, I never got your name."

 

[Rex]

Something about this kid bothered him, though Jake wasn't quite sure what it was. Still, it seemed like there were attempting to be polite, at least. Ren seemed a secretive sort, and the raccoon got the feeling there was more going on behind those black eyes than what he could read on the surface. The horned kid hoped the two of them would be able to 'get along,' and, well, he hadn't pushed any of Jake's buttons so far. He would stay out of Jake's way, and the implication seemed clear that he wanted Jake to stay out of his, all pleasantries aside. He then followed this up by inviting the raccoon to lunch.

"Eh, sure, I guess," Jake shrugged. Lunch sounded good right about now, to be honest. He hadn't eaten since he left New York, and that had been hours ago. Besides, all the people he met now were his fellow students, people that in all likelihood he'd be spending the next couple years with. He needed to start getting a read on some of them now, and cafeterias were natural gathering spots.

He carefully returned his comic to its plastic case, and then returned said case and comic duo to his nightstand drawer, before hopping down off his bed. Finally, he pulled one more thing out of his still open bag. At first glance it looked like a watch, though the screen was completely blank and the whole thing was stretched lengthwise to the point that it had two clasps. When he put it on, it stretched from his wrist halfway to his elbow. He flipped a small switch located on the side, and the screen lit up, purple background, with the time displayed in white. On the screen next to the time was a white square, though at a glance its purpose was unknown.

The raccoon seemed satisfied with it though, everything was in working order. He looked up at Ren, shoving his hands in his pockets while he listened to the horned boy finally ask his name. "It's Rocket," he answered simply.

 

[Tailon]

Not even a full hour after Chris had arrived, someone across the hall had already begun loudly playing some comically old school music. Annoyed, Chris quickly reprioritized, pulling over a custom, dark grey, hard shelled case and placing it on the bed. He opened the case with some degree of reverence, for once actually smiling, though only to himself. From within the case he retrieved something truly immaculate in its absurdity and morbidity. It was a custom designed dock for his phone, it displayed the time, passed charge through to the phone, and contained a fairly powerful set of speakers, given the space they were in. However, this was no ordinary dock, as the entire thing was encased in a replica of a grinning human skull, jaw ajar in order for the phone to fit inside it, resting atop a small platform, with speakers in its eyes and a digital display for the time embedded in its forehead.

Chris was well aware that this was the single most extravagantly goth object he owned, and he reveled in it. Plugging in the horrorshow and setting it on his nightstand, he retrieved his phone from his pocket; its sleek, modern design was completely encased in a heavy, military grade, nigh indestructible case, and slotted it into the skull's mouth, which was built to accept the phone case and all.

Turning his attention to his watch, which was paired to phone, Chris scrolled through his selection until finding an old classic of his own, though not nearly as old as what was coming from across the hall. Chris scarcely noticed the courtesy knock of his new roommate, and the instant the door opened was met with a wall of sound, an electronic bassline thundering from the speaker before a distorted voice cried out, "God bless us every one, we're a broken people living under loaded gun..."

 

[Mr.RMA]

Gil felt like he should've had his head explode from the blaring noise that hit him like a musical brick to the head. Oh boy... it was one of those kids.... Well, served him right for just letting himself in so brazenly, he figured, as he pulled himself into the room, quickly shutting the door behind him.

"Alternative Rock fan, huh?!" he asked, raising his voice as much as he could to get through the noise as he started to unpack, occasionally blocking his ears for a few moments just to keep his eardrums from seemingly getting blown out.

As Gil decorated his side of the room with various old movie posters, he took another glance at his roommate and, well, he had to admit the music certainly fit the listener... Whether the proper definition was "goth" or "emo" or whatever, the kid couldn't have made it any clearer that he was one of those sorts from appearances alone. Gil tended to stray from that crowd in high school, mostly because they usually seemed to give him some very unwelcoming glances in previous interaction attempts. Not like he could so easily pull that off here though, sharing a room with one of them for the year... or... shit, did they change rooms every year? Was this his roommate for the entirety of his time here? He seemed just a tad worried by that notion but otherwise attempted to shake it off as he scattered his more traditional school supplies across his desk, finishing off the arrangement by placing what appeared to be some kind of portable multimedia projector on his nightstand. The device was clearly made in recent times, but appeared to be imitating that of the ancient 16mm projectors from the 1940s. That is, if one could see it at all in this room, what with the drawn curtains and all. Placing a stack of media discs beside the projector, he turned back to the kid, hesitant to speak for a moment, though he knew they'd have to break the ice sooner or later...

"So... we're roomies huh? I mean, obviously... so... how's it going? This is pretty great, yeah? Making it to NIHA of all places?" Usually he could turn on the fake confidence like a switch but that clearly wasn't happening here.

 

[Shiny Motley]

"Ah, my Quirk! It's not really anything to write home about..." Robin said as she subconsciously started scratching her head. "I can make and control cotton from my hair. It's kind of a boring Quirk and I only got rank 22, but it's pretty handy sometimes." She pat the blanket behind her with a rare, proud look in her eyes. "All the stuff I brought that you see here was made by me, so if you ever, say, want some new blankets for any reason or even a shirt, I can probably whip one up for you pretty quickly."

As her stomach grumbled, Robin realized it was probably about time for lunch. She stood up from her bed and stretched, looking even taller than usual. "Nn, I'm kinda hungry so do you wanna grab some lunch with me? I can also get you something if you wanna finish unpacking instead."