Midoriya woke up from a restless sleep due to the ever creaking floorboards to glimpse at the glowing and radiant sun peaking above the horizon out of his window. It extended its vivid light across the deep crimson sky. Its dazzling and inviting rays flowed through the window providing much needed warmth to his body. Heat didn't come cheap in Mustafau so any brief emulation of it was welcome.

And then the alarm went off. Panic washed over him, the ignorant morning bliss overturned by the importance of the day ahead. It is the day in which all of the certified Hero Schools held the entrance exams for the famous Hero course, from Shiketsu in the west to U.A in the east. There were always two parts to these exams: written and practical. The written examination was a test used unanimously across the schools and is designed to bring out the best in its would-be students, however, it is the practical exam that truly defines who is fit to be in the course. Each school had their own approach to it. Some place students against never-ending horses of faux villains where how long you last determines the placement whilst others opt for a point based system where strategic knockouts are more vital.

To say Midoriya was excited and had been for months was a vast understatement and not reflective of the raw anticipation he held. He was so eager in fact that he had managed to accrue enough money to purchase a decent tracksuit as opposed to the usual hand-me-downs that he had grown accustomed to. The clothing itself was mostly jet-black with bits of mahogany in some areas, the most notable of which being a single stripe upon the shirt crossing from his left shoulder to his right hip.

Hastily, Izuku donned the tracksuit, now already reaching for his grappling-hooks and accompanying holsters, securing them with a hickory-coloured belt. He paused, if only for a moment, to gaze into the fractured mirror that precariously hung upon the wall. A tiny smirk adorned his face; the sensation felt almost alien to him for he had not experienced it in quite some time. Perhaps things were finally looking up, and just maybe, things may turn out alright.

He swiftly approached the dining room, promptly scoffing down a portion of cereal before bolting out the door just as quickly. For once, his mother didn't bother with the usual overprotective fretting. Inko was more transfixed on his expression during all of this: he was smiling. Water streamed out of her eyes when the door finally shut behind him. These were happy tears. "Izuku..."

Eventually after many instances of out-maneuvering petty gangs, escaping the maze of streets that is the outer border and generally being harassed, he finally reached his destination. Standing tall was a porcelain gate, the infamous insignia of U.A embroidered in gold on its peak. Bone white bricks forming a 3 metre high wall provided a sufficient boundary between the outside and the school itself, both in physical prowess and in a duplicitous combination of welcoming and intimidating.

The main building itself on the other hand was ginormous in stature,easily towering over its neighbours. Most of the walls were instead made up of cerulean tinted windows, from those was sure to be a surreal view of the wider district on which it sat. To think that-

Midoriya's incessant ramblings were interrupted by heat rapidly rising on his shoulder. Shuddering, he carefully pivoted his body to come face-to-face once again with his 'childhood friend'.
"I thought I told you not to come here quirkless!" Bakugou berated, a demonic grin etching across his face, contrasting the visage of unadulterated rage, making him that much more terrifying. "Tch. No matter, you will pay for your own mistake soon enough," He jeered as he barged past, continuing his walk into the hall out of sight. It was at this point that the singing on Midoriya's shoulder finally subsided, revealing yet another scar had made its home on his body, in this case the firm imprint of his tormentor's hand plastered on his shoulder, penetrating the fabric of the jumpsuit with ease.

Upon entering the vast examination hall, Izuku was directed to his seat where in just 5 short minutes, the written exam would begin. Thankfully, he was well prepared for this section despite not exactly having easy access to revision materials. You see, schematics weren't the only reason he visited the 'library'. On occasion, the place would stock various (albeit severely outdated) textbooks and the like. He would then start furiously taking notes to bring home, seeing as he could not simply take the books home himself on account of the quirkless laws.

"This paper will be one hour and forty-five minutes long. Before we begin, please fill in the details on the front of the paper in black pen. Failure to do so will result in disqualification. Your candidate number is displayed on your desk to your right. When the clock hits 9:03, you may turn over your papers and begin the test," spoke one of the teachers overseeing the procedure. The silence only served to feed his anxieties until the clock answered his prayers, the triumphant tick-tock generating a wave of noise as hundreds of papers were simultaneously shifted. It was time for Midoriya to prove his worth.

Soon enough, the automated demands of the invigilators echoed throughout the hall. "Finally," he sighed as he exited the room. In all honesty, the test was not hard per say, nor were the questions too difficult. It was the fact that they were merely too mundane for him. The majority of questions were either a test of one's own generic problem solving or ethical questions relating to heroism.

All the tryouts were gradually filtered into the adjacent lecture hall ready for the second half. Once they were all situated, Present Mic began explaining how it was to unfold,
"As it says in the application requirements, you listeners will be conducting ten-minute mock urban battles after this! Three different types of faux villains are stationed in each battle centre. You earn points for each of them based on their level of difficulty. Your goal, dear listeners, is to use your Quirks to earn points by immobilising the faux villains-"
One of the would-be students spoke up, "Excuse me sir but I have a question! On the print-out there are four types of villains, not three. And you over there!" The student turned towards Midoriya, pointing at him. He was not too dissimilar from the countless condescending snobs that Midoriya had to deal with regularly back in Mustafau. The boy continued "Why do you have such unnecessary weapons? It is insulting to the school for you to have an unfair advantage! I demand you remove them immediately and take this exam properly like the rest of us!" In response, Izuku merely rolled his eyes and proceeded to recite in a monotonous voice "Rule 754: any examinee may be permitted to utilize any weapons they see fit, so long as they created the gear themselves." Immediately the boy's mouth clamped shut and sat back down. 'Well that shut him up.' Midoriya chuckled to himself.

Resuming his speech, Present Mic confirmed that the fourth villain was worth zero points so it was 'best to avoid it at all costs'. This was especially troubling to Izuku for he knew that was not all there is to it. A robot worth zero points he could understand, but to have a low value attached to an overwhelming mechanical goliath was perplexing, to say the least; there must be some alternate motive to include a blatant contradiction such as this. Could it conceivably be some other points system undisclosed to the public? It would make a tiny bit of sense that way since it would be the catalyst for an extra set of criteria and depending on how each applicant reacts to it, their placement would theoretically be altered.

Nevertheless, the examinees were divided up, each allocated to one of four faux cities, of whom our young protagonist was assigned the second. These facilities, identical in every way, were created to ensure that each tryout would be given enough room to shine brighter than the rest. Cameras were perched periodically along each and every rooftop, their prying eyes primed to perform their duty.

"Right, let's start!" Present Mic's booming voice resurfaced. Immediately, taking this as his que to begin, Midoriya took off as fast as his legs could take him into the battlefield. His fellow examinees on the other hand were still frozen, waiting for the countdown that would never come. That was, until the teacher, who was still ignorant to the idea of not using his quirk, screeched over the intercom "Well what are you guys waiting for? Real battles don't have countdowns!" Fortunately, this proved to merely shake them out of their stupor rather than annihilate their eardrums, rushing out in all directions to hopefully find and destroy the remaining robots.

Meanwhile, Midoriya had already somehow got himself into a dire situation; there was a squadron of 2-pointers ('affectionately' called Venators for reasons unknown) engaging his position, yet he was drawing a blank as to how to defeat them. They were certainly slow by human standards yes, but they were by no means weak because of it.
Closer, closer and closer still they etched toward him, clawed appendages akin to those of scorpions primed to strike. Closer. They were within 4ft of him now. Closer. Then, an idea born out of adrenalin gave his mind exactly what it needed to move onward. Midoriya's body seemingly went on auto-pilot as he proceeded to slam his foot into the three-eyed automaton, sending it back into the others tailing it, before being ripped forward ,via a well-timed grappling-hook, back into his foot once more, deactivating from the impact.

He couldn't help but notice something interesting during the exchange. One of the 2 pointers did not attempt to attack him after being knocked into, even as its comrades were smashed into scrap yet he was confident it was not deactivated. So why was it just ambling around?

"Wait a second," Midoriya paused, looking intrigued by his own notions. "Now that... is a beautiful... and positively silly thought." Bereft of common sense in that instance, he decided to wrap the rope of his other hook around the mechanical beast, providing two ends by which he latched onto as he rode the 2-pointer into battle.

"What is he doing?!" "Is that even allowed?!"
These and many like-minded questions blurted out from the teachers observing the exam. They were situated in a room brimming with security feeds each corresponding to one of the hundreds of cameras placed in the four zones. This meant they all had a clear view by which to see the shenanigans below. The cacophony of voices were collectively silenced by Nezu's plain but simultaneously authoritative voice "On the handout, it was never specified how you go about getting rid of the robots, just that you must immobilise and/or destroy them to have the points count towards their total. He was just thinking outside the box- a simply genius idea I might add."

Generally speaking, Nedzu was impassive on most things; he always had an overtly positive demeanor about him despite himself not saying such optimism. This is why it came as a surprise to his fellow staff when he made that final remark. It was extremely rare to see him directly praise a student for his or her efforts, and not once had it been this early on. Heck, the student in question isn't even a student yet!

During this commotion, Izuku had easily secured himself a sizable chunk of points by deliberately ramming his steed into any faux villain unfortunate enough to be in the way, disabling them from the impact and stunning other contestants who happened to be in the area. Speaking of which, there were a few instances of him helping the less able examinees out of sticky situations. One that stood out to him the most was a purple-haired kid who attempted to take control of the robot with what he assumed to be mind-control, only to realise that because these automata possessed no sentience, it was impossible.

Midoryia felt sorry for them; even those blessed with a quirk aren't free from the biased nature of the exams toward physical, 'flashy' quirks. This student was a perfect example of it. Luckily for them, their physical prowess wasn't abysmal to the point of uselessness (unlike the majority who just relied on their quirk alone), yet at the same time it wasn't particularly great either. His form was horrendous and even if it was decent, the kid doesn't have the muscle mass to do any major damage. The best option for him is to try and deliberately short-circuit it.

Who knows, Izuku could teach him a thing or two in combat once the exam is said and done.

Midoriya was interrupted (for the third time that day he noted) by a deafening crash and the resulting screams of terror indicated that a drastic change of events had occurred. With haste, he rode towards the epicentre of the disaster, coming across the very anomaly he was concerned about only 10 minutes previous.
the intimidating goliath itself:

"The zero pointer!"

It was a motorized giant, lined in pine coloured panels. The lower torso consisted of two fierce metal treads that crushed any debris that opposed its progressing movement. Tens of piercing red orbs imitating eyes dotted the front of its viridian face, constantly changing size as if they were lenses to capture the painting of fear itself. The 'thing' creaked and groaned when it advanced, showcasing that its hulking stature was nowhere near optimal. If one were to dare approach it, they would hear the stressed pumping of steam and pistons barely managing to maintain the monstrosity.

It was by far the slowest of the four variants, which were already relatively slow without galloping like some manic animal; the scale of the fiend was the cause and counterbalance for that glaring weakness. Unlike its brethren, it did not possess an off switch to easily shut down the threat, making only two choices viable: Run or Attack. The vast majority present chose the former, leaving the few remaining to fend for themselves. Moments after, most of those who did remain retreated upon realising that their attacks were futile. One was not so lucky.

Out of the corner of his eye, Midoriya noticed someone trapped beneath the rubble that lay only 6ft in front of the carnage that approached them. 'Why is no one helping?!' He yelled in his head. He saw that even the stuck-up kid from earlier had run off with his tail between his legs.

Taking charge, Izuku rushed over to the injured girl, assessing internally as to how to retrieve her from the debris. 5ft. He pulled away the rubble with the bonus strength from his newfound steed. 4ft. He gently lifted the girl onto the back of the tamed two-pointer, securing her onto it. 3ft. They attempted to speed away, only to find out that there was too much weight on it to sufficiently travel. 2ft. Midoriya got off, allowing the metal beast to scurry off to safety with the girl in tow. 1ft. The girl sat up, still clinging to the robot and saw the same boy who she saw only a few months ago staring down the towering colossus.

A basil fist smashed into the ground where Izuku once stood just as the executor finally and triumphantly slumped in synchronised defeat alongside the other robots not yet decimated.

The exam was finished.