My Hero Automata

Chapter 4: Entrance Exams and Results

Summary: Time for Izumi and Momo to make some first impressions...

Chapter 4: Entrance Exams and Results

-Recommended Exam Practical-

All Might watched through the cameras, sitting with Dean Nedzu as both of them observed the recommendation students running through the obstacle course. The first two groups had already run, with the second including a pair of standout performances. It was the final group, however, that the pair had been truly waiting for. For this group included All Might's successor. The two of them paid close attention as Yaoyorozu took her position. Unlike the others, she wasn't bothering with any sort of runner's stance, something Nedzu was clearly curious about.

"You did say your protégé had control of roughly 40% of One for All, correct? Why isn't she taking a stance?"

All Might grinned, cheerful at finally being able to get one over on the Dean. Clearly, Nedzu had no idea just what his successor and her girlfriend had cooked up.

"I did. But I also told you they'd come up with a way to deflect attention from young Yaoyorozu suddenly gaining a new or altered Quirk. You're about to see the fruits of their labor, an old project that originally failed, as I understand it. But was made viable again by One for All."

Clearly intrigued, Nedzu watched the screen closely as the countdown hit zero. The other five competitors in the group lunged forward, taking off at various speeds and with various uses of their Quirks. Momo, on the other hand, stood still as advanced composites, cybernetic weaves, and metal flashed out and over her skin. Her tracksuit was shredded into confetti as, in the space of just five seconds, a skintight suit of futuristic looking armor covered her from ponytail to toe tips. Then, in a burst of speed that passed every other competitor in the space between heartbeats, Momo was off down the track. Obstacles were run with a precision and speed that even All Might would have been hard pressed to better. He was still faster in a straight line, of course, but Momo was firing maneuvering thrusters from her back, elbows, and feet in order to corner in a brutal redirection of motion that not even he could manage without surfaces to bounce off of.

There were obvious rough spots in the rapid movement, at least to the eyes of someone trained by Grand Torino. But it was an incredible performance considering his successor had only had two weeks to practice with it. The remaining two before the recommended exams having been used up revamping and tweaking the design in the first place. And, regardless of the rough spots, it did the job. Momo crossed the finish line before any of her competitors even reached the second obstacle. A stunned Present Mic called out her time...which utterly blew away even that of the previous high scorer, one Yorashi Inasa, who had shown off a powerful wind Quirk. Dean Nedzu sat back with a calculating look in his eyes, barely paying attention to the rest of the competitors.

"Fascinating. Obviously, the appearance of the suit is meant to hide One for All by making the viewer assume it's the source of her speed and power. Yet, it was clearly functional. And I do have to wonder if it impairs the use of her original Quirk?"

All Might quickly shook his head at that.

"It doesn't. Or not much, at least. They'd worked that out years ago, apparently. They developed the original suit out of a material specifically designed to pass the specific energy frequency of Creation through. The suit truly acts like a second skin, from which she can create objects. There's some small loss of efficiency. But One for All boosted that efficiency by something like seven thousand percent anyway. So the loss is pretty irrelevant. Particularly given the advantages."

Nedzu made an approving humming noise of some sort, nodding as he pulled up a recording of her run and watched it in slow motion.

"Still new to using it, obviously. But it shows quite a bit of promise, despite that. The startup period might be an issue in an emergency..."