U.A. High School Stadium – the energy is electric as the stands overflow with cheering spectators. The Pro Hero Midnight stands poised on the announcer’s platform, addressing both the crowd and the eager students below.

Midnight: First-year students… Begin!

A loud buzzer sounds. The gates burst open.

The students charge forward in a frenzy, quirks activating in bursts of light, ice, smoke, and fire. At the front, Todoroki Shoto steps forward calmly, placing one hand on the ground—CRACK!—a massive sheet of ice shoots out, freezing the path ahead and knocking many students off balance.

Bakugo Katsuki launches himself high into the air with a roar, explosions propelling him above the crowd as he scouts the terrain.

Bakugo: MOVE IT, DAMMIT!

Midoriya Izuku keeps to the back, observing. His eyes dart between students and obstacles, calculating, remembering the terrain.

Izuku: This is just like the entrance exam… But worse.

Then, the arena of the race quakes.

Ahead, giant 0-Point Robots—the same colossal machines from the U.A. Entrance Exam—stomp into the course, each towering over the students. Their red eyes glow menacingly as they scan for movement, metal limbs groaning as they advance.

The crowd erupts in cheers.

Students scatter. One robot slams a massive arm down, causing an explosion of debris. Another swings wildly, its heavy metal fingers narrowly missing several students who dive to safety.

Shoto: So... This is what everyone faced during the Entrance Exam.

Shoto wastes no time—he summons his ice to freeze the robot momentarily so he can go through beneath the robot, he's locked in on passing without the need of his father's quirk, fire.

Bakugo rockets straight above everyone, using his explosions to propel and catch up to Shoto. Sero uses his tape to help himself cross as well. Tokoyami uses Dark Shadow to go over the same robot. Saving their energy.

Amidst the chaos, students scramble across cracked earth and twisted metal. Dust and smoke fill the air. Robotic limbs crash, creating small earthquakes with every step. Kirishima punches his way out of a fallen robot.

Kirishima: Anyone but me would've been crushed.

Tetsutetsu also punches his way out of the same fallen robot.

Tetsutetsu: Anyone but me would've been crushed.

High above, in the announcers' booth, Present Mic yells into his mic, voice booming.

Present Mic: WOOO! LOOK AT ‘EM GO! THESE KIDS ARE GOIN’ PLUS ULTRA RIGHT FROM THE START!!

The obstacle course has only just begun. The 0-Point Robots are only the first test. Only the fastest, smartest, or most determined will make it past this first gauntlet. The path to glory is long, and the competition is merciless.

You bump accidentally against Shinso, another General Studies student. He glares at you and moves away.