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Today was the day, the day Izuku Midoriya would prove himself a hero, one that could live up to the legacy All Might had left behind. WIth All Might’s quirk, now his, Izuku was ready to take on the world! As though sensing his determination, the world decided to take Izuku up on that challenge and threw the (metaphorical) first punch with a slightly uneven brick jutting out of the ground. Unprepared for the sudden attack, Izuku was taken off guard and fell for the devious scheme, utterly helpless. However, that was not the end. For someone had come to his rescue, a valiant warrior unlike any other with powers so-
The painful, dreaded collision did not happen, no. Instead, Izuku had fallen on something else, something soft, warm, packed with muscle. It was so comfortable that he couldn’t help but feel up this mysterious, soft pillow. Until he heard a grunt. A very masculine grunt. Finally opening his eyes, Izuku realized that there was no pillow! It was the long girthy appendage of a rather well built, if a bit plain boy…
“Guah! Ah! Aaaaaaaah!” Izuku launched himself away from the appendage, and rather hastily at that. Hastily enough to lose balance and once more have a fateful impact on the earth. Luckily, that same appendage saved him again, this time wrapping him up into its snug embrace. Which meant even more panicked cries. Those cries in turn only caused the appendage’s grip to tighten lest the crazed boy fell, again. This cycle continued for a whole minute until Izuku had calmed down to the point where he could actually take in the situation.
Everybody was staring. Staring at him. Wrapped in the muscular if a bit plain boy’s tail, his tail. He was mortified. How long had he been screaming and wriggling in this poor boy’s tail? Did the staff notice? Would they expel him for disorderly conduct? Would the-
“Hey! HEY! Are you okay? Did you have a seizure, because I really didn’t mean to cause one. I’m so sorry for grabbing you out of nowhere. I saw you fall and well, we’re trying to be heroes aren’t we?” It only really started to sink in once the boy started bowing and muttering about hidden assessors and if giving someone a panic attack counted as assault.
“No, no it’s fine! Really, I just panicked and thought it was something else. I’m actually super embarrassed for having fallen for you… I mean falling on you! Not that it would be a bad thing to fall for you either! Not to say th-” A short laugh cut him off. Looking to the side, Izuku realised that the laugh came from a rather a girl with holes in her neck and purplish hair.
“God you guys are adorable, but you should probably wrap it up since the exams are about to start. See ya.” With that the girl left with the occasional chuckle leaving her mouth. Leaving two dumbstruck boys in the dust with their jaws agape.
““The Exam!””
Just like that the boys ran to the test hall and found themselves a seat, their embarrassment at their incident earlier having been overtaken by stress. With the start of the timer silencing the room.
⸻◇◆◇⸻
Minoru Mineta found himself in yet another one of UA’s vast lecture halls listening to Snipe explain the rules of the practical exam. His legs bounced in anticipation as he listened intently to the lecture, this was his one shot towards becoming a hero, a popular one. The other hero schools might still be great but they didn’t hold a candle to UA’s prestige. During a lull in the presentation Minoru raised his hand.
“Does restraining the villain bots still count and give you villain points? And could someone destroy the then restrained robots for more points?” These questions had bubbled in his head for a while, after all if they didn’t count that as points, his chances at getting a high score would plummet. After all, people could easily steal his hard earned points for themselves. The bastards! Luckily that was not the case as the pro hero replied that bar extremely dangerous villains, you shouldn’t beat down an already restrained villain. The teachers might even dock some of your points!
After the presentation had ended they were all escorted to buses that matched their area code. Once the relatively short ride came to an end, the hero hopeful’s rushed out the bus unable to contain their excitement. Even Minoru himself was no exception. Furthermore, seeing the large entrance to the fake city served only to rile up the candidates even further. So the moment one applicant began to stretch and warm up for the exam, the rest followed shortly after. It helped the time pass fast enough that Minoru could barely register the doors open before the entire crowd barreled forward with no restraint.
It wasn’t long before Minoru found himself bouncing around and disabling multitudes of villain bots with his balls. Most of them stuck to the ground, unable to even lift a limb. A cry of delight burst out from within, as he detonated his sticky balls without remorse. The robots never stood a chance.
It was then that he spotted something interesting. A swarm of scales shredding all the robots in their path, each scale shining a brilliant lime green in the sun. It was a magical sight, to the point that several other examiness just stopped and watched the spectacle. The cause of it all was a decently tall boy with rather sharp chinese features, his hair was even in that braid those chinese martial artists wear. Refusing to get too distracted, Minoru continued his sticky rampage up until the earth shook.
⸻◇◆◇⸻
Manga Fukidashi stared up at the titan towering over all the contestants. This was the zero pointer, the ultimate obstacle everyone was told to avoid. The very obstacle destroying buildings and endangering the lives of his fellow hero hopefuls. This could not stand! This was the moment where a hero should step up and save everyone, just like a manga! This was his moment, he would not fail! Focusing solely on the behemoth before him, Manga Fukidashi formed a single word on his face.
Implosion.
There was a deafening silence soon interrupted by the pained cries of nearby examinees that clutched their ears, some of them even bleeding out of them. Whoops, maybe implosion wasn’t the best choice. Just like that the towering monstrosity was reduced to a mere ball of scrap. Damn, that sucked. He should probably check up on the people he hurt, good thing he doesn’t talk with sound. God he hoped he didn’t get disqualified because of this, that would be terrible.
⸻◇◆◇⸻
Surrounded by various screens, Sekijiro Kan couldn’t help but sigh. “I know that we had a stronger batch this year, but I didn’t expect this. They managed to subdue every zero pointer we had. Most of which were taken down without collateral damage. This hasn’t happened, ever.”
His boss gave a short sigh in response. “I suppose it was inevitable. With the recommended students showing a large increase in overall power this year compared to all the previous ones it was only logical for it to be the same for the standard examinees before us. Though what caused this spike of power this generation eludes me, and it troubles me greatly.”
The following eyebrow raise from Shota Aizawa was expected. “Even you’re stumped?”
“I am hardly all-knowing Eraserhead. Even with my intelligence, advanced as it is, I am unable to find the root of this change. It isn’t the quirk singularity theory, too unlikely. We are also unable to determine whether or not they were given a quirk-enhancing drug, not too dissimilar to Trigger, at birth.”
Eraserhead merely narrowed his eyes at the various screens showing different applicants. “Trigger or not, this is something that needs to be addressed with extra precaution and care. If even one of them were to go wild it would cause untold amounts of property damage. Such as one Katsuki Bakugo, the current highest scoring applicant. His quirk granting him the ability to create explosions from his palms with little drawback due to his secondary mutation, durability. His attacks could easily devastate an entire city block if he completely let loose. Even when dealing with the zero pointer he didn’t once stop holding back, only loosening his self-imposed limits.”
Yet another voice joined the conversation, Ken Ishiyama, the kind stone-faced man. “Though pure firepower isn’t the only notable improvement. Contestant Manga Fukidashi’s quirk is extremely versatile, and he doesn’t limit himself to destroying robots. We’ve seen him go out of his way to aid several nearby contestants. Though he can still learn some more control. That showing with the zero pointer whilst well intentioned, ultimately hindered the other applicants further.”
Toshinori Yagi hummed in agreement. “That’s right, there have also been several applicants with more hero points than villain points. One such example would be hero hopeful Aoyama Yuga. Though he does have an air of flamboyance, he repeatedly comes to the rescue of other applicants at every opportunity. While he does take their villain points in the process, he has shown that heroic quality we need in the hero course.”
As the discussion continued about the most notable applicants, Nezu sat and watched as he drank his tea. ‘This year is most definitely the most interesting one, especially with that… unique applicant of ours. The future sure looks bright.’
⸻◇◆◇⸻
The exam was finally over. After all that training, after all that hard work, Reiko Yanagi simply had to wait for one week until the results of that grueling exam were in. She wasn’t all too concerned about her results in the practical exam, the theoretical exam was far more daunting for the horror fan. How was she supposed to know why some pro heroes turned to vigilantism instead of staying a hero? Maybe they felt that the rules were in the way? Who knows, people were dumb at the best of times. At least she could take her mind of the exam by watching that new horror movie she got from her friend. It was supposed to be one of the most famous classics brought back to life with hyper-realistic special effects. She couldn’t wait. It was then that the doorbell rang. It was the middle of the day, her parents were at work and she was home alone on a weekday to recover from the exam.
This was suspicious, so to prepare herself from any possible evil lurking behind her door she put on her largest, baggiest hoody with the hood up and floated herself to the door. Her legs were tucked in, hidden from view. Her entire face was covered by the shadow of her hood so all that someone would see is a floating hoodie. Perfect.
With that Reiko once more used her quirk to open the door and reveal… a rather tall girl that looked to be roughly her age dressed in regal clothing. The girl wore a long, flowing black coat with fur-like trims at the cuffs and hem, a high-collared black top and matching black pants, creating a sleek, monochromatic look. The gold, teardrop-shaped ornaments adorning her outfit added a distinctive contrast to the darkness of her ensemble. Her long, pale blonde hair cascaded freely, enhancing her ethereal and enigmatic aura. Definitely a spirit or ghost of some kind, she should not be let in. Unless, she would only attack you if you refused her. There have been many beings who ripped others to shreds for being ‘rude’ after all.
Yet before she could come to a decision, the ghostly apparition spoke up. “Hello! I’m Luna Teneborilyth, just call me Tene, and I’m here looking for someone my age to hang out with!”
Definitely an evil spirit, refusing her entry might insult it though. Releasing a deep sigh within her inner domain, Reiko opened the door even wider and gestured inside. Strangely enough the demonic entity was not at all taken aback by the floating ghostly hoodie inviting her in a dark and gloomy abode. This only confirmed her theory. Question was, what would the spirit do now?
“Thanks! You have a really nice house by the way. So, how do you feel about movies? Because I love them! I’m sure we can bond together over some of your favorite films!” The entity kept on prattling on and on. Was that the goal? To torture her through psychological means? Reiko could not let this stand! She refused to fall before any spirit! It had mentioned movies, perhaps she could not only make it cease its ear-defiling chatter but also scare it into submission. That new movie that had just been released claimed to be so gory, visceral and terror inducing that it could even frighten the devil itself. Time to put it up to the test…
That did not go as planned. The movie was fine, excellent even, she nearly flinched back in surprise a couple of times! The girl was a whole other matter though. She quickly learnt that she was probably not in fact an evil spirit and that she was a normal human being. Maybe not normal but definitely human, a really unique and quirky human with beautiful pearly pink eyes and wonderfully soft blonde hair… But human nonetheless, something that made this next bit all the more difficult. Turning her head ever so slightly Reiko spoke, her words barely audible and somewhat muffled from the oversized hoodie. “Friends… now?”
The girl’s pearly eyes shined as Reika suddenly found herself trapped in a soft, cuddly prison. “You are just so cute! Of course we’re friends!”. Yet despite being restrained and held captive in said prison Reiko simply couldn’t find it within her to fight it. Sure she had friends at school with a similar outlook on life, but they weren't exactly keen on physical affection, neither was Reiko. Until just now. Sure she had hugged her parents from time to time despite the discomfort it gave her, but this was different somehow. She couldn’t place it, but she knew that this was what she wanted, this was right. Then the hug broke off.
“Now, do you wanna see something cool? It has to do with my quirk, I promise you’re going to be amazed.” Nodding her head dazedly, recovering from the dichotomy of being in a hug and being out of one, Reiko watched as Teneborilyth pulled out a strange metal ball from her pocket. The ball had a strange design that made it seem more like an art piece rather than something practical, what an odd quirk. A flash had erupted from the aforementioned sphere, surprising Reiko. What accompanied that flash was even more shocking. A meter away from the pair appeared a strange being.
It was large, not exactly tall, but large. Its round body occupied most of the space between the girls and the TV. It was also creepy. An impossibly wide smile took up at least a fourth of its face. And wasn’t that strange, its entire body bar two stubby protrusions at the bottom and two pointy protrusions at the top was made up of some strange purplish substance. Then finally it’s eyes. Its eyes burned crimson in the dim room—unblinking, knowing, hungry. It couldn’t be could it? Was this… a real ghost?!
It was beautiful! Reiko couldn’t stop herself from admiring the spirit, eyes sparkling with joy. The spectre returned the favor and began studying Reiko in response, its eyes alight in open curiosity. She was unable to withhold her thoughts on the mysterious creature, “... beautiful.”.
Her head then snapped towards her new friend with her hoodie following shortly after, “Tene! Which dark and dastardly ritual have you performed to commune with this wretched, twisted demon? Thou must share thy secrets, thou must!”
Though somewhat overwhelmed by Reiko’s sudden enthusiasm, Tene quickly recovered. “I’m afraid I harbor no dark nor dastardly ritual, for this creature’s presence is the result of my innate darkness the likes of which cannot be matched.” Tene couldn’t help but play along with Reiko’s quirkiness and mimicked her tone of speech.
“I know many cursed powers passed down by blood, yet I have not heard of one so cruel and twisted as to wrench the deceased souls from their final rest. This power, does it truly enable thy to enslave the spirits of the departed? Or does it merely allow the creation of a soulless construct fueled by its creator’s desire to bring forth despair into the world of the living?”
The tall girl barely contained her giggles and replied, “It is neither, this curse of mine is an amalgam so complex, that even the greatest scholars of this realm were able to comprehend this power in its entirety. This creature of darkness that I summoned is merely one amongst many others that would heed my call. Yet it is not only entities of chaos that obey my will, for the bastions of light and order would not hesitate to follow my commands.” At that, Tene pulled out another one of those strange spheres and repeated the process that she did with the previous sphere.
The living room became even more crowded once a burst of white light materialized another entity into existence. This time, a tall, rabbit-like figure landed gracefully on the floor, one leg bent and the other extended in an effortless show of balance. A fiery red hue flickered around its feet as it tilted its head slightly, regarding Reiko with a confident smirk. Its ears twitched, taking in the surroundings barely acknowledging the purple spectral being beside it, before it crossed its arms and let out a soft, knowing chuff.
Reiko was frozen, her mind racing to make sense of what she was seeing. The first creature had the clear, spectral essence of a ghost, a spirit unbound by earthly form. But this? This was something else. It was alive—warm, powerful, and radiating with energy.
The ghostly hoodie floated closer. “Tene…” Reiko’s voice was barely above a whisper. “What… is this one? It does not carry the weight of death, nor the presence of a tormented soul. Yet, it is not entirely of this world either.”
Tene beamed with unmistakable pride. “The name of this beast is Cinderace, though I call her Lume. A mighty warrior of flame and agility, as skilled in battle as it is in showmanship. That is not all however, for she is of the mischievous and prideful sort.” Matching Lume’s smirk, Tene turned to the rabbit-like Pokémon. “Lume, meet Reiko. She is one well versed in the vast mysteries of this world and has the heart of a curious scholar.” All the while Tene made exaggerated gestures to go along with her words.
The Cinderace snorted at Tene’s antics before reaching out a hand—paw?—towards Reiko along with a bright exclamation. “Cinder!”
Reiko hesitated, then slowly reached out and grasped the offered hand. It was warm. Not just physically, but in a way that felt… alive. Strong. Real. She looked up into its bright, ember-like eyes, and couldn’t help but stare in wonder. It didn’t take her long to realize that the purple thing probably als had a name.
“And the spirit? What should I call it?” Reiko turned to face the still smiling apparition. “What should I call you?”
The ghostly creature hovered closer, its red eyes gleaming with mirth. It tilted its head, considering the question, before grinning even wider—if that were possible. It let out a low, strange sound, a sound that sent a delighted shiver down Reiko’s spine rather than fear.
Tene’s eyes sparkled as she gestured toward the specter with a dramatic flourish. “This one is a Gengar, to me he’s Vauren. A cunning trickster and relentless hunter of the night, a warden of the void whose laughter haunts even the bravest of souls.” She then leaned closer to Reiko, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Also an incorrigible prankster. You may wish to keep a watchful eye on what you hold precious and dear.”
Reiko’s lips parted slightly, her gaze shifting between Vauren’s eerie, perpetual grin and Tene’s barely contained amusement. “Vauren…” she murmured, testing the name on her tongue. The ghost Pokémon seemed to approve, twirling in midair before floating lazily upside down, grinning all the while.
“Vauren…” Reiko repeated, now more assured. “A fitting name for a spirit so enshrouded in mystery and trickery.” Her hooded form bobbed ever so slightly in an almost imperceptible nod of approval.
With a pleased hum, Tene clasped her hands together. “Well then! Now that introductions are out of the way, what shall we do next? Mayhap a grand tale of heroics and horror be woven before our very eyes?” She gestured dramatically to the television, where the horror movie menu still flickered faintly.
Reiko tilted her head, the shadow of her hood obscuring all but the faint glow of her eyes. “An intriguing proposal… but I find myself yearning for something far greater.” Her hands raised slightly, fingers curling in thought. “A demonstration of this arcane power of yours.”
Tene’s expression shifted, her smirk curling into something more mischievous. “A demonstration, you say?” She snapped her fingers, and in an instant, Lume straightened, her smirk widening to match her trainer’s. Vauren, still floating upside down, let out another eerie chuckle.
Reiko’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly in anticipation. “Indeed. The proof of power is in its display. Words are but whispers in the wind—show me what you can do.”
Tene’s pearly pink eyes gleamed. “Oh, Reiko. You’re going to love this.”
“Oh,” she breathed. “Now this is interesting.”