A/N:

We're back! Sorry for the long wait again folks, but life has been a little heavy lately and the writer's block hit me hard.
I'd like to take a moment to thank all of you for your kind messages and support after what has happened in my life recently. It means the world to me.

Now! Let's get into the swing of things and really get the tournament rolling!
Enjoy!

Ch 23: Round One: Fight!

The half hour prep period was nearly over and Dax hadn't managed to regroup with Kyouka or Mei. At present she was wandering the veritable labyrinth of tunnels beneath the stadium. Why the school had made it so complicated, and so dark, down here, she'd never know. She'd been trying to just get back to the others for about ten minutes now with no success. Worse, she hadn't even seen anyone else in that entire time.

She was starting to panic a bit, her pace increasing from a quick walk to a desperate run. She only had a few minutes to make it back for the start of the tournament. Sure her first fight wasn't until the latter half of the bracket, but there was no telling how long each match would last. And Ashido would never forgive her for skipping out on their fight.

She turned a corner and finally found another person… by running right into them and knocking both of them on their asses. "Jesus is this just the fuckin' theme of the day?" She sat up and rubbed her back, letting out a sigh. "Hey sorry about that, you oka- Oh! Hey Skylar! What are you doing down here?"

The woman had been wearing earbuds until Dax had knocked one out in the impact. She pulled out the other one and wiped at her nose with her arm, her skin becoming streaked red from the blood she'd wiped away.

"Avoiding people and their emotions… What are you doing down here?... Wait, did you get lost without your normal prosthetic? Ya know, the one with a goddamn supercomputer in it?" She raised her eyebrow, cocking her head inquisitively.

Dax blushed, clenching the metallic fingers of her competition prosthetic. It was true that if she had her normal arm, she would have been able to call up a map of the stadium and navigate it easily. But without it, and without any real landmarks to tell cardinal directions, she'd been lost for ages. She nodded reluctantly, pulling herself to her feet and offering her best friend a hand up.

"Yeah, but I'd rather not talk about it... I usually pride myself on my sense of direction, but it's a nightmare down here... You okay? You're bleeding a bit there."

"You mean you pride yourself on having map hacks?" Skylar snarked with a chuckle as she took Dax's outstretched hand and pulled herself to her feet. Her face turned sour at the mention of the bleeding, though. She wiped a bit more away before giving a dismissive shrug.

"Kinda? Not really?" She replied with a frown. "There was a reason I didn't want to participate in the sports festival… This is a side effect of my quirk. More specifically, it's a warning sign that I'm overusing it… Not that I have much of a choice. I can't exactly shut it off."

"Basically what's happening is that my brain is like a balloon being filled with water. It can only take so much before it 'bursts' which would result in brain damage… First sign is bleeding from the nose… then the ears… If I bleed from my eyes… then it could all be over. I'd be doing direct damage to my brain, possibly permanent."

Dax gulped, just thinking about all the excitement, anger, and anxiety that had to be swirling in the stadium was enough to give herself a headache on Skylar's behalf. She leaned up against the wall beside her best friend, giving a soft smile. "Shit, Skylar... That's... That's really terrible. I didn't even think about that."

She reached up, resting her organic hand on the purplette's shoulder. "Do... Do you wanna back out of the tournament? I don't wanna see you get hurt... Especially if there's a risk of brain damage..."

"Actually I had planned to after the second round..." Skylar replied with a shrug, picking at her fingernails. "But… Since that guy from gen ed brainwashed us, my mind was essentially shut down for the entire second round. I didn't have to absorb anything. Honestly I came out of round two doing better than I was at the end of round one."

Dax gave a nod, chuckling. "Hell, I bet he didn't plan on that... Smug jerk. Well don't worry. I know Ojiro was gonna warn Midoriya about his quirk, so he'll get his ass kicked in the first round." She gave her friend's shoulder a little shove, trying to keep her emotions toned down as best she could for Skylar's benefit. "And you better get ready. We're both on the same side of the bracket, so I'm gonna end up kicking your ass on the way to first place."

"I wouldn't call him a jerk or smug, actually. He felt... sad about what he had to do. Not to mention his self hatred is through the roof… Besides he is trying to get into the hero course, he should use everything to his advantage." Skylar frowned, shaking her head slightly. "I don't think Ojiro should warn Izu- Midoriya. It's not really fair to Shinso. Honestly, with the guy's quirk, he should be in a hero class."

Dax had to admit Skylar did have a point. The guy's quirk was pretty impressive. He could defuse almost any situation with a villain as long as he could get a word in edgewise. "Okay so he's got a good quirk but… He can't just lean on that. If he relies on his quirk then as soon as he comes up against someone who can nullify it like Aizawa or someone who can resist it, then he's dead."

Skylar shrugged, rubbing the back of her head. "And I guess he was supposed to learn that from a general studies teacher? You gotta remember we've been training our asses off since we came to UA. He's had to bide his time. I'm sure he could pull it together with a little direction…"

The purplette gave a dismissive wave of the hand, wiping more blood from her nose. "Enough… I can't afford to get heated before the tournament or Nemuri will disqualify me for medical reasons…" She gave a slight smirk, finally returning the shove she'd received. "Right… No going easy on each other out there… But you gotta find a way to beat Ashido first. Good luck with that. Take it from me, she's agile as all hell…"

Dax laughed, toying with the end of her braid. "Yeah no kidding... Who knew dancing could be so helpful with battle..." She shook her head, blushing as she thought about just how good Ashido looked when she fought. "Makes me wanna take her up on her offer for lessons... Bet I could learn some fun things from her... Both on and off the battlefield."

Skylar rolled her eyes as they flashed a dark pink. She cleared her throat, flicking Dax on her slightly crooked nose. "Contain thy lust, foul demon." She teased, sticking out her tongue. "Or don't, I don't really care. But yeah she is definitely a beauty to watch in and out of battle."

The purplette sighed, frowning. "Like for real, though. I hated my fight with her during our first combat training…. We're both super defensive and my style did not match with hers at all. I have no idea how you plan to get a hit in, but when you do, make it count. Pretty sure you will only get one real chance."

Dax smirked, her cheeks tinting a bit as she was called out, she pushed her feelings to the backburner, if for no reason but to make life easier on her best friend. "Yeah well... I think I can take her... Her biggest asset is her acid, right?... Well, on the battlefield anyway. But she has hang ups about going all-out with it against living opponents. She knows that I know about her acid, so she's probably expecting me to primarily block and try to attack with my prosthetic, sooo I'm gonna throw her off by going all in with my organic arm."

It was a risky strategy, she knew it. There was a chance she would end up with permanent scarring or worse… She could even lose her only remaining hand. But it was a calculated risk and... she was fairly certain Ashido wouldn't melt her.

"Wrong." Skylar said, shaking her head and drawing Dax from her thoughts. "She likes to play up that her biggest asset is her acid… Hell she might even believe that, but if she does, then she is so, so wrong." Skylar gave a shudder, chewing her lip. "Honestly if she thinks that, then it's even better for you. No, her biggest asset is her mobility and her ability to alter the terrain to her advantage." She shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I really shouldn't be telling you this. It's not fair to Ashido."

Dax frowned, giving a nod. "Shit... Yeah you're right... Though I guess there's not much point in asking you to give me your thoughts and ideas for fighting her. You don't seem keen on sharing much." She sighed, pushing off from the wall and trying to cover the slight feeling of betrayal she was experiencing by thinking about her first love and how absolutely brilliant she was. "We should uh... We should go back to the stadium proper… The fights are gonna start soon."

"It's a tournament, Dax. If you didn't prepare yourself to fight classmates, that's your mistake." Skylar shrugged, "I want to win. Why should I give a troublesome opponent more of a leg up than I already have?" She cocked her head to the side, frowning slightly. "Also, like, I hope you aren't upset with me. I just… don't want to fight you. You know some pretty scary moves." She shrugged, pushing off the wall as well. "Still, I gave you a bit of a heads up. Figure that's worth something."

Dax felt a wave of shame wash over her. "You're right. Sorry I just… I'm used to our conversations about this kind of stuff being a lot more open, but you're right. This is a tournament and we're opponents…" She looked down at her feet, digging her toes into the concrete floor. "Sorry, Skylar."

Skylar shrugged. "If you want, you can join Midoriya, Yaomomo, and I for quirk analysis sessions. After the tournament obviously. Either way, good luck Dax. I am going to stay here until my fight." Her smirk returned and she pointed down the dark corridor. "By the way… Down that hall, second right, and third left will get you to the field."

"Also don't be sorry, just pointing it out."

Dax blushed, giving a nod. "Right… Thanks, Skylar. I'll see you out there." With that she turned and headed out toward the field, making it just in time for the first match to begin…

"Alright, Izuku. Let's see how you handle the mentalist…"

Dax had to say she was impressed. Watching the first match between the resident green bean and the mind wrangler had taught her something very important; Izuku had a shitload of willpower. She hadn't stood a chance at resisting Shinso's influence and yet Izuku had managed to shatter it with a flick of his fingers.

The second round was over far quicker… in approximately three seconds, to be specific. Dax recognized the intense, unflinching stare that Todoroki was giving Sero before the match began. She'd only just barely had time to throw herself on top of Tsuyu before the entire class was more-or-less covered in a titanic glacier. She knew she was getting confused looks from most of her class as she lay frozen in place on top of her long-time friend and former coworker, her teeth chattering uncontrollably.

The frog-girl, having had the benefit of Dax's body as a shield, was only experiencing a mild chill in the air by comparison, still shivering a bit, but not nearly as cold as her brunette friend. "Th-thank you, kero. Frogs don't do well in the cold…"

Dax simply nodded, her cheeks red from both the cold and embarrassment. To her relief, the class broccoli came to her rescue in typical muttering fashion.

"Makes sense… Tsu's quirk is frog, meaning she can do basically anything a frog can do. She also, like her frog counterparts, is cold blooded, meaning she is hypersensitive to cold temperatures… So for us being exposed to frigid cold is inconvenient and dangerous over time. For her it is potentially deadly, or at least dangerous, right from the start. Exposure to extreme colds could likely send her into a sort of light hibernation while her organs and body shut down defensively…"

With the focus shifted from Dax and now firmly planted on Izuku, the brunette let out a sigh of relief. Soon she was thawed out and able to roll back off her friend, landing next to Kyouka once more who greeted her return with a kiss on the cheek and a playful poke on the nose with one of her jacks.

"Playing hero even outside of class… I love that about you, Mecha, but if you go out and pull this self-sacrifice shit in the field, we're gonna have to have a talk." She smirked, leaning into her girlfriend and letting out a sigh. "That was pretty metal, though."

On the other side of her, Tsu ribbited in agreement, hesitantly snuggling up to Dax's other side. "You're a good friend, kero. And good friends share their warmth, right?" She looked up at Dax with a hopeful smile that left no room in Dax's heart to deny the woman.

"Of course, Tsu."

Soon the third match began and ended nearly as quickly… With Kaminari making a total idiot of himself. The living sparkplug talked a big game and went all-out with an indiscriminate shock while his opponent hid behind… a wall of her own vine-like hair. "Interesting…"

He was left stupid and immobilized by the end and leading to a bout of heckling by a blonde asshat from 1-B. To Dax's relief, said blonde was quickly silenced by someone Dax recognized even if they'd not been formally introduced; Kendo Itsuka. Dax knew of the woman from seeing her with Skylar several times and from just talking to her old friend about her time spent away during highschool. Apparently the two of them had run some sort of LGBTQ club in their highschool and gotten pretty close. Hell, judging by the color Skylar's eyes usually turned when talking about the redhead, Skylar was harboring a pretty serious crush on the woman too.

Speaking of Skylar, Dax hadn't seen her since leaving her down in the tunnels before the tournament. Likely the woman was avoiding the crowd for as long as possible and trying to let her inner storm of emotions settle down. It was definitely going to be interesting how the unstoppable force that was the purplette would try to take down the immovable object that was Kirishima.

Dax was drawn from her thoughts by Kyouka rapidly jabbing her in the ribs with her jacks, grinning excitedly and pointing down toward the field. "Pay attention, Mecha! Our girlfriend is up next! She looks great in all that gear, doesn't she? I know she's gonna put up a good fight and a great show for… Wait, what the hell is Iida wearing?"

Dax's eyes, previously focused down on the love of her life as she checked her support equipment, shifted to the opposite side of the field where Iida stood with… leg braces and some sort of weird wing things? "I- I have no idea… I thought we weren't allowed to use support equipment… That's why I've got a dummy prosthetic right now."

As if on cue, Midnight's voice boomed through the stadium as she shook a flogger menacingly in Iida's direction. "Hero course students are forbidden from using support equipment unless they have to. And you didn't fill out the proper form for any of that."

Iida looked stunned for a second, as if the idea that he could ever possibly break a rule had fried his brain… Knowing him, that may be what happened. "It was not my intention to violate any rules, sensei! When my opponent offered me this equipment, citing that she wanted this to be as fair a fight as possible, I was moved! I wished to honor her request and give her the fight she wants out of this prestigious tournament."

Dax couldn't help it… She burst out laughing, her hands covering her mouth in a failed attempt to muffle her reaction. "Oh- Oh my god, she got him… She got him good! Ha! Oh Iida you fool… You noble, honorable fool!" She buried her face in Kyouka's neck, her entire body shaking from laughter while the musician rolled her eyes, jabbing at her girlfriend with her jacks.

"Would you calm down! Seriously, it's not that funny. Hell, I feel bad for the guy. This is gonna be rough on him." Those words drew confused looks from every other present member of 1-A. The musician sighed, pushing Dax off her and gesturing at her classmates. "Care to explain?"

Dax was finally coming down from her giggle fit, nodding and wiping tears from her eyes. "Okay… Okay okay so you all know my girlfriend is a genius, right? I mean, she and I designed my arm from the ground up. She has helped with a bunch of your costume designs already, too. Well… She doesn't wanna win the tournament. Like… at all. No interest. She just wanted to get here so she could show off her babies to the support companies… So, unless Iida has a trick up his sleeve that, frankly, I doubt he has… This is going to be a very, very long advertisement of all the latest and greatest gadgets available from Hatsume Labs before she finally just forfeits and lets him move on."

The reactions ranged anywhere from laughter, to indifference, to even some concerned muttering. Tsu put a finger to her chin as she contemplated before looking back at Dax, speaking bluntly. "That's pretty cruel, kero… I feel bad for Iida too. It'll be funny to watch, though."

The group's attention was drawn back to the field as Midnight cracked her whip, a wide grin on her lips. "I'll allow it! Now begin!"

"Indeed it will be, Tsu… Indeed it will be."

Some ten minutes later, Iida was left dazed and exhausted from being run around the field by Mei, meanwhile the inventor herself hadn't even come close to breaking a sweat. Finally she relented, giving a slight bow in the direction of the press boxes above the stands and stepping out of the ring, disqualifying herself.

Dax smirked, shaking her head as she turned to Kyouka. "Yep… She got her exposure. Hopefully a company took notice… Then again, it'd be better for them if they didn't, considering the business plan she's got for herself after graduation."

Kyouka nodded, twirling one of her jacks around a finger as she smiled affectionately at the retreating form of the pinkette down on the field. "Yeah… Sometimes our girl scares me. But there's not a more brilliant designer in the entire school… Hey wait, aren't you and Ashido up next? Shouldn't you be down in the prep room?"

Dax's eyes flew open wide as realization dawned on her. She'd gotten so enraptured with watching Mei do her thing that she had totally forgotten she was next on the chopping block. She cast a glance back to where Ashido had been sitting only to find the seat vacant. Mentally kicking herself she bolted from her seat, only pausing long enough to get a good luck kiss from her songbird before taking off sprinting toward her waiting area.

Dax had barely had time to check over her prosthetic and mentally settle herself before she was summoned to the field. She tried to swallow back her nerves, pushing the thoughts of her confrontation with Miruko to the back of her mind. "Last thing I need is to psych myself out because of her… I'm going to go out there and prove her wrong. Just like Kyouka said."

She nodded to herself as she walked through the tunnel toward the light of the stadium. Her strategy hadn't changed much since her talk with Skylar, but she was going into this with a more open mind than she had originally planned to. She needed to expect the unexpected out of her classmate. Watch her movements, try to anticipate. Above all, avoid any hits. She'd seen how Ashido fought. A lot of fancy movement, terrain alteration, and then one good, solid hit to nail down the lid on her enemy's coffin.

Dax shook her head, clearing her mind as she stepped out into the sunlight, her eyes adjusting as her ears were assaulted by the roar of the crowd. She grinned, the excitement in the air positively infectious. Across from her Ashido was emerging from her own tunnel, her arms raised as she hopped and bounced her way into view, hyping up the crowd even more.

Dax and Ashido took their places, giving each other competitive grins as they waited for the match to begin. Even with all the training and sparring the class had done, Dax had never directly faced Ashido… Until today.

"Hope you're ready for this, Mal!" Ashido taunted from across the field, stretching her arms above her head casually. "Because I'm gonna wipe the floor with you!"

Dax let out a harsh laugh, cracking her neck and flexing her mechanical fingers. "We'll see about that, Ashido! I just hope you're ready to get knocked on your ass!"

The pair was interrupted by Present Mic as his voice flooded the stadium.

"Welcome back, sports fans! For our fifth match we have another pair of contenders from hero course class 1-A! First up… Is there some sorta purpose for those things sticking out of her head? Ashido Mina! Versus… The mechanical woman with no past to speak of: Malcor Dax!"

Dax winced at the bluntness of her introduction, silently cursing the english teacher. The last thing she needed was for people to go digging where they had no business being. She didn't have time to contemplate things, though, as Ashido immediately launched into action. Skylar was right, the woman's mobility was a serious issue. She was already dancing and skating her way across the field, leaving a trail of half-melted cement in her wake.

Dax dropped into a defensive stance, watching Ashido's movements carefully as the woman approached. She thought back to the video she'd watched of Ashido's match with Skylar during their first combat training. "She's gonna try to get in close, maybe scare me or literally disarm me with her acid… Then she'll go for the kill."

Dax's prediction proved largely correct as Ashido skidded to a stop in front of her, blasting her with low-grade acid at the same time. Dax blocked with her mechanical arm, hearing the acid sizzle on it, but not penetrate the plating. Either Ashido was using a lower intensity than she needed to, or Mei had upped the resistance of the prosthetic. Either way, it gave Dax the opportunity to counter-attack.

She dropped low, attempting to sweep Ashido's legs out from under her. The pinkette dodged, hopping into the air and spinning as she did, her foot colliding with Dax's head and stunning the woman for a moment. The brunette nearly missed blocking Ashido's next attack, a punch aimed right at her face. She caught it with her mechanical hand and twisted, forcing Ashido to roll with the motion lest she risk a broken wrist.

The pinkette rolled with it, but didn't even flinch as she rolled yet further, falling to her back and yanking Dax down with her into what, for a few moments, became a wrestling match between the two as they vied for the top position. Eventually Ashido seemed to get an upper hand, pinning Dax to the ground and smirking down at her.

"Ready to give up? You know, I thought you'd put up more of a fight than-" Dax cut off her taunting with a headbutt, admittedly not the best idea when facing someone with literal horns. When she drew her head back, Ashido was howling in pain, her hands shooting up to grasp at her horns defensively. Meanwhile Dax's forehead was bleeding steadily.

Dax growled, lashing out with her mechanical arm and delivering a heavy punch to Ashido's ribs, knocking the woman off of her. She got to her knees and followed up, slamming her organic fist down toward her opponent's face. The acidic heroine acted defensively, bringing up her hands and catching Dax's fist and arm as acid sizzled in her palms.

The horrifyingly familiar feeling of Dax's flesh burning flooded the brunette as she took a solid second to realize what was happening before letting out a sharp, pained yelp and leaping back off of Mina. Her bet had been wrong and she'd gotten burned. In the midst of a fight she found herself subconsciously going through her breathing exercises, keeping the panic of having been literally burned at bay.

Ashido got to her feet while Dax was collecting herself, visibly wincing at the sight of the brunette's arm. Her skin was tinted red, much like the scarring hidden beneath her gym shirt. In places it had melted down to muscle tissue, resulting in a pitted, irregular wound.

Dax took the opportunity afforded by Ashido's hesitation and grabbed the woman by her shirt with her mechanical hand. She stood, yanking Ashido up and tossing her in the direction of the edge of the arena, blatantly ignoring the screaming pain coming from her wounds. She didn't dare hope that the throw would launch the pinkette out of the ring, but it did give her time to recenter herself.

Ashido took the throw in stride, landing and melting footholds into the ground beneath her to halt her momentum. Soon she was skating her way back toward Dax, her lips curled into a smirk. "Damn, Mal! You're taking that like a trooper! Didn't mean to burn you that badly, but hey. What can ya do?"

She came in low, sliding down and nearly going horizontal as she attempted to take Dax's feet out from under her. Unfortunately for the acidic heroine, she had projected the move pretty hard. Dax sidestepped at the last moment, reaching down with her mechanical hand and resorting to her backup plan. She grabbed Ashido by the horns.

Ashido's eyes went wide and a second later she let out a pained yell as Dax used her grip on the woman's horn to halt her motion. Ashido had made the mistake of revealing that her horns were a little closer to being antennae in that they were particularly sensitive one day during combat training. Sero had landed a strip of tape on the woman's head and she had nearly killed him for trying to remove it himself.

Dax knew this was a dirty tactic, but she also knew she needed to end this fight quickly for the sake of the literal holes in her arm. She slammed Ashido down to the ground, leaning in close and whispering to her. "Sorry about this, Mina. To be fair, though, you kinda melted the only arm I have left, so I think we're pretty even. Now tap out."

The pinkette struggled for a few moments, only causing herself more pain before relenting, smacking the ground three times. "Fine! Ugh… I concede! Now lay off the horn!"

Dax released her immediately upon hearing confirmation of her victory from Midnight. She helped Ashido to her feet and smiled awkwardly, offering her mechanical hand. "No hard feelings?"

The pinkette chuckled, shaking Dax's hand and nodding as the pair headed toward the infirmary. "Nah. It was a fun match. Totally gonna find a way to get you back for touching my horns without permission, though. So not cool."

Dax laughed, forgetting for a moment the pain emanating from her arm. "Yeah, I'm sure you will… And it'll probably leave me with even more scars."

"Damn right."

"You're beginning to come around like a masochistic greenette, Malcor. Of course, I suppose I can't blame you for this one. Not like you melted your own skin…" Recovery Girl remarked as she prepared some disinfectants for Dax's arm. The burns on her hand had been easily healed by application of the woman's quirk, but the one on her arm would take longer to recover, possibly requiring a graft due to the size.

"No, but it was my fault for banking on Ashido holding back. I should have been more careful." Dax winced as the aged medic applied the antiseptic and antibiotics, making her wound sting even more. Blessedly, the topical anesthetic kicked in quickly and she was given relief.

"Just be more careful in the future, dear. And don't forget your gummies. Hopefully we can get you through this with little scarring. We'll have to see how well your body heals on its own, but you may also be looking at a graft, so try to keep the area clean."

Dax nodded, giving a sigh as she looked over at the silent form of Ashido. The pinkette had already apologized no less than ten times after hearing how bad the burn actually was. "Eh, what's a couple more scars, right?" She winked at the woman, drawing a smile from her.

"Yeah, Mal, but still… I feel kinda bad, ya know. Especially considering-"

"If you're about to say something along the lines of 'considering your existing injuries', then stop. I thought you'd figured out by now that the last thing I want is to be treated differently because of my injuries, Mina." She sighed, hopping off the exam table once Recovery Girl was done dressing her arm.

"I said I forgive you, and I meant it. Even if this does leave me with a scar, I get to say that I got it from fighting one of the most amazing heroes I know." She put her mechanical hand on Mina's shoulder, giving her a smirk. "So enough moping. C'mon, if we don't get back out there, we'll miss Skylar and Kiri going at it… I still can't believe how quick Tokoyami took down Yaomomo. I really thought she'd put up more of a fight."

"Heads up listeners! Coming out onto the field for our seventh match we have the manly hero from 1-A, Kirishima Eijiro versus his own classmate, the emotional rollercoaster, Takada Skylar!"

"Shit! See we're gonna miss it!" Dax grabbed Mina by the wrist and all but dragged her out into the tunnels, sprinting toward the stands.

The fight had been going on for a full five minutes by the time Dax and Mina made it back to the stands to watch. From the glimpses they had been catching on various screens as they hurried along, it had largely been a one-sided slugfest with an emotionally charged and bloody-nosed Skylar pounding away at a hardened Kirishima like she expected candy to burst out of him at any moment.

As they emerged from the tunnels and managed to actually catch a proper view of the action, Dax went wide-eyed. Down in the arena, Kirishima's feet were dug several inches down into freshly crumbled concrete as he strained to endure the beating he was receiving. Dax was too far from the pair to make out the color of Skylar's tell-tale eyes, but from her expressionless face and rhythmic punches and kicks, she would guess the woman was dissociating while her body worked on autopilot.

"She's overloaded…" She whispered, mostly to herself. Though, shockingly, her voice seemed to carry even in the din of the crowd. Soon a decent number of her classmates had shifted their focus from the beating down on the field to her with expectant eyes. Dax sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Her quirk lets her read emotions and even manipulate them, right? Well she also stores emotional energy like a battery so she can discharge it to enhance her strength or speed or her control of others' emotions."

Several heads nodded in agreement and understanding, though their attention didn't divert away from her. "Do I really need to spell it out? She doesn't actively store emotional energy. She stores it passively. It just kinda happens. And like a battery, there is only so much she can handle so-"

Dax was cut off by an increasingly loud muttering that seemed to fill the very air around her in the way only Izuku could. The greenette was on the edge of his seat, feverishly writing in one of his notebooks.

"Right of course… Emotional energy would build up insanely fast in a stadium like this one with people on every side constantly funneling anxiety, eagerness, rage, sorrow, and excitement directly into her. All of this is a massive load on her brain and blood pressure, keeping her very tense at all times while she tries to avoid causing a massive emotional explosion and dumping all the stored up energy back into everyone at once. She is using as much as she can to enhance her physique and give her raw strength less as a means of victory and more as a means of survival. Her nose bleeding is a sign of overuse of her quirk like Iida's engines backfiring or Aoyama's tummy aches…"

Every eye in the class was now firmly planted on the exposition-spewing greenette. The man fell silent, feeling the weight of the stares as his cheeks turned bright crimson. Dax chuckled awkwardly, sliding into the seat next to him and patting him on the back. "Thanks, Iz. Timely and informative as always…" She cast her gaze back out to the field, chewing her lip. "I just hope she doesn't overdo it too much…"

Down on the field, the monotony had finally broken. Skylar had thrown a particularly powerful punch that actually managed to knock Kirishima back a couple meters. The man took the opportunity to change his tactics, grinning as he charged back toward Skylar, arm raised for what could only be described as a Bakugo-style right hook.

The purplette seemed to snap out of her stupor, suddenly more active and less robotic. She nimbly dodged the attack and grabbed Kirishima's arm in a vice-like grip, slamming one foot down to the ground and pivoting on it. She swung the redhead around like a tetherball and used a combination of his momentum, her enhanced strength, and pure physics to launch him across the arena. He flew out of bounds and slammed into the wall just beneath class 1-A's seats. Though they couldn't see him directly, the view on the monitors made it clear he was embedded at least a foot deep into the concrete wall, totally immobilized.

Midnight's whip cracked, drawing the attention back to her and the smile she wore mismatching the concern in her eyes as she declared Skylar the winner, noting the slight delay before the next match due to the need for repairs to the arena.

Skylar twitched slightly as she seemed to struggle with bringing herself back under control. She made her way over to the embedded Kirishima, reaching in to offer him help out when Dax heard possibly the dumbest thing Kiri could have said in that moment.

"That was so manly!"

Skylar froze, her outstretched hand curling into a fist as a sudden wave of rage came over Dax. The brunette sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and trying to block out the foreign tide of Skylar's bleeding emotions. The purplette punched Kirishima again directly in the chest, driving him further into the cement and drawing a chorus of boos from the crowd, none of which had possibly heard the cause for her sudden change in demeanor.

Dax groaned, leaning back in her seat and looking over at Izuku with a weary smile. When she looked past him, though, she couldn't help but notice something was off. He was alone. Uraraka was always next to him. Even if they were both too dense to just admit what they clearly saw in one another, they were still thick as thieves.

"Uhh… Hey Midoriya? Isn't Uraraka going up against Ka- err Bakugo in the next match?.. Don't you wanna go like… check on her or something? She's gotta be nervous."

Izuku blinked, looking at Dax like she had bats flying out of her ears. "But she's right-" he cut himself off, his eyes growing wide as he examined the vacant seat next to him. "Right. Uh… I should go. Thanks, malcor-chan!"

With that he was off like a firecracker, heading into the tunnels and leaving everyone in the dust behind him. Kyouka took the opportunity to jump up into his seat, shaking her head and giving a shrug. "Those two are gonna graduate and be pro heroes by the time they realize their feelings are mutual, aren't they?"

"Yeah… Probably." Dax replied as she stood, taking Kyouka's hand and heading for the tunnels herself. "C'mon. I can't watch the match live too much uhh… you know." She frowned, her shoulders slumping a bit.

Kyouka pressed a quick kiss to Dax's cheek, poking the woman in the chest with her jacks. "You don't need to explain to me, Mecha. We'll go to one of the prep rooms and watch it on the monitor. I'll be with you the whole time. Promise."

Dax blushed, squeezing Kyouka's hand like a lifeline. "Thank you, Songbird."

A/N:

There we have it! A little longer than I normally like, but I figured y'all deserve it after having to wait so long.
Thank you again for all your messages of support. It means a lot to me.

Next time we'll see Dax versus Tokoyami and even the fight between Skylar and Bakugo!
How will Dax overcome such a shadowy hero? How will Skylar contend with the blonde bombshell?
Stay tuned to find out!

As always, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and that you'll leave your feedback for me to read.
And just a reminder that you can find me over on twitter MalcorScribe for more of my inane ramblings and updates on my life.

See ya next time!