Grimoire Ultra 1 (MHA/Celestial Grimoire) (Patreon)

I looked at the building in front of me. The most prestigious school in the country, source of the top performers of the most well known profession in Japan, UA high school. All I could think was one thing.

“Someone’s compensating for something,” I muttered under my breath as I walked up the steps. The entrance exam was, by some people’s considerations, the most important event of the year. Me? It was just another box on the checklist I’d been given when I was sent here.

I don’t know the full details, but apparently there were three major multiversal factions out there that were getting close to war, and they were building up their forces. The most infamous of these three factions were simply called The Company, they dealt in everything, but their most well known product was slaves. The next faction was The Guild, or The Guild of Gamers,they were the smallest in number, but the upper echelons were very powerful. Then there was the faction that hired me: The Bureau.

All three factions yeeted ordinary people from their home world to a different one, with some sort of power as a consolation prize. The Company was the most cutthroat and wasteful about it, they had a dozen different power systems and ran through agents like chaff. The Guild only ever gave out powers modeled after video games tied to a particular theme. The Bureau had one basic power system, divided into three versions, called the Forge, the Menagerie, and the Grimoire.

Essentially, field agents for The Bureau were expected to either make their own shit, summon creatures to deal with shit, or stick their nose in a book and learn magic shit. I was stuck with the Grimoire, and in the month I’d been here, I’d only been able to figure out two of the abilities within. One let me change a single cosmetic feature of myself at a time, if I wanted to change something different, the first one reverted back. The other was the one that I was passing off as my Quirk, the local power system in this anime addition to the superhero genre: I had two alternate forms I could assume, each with a different ability. The first form would be pretty useless in a fight, it was a purse dog sized-

The papers placed in front of me snapped me out of my woolgathering. Right, entrance exam now, mental recollections later. Thank fuck I had Japanese downloaded into my brain before The Bureau yeeted me here. The written test was more or less what I expected, the only subject I had any difficulties with being history.

After the written tests were all handed in, the rules for the practical exam were given (buncha robots, get as many points as we can), we were divided into groups and put on some buses where we were taken to the training grounds where the practical tests would be held. I ended up sitting next to a green haired girl who was muttering up a storm under her breath.

“You alright?” I asked, making her jump in her seat like a startled chihuahua, only actually adorable.

“Oh, um, sorry,” she apologized, looking more nervous than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. I always wanted to use that line.

“For what?” I asked, leaning back in the seat.

“My muttering… I know it’s creepy and weird and…” she looked like she was going to continue, so I cut her off.

“Nah, it’s cute,” I said as I crossed my arms behind my neck. Her face turned red, and she almost looked like a tomato. An adorable, freckled tomato. Pretty sure I could make her start whistling if I pushed it a bit further, “What were you muttering about? Jitters?”

“Oh, uh, no… I was thinking about quirks, I really like quirks so whenever I see a new one I can’t help but analyze it. I’ve seen so many new quirks today it’s been amazing,” she said, about to go into another nerd out.

As adorable as it was, and as obvious who she was, I was quick to cut her off, “You like quirks? Maybe you can come up with something from my quirk.”

“You want to share your quirk with me? Even though we’ll be competing?” her eyes glimmered with what looked like the beginning of tears.

“Big time late bloomer, was thought to be quirkless for most of my life, I need all the extra eyes on it I can get. I have two alternate forms I can turn into, one is a chunky, purse dog sized vegan crocodile looking thing, the other is a tiger sized crocodile that can outrun the average person. I feel like there’s more to both of them, but I haven’t figured out what yet,” I told her, and I could see the wheels beginning to turn in her brain.

“That’s amazing! How long does it take for you to change? Can you shift from one form to the other or do you have to turn back to human first? How long can you stay in your other forms? Can you partially transform? Do traits from your transformations carry over to your human form? Can you use the abilities of your transformed state while human? Do you think you have more transformations or just the two?” she asked like a machine gun, only coming to a stop when the bus came to a halt and potential students started standing.

“Tell ya what,” I said as she and I both stood. “After the exam, how about we meet up somewhere and you can pick apart my quirk?”

There were words in the reply, I’m sure of it. I just couldn’t make them out past the rapid fire nerd out. Still, it sounded positive, and she was still cute as a button, so I decided to tease her one last time. I pulled out my phone, opened up contacts, handed it to her, got hers, put my information in, got my phone back and then said three words before we went our separate ways, “It’s a date.”

I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing at the spluttering and tea kettle whistling from her as I joined the crowd. I moved a little ways away, mostly so I wouldn’t hit anyone when I shifted. Present Mic started speaking, and my muscles tensed in preparation. The moment he said the word go, I was moving, pushing off with my foot.

I had no clue if it would get easier with practice, but for now, transforming from human to kaprosuchus fucking hurt! My bones cracked and shifted, my jaw pushed out of my face, my teeth turned to points and jut out of my new snout, scales formed over my skin, my shoulders and hips warped, forcing me to run on all fours, a massive, meaty tail grew out behind me. It was an incredible amount of pain, and I knew it wouldn't end until the transformation was complete.

The first time I changed into kaprosuchus form, I'd been at a loss as to what to do or how to approach this whole thing. In the two weeks since then, I'd learned enough to understand how the process worked, though each time felt different; this time, I felt a strange emptiness in my guts.

I pushed it aside, immediately galloping into the fake city. There where fuck knows how many robots here, and my only shot at getting in was getting enough points by smashing them apart. I’d had some time to get used to the kaprosuchus’s physiology and how it moved, but it was still something I’d only had two weeks practice with. Almost everyone else had a full decade to work at and use their power.

“TARGET ACQUIRED,” a mechanical voice droned out.

If I had lips, I’d have grinned at the monowheeled target that volunteered itself. Pushing off with my hind legs, I twisted my head, maw opened wide, and caught its metal neck in my teeth. I bit down as hard as I could, and used my weight and momentum to wrench the head of the One Pointer off. The top half of the robot crashed to the ground, and I let go, letting it tumble.

Crocodilians aren't known for their intellect, but we are good at one thing: eating. That's why my mouth didn't stop moving once I started chewing. Then, when I swallowed the pieces of the One Pointer down, I felt the emptiness in my guts tear into the metal and wires I'd eaten. I let out a rumbling growl as I felt my muscles and scales change, changing from flesh, blood, and bone to articulated fibers, hydraulic fluid, and metal.

I looked at my forelimbs, gleaming in the sunlight, before looking up at the approaching One and Two Pointers. This was going to be fun.

[hr][/hr]

“Who’s that Applicant? The metal crocodile one?”

There was a rustling of papers before an answer was provided, “Smith Jerred, one of the foreign applicants. Raised in rural Montana, Quirk is listed as Crocomorph, recently updated. According to the Quirk Registry it’s a Transformation Quirk that allows him to turn into either a Simosuchus or, as of two weeks ago, a Kaprosuchus.”

“Which are?”

“Kaprosuchus is the form he’s currently in, Simosuchus was a small, pot bellied herbivorous species of crocodilians. Fairly obvious why he chose that form.”

“Hmm… judging from how he reacted when his body changed, it is logical to assume he was unaware of that aspect of his Quirk.”

The observers watched in silence as the applicant tore the gatling arm off a One Pointer and managed to swallow the entire thing. A few seconds later, his back bubbled and writhed before a similar gun rose up out of his back.

“Dibs on not fighting him.”

“What’s his current score?”

A moment of keys clacking on a keyboard before, “Thirty one.”

“So few? It’s almost time for the Zero Pointer.”

“Apparently he’s been throwing himself in between robots and other applicants who were unaware of them. It cost him Villain Points, but…”

“In any case, I believe it’s time to spice things up.”

“…really sir?”

“Well given what we just witnessed, the food joke seemed appropriate.”

[hr][/hr]

I admit, I might have lost track of how many points I had earned. What can I say? Turning into a walking artillery platform was really fucking fun. On top of the gatling gun between my shoulders, I’d also gotten that scorpion tail thingy and the tip of my snout had gotten a point almost like a snow plow. I’d just smashed a One Pointer with that when the entire faux city started to shake, and a giant ass robot rose up into the sky.

I had a mental fantasy of getting inside it, making my way through the internals, and taking control of it, my head popping out from the top and cackling like Jafar or Skeletor. It’d be so badass. But there was a major issue with that. If I did that, then the adorable, green haired, freckled cinnamon bun wouldn’t get the Rescue Points to get in.

I ran to the edge of the rooftop I was on, and looked out across the fake streets. Everyone was running, like the civvies they technically were. Except for… there she was! Izumi was looking back, and following her gaze… yup, gravity girl trapped under some rubble. I looked back in time to see a look of determination spread across her freckled face, and I gave a mental grin.

Sure enough, she started sprinting towards the Zero Pointer before kneeling down and leaping. Wind whipped through the street, and I leapt down, the street cratering under me as I bolted towards gravity girl. I grabbed a piece of rubble in my maw and with a twist of my head threw it off her, before turning to face her and gesturing towards my back.

“Oh!” she exclaimed before climbing on, just as the sound of Izumi’s shout of ‘smash’ reached us.

Izumi was falling, something that would result in an unacceptable state of affairs. With a rumble in my throat, I crouched before leaping towards the nearby wall, then another, and another. Parkouring my way up before I leapt towards the falling Izumi.

My plan had been for me to catch her tracksuit with my jaw, since I didn’t want her to slam into the gun on my back and I didn’t trust that my tail would be flexible enough to catch her. I kinda misjudged the speed she was falling at though. Along with the strength of her jacket. Because as my teeth grabbed onto the front of her jacket, there was a tearing sound as the seams tore, and I was left with an empty jacket in my mouth as I landed on the wall of the opposite side of the street.

With a bit of panic, I turned my head back, preparing to try again, only to see… huh, she has freckles everywhere. Having gravity girl on my back paid off, she must have removed Izumi’s gravity when my jacket plan failed. Fortunately, Izumi was wearing a sports bra under her tracksuit, but she was still blushing worse than she had been from my teasing, and not the good kind of blush.

“TIME’S UP!”

I clambered down to the street, as gravity girl (really needed to get her name) let the embarrassed Izumi down. I dropped the remains of her tracksuit in her lap and was about to turn back to human so I could apologize, when I heard a particularly annoying sound.

“UA is the be-AAHHH!”

Whoops, control over the gun on my back slipped, and a certain purple dwarf had to dance. That aside, I focused and changed back. There was a clang as the gun on my back and tail fell off, and a sound of warping and grinding metal as my body shifted from quadrupedal to bipedal. Good news: I discovered the extra ability that my kaprosuchus form had. Bad news: METAL TO FLESH HURTS LIKE A MOTHERFUCKER!!!

Don’t know if I screamed as I changed back, don’t care either. I let out a shuddering breath, and promptly took off my t-shirt and handed it to Izumi, “Sorry about your clothes, here, you can have this.”

Much as I enjoyed the whistling tea kettle sounds coming from her, she was still aware enough to grab my shirt with her one good hand and slip it onto her. Yeah, I was now shirtless, but I grew up in Montana, this part of Japan was still warm for me plus the way the two girls blushed at seeing my torso was delightful. Up next, step two of continuing my apology. This transformation was the easier one, and two seconds later I was a froo froo sized, herbivorous, pug nosed croc waddling over to sit next to Izumi’s leg.

What happened next was to be expected, there were twin cries of, “KAWAII!!!” and I had three hands running all over my tiny armored body.

“Lucky bastard,” I heard someone in the crowd mutter. All according to cake.