Chapter 15: Battle
Izuku lounged back at his desk, arms crossed over his chest as he stared at the empty teacher's podium. The other students had broken into conversation in the absence of their teacher.
It was the last class of the day, Foundational Heroics. The legendary class that set hero schools apart from ordinary educational establishments, and that Yueii was believed to do better than any other.
If he were being honest with himself, he'd say that he had high hopes for this class, because it was the only one that might teach him something he didn't already know, unlike the others that he'd attended today.
He'd assumed before that sitting in a class being lectured to about subjects he was already proficient in would be mind-numbingly boring. And it would seem that his expectations would not be shattered any time soon. The fact that all of the teachers were heroes was about the only thing that made it interesting, and that was a novelty that he felt would quickly lose its effect.
English with Present Mic and Modern Hero Art History with Midnight were the two most interesting classes by far, and even then, it wasn't much better.
He could already speak, read, and write English with ease, a fact that the voice hero had been ecstatic about, clearly already well aware of it because of his results in the entrance exam. Izuku had been used as an example for a good portion of the class period, demonstrating what proper English speech sounded like by having full conversations with the hero in the language. Though, Momo and Iida had both displayed a certain amount of knowledge and skill as well – albeit in slightly broken accents –, and even Bakugou and Todoroki had answered questions correctly when prompted, though they didn't speak up to offer answers, so it was difficult to judge just how much they knew.
And history had always held a special interest for Izuku, so at the very least he got some enjoyment out of that. And he would admit that seeing the history of art where it applied to heroes was fascinating. It was something he hadn't spared much thought to in the past. Everything from artistic influence in hero costumes, to how certain heroes influenced art with their image. It was enough to stave off the boredom for a little while. At least until it was time for Ectoplasm to teach mathematics and he went right back to being glad that he physically couldn't fall asleep unless he wanted to.
So, yes. He was excited for this class. Hopeful that it would prove interesting.
Or at least, he would be. If there were a teacher here to teach it. They'd been sitting around for close to ten minutes and no one had shown up yet.
Quite a few of the conversations around him were speculating who it would be. All the other teachers had been well-known heroes, with the exception of Aizawa, and they all taught mundane subjects. So then who had Yueii chosen to teach them heroics?
Izuku already knew of course, considering he'd been having lunch with the man on a regular basis for some time now. Nezu had offered All Might the position as a way to urge him to retire, and to assist him in finding a successor.
He also knew that the man had been incredibly excited – albeit nervous at the same time – about teaching the next generation of heroes. Which left Izuku wondering why he was so late. Yagi could be a buffoon at times, but he wasn't one to be late. Or at least, he hadn't been in Izuku's experience.
Just as he had that thought though, the door slammed open, revealing the hero in all of his glory as he entered with a flair no one else could hope to match, much to the delight of the rest of the class. Izuku took note of the older, silver-age costume that the hero had chosen to wear just as one of the other students shouted out as such.
"Welcome to Foundational Hero Studies!" All Might started, voice booming in the small room, overpowering the students' shouts of excitement. "This class will be the base upon which we develop your skills as future heroes! Where we will forge you into the bright new generation of men and women who will serve as shining beacons of hope for people to look up to!"
"And to start that off…" He struck a pose, winding his arm back, before throwing it forwards, revealing a card with the word 'Battle' printed across it. "The battle trials!"
Izuku's eyes widened a fraction. Alright then. Ten seconds in and this class was already proving to be more interesting than the others. More fighting on the second day. He hoped that this was a trend that would persist through the year.
"But before we begin shaping you into the heroes of tomorrow, you must first look the part!"
A click of a button, and sections of one of the walls slid outwards, revealing numbered cases along their length.
"Your hero costumes!" All Might announced. "Provided by Yueii's own support course using the specifications you sent in with your applications!"
If the class had been excited with the appearance of the hero, now they were downright ecstatic. The revealing of their very own hero costumes was putting into perspective just how real all of this was.
"Now, go get changed! And then head down to Training Site Beta for the trial!"
"And remember!" All Might continued as most of the class scrambled to collect their respective cases, Izuku holding back to avoid getting in the way. "You are officially taking your first steps, which means that from now on, you all are already heroes!"
Izuku smiled as the man finished his speech, finally moving to grab his own case and moving for the door. He paused for a moment next to the hero as the last of the other students exited the room, the door swinging shut behind them. Immediately, steam billowed around All Might's body, dispersing a moment later to reveal the frail form of Yagi. The hero costume hung loose on his frame.
"What do you think?" Yagi asked, flashing a smile, which Izuku returned.
"So far, so good." He replied, turning towards the door. "Nice intro, by the way. It certainly got everyone fired up. Even I'm excited for what's to come."
He could practically feel Yagi's smile brighten as he exited the room, moving to catch up to his classmates as they made for the locker rooms.
Once there, tucked back into one of the corners, he quickly shed his uniform and stored it away in a locker. Opening the case he'd grabbed, he inspected its contents, grinning at the glint of metal.
He'd debated for some time whether or not he should go with his go-to uniform of dress clothes, maybe with a different selection of colors, but in the end, he'd settled on something new.
While his suits were still his favorite style of dress, and he was more than comfortable fighting in them, he recognized that this was his chance to experiment and wear something more fitting for a hero. And as he looked at his reflection as he donned the costume, piece by piece, he knew he'd made the right decision.
He started with a black, short sleeve undershirt. Made from some breathable, yet surprisingly durable-feeling material, it hugged his torso snugly, extending to just below where his skin transitioned to scales.
Overtop of it, he donned two pieces of a metal muscle cuirass. The front half fit so well that it felt as though it had been sculpted perfectly to his body, which it essentially had been, and the back half had openings to allow it to fit around his wings without issue. The openings were even lined with a soft fabric to prevent any sort of chafing. The two pieces were secured to each other by leather straps at his sides, ensuring that it hugged him tightly, and didn't shift with his movement.
On his shoulders, sat two identical pauldrons of the same metal as the chest piece. And along the bottom edge of the cuirass, a leather belt wrapped around his torso, flaring wider at his sides to provide an extra bit of protection. It had pouches attached to it to act as pockets.
Decorating the chest piece was a large relief image of a snake's head. Similar images decorated the pauldrons, though those stood out more and depicted a hissing snake, its fangs exaggerated for effect.
Izuku found himself impressed with the support department as he inspected the snake heads. The amount of detail in them was astounding; the one on his chest seemed to be staring at him, the eyes almost tracking him with how lifelike they were, and the ones on his shoulders looked as though they had been frozen mere inches away from sinking their fangs into something. Were it not for the metallic coloring of it all, they would've almost looked real.
His arms were bare from the tops of his biceps, where the undershirt's sleeves ended, down to halfway up his forearms, where his gloves began. The base of the gloves was a black, leather-like material. Stiff and durable, but still giving him a surprising amount of dexterity in his hands, despite how snugly they sat around them.
Down the length of the gloves, three pieces of metal stretched around his arms, covering from the edges to just below his wrists. Two more pieces covered the backs of his hands, and several sections covered his fingers. His knuckles, where his fingers met his hands, were covered by small indented pieces.
The most notable feature of the gauntlets that wrapped around his hands, was that the sections of metal that made them up consisted of multiple types. Around his forearms and on the backs of his hands, the metal was titanium. Aluminum wrapped around his fingers, and the small sections that covered his knuckles were all tungsten. The cuirass and pauldrons were all made of some form of steel alloy.
This was done for a very specific reason, and that was to accommodate 'Metallum.' He'd found that he couldn't store multiple metals with the quirk to use later, so the different metals on the gauntlets gave him options as far as what to choose, and parts of his arms being bare gave him an easy way to make use of them. That, and having metal lining his fists would add an extra bit of power to his punches. Having gloves to begin with was to ensure that he couldn't accidently use his quirk on anyone he did not wish to.
If ever he were to encounter something that he could not overcome with his enhancers alone, his first fallback would be to use that quirk, as he had learned some time ago how to limit the transformation to just below his skin. He had an entire arsenal of quirks at his disposal from which to choose from, but that one was among the simplest, while simultaneously yielding the most potent results. The drastic increase in his weight and durability, combined with the moderate boost in strength that it provided made it an ideal backup plan.
Of course, if it really came down to it, and his life was on the line, then he would resort to relying on Oni, but there were several steps he would take before he got to that point. Depending on the circumstances, that would mark a point of no return, as he would be revealing both his quirk and his identity as Oni to the world at the same time. It would mean the end of his enrollment at Yueii, and would probably be the end of 'Izuku' as well. He'd likely have to change his appearance around and essentially take on a new identity.
But something to that degree was unlikely, and not worth sparing much thought in speculation.
The final piece of his costume was a tiny, discreet earpiece that would allow him to communicate with Rei, or anyone really, provided they had a similar device. It was a carbon copy of the one he used at night.
It was a shame that she wouldn't be able to watch in on the fights today. He was always grateful to have her assisting from the background, but unfortunately, she was back on her normal school schedule of sleeping during the day and working at night. He wasn't about to wake her up out of nowhere for something as minor as this.
He'd also debated on whether or not he wanted to have a mask or helmet of some sort, even considering something that was similar to his Oni mask just to see Eraserhead's reaction, but eventually he decided against it. He had quirks to compensate for the protection that one might offer – you couldn't get much better than a metal skull –, and he was doubtful that there was any mask or helmet that could match up to him in terms of intimidation value. A creepy smile with the right amount of bloodlust in the air could work wonders.
Looking up from the mirror, he noticed that he was one of the only ones left in the locker room. Checking over all the different pieces and straps one last time to make sure everything was proper, he headed out to make his way to the training site.
Once he arrived, he caught site of the rest of his class grouped together in all their glory with their brand-new hero costumes.
A number of them had variations of simple spandex-like suits. Satou, Mina, Asui, Shoji, and Uraraka had all gone that route, likely going for simplicity since there wasn't much that a costume could do to augment their quirks. Though, he suspected that Mina's costume was at least acid-resistant, and there might be more to the arm and leg pieces that Uraraka was wearing than he could ascertain at glance.
A few went with something close to normal clothing. He wasn't quite sure why they would do that instead of going with something might be more useful for them, or at least something that was better suited to combat, but he wasn't in much of a position to criticize them as he had been close to doing the same thing.
Several had costumes that either served to reflect their quirks or at least looked more like a proper costume. Bakugou, for one, had a costume that very much reflected his quirk. And he suspected that the grenade-shaped gauntlets on his hands served a purpose beyond visual effect. Both Iida and Aoyama had gone a similar route to Izuku with their costumes. Both wore metal armor, though Iida's had a much more modern look to it and seemed to closely resemble his brother's, and Aoyama's had a great deal more flair than the other two. Sero had some sort of modern looking body armor, and Ojiro had gone with a martial arts Gi, which Izuku found himself approving of. It was simple in design and already proven to be a good choice for fighting.
Then there were a few that he found himself questioning the reasoning behind. None of them were outright bad in any way, but some of them were odd, like Todoroki's. He seemed to have encased the left half of his body in ice for some reason. Izuku couldn't quite tell if it was produced with his quirk, or if it was a synthetic material that was simply meant to look like ice. He suspected it had something to do with that being the flame half of his quirk. Maybe he had difficulty regulating that part of his quirk? 'Appraisal' hadn't mentioned anything about that, but he wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.
The short one, Mineta, had on a purple spandex suit, not unlike some of the others. But he also had some sort of pants that held the appearance of a diaper. He shook his head, moving onto the next classmate. It was odd, and he didn't see any real use for it, but he had no reason to question it if that was what Mineta decided to wear. Maybe there was some function to it that he couldn't see and that was meant to augment the boy's abilities.
Looking over at Hagakure, Izuku really hoped that the floating pair of gloves that gave away her position wasn't an indication that she didn't have a costume on at all. There were methods of creating hybrid fabrics using one's own DNA in order to function with their quirk. So, she should be able to have a suit made using such a material so that she could still utilize her invisibility.
Of course, there was the very real possibility that she was wearing such a costume, and that she had simply kept her gloves that way so that she was still partly visible in situations that required it.
Speaking of, Momo's costume seemed to border the rules regarding how much skin a hero's costume could leave exposed; a rule put in place and altered several times almost solely because of Midnight. It was probably to allow for her to use her quirk as much as possible without being restricted. He found himself wondering if that same hybrid material would also work with her quirk. She should certainly at least know about it, seeing as how it was her family's company that originally developed it.
He shook that thought away though. Once again, if that was what she wanted to wear as her hero costume, then he had no reason to question it.
Reaching the group, he came to a stop next to Uraraka. A smile broke out on her face once she noticed him.
"Your costume looks amazing, Etsumi!" She started. "I like the armor look!"
"Yeah dude!" Another voice called out, a glance in its direction revealed Kirishima. "It makes you look super manly!"
"Thank you." He replied with a grin. "Both of your costumes look good as well."
Looking closer at Uraraka's, he noticed the way her arm and leg pieces looked decidedly puffy. Those combined with the glass shield helmet she was wearing gave him the impression of an astronaut. With what her quirk was, maybe that was her intention?
Switching his gaze to Kirishima, he was once again immediately drawn to the conclusion that the boy idolized Crimson Riot. The costume he'd chosen was an obvious homage to the old hero. The mask, exposed chest, and the red cloak around his waist. Even the particularly rugged and torn look to the costume. All of it resembled the man.
"Are you a fan of that old hero, Crimson Riot?" He asked. "Your costume is fairly similar to his, and your personality matches up as well."
"That's exactly what I was going for!" Kirishima shouts excitedly after a moment. "He's so manly! And he's my inspiration for becoming a hero! So I based my costume off of his look! I'm glad you noticed!"
"I kinda wish I was more descriptive when I sent in my application. I hadn't intended for it to be so tight." Uraraka cut in, picking at the material.
"You can submit a request to change it, if you want." Izuku responded. "It wouldn't be difficult. Most students change their costumes several times before they graduate, and even Pro Heroes still change theirs occasionally to better suit their needs."
"In the meantime though, the way it currently is-is well suited for movement and combat; less to restrict motion and less for anyone to grab onto. You might find yourself liking it once you start using it."
Before she could respond, All Might cleared his throat up at the front of the group, drawing their attention.
"Welcome to Training Site Beta! We will be utilizing this site for your first lesson, the battle trials!"
"Now, for this particular lesson, we will be simulating indoor battles. Because while most heroics you see, on the news or otherwise, happens outside, these are usually random, uncoordinated acts of villainy. In reality, the true fights happen indoors, out of the public view. This is where the true villains lurk."
Izuku nodded along as the hero spoke. There was definitely logic to what All Might was saying. As Oni, the criminals that he encountered out on the streets or in alleyways were usually just random assholes that had no plan or reason for what they did beyond basic desperation or cruelty. Meanwhile, all of the groups and gangs he dealt with knew enough to hide themselves away in buildings. It was the difference between organized and unorganized crime.
"For this trial, you will be split into 'villain' and 'hero' groups to face off in randomized two-on-two battles! The 'villains' will be tasked with guarding a mock nuclear device that is set to detonate on a timer. And the 'heroes' must either defeat them or secure the device within the time limit."
Iida raised his hand into the air, cutting off the hero with a shouted question.
"Sir! How will these teams be decided?"
"By random lots of course!" All Might cheered.
"Is that really the best way to go about it?"
"Why, of course! In the world of heroics, you are quite often thrown into situations where you cannot choose who is fighting by your side. And you never get the opportunity to decide who you fight. As heroes, you fight whoever you must, with whoever you must, in order to protect people!"
He paused for a moment, waiting for anyone else to jump in with a question, before pulling out a box that Izuku assumed was filled with the lots that would be deciding everything.
"Now, let's get right to it! Step up so we can get this underway!"
A few minutes later and they had all been separated out, their teams displayed on a nearby screen.
[A. Kouda & Kaminari]
[B. Ashido & Bakugou]
[C. Ojiro & Mineta]
[D. Satou & Shoji]
[E. Todoroki & Hagakure]
[F. Sero & Uraraka]
[G. Etsumi & Asui]
[H. Tokoyami & Yaoyorozu]
[I. Iida & Kirishima]
[J. Aoyama & Jirou]
"With that decided, let's see who shall be fighting first!"
He drew out two more lots, announcing them to the class.
"First off is Group D as the villains versus Group C as the heroes! Villains, head to the designated building! You will have ten minutes to hide the device and prepare as much as you wish. Heroes, you will have that time to attempt to memorize the layout of the building and prepare your strategy! Everyone else, follow me to the observation room! Where we will watch and judge their performance!"
The four designated students split off as they made for the building that they would use, which was one of the ones closest to the entrance of the site. Everyone else followed the hero to another building a short distance away.
They all gathered into a room with one whole wall taken up by screens displaying camera feeds from the trial building. Once they were settled, All Might announced to the teams that their ten-minute preparation period had begun.
They watched as Shoji and Satou moved the mock bomb up to the top floor and settled in to wait for the heroes. Neither of them could do much more than that to prepare. Both were more well-suited to direct combat, though Shoji could at least hear when the heroes were approaching.
When the two heroes did finally make their way into the building, and located the room the villains had holed up in – with only minutes left on the clock – they met a wall in the shape of Satou and Shoji.
Satou's enhanced strength let him match up against Ojiro's martial skill, putting them on equal ground, while Shoji went after Mineta. The short student put up as much of a fight as he could, managing to stick a few of his orbs to the other, sticking two arms on one side together and making one other hand useless. But Shoji still had four arms to spare, and simply mutated another section of an arm and a hand to make up for the one that had been lost. Mineta was wrapped up in the capture tape after that without any more trouble.
From there, it was simply a matter of wearing Ojiro down. As skilled as the tailed student was, he was up against two veritable tanks that were both almost twice his size. They had him captured soon enough, and All Might announced the villains' victory.
After a short period to analyze the fight once the students had returned, the next two groups were sent out. Group A, Kouda and Kaminari as the villains and Group I, Iida and Kirishima as the heroes.
This match up wasn't much of a fight either. The villains didn't do much of anything to prepare. Kouda wasn't outspoken enough to try to suggest anything, and Kaminari didn't strike Izuku as the smartest person, so there wasn't much strategizing on his part either.
Iida used his quirk to speed through the building, locating the device barely a minute after All Might announced the start. And when Kirishima arrived, he charged Kaminari, letting his hardened skin take the brunt of the electric attack, while Iida dashed around Kouda to get to the bomb, earning a victory for the heroes.
Then it was time for Group H versus Group J. Tokoyami and Momo as the villains and Aoyama and Jirou as the heroes.
While the other two matches hadn't shown off much of a fight, this one didn't even have one to begin with. Momo used her quirk to barricade off the only entrance to the room they'd chosen. And while Jirou had located them easily enough, she couldn't do anything to get past the barricade. She tried unleashing her quirk on the room, but the villains were left unaffected due to noise-cancelling headphones created by Momo. Tokoyami didn't even get a chance to demonstrate his abilities, and Aoyama used his quirk only once, giving up immediately when a short blast did nothing to the door.
Izuku was once again struck by just how utterly useful Momo's quirk was. Provided she had ample time and lipids to prepare, she would very easily rank amongst the most potent students in the class.
"And next up, we have Group G as the villains, and Group E as the Heroes!" All Might announced as they finished analyzing the fight. "Both teams please make your way over to the trial building."
Izuku straightened up, a small smile decorating his face as he moved for the door. Finally, it was his turn to fight. And he'd been paired up against one of the heavy hitters. This was sure to be at least somewhat interesting.
The four students split apart once they reached the building. Todoroki and Hagakure remaining outside as Izuku and Asui entered. The mock bomb was waiting for them just inside.
Picking it up and settling it on his shoulder, he looked over at his partner.
"Your name is Asui, right?" He started. "Mine's Etsumi."
"Call me Tsuyu, kero." The girl responded, croaking like a frog.
Izuku nodded, slightly confused by her request but not questioning it. "Alright then, Tsuyu, we should probably move this up to the top floor. As far as I can tell, neither of our opponents can climb the outside of the building, at least not without us noticing, and the more time they waste, the better."
Tsuyu nodded along, and the two set off for the nearest set of stairs.
"What do you know about them?" She asked as they worked their way up.
"Hagakure is obvious enough." He responded. "Invisibility, likely through some sort of light refraction. She should still make noise though, unless she's had the foresight to request noise-reducing shoes as a part of her costume. If we pick a room with a single entrance, it'll make it a bit easier to watch for her."
"And Todoroki?"
"Todoroki is going to be the real challenge." He continued. "He's skilled in hand-to-hand combat, and his quirk is obviously powerful. He was able to get in on recommendation and score close to the top in the apprehension tests, and he hasn't even displayed his fire abilities yet."
"But despite that," He continued. "the biggest issue is going to be his ice, depending on how much control he has over it. I don't really do well in cold temperatures, and if he can create small glaciers with his quirk, then it might be a problem. Judging by how you appear to have a frog-based mutation, I'm guessing you don't much care for the cold either."
"That's right. It slows me down. And if it gets too bad, my body forcefully shuts down. Almost like hibernation, kero."
"Right. So it all comes down to how much control he has over it. In the apprehension test, he only displayed either large-scale, imprecise uses or smaller, more controlled uses. If we're lucky, he doesn't have much control the larger the scale of the attack. But we'd be better off preparing for the worst."
Izuku had been lucky so far in that he'd only ever had to go up against a cold-based elemental quirk once in his life, and that had been a fairly weak one that couldn't do but so much. He wasn't quite sure how he'd do against a stronger one, especially one to Todoroki's degree. He could withstand winter temperatures well enough for certain amounts of time, but he doubted that he would hold up as well against a quirk that could super cool the air around him.
On the other hand, Hagakure wouldn't be a problem for them. The rooms all looked small enough that 'Proximity' would be able to pick up on anyone entering them, and if he really felt like it, he could use 'Spectrum' for its thermal vision.
Soon enough, they reached the top floor, and started looking for a room to hole up in. It didn't take long to pick out a simple small room with only one way in.
"So what can you tell me about your quirk?" Izuku questioned. "It's an animal-based mutation, so I'd guess some degree of enhanced physical capabilities, probably centered around leg-strength given that it seems to be a frog mutation, and maybe even some enhanced senses as well."
"You're not far off, kero." She responded. "I'm a bit stronger than normal, especially with my legs so I can jump higher and kick harder. My eyesight is enhanced so I can see underwater. And I can breathe underwater for a while. I can climb walls, my tongue can extend up to around twenty meters, with full dexterity, and I can secrete an irritating mucus."
"What about you?" She asked as she finished her explanation.
"Well, the snake tail and the wings are obvious." He started, gesturing at the respective appendages in turn. "I can utilize my tail like a constrictor, wrapping around and crushing things. And it can cling to walls pretty well. I also have enhanced strength, speed, and durability."
Tsuyu nodded along as he explained, tongue hanging out in a way that he found amusing.
"Our best strategy would probably be to remain here and let them come to us." He continued. "Todoroki is an unknown variable, so it would be best if we are both here to face him, just in case. And if we're both watching for Hagakure, then we're that much more likely to catch her."
She just let out a simple 'Kero.' In agreement.
With their strategy worked out, all that was left was to wait for the preparation time to run out so that they could begin.
Once the preparation time had ticked down to five minutes left, with All Might announcing as such in their ears, Izuku brought up something he'd been curious about since he noticed that Tsuyu had an animal mutation.
"So, do you have any sort of instincts associated with your quirk?" He asked. "So far I've found that most people with animal mutations have them to some degree or another."
She nodded in acknowledgement. "Yes. They're not very strong, but if I see an insect, I'll occasionally get an urge to eat it, and they make me want to lay in the sun. And then when I look at you, my instincts make me want to run sometimes."
'Not totally surprising.' He thought. 'Instincts in prey animal mutations are usually pretty similar in that regard. The frog part of her sees a snake and automatically thinks "Run!" but-'
"Sometimes?" He questioned.
"My instincts tell me to run when I see your snake tail, kero." She responded. "But then I see your human half and it almost cancels it out. I think it would be worse if you had a snake head instead. I had a friend in high school that looked like that, and it took me a while to push past my instincts to talk to her."
'Interesting. Active conflict between animal instincts and human intellect, maybe? Part of it might be from familiarity with a similar quirk.'
"I see." He said. Then, "It's interesting to see just how deeply ingrained instincts are. I've always wondered how quirks managed to mimic animals so accurately that DNA matches up and instincts exclusive to particular animals are displayed in humans. My own instincts are relatively minor, just giving me the occasional urge to curl up in the sun, but even that might just be my own learned behavior as a result of my weakness to colder temperatures."
Tsuyu seemed to be drawn into her own thoughts with his words, a finger pulling at the corner of her mouth. They lapsed into silence, waiting for the time to run down.
Soon enough, they heard All Might yell "Begin!" over the earpieces, and Izuku steeled himself for the fight ahead of them.
Almost immediately though, he thought he could hear crackling in the distance, like glass cracking, and the air around him seemed to cool down just a bit. He was confused, until the sounds got closer and he realized exactly what was happening.
"Shit!" He cursed, reflexively trying to launch himself backwards as ice appeared in the doorway and covered the room in a flash.
Just moments after the start of the trial, the entire building was covered in a thin layer of ice. It felt like he'd just walked into an industrial freezer.
Izuku was shivering immediately, his breaths coming out in thick clouds. Looking back, he saw where the ice had creeped up onto his tail, all the way down its length. An experimental twitch of his muscles revealed that he was stuck for the moment. This wasn't very good; he could already feel himself getting sluggish.
A glance over at Tsuyu to see how she was holding up had him cursing again. The ice had encased her up past her knees. She was shivering, and her eyes were drooping shut. He watched as she tried to shake her head to snap out of it, but it didn't work, she seemed to be swaying in place. The ice was probably the only thing keeping her upright.
He shook his own head, working out a plan to deal with this. He had no idea at what point these temperatures would become dangerous for her, but he had no intention of finding out.
Sorting through his quirks, he pulled on a few strength enhancers, letting the resulting heat warm his limbs for a brief moment. He could already feel that he was losing sensation in his hands. Pulling on one more, he took an unnaturally deep breath, an ability granted by having a third, larger lung on account of his snake tail and another quirk he kept active at all times. He held it for a moment, before releasing it.
A cloud of steam billowed around him as the air heated by a quirk within him met the cold air around him. It filled the room, driving away some of the numbness from his limbs, if only for a moment. Tsuyu became marginally more cognizant as it passed over her, her eyes blinking halfway open.
It wasn't the best quirk to stave off the cold with, at least for himself, as the way it partially drew off of his own body heat meant that it yielded diminishing returns in this sort of situation.
'Note to self.' He thought. 'Find a criminal with a fucking temperature resistance quirk.'
Taking another deep breath, he tensed the muscles in his tail, tearing it loose from the ice that held him. He grimaced as he felt quite a few scales get yanked away by the ice.
Moving over to Tsuyu and ignoring how much worse it felt to move over the ice than to just remain where he was, he noticed that her brief return had already faded away again.
"Tsuyu. Can you hear me?" He questioned, nudging at a shoulder. He could just barely make out a faint "Kero." In response. What's more, is that now that he was closer, he could make out a faint blue tinge to her lips. The beginnings of frostbite.
"Shit." Izuku cursed again. "Just my luck that the two people that are weakest against the cold got put up against a walking glacier."
He needed to do something, and soon. With his healing quirk, he knew that he didn't need to worry about frostbite, but that meant nothing for her. She needed to be warmed up before anything irreversible happened. That, and he didn't know exactly how long it would take their opponents to find them.
After a moment, Izuku came up with a plan. Taking another deep breath, he let out another cloud of steam around them. Being closer to her this time, he watched as she became more alert.
"Tsuyu?" He questioned as she blinked up at him. "How're you holding up?"
"Tired." She responded with a croak.
"Yep. I Figured." He said. At least she was conscious now. "Alright, hold on for a second. I'm going to get you out of the ice."
Without waiting for a response, he aimed a fist down at the floor beneath them. The impact shook the building ever so slightly, sending cracks spiderwebbing across the ice. The sound it made echoed around them.
He found himself grimacing. Great, now the others probably knew where they were.
One more hit and the ice around her legs had fallen away. She swayed precariously for a moment before he stabilized her with a hand on her shoulder.
Okay. She was out of the ice, but she couldn't hardly stand on her own, and he couldn't just leave her on the floor when the others arrived, which was sure to be soon.
"Alright Tsuyu. I'm going to pick you up and put you on my back. Is that alright? We need to keep you off the floor and get you warmed up."
Her eyes were closed again, but he got a small nod in response. Nodding to himself, he picked her up from beneath her arms, lifting her up and gently swinging her around so that she was positioned on his back, nestled in the space between his wings. He guided her arms so that they were wrapped around his neck, ignoring the itching sensation he got from having someone so close at his back and right at the back of his neck. He could feel her shivering.
With that done, he moved over to the bomb, circling around it a few times to create a ring around it with his tail. The match was still on, and with as sluggish as he was, he didn't fully trust himself to be vigilant enough to notice Hagakure if she came after the bomb. This way, she'd have to climb over his tail before she reached it.
As he waited, listening for approaching opponents and watching with 'Proximity,' He pulled on another strength quirk, adding it to the heat that suffused him, driving away the cold just a little bit more. He let out a few more breaths of heated air too, in an attempt to keep Tsuyu's body temperature up.
Before long, he could make out the sound of a pair of feet crunching across the ice-covered halls, growing nearer. He only heard one, meaning that the two had either split up, or he was right about the sound-reducing shoes.
As they continued to approach the room, he let himself grow excited in anticipation for the fight. His heartrate increased, raising his body temperature that much more and reducing the cold in his arms to a dull, throbbing numbness. A blink, and 'Spectrum' shifted his vision, drowning his world in deep blues as he looked through a thermal filter.
Being in this situation, colder than he'd been since he was living on the beach, and with someone draped across his back, constantly egging at his fight or flight responses, was uncomfortable, sure. But that didn't mean that he couldn't enjoy the fight. And he'd be lying if he said he wasn't at least a little curious about how this would turn out. He was far from the top of his game, and one of his opponents would continue to weaken him with every attack.
His hearts continued to pound away in his chest as he waited for whoever it was to reach him. Once they seemed to turn a corner in the hallway outside of the room – if the way the sounds changed in volume was any indication – his tail tensed beneath him, and he made sure Tsuyu's grip around his neck was tight.
"Hold on." He whispered over his shoulder. "The fun's about to start."
A few second later, he could feel someone just at the edge of 'Proximity's range. As soon as he felt that, confirming that there was only one person, he moved.
Launching himself forwards, he charged at the door. A casual swing of his fist and it was thrown from its hinges, embedded into the opposite wall and not even slowing him down. In an instant, he was in the hallway – one that was just as large as the ones in Yueii's main building – raising himself up so that his head almost brushed the ceiling and filling the entirety of the space with his shifting tail. One hand rested on the wall next to him to keep him steady.
The opponent facing him, staring up at him with slightly widened eyes, was Todoroki. Izuku couldn't quite tell if he was glad or not that this was his first obstacle. On one hand, Todoroki was very clearly the stronger of the two opponents, and the source of the cold that continued to plague Izuku and his partner. On the other, Hagakure was still unaccounted for, very possibly sneaking around and waiting for an opportunity to make a run at the bomb. At the very least, he wasn't seeing any sign of the invisible girl's heat signature, so he could focus on Todoroki for the moment.
As he stared down at the two-toned boy, watching as the surprise faded away and a hand was lifted in his direction, he drove all other thoughts from his mind. For now, all he needed to focus on was subduing Todoroki.
Izuku felt the temperature around him plummet, as ice exploded from the ground at Todoroki's feet. He threw a fist forwards to meet the incoming wave of ice, shattering it and showering the space in tiny crystals.
Deciding that waiting would only make things worse for him, Izuku took the initiative.
His fist impacted the ground where Todoroki was standing, the other student jumping back just in time. Another wave of ice exploded towards Izuku as he did, which was dispatched the same as the first.
Izuku didn't slow down, continuing to charge his opponent. Todoroki retreated on a wave of ice, much like he had in the fifty-meter dash the day before. He launched wave after wave of ice at Izuku, each one exploding as his fists met them.
Their chase led them on a winding path through most of the top floor, leaving a mess of ice and snow everywhere they went, or at least more than there already was. At some point, Izuku distantly heard All Might announce that half of the time had elapsed.
As their fight persisted through the building, to the point that they had almost circled back to the room he and Tsuyu had chosen, Izuku noticed something.
The waves of ice were ever so slowly decreasing in size. It wasn't very noticeable, but after having a few dozen launched at him in a few short minutes, he could see it. That, and he could see a thin layer of frost coating Todoroki's right side, like he was working to match his left.
It must've been the quirk exhaustion associated with using that half of his abilities. The massive initial attack combined with the fast-paced, smaller – yet still large enough to fill the hallway – attacks quickly bringing it on.
As the next small glacier was sent at him, instead of punching through it, Izuku skirted around it, low to the floor. He felt it clip the end of his tail, all but freezing it solid, but pushed through.
He saw the surprise in Todoroki's eyes as the boy noticed him, and a hand came up to throw another wave of ice, but he was too slow.
Izuku's fist impacted the ground at Todoroki's feet, but this time it was intentional. Cracks spiderwebbed, and a section of the hallway collapsed, sending the two-toned boy falling to the floor below.
Not waiting to see what his opponent would do, he sped back to the room they'd hidden the bomb in. Reaching up, he lifted Tsuyu up off of his back, setting her back on the floor in front of the device. Inspecting her, he could see that she was much more alert than she had been a few minutes ago, blinking up at him with her too-big eyes. Despite the cold that still seemed to suffuse his body, his exertion had still increased his core body heat to the point that there was steam rising up off of him. That must've warmed her back up.
"I'm going to continue going after Todoroki." He said. "Are you good to stay here and watch for Hagakure?"
"I'll be fine." She responded. "Thank you for warming me up, kero."
Izuku hesitated for a moment, before nodding. He turned to head back through the door. A glance down into the hole he'd created revealed nothing. Todoroki must've gone to find a path back up. Tilting his head and closing his eyes, he could just make out the sound of footfalls in the hallway beneath him.
Cracking his neck, a grin appeared on his face. Now that he didn't have Tsuyu around his neck, putting him on edge and making him focus on keeping her steady and safe from the attacks being thrown around, it was time to turn up the heat.
Descending through the hole, he twisted his body around so that the bottom of his tail rested against the ceiling, 'Gecko' ensuring that he stayed put. Once he was sure that the damaged ceiling wouldn't collapse under his weight, he took off.
As he raced through the hallway in the direction of the noise Todoroki was making, he found himself enjoying the novelty of traveling upside down across a ceiling, and vowed to try it again as soon as he was able. He quickly pushed past the slight unease he felt at having his orientation flipped, speeding down the hallway almost pressed flat against the ceiling. With normal legs, this probably would've taken some time to get used to, since he'd have to learn to always have one foot down at all times, but with a body that didn't need to raise at all in order to move? It was child's play. And to top it all off, he was all but completely silent as he moved.
Turning a corner, he found Todoroki sprinting towards a staircase. His grin widened as he picked up the pace. As he drew nearer, he let out another deep breath. The steam billowed across his body as he moved, warming him in preparation for the ice that would no doubt be thrown at him.
Todoroki didn't notice him until it was too late, his situational awareness limited in either his haste to return to the fight or because of the frost that still coated his right side.
At the last moment, Izuku twisted around so that his torso was the correct orientation. His hand wrapped around the boy's throat just as he was halfway up the stairs. Izuku slammed him against the wall next to them, careful of the force he put behind it, before continuing up the stairs, bringing them back onto the top floor.
Izuku was just about to open his mouth to say something, when Todoroki's hands latched onto his arm, and ice appeared down its length in an instant, encasing it.
He bit off a growl of pain and frustration as he turned and threw the boy down the hallway with as much dexterity as his frozen arm would allow.
Glancing down at the frozen limb as his opponent slowed to a stop and struggled to right himself, he grimaced as he took in the damage. The ice extended all the way from his wrist to his shoulder.
Where his hands had already been numb from the cold, now he couldn't feel his right arm at all. And the whole right side of his torso was tingling with numbness. The parts of his forearm that were visible had turned blue, and he could see that a section of his arm around his elbow was completely black where Todoroki's right hand happened to grab him. Great. Late-stage frostbite.
He attempted to flex his arm to dislodge the ice that was weighing him down, but found that the limb wouldn't respond. It would still rotate at the shoulder, but his elbow couldn't do anything. Grimacing, he lifted the arm as best he could, before smacking at it with his free hand. The ice was shattered and sent sprinkling to the floor. Rolling his shoulder to work some of the stiffness out, he found that while he could still move his wrist, he still couldn't move his elbow at all. Abso-fucking-lutely wonderful. A moment later, he pulled on his healing quirk, diverting some of his attention to start healing the dead flesh on his arm. It wouldn't be very quick since he could only halfway focus on it, and his ability to focus on much of anything was already being sapped by the cold, but it was better than nothing.
Directing his attention back to Todoroki, he shifted his balance, dropping his right arm to his side. He'd have to go left-handed for a bit.
Moving forwards, he shot a grin at his opponent. He could see where more frost had covered the boy after that move, and his shivering was more pronounced. It struck Izuku as odd that he hadn't used his fire side at all over the course of the fight. Maybe he knew that both of his opponents were weaker to the cold, but Izuku would think that he'd at least use it to thermoregulate.
Well, truthfully, it didn't matter one way or another to Izuku if Todoroki used his fire. Either he used it, and warmed up the area around him, giving Izuku as much of an advantage as him, or he didn't, and Izuku simply had to outlast him in the cold.
Were he in a better mood, and not dealing with frostbite in several parts of his body, he might taunt the other boy, but as it was, he was just looking to make sure that he and Tsuyu came out on top. So he just settled for the grin to hopefully throw the two-toned boy off. He wasn't surprised when it didn't seem to work.
His muscles tensed beneath him once more and, without warning, he was barreling down the hallway towards his opponent. The small waves of ice that were sent his way were swept aside, much weaker that the initial ones.
Apparently too tired to keep up his ice skating to get away, Todoroki settled for sidestepping Izuku's attack, surprising him just a bit with how quick the boy still was. A hand touched Izuku's shoulder, partially encasing him once again. He ignored it in favor of striking again, backhanding the two-toned boy into a wall.
Back and forth the two of them went, their fight taking them down the hallway. Izuku was mainly on the offensive, swiping and striking at his opponent. More holes were opened in the walls and floor around them as he continued his attack. Only a few attacks actually managed to land. He hadn't realized just how much the cold had affected him, slowing him down. The attack on his arm alone took a lot out of him. He was moving much more sluggishly than normal, and he only had one arm to attack with.
Todoroki, on the other hand, had been stuck on the defensive, forced to dodge around Izuku's attacks. Occasionally, he got the opportunity to strike back, covering Izuku in ice with simple touches. But with as weakened as Todoroki's attacks had gotten, Izuku merely brushed them off.
Shortly into part two of their fight, They heard All Might over the earpieces.
"Hagakure has been subdued by the villains! There are two minutes remaining."
Izuku saw the minute amount of shock that went through Todoroki at the announcement that he was now alone and was running out of time, and he took advantage of it.
Throughout the fight, traveling from one side of the building to the other and tearing through walls that got in the way, Todoroki had only ever been focused on Izuku's torso, dodging around the dangerous attacks.
He had failed to notice Izuku's tail.
Every opportunity that Izuku had, when they weren't actively traveling, he was playing out his attacks in a way that let him circle around his opponent. And now he could make use of that.
All at once, his tail closed in on Todoroki, wrapping around him before he had a chance to fully register it. Only his head and his right arm were visible, above the coils of his tail.
The two-toned boy glared at him as he pressed his right hand down, ice immediately spreading from the limb to cover Izuku's tail. He grimaced as more frost crept across his right side in response.
Izuku grimaced right back, ignoring the burning cold sensation that was traveling along his tail. Less than two minutes left. It was down to who could withstand more. Who could handle the cold. Izuku with his natural weakness, or Todoroki with his dangerous frost buildup.
Would Izuku fall first, or would Todoroki?
Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how he looked at it, Izuku didn't get to find out. 'Proximity' picked up on someone behind him, and by the time he was able to comprehend it, Tsuyu was racing past him. She jumped up onto the coils of his tail and wrapped a length of capture tape around Todoroki's neck, the only spot she could reach without risking his ice.
"Todoroki has been subdued by the villains!" All Might called out in their ears. "Villain team wins!"
Izuku let out a breath as he relaxed his tail, stretching it back out to inspect the damage. The majority of it was covered in a thin layer of ice, and it was practically throbbing with how numb it was.
Tsuyu, despite winning them the battle, didn't look great either. He could see that she was still shivering, and being in close proximity with the walking freezer was obviously having an adverse effect.
Todoroki, on the other hand, despite now looking like he was completely covered in ice and frost, stood up from where he'd fallen onto the floor without much issue, his expression had been schooled back into apathy. As soon as he was standing, steam billowed out from his left side, immediately bringing the temperature up several degrees around them. Izuku sighed in relief as it drove away the bone-deep chills that had taken over most of his body, and he saw Tsuyu nearly slump to the floor with the heat.
"Everybody please make your way over to the observation room." All Might spoke up. "I would like to review your trial before sending you off to the infirmary. Unless, of course, you wish to head there immediately."
The three of them complied without complaint, moving together to exit the building, Hagakure joining them partway down. Now that Izuku wasn't fighting, he was focusing most of his attention on his healing quirk. It was a good thing that All Might wanted them to review the fight before going to get looked at; he wanted to address the worst of the frostbite before he got to Recovery girl. The blue areas he wasn't overly concerned with, as uncomfortable as it was, they were still treatable and wouldn't cause much fuss. The area of blackened skin over his elbow, however, needed to be healed before he got to a medical professional that would know what they were looking at.
The skin in that area was all completely dead, and he still couldn't use his right elbow at all, meaning that the dead cells probably extended all the way through the joint. If he didn't have the healing quirk at his disposal, he would more than likely lose the arm. As it was, the quirk would preserve the arm if it needed to be until it could function once more.
He could pass plenty off under the guise of enhanced healing capabilities, but there was a very distinct difference between healing injuries faster than normal, and completely regenerating dead flesh. It would be like a normal person being unable to regrow lost limbs. Izuku could, and the longer he kept that a secret, the longer he could go with one less thing to explain.
The walk back to the observation room was silent. In the two days they'd all been attending the school, Todoroki had made it clear that he wasn't one for communicating, and Izuku and Tsuyu were content to enjoy the warmth that was still emanating from him.
That warmth cut out as soon as they opened the door to join the rest of the class, and they were met with their excited yells.
"That was awesome!"
"Dude, you tanked your way through all of Todoroki's attacks like they were nothing!��
"So manly!"
"You were sticking to the ceiling!"
"Did you see how quick Asui took out Hagakure?"
"Settle down!" All Might called out, cutting through the noise and sparing Izuku from having to think of a response. "Let's get to reviewing the fight so that you can make a visit to the infirmary."
The hero pressed a button on the control panel, and the screens all switched to replay the camera feeds, focused on the four students.
"Now, to start off. Let's review the hero team. Who can list off the things they did right, or wrong?"
Iida's hand flew into the air almost immediately.
"Todoroki froze the building to preemptively capture or weaken the villains without damaging the bomb!"
"Very good!" All Might responded. "When possible, it is always best to use whatever methods available to you in order to end conflicts before they have a chance to start! Excellent observation! Anything else?"
"He shouldn't have left his teammate behind when he entered."
"Yes! No matter how confident you are in your abilities, you should never disregard your teammates, especially when you don't fully know the capabilities of your opponents!"
"Hagakure didn't stay quiet when she was going after the bomb, allowing Asui to catch her."
"Indeed! Stealth is a very important part of heroics. And it is best to always assume that someone is watching or listening for you. Anything else?"
When no one else spoke up, he moved on.
"And what about the villains?"
"Etsumi helped Asui when Todoroki froze the building."
"Yes! It is always best to assist your team members to shore up their weaknesses."
"He left Asui with the bomb when he went after Todoroki so that she could watch for Hagakure."
"Very good! He made sure to leave the objective defended since he did not know the whereabouts of the second enemy, and at the same time, he pursued the enemy he did know of to prevent them from regrouping with their partner."
"Now, who do we think is deserving of MVP for this battle?"
"It's Etsumi, right?" Uraraka spoke up. "He freed himself and Asui when they got frozen and he kept Todoroki away from the bomb."
"I disagree." Momo cut in. "While that's true, he also caused all of the damage to the building, which is counterintuitive, considering it was his own 'hideout' that he was defending. Meanwhile, Asui subdued both of the heroes in the end, securing victory. I think she should be the MVP."
"You're missing the point." Izuku said, pulling attention towards himself.
"How so?" She asked, brow furrowed.
"While I don't disagree that Tsuyu should be MVP for subduing the heroes, you're mistaken in your analysis of the damage I caused to the building."
"The point of the exercise was not to protect the building." He continued when no one spoke up. "It was to protect a nuclear device set on a timer. Meaning that we were there to ensure that it went off. So long as the building remains standing until then, then it doesn't matter what other damage it took. It was a suicide mission."
The room fell silent with his words for a few moments, until All Might spoke again, cutting through it.
"Very astute observations on all sides!" He said. "Regarding the MVP, Young Asui seems to be the popular vote!"
"Now then, off to the infirmary, all three of you. You should have your injuries looked over by Recovery Girl."
The three students in question left the room from the way they came just a few minutes before. As they made their way to the main building, Izuku inspected his visible injuries and was pleased to see that the patch of dead flesh was good as new, and that the patches of blue on his arms were fading away. And the sluggishness and numbness that he'd been feeling since the start of the match had all but faded away by now.
Thinking back to his fight with Todoroki, he considered just how much of an effect the boy's ice had on him. As Oni, he didn't have too much reason to worry about it, because temperature didn't affect him any more than everyone else, but as Izuku, he could see it becoming a problem in the future, and not just in training with Todoroki. It was a weakness that needed to be eliminated.
He needed some sort of temperature resistance quirk. The sooner he got his hands on one, the sooner he could have that weakness compensated for, and he would become that much stronger.
Maybe he'd ask Rei to look into it tonight.
In the meantime, he still needed to see Recovery Girl. He wasn't worried about his own injuries anymore; the more serious ones had already begun to fade away, and everything else would be gone by the time he got home, but he wanted to make sure that Tsuyu was uninjured. He wasn't sure if he'd done well enough keeping her temperature up. Hopefully he had, and there wouldn't be any issues. He also wanted to get back to the training site before Uraraka and Bakugou's fight finished up. Theirs was the last one.
He wanted to see how much his old friend had grown, and just how strong his new one was.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone