Chapter 2: Entrance Exam Pt 1

Chapter 2: Entrance Exam Pt. 1

"Every new friend is an adventure...the start of more memories"

-Patrick Lindsay

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Lee stood in front of the gates that lead into his future. U.A. High School. Today was the day. The day to end all days. Well, not really, but today was still possibly the most important day of his life. Lee felt excited yet nervous like he wanted to do a backflip of joy and throw up all at the same time!

It was a disconcerting combination.

Today,though, was the U.A. Entrance Exam! Here was the final obstacle in the way of him and U.A., and he was ready. When he and Guy-sensei got the letter last winter that he was going to be given the chance to show up for the entrance exams in the upcoming fall, they were so excited! Guy-sensei even decided to kick his training up a whole level! How? Well it had everything to do with the weights he was currently wearing underneath his pants.

(Flashback)

It was a saturday and Lee was confused.

Guy-sensei was excited.

Lee looked at the bands on display right in front. Leg weights, according to sensei. But, they did not look anything like normal weights did. They were wayyyyy older and scuffed up than the ones he saw in the local sporting goods stores. They were a dirty tan or beige with slots across them with kanji painted onto each slot.

He reached and picked up the weights, and strapped them around his ankles. Without any weights in the slots, they were as light as a feather, and Lee hopped around a bit in them to get a feel and make sure they were secured.

"They fit, Lee?" Guy-sensei asked as he calmed down on the testing.

Lee nodded his head and smiled widely. "They fit perfectly, Guy-sensei," He replied back.

Guy smiled wide at the answer. "That is great, Lee. That means we can get started with the next step," he said excitedly. Guy stepped over to the pile of rectangular shaped weights sitting in the corner and picked up a few. He turned to Lee with a blinding smile and said, "It is time to add the weights!"

"Yosh!" Lee responded back.

With practiced ease, Guy-sensei placed a weight in each slot until everyone was full and sealed.

He straightened up and stepped back. "Now, take a few steps and tell me how they feel, Lee," Guy-sensei told him with a sneaky smile.

Lee didn't notice the smile his sensei was sporting, as he found himself struggling to lift his legs to even take a step! How much weight did sensei put around his legs?!

Almost as if he read Lee's mind, Guy-sensei said, "Right now, you have 150 pounds on each leg to start you off, Lee. I want you to wear these every day besides when you go to sleep and take a shower. That means even when you go to the bathroom and when you go to school. And," Guy-sensei began quickly before Lee could ask the question he looked to, "I have already called your principal and told him the situation with the weights. My old weights when I was your age, by the way," Guy added.

Lee gasped in surprise. He looked from the scuffed up and old-no, the youthful and glorious weights around his ankles to Guy-sensei with wonder in his eyes and asked, "These were yours?"

Lee bowed at the waist, "I am honored, Guy-sensei," He snapped up straight with youthful fire burning in his eyes. "I will master these weights until I am able to run a hundred laps around the city in them! And if I cannot do that then I will do 1000 kicks with each leg!" He declared passionately.

"That is the spirit, Lee," Guy added just as passionately. "Let your youth burn bright!"

"Guy-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Guy-sensei!"

"Le-"

(Flashback End)

"Yoohoo," A voice sang and broke him out of his flashback.

He felt something move in front of his face and his muscles reacted before his brain could catch up. He snatched whatever it was in a tight, bandaged grip and unknowingly clenched down.

"Ah! Ow! Ow! Okay, okay," the voice hurried out in pain.

Lee blinked silently a few times and refocused on reality to see that he was clenching a hand. A pink hand. He quickly traced the slender arm to its owner and was taken aback by what he saw.

He first saw a lot of pink, his second favorite-no third favorite color after green and orange. Pink skin and wild also-pink hair that covered the base of two horns. A pair of eyes with a glittering black sclera with yellow irises.

More important than all of that was that she was a girl! And going by her wincing, he was holding her hand a little too tight. Ah! He was holding her hand without consent!

He frantically let it go and she snatched it back. She rubbed at it tenderly and Lee felt guilt and shame rise in him. That was very un-youthful of him. Guy-sensei had told him women were glorious wonders of nature that deserved to be treated as such, and Lee was doing the exact opposite! Before he even got pass the gates! Or even introduced himself!

Quickly he tried to apologize to the girl, "Oh, I am so so sorry. I did not mean to grab you so forcefully. I apologize and if that isn't enough I will apologize a thousand more times until it is," he said strongly. He would make this up to her.

The girl snorted and shook her head as she shook out her hand a bit, "One time is good enough, so don't worry about it…," she trailed off expectantly and it took Lee a moment to realize she was waiting for him to introduce himself.

"Ah, I apologize," he smiled widely until his eyes shut, trying his best to imitate his sensei's nice guy pose. "I am Rock Lee. May I have the name of a pretty girl such as yourself?"

He was met with silence and he opened his eyes and was greeted with a silent slightly gaping girl with darkened cheeks. Did he mess something up again? He did exactly as Guy-sensei said to. When you meet a new person compliment them to break the ice. Was the ice not sufficiently broken? Was it too broken?

Before he could try to salvage what he could from his apparent blunder, metaphorical lightning struck. He needed to hurry up and get ready for the exam!

He looked at the girl. "Are you here for the exam as well?" He asked her quickly.

The question seemed to shake her out of her stupor. "Y-yea, I am," she stuttered out. "Are yo-"

Lee grabbed her hand. "I do apologize for this, but we must hurry if we are to make it in time!" He exclaimed.

The girl seemed to shake her head and try to say something, but whatever it was was cut short as Lee dashed inside the gates of the school fast enough to leave a trail of dust.

He would not be late and neither would his new acquaint!

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Turns out he was early. Also turns out, he felt the need to apologize to the girl yet again.

Mina Ashido was, admittedly, a strange girl. She knew it and wasn't ashamed of the fact she looked and acted different than 'normal' people. She had pink skin, black and yellow eyes, horns, and could shoot acid from her hands. She was easily excitable, loud, and very emotional when it came to just about anything. All of this called for her being labeled 'weird' or 'dumb' or even 'ugly'. She'd be lying if the words didn't hurt, and she disliked liars.

The constant belittlement by her peers made her, not insecure, but extremely doubtful to ever hear a compliment from somebody that wasn't her grandmother. It was reinforced over and over throughout the years, and she applied to U.A. not expecting much of a change.

Yet, before she even took the entrance exam, here was a potential classmate calling her pretty and wanting to know her name. And he seemed honestly genuine about it to!

Pfft, she wasn't head over heels for the guy. She wasn't that desperate for attention, but it was such a shock it left her speechless. Then the whole rushing around thing, him grabbing her hand-nobody's done that willingly before-and wanting to make sure neither of them were late even though she knew they were an hour early.

It made her want to smile and cry at the same time! Made her feel all fuzzy inside too! But she wouldn't cry! No, she was a big girl and big girls don't cry over tiny things like this.

Well, that's what grandma said at least.

Plus, she thought as she regarded the apologizing boy, she wasn't sure what to make of the fervently apologizing boy clad in white martial arts wore all black sandals and his hands were covered up with bandages. He looked like a martial artist come to life.

Only if they had a bowl cut and thick, bushy brows.

But still, she thought to herself as she sat on the bench, I'm not really mad and the apologizing is getting a bit much even for me.

"No, no it's fine," she tried to wave him off and get him to stop. "Apology accepted and I'm not even angry," she said with an easygoing shrug.

Lee straightened and sighed a sigh of relief. "That is wonderful. I did not mean any offense with my actions. They were very unyouthful," he lamented sadly.

Mina couldn't keep from snorting at his use of the word 'unyouthful'. It wasn't even a word, but he said it with such confidence it was funny. He was funny.

"You're funny, Rock," she giggled and held her hand out for him to shake. "I'm Mina. Mina Ashido. Let's be friends!" She said with as much confidence and joy as she could muster. And added a smile for the cherry on top.

Yup, just like she practiced.

Rock Lee did not waste a moment. He shook her hand, normally and with consent this time, and smiled right back at. "It is nice to meet you Mina Mina Ashido, and please call me Lee. Also, yes. Let us commence being friends!"

Mina smiled, that warm, fuzzy that made her heart feel full stayed steady in her chest, "Then call me Mina, Lee. We're friends now after all!"

She smiled wide. As wide as maybe sensei, and Lee was taken aback in silent amazement. Her smile was wonderful and her youthful energy felt infectious. He didn't know how it was possible, but he thought he felt his smile get a little bit wider as they began to talk.

The 30 minutes passed relatively quickly for the pair as they just talked and talked and they got to know each other better.

Or, he got to know her better. He quickly learned that Ashido, not Mina Mina, was a very youthful talker. He spent more time listening than anything else. But that was fine! He wanted to learn more anyways.

For example, Mina loved dancing, fashion, shopping, natto, okra and romantic movies. She disliked bullying, and her dream was to become a hero she and her grandmother could be proud of.

Lee couldn't help but think about how youthful her dream was. Her flames of youth were truly burning bright!

Eventually, though, the time had come for the entrance exam to begin.

The large group of students were herded into an auditorium with a giant screen showing the U.A. logo to them. As everyone took their seats, Lee stuck with his new friend. Luckily they found two empty seats right next to each other, and were quick to take them. There was a serious amount of people in here, and seats were filling up fast.

Seats secured, they waited for everyone else to find there's.

"So, what do you think they are going to have us do?" Mina asked him excitedly, basically bouncing in her seat. "Do you think we're going to have to fight some monsters or a teacher! Oh, oh, oh," she stuttered and her eyes got wide, "or giant killer robots?!"

Before Lee could answer, a new, unfamiliar voice interjected and asked curiously, "You think they're going to have us fighting giant robots?"

Lee and Mina paused and looked to their right to the source of the voice and were greeted with a boy. Lee reasoned he was around their age, but he was just so much bigger. He had grey hair that was swept forward and covered most of his face and right eye with his mouth covered by a facemask.

Mina wasted naught a second to answer his question. "I mean, it is just a guess. This is the practical exam, so they would have us doing something that was a little bit more fighty-fighty and kicky-kicky, right?" She asked the new kid and added a shrug.

"That makes excellent sense, Ashido! Truly, your deduction skills are top-notch!" Lee praised. He wasn't sure himself about the event himself, but what Mina said made sense.

"I agree, that does make sense," the new guy said. "Sorry, I have yet to introduce myself. I am Mezo Shoji."

He extended his hand out to shake, but his arms were attached to each other. No, that was wrong. It was as if he had two extra limbs attached to his original arms, like webbed tentacles. The tentacles did not have hands like his arms, but instead ended in rounded nubs. Lee reasoned that it had something to do with his quirk.

"Whoaaa! That's sooo cool!" Mina was awestruck as she took in the extra limbs. "You have like a bunch of arms!"

"Is that your quirk, Shoji-san?" Lee couldn't help but ask, equally as starstruck as MIna. Quirks would never fail to amaze him.

Shoji's nodded his head. Then, to both Lee's and Mina's surprise, a mouth grew from one of the tentacles, teeth and all, and began to speak. "Yes, it is my quirk, Dupli-Arms. It allows me to replicate parts of my body-like my mouth for example," he explained.

"Whoaa," both Lee and Mina said at the same time. That was so cool!

"What about you two?" He asked them, "What are your names and quirks?"

His questions broke them out of their amazement. Mina spoke up first, "Hi, I'm Mina Ashido, but you can call me Mina. It is nice to meet you, Shoji-san," she greeted.

"And I am Rock Lee, but please call me Lee," Lee followed up. "It is also a pleasure to meet you!"

Shoji gave them both a nod. "It is also a pleasure to meet the both of you, Mina and Lee," He spoke from his mouth-tentacle. Tentacle mouth? Lee wasn't sure. "What are your quirks, if you do not mind me asking?"

Mina's eyes lit up. "Oooh, me first. My quirk is Acid," she held out her hands for Shoji and Lee leaned over to see as well. She noticed him and held her hands for the both of them to see. "I can secrete acid from these bad boys right here," she clenched her fists and the both of them leaned away quickly, not wanting to be too close to any kind of acid.

Mina giggled at their reactions and put her hands down. "I'm not going to demonstrate it you big babies," she turned her attention to Lee, "You're turn, Lee."

Reality struck Lee like a kick from Guy-sensei, and his heart fell into his gut. He did not have a quirk to introduce yet they all thought he had one. He was surrounded by people who all had quirks while he was the only one without. Did he tell them the truth? That he was quirkless yet still wanted to be a hero? He knew how they would react. Previous experiences have taught him what to expect.

(Flashback)

He was back in middle school. First year and first day at a new school closer to where he now lived with Guy-sensei. It was his chance to start new away from where he came from.

The teacher had them all come to the front to introduce themselves and their dream to the class. One by one students went up and introduced themselves and most had the same dream.

To become heroes.

It went by fast. Faster than Lee would've wanted. His dread hadn't gone away like he wished it would. If anything, it got worse. Eventually, it was his turn to introduce himself and he was terrified. He felt clammy and nervous. His anxiety skyrocketed as the teacher called his name. He shut his eyes and gripped his seat as hard as he physically could. Maybe she said the wrong name and he still had time to get himself together.

She repeated his name and Lee felt no different. Just impossibly terrified. It gripped his heart like an icy clamp and made his breaths come in shallow waves, but he knew he had to get up and do this. He just had to get it over with. So, slowly, silently he rose from his seat and began what felt like a death march to the front of the class. He walked as slow as he possibly could, but he couldn't stave off the inevitable.

Eventually, he made it to the front of the class where everyone waited for his introduction. Faces, so many faces, leaned forward in anticipation to hear what the new kid had to say. Excited and eager for something. He wanted to throw up. Maybe if he did, he'd be excused.

Slowly but steadily Lee gathered whatever scraps of courage and confidence he could find and tried to settle his heart.

He felt a soft hand on his shoulder and he jolted. He snapped back to see who it was and it was the teacher smiling kindly down at him.

"It is okay to be nervous or scared," she said soothingly. "Just breathe and try your best, alright?"

He took a deep breath, just like she said. And several more after that. He could hear the murmurs begin.

"He's a scaredy cat," he heard.

"I wish he'd just hurry up."

"Maybe he can't speak."

"You think he's, y'know, slow?"

"Maybe he doesn't have a dream?"

A dream. He had a dream. To be a hero. In that moment, his terror slipped away as he realized something, how could he become a hero if he was too afraid to even say so? To afraid of how people would react? Heroes were fearless and brave, and if he wanted to be a hero he had to be those things as well!

Emboldened, Lee straightened up and poked out his chest, just like he'd seen All-Might do, and smiled wide, just like he'd seen Guy-sensei do, and was brave.

"I am Rock Lee and I am going to be the first hero without a quirk in the world!" He proclaimed to the class as confident as he could.

At first there was silence and Lee felt great. He'd done it!

Then, the class erupted in uproarious laughter. Everybody from the front to the back were either giggling or full blown laughing. Lee's smile cracked and fell from his face.

The teacher moved forward and tried to get the class to settle down.

They-they were laughing at him. The whole class. Guy-sensei said to hope it'd be different, but it wasn't. It was the exact same thing as before.

His chest burned in anger and he felt tears begin to form in the corners of his eyes. He tried to stop them, wipe them away before anyone could see, but it didn't work. He sniffled and scowled down at the classroom floor as his tears began to fall. He clenched his fists at his side until they shook.

They didn't believe him. Nobody did. They never did. Nobody, but Guy-sensei believed him. He sniffled again and wiped at his eyes as the laughter continued despite the teachers attempts to get it to stop. His anger boiled over until he couldn't control it anyone. He wouldn't just take this!

"Grrr, just you all watch! I am going to be a wonderful hero! I'm going to become the number one hero in the world without a Quirk! Just you wait!" He yelled through his tears.

He didn't wait to see how they reacted to his words as he dashed out of the classroom. He wasn't sure if he heard the teacher call for him or not, but he wouldn't have stopped anyways. He had to get away from all the laughing. He'd become a hero! Guy-sensei believed in him, and he believed in himself! That's all that should matter.

Right?

He made it to the bathroom and dashed in. He threw open the door and slammed it shut behind him and locked it. He tried to slow his breathing, but a sob came through instead. Then, it was like the floodgates were opened.

Lee slowly slid to the floor, back against the door, and began to cry heavily. He sobbed at the unfairness and at the laughing. The entire class laughed at him and his dream.

They always laughed.

(Flashback end)

He was in such a rush and got caught up in getting to know her, he completely forgot that he'd have to tell her he was quirkless. Would she laugh too? Everything he had ever experienced from his peers told him she would. He was used to it, but it didn't mean it wouldn't hurt. He'd be alone again, but, sadly, when was he not?

As he got older and understood society more, a part of him grew to understand why so many laughed at his dream of becoming a hero. It was unheard of, a hero without a quirk. Placing himself in their shoes, he saw how ridiculous it was. Ridiculous enough to make someone laugh at the sheer impossibility.

That didn't make it, or them, right, though.

He wasn't dumb. He knew his dream was impossible, but impossible was only a word. Everything was once thought of to be impossible until somebody proved it wasn't.

A hero without a quirk was thought of to be impossible, and he'd be the one to prove it wasn't.

If that meant bearing more laughter and jeers and insults and taunts, then so be it. He wouldn't go back on his dream. He didn't like it, he wished there was another way, but he couldn't just not tell her or anyone, right?

Right?

"Soooo, you gonna leave us hanging here or what, Lee?" Mina's voice snapped him out of his head.

Lee smiled weakly at her and found himself feeling a a grim sort of confidence. The kind where you know something bad was about to happen, but couldn't do anything but face it. He braced himself for her reaction, whatever it may be.

"Um, actually, I don-" he began.

"GOOD MORNING EXAMINEES!" An absolutely booming voice roared to the crowd.

Lee and Mina jumped in surprise and Shoji just blinked once as a reaction. The trio turned to the front of the auditorium where the now stood a tall, skinny man with spiky blonde hair that was swept back. To Lee it looked a bit like the backend of a bird. From there seats they could see the headphones he wore around his head and the sunglasses he wore on his face.

Fate of his relationship with his friends took a backseat for a moment, as it took Lee barely a second before he realized who was standing in front of them all.

"It is the pro hero, Present Mic," Lee said in amazement as he leaned forward in his seat, previous trepidation forgotten in the face of such a well known hero.

"Whoa, you're right, Lee," Mina said, unintentionally mimicking the boy beside her as she leaned forward as well. "He's so fashionable!" she squealed out with stars in her eyes.

Shoji side-eyed his two star-struck peers and shrugged his shoulders. He was more of Kamui Woods fan himself if he was being honest. Now if he was up there? He'd be just like the two beside him.

"Let's get that blood pumping!" He roared into the microphone. He dipped the microphone like it was a dancer and pointed a finger to the crowd, "Everybody say HEY!"

Crickets. No, not crickets. Crickets would mean there was sound. No, there was only silence. Dead, awkward silence. A moment passed and only one responded back.

"HEY!" Lee cheered back from his seat and raised his fist in excitement. The man's energy was truly youthful! He reminded him of Guy-sensei.

"Alright! That's what I like to hear! I'll be quick and present you a rundown of the Entrance Exam. Are you guys READYYY?!"

"YOSH!" Three guesses to who that was and the first two don't count.

"I love it! Aww yeah! Onto what you all really came here for," as one everyone in the auditorium seemed to lean forward, "the Entrance Exam will consist of a 10 minute mock battle in one of our urban battle centers. You might be wondering, how do I know which battle center I go to," Present Mic chuckled, "Well, I'll tell you," an image flashed on the screen behind him of a familiar looking card. "Those cards you received when you entered are your tickets to participate. The card tells you which arena you will be reporting to after this presentation, A, B, C, D, and so on. I'll give you all a few moments to locate your cards before laying down the ground rules for this practical exam."

"Oh!" Lee sounded in realization. He reached into one of his gi pockets, a welcome addition if he was being honest, and pulled out a card with giant letter "G" on it. They had given them out as they entered the auditorium and told to hand onto them. This must be what they were for.

He looked over to Mina and Shoji to let them know, but they already had their cards out and were looking at them.

"What does your guys' say?" He asked the two of them.

Shoji flipped his card to him and Mina. It read "C". "I have gotten arena 'C' I believe. What about you, Mina-san?" His one eye focused on the pink girl as she flipped her card to show the both of them.

"I got 'G' ," Mina answered.

They both then turned to Lee.

"Where are you going, Lee?" Shoji asked him.

Lee flipped his card to show them the 'G', and Mina squealed in excitement.

"Yay! We're in the same arena!" She cheered. "That means we can be on teams and help each other out," she realized.

Lee winced a little at that. He wasn't sure that was against the rules or not, but it wasn't something he wanted to do. He needed to take this entrance exam and pass it on his own merit. To prove that he could do it. If he took her help it was like he was cheating, and what he recognized as his pride revolted against the idea. Rebelled against using outside power to get him through what he had been spending basically his entire life training for.

His thoughts must have shown on his face because Mina deflated like a balloon with a tear. Her smile falling faster than a shooting star, and Lee's heart did a twisting motion in his chest. No, he didn't mean to-

"Oh, you don't want to work together." She said sullenly, her previous excitement gone with the wind. She smiled a crooked, weak smile that made Lee feel all types of awful, "That's fine, I guess. I shouldn't have just assumed like that."

Without another word, Mina turned back forward without a word and stared straight forward. The entire shift in her demeanor left Lee flat footed and unsure. How did he tell her that, yes, he did not, but for good reason? He needed to prove that he could do this by himself, on his own power. How did he tell her that it wasn't her, but him?

He looked at her pleadingly, but whatever he might've said was curtailed by Present Mic starting up again.

"Alright, now that you all got your location, let's go over the rules," he began. Behind him four images popped up on the screen. They were robots! Mina was right after all. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, but she still looked straight ahead with all her focus on Present Mic. He sighed. He needed to pay attention too. This was important.

"These four robots that you see represent our scoring system. They are 0, 1, 2, and 3 point robots respectively," He explained to them. "Your guys' goal is to take down or immobilize as many as you can with your Quirks to earn points within the time we are giving you. Of course, attacking other examinees and performing any other unheroic acts are prohibited!"

"What's the point of the zero pointer? Why have it when it is worth no points?" A voice asked. Lee ignored his first instinct to look for the person who asked the question, though, he had to admit he was thinking along the same lines.

Present Mic's smile grew larger. With a flourish of his hand he pointed at where Lee assumed he saw the person who asked the question.

"That is a great question that I have an answer for!" He lowered his hand and on the screen behind him, the zero point robot took over completely. "The zero pointer is to act as a sort of obstacle. An unknown type of enemy that will challenge you unlike the 1, 2, and 3 pointers would. It is not unbeatable, far from it, but there is also no incentive applied to it to make you want to defeat it. Make of that what you will, young examinees," he said cryptically.

Lee didn't know what to make of that last part. What did the zero pointer mean for the exam? Quickly, he brushed it aside. Like Present Mic had said, there was no incentive to defeat it, so Lee would avoid it. Gaining zero points would not help him accomplish his goal.

"Any more questions? No? Yes? Doesn't matter!" He barked out a laugh. "My time with you all is up. It is time to get down to business! Please report to your designated arenas to proceed with the exam! Best of luck to you all and remember to go plus…," he tapered off at the end, setting it up for the crowd.

And they couldn't just not deliver, "ULTRA!" the auditorium full of potential heroes boomed in response.

Present Mic smiled wide once more before stepping down, and from there the auditorium began to disperse. The trio got up and began to leave with the literal sea of examinees towards there designated battle arenas.

Shoji turned to the two of them. "I will hopefully be seeing you all when school starts for I have no intention to fail after making it so far," he spoke to them from one of his duplicated mouths. "Best of luck to both of you, Mina," a nod, "Lee," another nod. With that said, Shoji headed towards his arena and melded into the sea of bodies.

That left Lee with Mina in an awkward sort of silence. Maybe it was only awkward for Lee because Mina seemed to have no issue with the quiet between the two of them as they walked to their testing arena. He wanted to apologize to her, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that perhaps he didn't owe her an apology. He did nothing wrong. She was the one hurt over a wrong assumption.

His thoughts did nothing to lessen the feelings of guilt he had though, and he wasn't sure why.

Yes, it was not his fault she was hurt and ignoring him, he thought to himself, but he was still responsible in part to her current mood. He'd just focus on the test, and apologize to her afterwards when he had the chance. He had bigger fish to fry, as Guy-sensei once said. But leaving her to stew left a bad taste in his mouth. What if she was unfocused because of it? Then she wouldn't do as well, and he would be partially at fault. That would be unacceptable!. They both did. Maybe he could try something.

Eventually they got to the entrance of the makeshift city in silence as the group of examinees chatted around them. Lee was one of the ones in front with Mina still beside him in a sullen silence.

He looked at her as she pointedly ignored his presence. Time to try something.

He "I wish you the best of luck, Mina," as he expected he frustratingly received no response. So, he tried something a little more heartfelt and true. "I hope to see you when classes start up in the fall, so we can begin our journeys in becoming heroes together," he mustered his best smile and thumbs up and gave it, hopeful to get something out of her besides silence. For the little time that he had known her, silence and quiet just did not seem to fit who Mina was.

To his pleasant surprise, he heard a girly snort and his eyes snapped open to see a small smile.

She still did not look at him, but he knew this was a sign that he did not completely mess things up with her. At least for the moment.

"You're funny, Lee," She murmured with a small smile. "Hmph, since we are not going to be teaming up, I'm aiming to get even more points than you to show you your mistake. Hope you don't fall behind," She challenged, full of bravado and brimming with confidence.

Lee smiled, one filled with excitement at the prospect of a challenge. He liked challenges. "Hmph, it is you who should be the worried one."

He faced forward, and tightened his focus. His goal? Destroy as many robots as possible. How would he do that? Why, how else?

By punching them really, really hard.

With no warning or even countdown a resounding, "GO!" was blasted out of the speakers, and the exam had begun.

A/N

Boom, so chapter a few things with Mina and her backstory from what the anime says. Why? For plot reasons of course. Like it or hate it, the implications will be felt as the story continues. I chose Mina to be the one to first meet Lee because she makes the most sense out of them all to me at least. Anyways, that's the chapter. If you catch the Dragon Ball Z Abridged reference in the chapter, kudos to you. It's fairly obvious too.

Read and review. Updates will once every week give or take a day or two. I have the majority of this story plotted out anyways, so any suggestions won't be taken into account. I am trying to get to the main plot-line as fast as possible without just skimming over Lee's background. It will be the main influence on a lot of his decisions down the line after all.

Anyways, I'm outta here. MHA recomendation of the day is The Quirkless Hero: Deku! By PolarKarma-No.777. It is a really great quirkless Izuku story.