"FIVE MINUTES REMAINING" screamed the audio system.
Things were going pretty damn well for Melissa. She'd knocked out quite a few of the small robots and even got lucky with a few of the bigger ones too with a few well placed shots from her various equipment to score some more points. She'd not really been counting her total points, but she'd also saved three people from various events: one candidate she'd pulled out of the way from getting blindsided by a droid, she'd shielded another from rubble and pulled one candidate up onto a roof who was about to get smooshed into the side of a building by an out of control robot. They had to have given her rescue points but how many was the question on her mind, but added all together she must've been making very good progress with all the action she'd been involved in!
"Can't believe my super-shield took a hit from one of the big ones, I was expecting it to fail after three engagements with small robots, but here it is. Damn I'm good." Melissa says, however she zones back in after realising she said all that aloud, she looks around seeing no one else up there on the roof with her. She was doing okay though right? Would Dad think that? Would Uncle Toshi think that?
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Katsuki had a good system going, keeping out of the way of every other candidate and picking off robots that had found their way through the madness. He thought he was on about 40 points? That should be enough right? Although, one thing he did notice was that he was hesitating; he could've easily been on at least 60 points by now. But some feeling inside him kept telling him to back off. In face he was in danger of getting hit badly a couple of times, only for himself to dodge out the way at the last possible moment. Probably a bad time to get wrapped up in his thoughts when it was about to happen again too. Katsuki raises his hand to attack the robot but it's blasted away by some kind of laser, he turns to see the laser came from that dude's... belly button? Huh, that's a new one.
"We make a good team mon amis! You distract them and I'll finish them; Bon chance et au revoir!" said the laser dude that propelled himself backwards; leaving Katsuki rather confused. That was... different.
Katsuki looks down at his hands, they were smoking. He'd noticed that a lot more recently too. Unlike the robot that had just barrelled into him; he spools across the ground and lands hard against a lamp post. The robot prepares to fire off it's attacks, forcing Katsuki to propel himself into the air in an attempt to avoid them, but he's too slow and gets caught up in the edge of an explosive attack. His quirk was more unrefined, blunter; compared to his once near surgical ability at manipulating the explosions. He fires a shot off at the robot which misses its mark, he fires off another one which connects solidly, causing the robot to stumble backward.
"Come on then." quietly said Katsuki. No familiar scream or cry of his pride or strength; just a small statement of his determination. He'd been quieter.
All of the things that he'd started to notice about himself all had one common denominator. He knew he deserved all of these things happening to him and more as he fires an explosion at the robot's leg, causing it to slump over. It firing its payload up into the air, Katsuki slowly walks over to it and holds his hand up to the robot's beeping light. He couldn't help but feel the robot staring into his very soul as he did this... which is why he silently jumps down from the robot and walks away from it.
"...Sorry."
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Ochako was having a great time! She'd tagged and released so many robots. Oh! Speaking of which.
"Release!" she shouts happily as several more robots crash to the floor in heaps; she had to be on at least 50 points after that right? Even if she did feel a bit queasy then that was all part of it, she slowly moves into one of the vacant buildings to catch her breath as she stretches out slightly; making sure to stay limber and on her toes.
"Okay... so if I keep this up I'll probably throw up, but it'll all but guarantee a high score! Hehe, I've got this!" she gleefully shouts as she cracks her knuckles. This should be light work for her. However she couldn't shake the feeling that it felt like something was moving, something big. She pressed her ear down to the ground to try and get an idea. There was something moving and whatever it was, it was getting louder... a sort of rumbling.
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The viewing room was full of conversation between teachers and those attending, being full of professionals and future heroes, it was great. Momo sat there watching in particular the tracked position of the friend she'd just made. Ochako. She smiles to herself as she eats a protein bar, seeing her points keep shooting up, she was more or less guaranteed at this point; given that the overall scores were placed on a convenient scoreboard in the room. Of course rescue points would be a bit harder to award but at the moment she was very comfortably in the top percent of those taking part.
"Say, which one is your friend again?" her father asked.
"Ochako Uraraka she said her name was! She's on 52 points!" Momo said joyfully.
"Maybe you can create some anti gravity shoes to help her." winked her father as he nodded in approval. Momo's eyes sparkle with the thought of such an invention.
"That's a great idea!" she cooed.
However on the other side of the room she could hear the same loud condescending voice of another recommended student.
"Why is no one going all out? Hell this guy has an explosion quirk and he's hardly using it! He's leaving points just lying around!" bellowed Yaorashi. On one of the screens it showed the spiky haired blonde kid making his way around, before the massive arena trap bursts through the ground in front of him, he scrambles backwards. "Well now you've gotta use your fire power! GO ON!" he shouted.
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Katsuki lays on the floor seeing the arena trap rumble towards him as his explosions propel him backwards. Part of him didn't even want to run from it, but his body kept moving. Until he ran into a plume of weirdly coloured air, he took a breath in before feeling his throat itch and burn, he coughed as he exited back out of the gas, wretching. He hears a voice from within the smog walking out towards him.
"Woah, hey easy there! This stuff is pretty dangerous." said the young man who emerges from the fog, wearing a gas mask and an olden time war helmet... oh he had some kind of gun too? Huh, cool. Katsuki simply points to the giant robot happening to be rumbling in their direction.
"That's pretty dangerous too!" he shouts.
The masked young man tilts his head as he walks forwards past Katsuki. Katsuki couldn't help be a little surprised that this guy wasn't really intimidated by this giant ass robot.
"Huh. By the looks of it, it's on a determined path in an attempt to mix things up for the last portion of the exam." calculates the masked young man.
"Which means what..?" asked Katsuki as he felt something grab onto his arm, which happened to be the young man who was dragging him down the street.
"What do you think? Start running!" he shouts as he and Katsuki get a move on as they run alongside the verge of the gas perimeter; however the trap proceeds to follow them.
"Hey, uh... it's following us!"
"Damn it, it must have the ability to isolate targets! Although there is a way we can lose it." states the masked man.
Katsuki thinks about it; yeah, he knows what he's gonna say.
"I know what the way is, don't I."
"Take a deep breath friend, we might still pass this thing yet!"
Katsuki and the masked man run into the fog. Katsuki's eyes start to water as the air starts to burn him as he runs.
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"Look out!"
Melissa jumps in the way to shield a red headed boy from falling rubble as the arena trap rumbled past. Her super-shield was now looking a little worse for wear.
"You okay there?" she asks the red headed young man dusting himself down.
"All good! That was awesome of you... but I do have a hardening quirk so..." he innocently says, Melissa looking a little dejected.
"Oh... shit my bad, you could've handled that by yourself, huh?"
"But then I wouldn't have seen such an awesome showing of heroism! Trust me, I'm grateful." smiles the red head. Melissa smiles back; this guy was cool. She looks at the arena trap rumbling away, she couldn't help but feel her wrist start to itch at the sight of it.
"I'm Melissa by the way." she declares.
"Kirishima! Good to meet someone as righteous and strong as you!" smiles Kirishima. Melissa chuckles; yeah this guy was really cool. "We should get out of here, that trap could probably cause a lot of damage." he iterates.
Melissa's wrist starts to itch a lot, she looks down at it glowing at her. She sighs. She knew exactly what she had to do; she throws her busted shield down to the side and presses down on her glowing wrist. The powerglove extending from it and wrapping around her arm, blue sparks shooting off as it forms.
"Melissa, we should- woah. What're you gonna do with that?" asks Kirishima.
Melissa smirks.
"I'm gonna go beyond; someone needs to take down that big bully!"
Melissa's jacket shreds revealing an impromptu jetpack as she soars into the sky, her power glove sparking, intent on only one target. That arena trap.
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Ochako runs and runs, this was fine, she was okay! Just stay ahead of the robot, it didn't really help that it seemed to be following her... but that's beside the point. At this point she must have more than enough points, so just getting to the end was the main factor.
"I got this. I got this!" she shouts to herself with pride. Although the people ahead of her running were moving an awful lot quicker, that's when the rubble started falling all around her. She holds her hands up as it falls down, being sure to to touch it and make it weightless before discarding it to the side of her as she keeps on running as fast as she can. She then makes a gamble and presses her hands against herself, using her quirk on herself as she leaps forward with her body weightless. She could cover more ground like this, just keep moving! "For mom and dad. For my new best friend! For me! I've got this!" she shouts as she flies through the air.
She lands at the end of the street she was on, practically slamming into the wall in order to stop. She pants as she leans on the wall, throwing up a small rainbow from the stress she was undergoing of both body and mind as the trap keeps on rumbling towards her. She wipes her mouth and curses under her breath.
And on she ran.
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Melissa's gauntlet sparked violently as she threw her arm backwards. She had very limited fighting experience hand to hand, but she knew how to throw a punch. The words of her Uncle Toshi echoing in her mind.
'Move your arm back, and then throw it forward with all of your might as you scream at the top of your lungs'
Melissa could feel the power of the gauntlet surge into her, it was so much power, she wasn't sure if the gauntlet was gonna hold up as blue sparks shot out of it, she didn't know if the jetpack was going to hold up from the shockwave caused by it. She was uncertain of so much as she was carried by her jetpack towards her fate. Her eyes fill with determination as she fires her fist forward.
"SMAAAAAAAAAAAASH!"
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The observation room erupts into cheers and delight as they see a blonde haired girl fire everything into an Arena Trap, sending it stumbling backward and crashing down onto the floor like it was a toy. Everyone was cheering and clapping; their applause was almost deafening.
So loud that nobody heard the echoing sound of a flatlined tracker. But soon, they'd all hear it.
Made by truen