Months had passed since their last day at Aldera Junior High, the time before their entrance exam into the Lu Ten memorial firebending academy was up and today is the day. Through the height of the summer Izuku and Katsuki felt their power wax with the season. Their power was fueled by the heat of the sun and summer and they used it to train every single day. Each morning when the sun rose the two made their way to the beach where an Agni Kai arena was set up for any firebenders wishing to practice without burning anything around them. The woman that Katsuki had saved, Camie, had watched them on and off while they trained. Her blossoming relationship with Katsuki barely passed common flirting and touching between the two. The sparring matches between the two started when they arrived in the morning and ended when the sun dropped below the horizon in the evening, but they did break for lunch and dinner. Being trained personally by Bahamut, their firebending prowess has grown considerably even to the point they could potentially rival the masters of old.

Now as Katsuki and Izuku make their way to the firebending academy in the capital their excitement and nervousness was palpable.. Izuku's nerves were more for the written portion rather than the practical exam itself. He is not fond of taking tests, Katsuki on the other hand is as confident as ever marching up to the main entrance of the academy with Gusto. Before them through the main gate is a large brass statue of Firelord Iroh. His jolly face in a wide smile as he warms a large cup of tea in his hands. Warm flames lick at the base of the brass tea cup as water vapor wafts off of the top and into the air. While he never reigned officially as Firelord, his grand-daughter, Firelord Izumi, would posthumously recognise him as firelord over Ozai the Mad. Past the statue commemorating Iroh the main entrance to the academy itself lies ahead, the large ornate door open and inviting the prospective new students wishing to attend. Once past the threshold the two say their goodbyes to one another and to Camie before following their syllabus to their testing rooms.

Written tests are boring. You're here for the fire.

As the students turn in their scantrons, the examiners and staff lead them towards the main auditorium where the orientation before the practical exam will be held. "Good morning everyone, I am principal Shyu Kii here at the Firebending academy." An older salt and pepper haired man greets the new prospective students upon their entrance. "As we speak your written exams are being graded and those of you moving on to the next set of exams will be posted on the screen behind me. While we await these results, I am going to go over what the practical portion will entail." Shyu begins, before the display above his head reveals 128 names of those who passed the exams.

"Hey, Deku? You see your name up there?" Katsuki asks, leaning over and whispering to Izuku. "Yep, yours is the third down from the top in the first column. Mines in the second column and the 7th row down." He replies, causing Katsuki to double check for both his name and Deku's.

"For those few that do not see your name on the screen, your exam is over and I ask that you exit the building." Shyu requests prompting over half of the students to get up and exit, through throws of disappointment, protests and anger. "Now, those who are still present will be going through the practical exam, This exam will be conducted in three portions, a physical aptitude and flexibility test, firebending and advanced bending and finally an Agni Kai against another student chosen at random through the end of the first and second portions of these exams. Much like the written portion, there will be points where those who do not score high enough will be weeded out from those who do pass until we have a final 32 for the Agni Kai. The rules are simple, ring out or force a forfeit of your opponent. For any of you that are injured in the duel, there is medical staff on the premises as well as expert healers from the southern water tribe."

"I'm beginning to think we over trained for this." Katsuki's statement almost causes Izuku to laugh to himself. "This is gonna be a piece of cake." He responds, the students are allowed to stand from their seats and head towards the next exam.

The gymnasium where the next set of exams would take place is massive, so massive that Izuku thought that it could even have its own weather. As the two of them continued towards the main examination area a large screen displaying the names of the students directed them towards their apprehension exams. Bakugou was sent off to the long jump first and Izuku towards the flexibility tests. Being a firebender required a fair bit of flexibility for many of the advanced styles and Izuku was a potential master in the works. Needless to say he scored full marks on flexibility moving on to the next exam. Katsuki was permitted to use his firebending to assist in the long jump, this wasn't the best decision from the admin, The combustion bender was capable of flame assisted flight with his bending, easily clearing the entire landing sandpit. Sprinting and endurance exams were cleared with moderate pace as they were not permitted to use firebending in these events. However the two easily blitzed through the physical portion of the exam finally coming to the portion they had been itching to do. Firebending.

"Examinee Katsuki Bakugou, please demonstrate the Iroh kata then demonstrate your firepower." One of the male examinees requests before backing a few paces away. "You may begin." Katsuki folds his fist in his right hand and exhales beginning the kata. Shifting his weight forwards into an offensive right forward stance, Katsuki throws a hard punch followed by an over the head hammer strike and then an open handed strike towards the air. Fire screams from his hands as he goes through the techniques, destroying multiple targets with each blast. He follows through with flames being created by his ax and side kicks. Concluding the kata with a series of blocks and dissolving techniques designed to stop any incoming fire. Stepping forwards into a more relaxed stance with his right arm facing upward and his left in front of his stomach. "Thank you, now produce the strongest firebending you can towards the target, do not use lightning or combustion bending yet." Nodding to the examiner, Katsuki blitzes through a series of stances before launching a dual handed punch towards the large target. A torrent of fire three times his size is expelled from his hands and arms forming a giant fireball that cascades towards the target. The massive fireball slams into the wide circular target before exploding into more flames. The sheer force of the impact dents the large steel disk before the fire dissipates. "Well done. 1372 degrees celsius." Katsuki smirks at the temperature he managed to create, it's almost as hot as a blowtorch.

Izuku finds himself in a similar arena to Katsuki, after already having demonstrated his firebending. (His score was close to that of a magnesium flame, almost 1900 degrees celsius) Flanking him on all sides are metal targets of the ancient firebending soldier uniforms. "Examinee Midoriya Izuku, you are to demonstrate the advanced bending style of Lightning Bending and Redirection if you are capable. You may begin." Starting from a similar stance to Katsuki, Izuku calmly extends two fingers from his fists and draws a circle in the air. The air crackles to life with the generation of lightning, his off hand compliments his primary in a similar circular movement before he presses his fingers together further charging the bolt. Pointing towards one of the steel targets, the blue lightning arcs from his hand into the target causing its eyes to light up blue. With the electricity still fresh in his hands, Izuku quickly arcs the bolt to two other targets producing the same effect. Turning, he swirls both hands in a large circle in front of him before thrusting them outwards producing a more violent arc of electricity. Instead of two bolts loosed from his hands, six bolts arc from his finger towards the last remaining targets. "Be prepared. You are about to redirect a nonlethal bolt of static electricity." The instructor states. Around him the targets that he had just struck arc with the same electricity that bounces between them and finally back towards Izuku. With two fingers he catches the bolt before turning it back onto the dummy that shot it at him. "Well done. Please await any further instructions in the waiting area."

As Izuku leaves that final test, he sees a mob of people around Katsuki trying to get a view at the combustion bender. Katsuki himself stands in the final arena before being given the signal to begin. In a split second, A beam of concentrated combustion is produced from his head, it cracks through the air before exploding on contact with another steel dummy. It explodes violently on contact with the statue, completely obliterating it. "M-Mr Bakugou. We've seen e-enough. You pass." the female instructor squeaks out from hiding behind her clipboard.

"Ahh what?! I wanted to blow some more stuff up!" Katsuki protests before stomping out of the ring.

"Excellent work everyone, now those of you that will be continuing onto the final exam are going to be placed into a mock Agni Kai." Principle Shyu begins, in front of him a display emerges from the floor before turning on displaying an infographic on their next and final test. "The rules are like the common Agni Kai. You are to either ring out, knock out or force your opponent to forfeit the match. These matches are timed and will last five minutes. An additional rule is in place for those of you who are capable of lightning bending, and for Mr Bakugou's case, combustion bending. When three minutes have elapsed in the fight, you will hear a signal allowing you to use your advanced bending. Even if you get rung out in the last bout, there is the high possibility that both you and your combattant will both make it into the academy. Additionally any stalemates can also result in both combatants being admitted. If you are one of the lucky few people to have a quirk along with the ability to firebend, you are not permitted to use said quirk during the Agni Kai." Shyu explains. On the display two stick figures emulate an agni kai until a clock notifies them that three minutes have passed, prompting them to both begin using lightning. After the diagram ends, the brackets for each individual agni kai are displayed.

"Who's this extra called Chan?" Katsuki asks, seeing his name marked next to another student. "Do I really have to fight this candle lighter? Pathetic." Katsuki grumbles to Izuku however the green haired firebender isn't paying attention. Instead he's reading through the list for his name, finding it facing off against someone who makes him excited.

"Midoriya Izuku." says a young man with white and red hair split in the center on the top of his head. "The son of Bahamut, the dragon of the east." Izuku turns to see his opponent grinning when he sees him. "It's been a long time, last we talked your dad was ahead of mine at rank two." Todoroki Shouto greets.

"That was what, five or six years ago? I thought Endeavor would send you here on recommendation." he responds, wrapping Todoroki up from his offered handshake into a friendly hug. "How've you been?" He says excitedly.

"Could be better, I kinda did this to myself when I was training with my brother." Shouto responds pointing to the scar on the side of his face. "I've gotten a few questions about it, most people think I'm just a fan of Firelord Zuko the first."

"That's what I was gonna ask, wassup you peppermint nerd." Katsuki greets abrasively. "You come to watch me kick this Chan extra's ass?"

"I'M RIGHT HERE!!!"

"Not for long extra." Katsuki gloats, causing Chan to stomp off angrily and indignantly.

"Still making friends, I see. No, I just came over to talk to Midoriya and see if you noticed what I saw earlier." This gets both Deku's and Katsuki's attention. "There's some kid here with yellow hair that can't firebend normally. All I've seen him do is bend lightning and it's with a level of skill even my dad has never seen."

"That's interesting." Izuku responds before turning to look around the crowd in order to see who Shouto is talking about. "Uh... is that the guy?" Izuku asks, pointing towards one of the four arenas on the other side of the staging area. "His name's Kaminari Denki apparently, he's dueling some girl named Lee Kamoto."

"Looks like it, let's go and see what this clown is about."

"Who are you calling a clown triclops?"

"Fuck you."

The electric yellow blonde haired man named Kaminari Denki stands nervously across the Agni Kai arena, away from his opponent. Thirty seconds had elapsed and the most he's done is just evade and dissipate any firebending Kamoto has sent at him. The noirette woman across from him growls in annoyance at his persistence to just evade and dodge her attacks. Drawing her hands up towards her chest, she takes a deep inhale before thrusting her hands to her sides and breathing a wall of flames. Poor Denki screams when he sees the wall of fire coming towards him, opting to run towards the edge of the ring in order to escape the flames. Raising his hands, Kaminari manages to split the wall of flames allowing it to flow harmlessly off the stage. Across from him Lee continues her bombardment of flames towards him, desperately trying to ring him out. Kaminari almost pulls a full split in order to dodge two of the fireballs sent towards him before having to spin upwards and Dio bends in order to dodge another two blasts. Suddenly a bright flash of blue light draws Katsuki, Izuku and Shouto's attention away from this fight and to another that's taking place.

On another ring a few paces away is a tall black haired woman with amber eyes facing off against a brown haired girl similar to her in height. The spiky style ponytail bounces as she propels herself off the ground with a burst of blue fire. She flips mid air creating a giant circle of blue fire that nearly melts through the concrete it contacts as it is sent towards her opponent on the other side of the ring. The circular blade of fire cuts the edge of the concrete before dissipating into orange flames and finally smoke in the trough around the arena. "Holy crap. She's got some serious firepower." Izuku murmurs to himself, his gaze transfixed upon the sports bra sporting form of the mysterious blue flame firebender. "Her name is Momo Yaoyorozu." Shouto points out directing Izuku's attention to the board above the two women. "Isn't she firenation royalty? That would explain the blue fire." Katsuki interjects, but Izuku doesn't pay attention; rather, he focuses on her duel with the brunette firebender. With her next attack, the blue flame firebender throws a duel punch creating a massive cone of flames that engulfs the rest of the arena ringing out her opponent.

"Woah." Izuku says to himself before being nudged in the ribs by Katsuki. Turning over to see the triclops grinning at him before looking back at Momo who is exiting the ring. "You and I both know she's out of your league Deku."

"Shut up, and who are you to say out of your league when you haven't even asked Camie out. Pinkeye." Katsuki growls at the childish insult, rearing back to smack his friend before the two are distracted by a massive crack of lightning.

The two minute mark had sounded, causing all three of the remaining Agni Kais to erupt in electrical displays. The most impressive of which is Kaminari's display of lightning. The golden bolts of electricity arcing along his hands and fingers like a hoard of spiders. The trio barely see him perform the steps of a lightning bolt kata before ten bolts of electricity erupt from his fingers and head towards Kamoto. Each bolt striking and exploding the ground, cracking and destroying the arena beneath them. Suddenly the concrete gives way collapsing into the moat of water around their arena bringing Lee with it.

"Holy shit. That was a lot of lightning." Katsuki says bluntly as they watch Kaminari leave what's left of the arena. "Oi! Calamari" "Kaminari" "Kaminari!" Katsuki yells before being corrected by Deku. The blonde haired lightning bender wanders over towards the group of three before arching an eyebrow to Katsuki.

"You call me?" the blonde questions as he approaches the three firebenders. "You can bend lightning at a level I've never seen before. Even better than Deku over here but through your entire match I didn't see you firebend once. Why is that?"

"Well... I can firebend it's just that I'm not good at it." Kaminari responds before throwing a basic punch and creating a small puff of fire. "Lightning has always been so much easier to control and it goes where I want it to so I just used that instead."

"Tha- Oh shit I gotta go to my match. Hey, stay until after I'm done with that clown and we'll see about getting you're firebending up to par." Katsuki suggests before darting off to his agni kai. "I take it you two are gonna be heading up there next?"

"Yeah, I'm Izuku and he's Shoto but we'll talk more after our match is over." Izuku replies before hurrying towards the arena to duel the son of Endeavor.