Ichigo was rather amused at the way the hunter reacted to the knowledge he had Ban in his prison. Hearing the words "Get out and never darken my prison again!" was hilarious.
She was less than amused with the fact that Leorio fell for such an obvious trick, even if he did appear chagrined when she called him out on his stupidity by asking if he was that desperate to reach second base with a woman.
"So what's the deal with your quirk? I mean seriously, one moment I'm trying to cave your head in, the next I'm feeling so completely zen it's impossible to keep up the mood for a good fight," asked Ban.
Gon snorted.
"Ichigo's quirk is more overpowered than you would think considering what it does," said Gon.
"I wish I knew about it sooner...would have made dealing with that ass Katsuki so much easier before we moved," said Ichigo exasperated.
She had long since grown out of her admiration for Bakugo Katsuki, aka Kaachan. King had made a point to get rid of it after hearing even a fraction of what Inko discovered about the situation.
Anyone who thought it was perfectly acceptable to use a dangerous power like explosions, no matter how small, on another person was not the sort of friend anyone needed to have. Especially someone like Ichigo.
"So what's your quirk?" asked Kurapika.
"Why don't we introduce each other's special ability? That way it won't just be me sharing and we'll have a better idea of how to use each other's abilities to get out of this place?" suggested Ichigo.
It was a sound idea.
"My quirk is called Faraday," said Killua, going first. "I can capture and control lightning without it electrocuting me and I once stood in the middle of a lightning storm with a rod of metal for hours without feeling more than a slight twinge from the strikes."
Ichigo tilted her head.
"Faraday after the Faraday cage?" she said amused.
"Pretty much. Once it manifested I searched forever for a good name for it, until I settled on that. It's the closest thing we could come up with that sounded remotely decent," said Killua.
"What's a Faraday cage?" asked Leorio.
"It's a special enclosure or shield that can protect those inside from electricity. For instance lightning would merely dance around it and into the ground without anyone inside being fried," said Kurapika. "However it doesn't affect things like compasses."
"My quirk is Beastmaster!" said Gon cheerfully, demonstrating by changing his hand into something scarily similar to the navigators who had brought them to the exam site, complete with claws. "I can copy any beast or animal I come across that I spend enough time with, though I'm still having trouble copying all of it. However as a result all of my senses are more like a wild animal than a regular human."
"My quirk is Aura Sight," said Kurapika. "Basically it allows me to see things outside the range of normal sight, similar to heat vision. However during the rare times I have my clan's eyes active I can sometimes alter or manipulate another person's aura directly."
"Eh, mine's not so special. I can basically adapt to any poison and use my blood as a basis for an antidote," said Leorio sheepishly. "But it's fairly weak."
"My quirk is Calm Heart," said Ichigo. "It's slightly hard to explain."
"Try. I'd love to know how you managed to calm me down on the airship a while back," said Killua sharply. He was still freaked out about that.
"Okay, you know how you have to be in a certain state of mind in order to fight...whether it's a human or an animal?" said Ichigo.
"Yes," said Kurapika.
"My ability causes you to drop the necessary emotions and chemicals in the brain that allows you to fight and puts you into a more calm, almost zen-like state. Basically anyone caught in my sphere of influence, especially when I'm actively trying to use my quirk, will lose any will or inclination to fight. Or at the very least will have a much harder time sustaining the necessary state of mind to fight back," said Ichigo.
"I'm confused," said Leorio.
"You know how there's certain people, usually females who are extremely good at housekeeping that can stop a fight with a disapproving look and even the most rowdy of people will behave in their presence for reasons they can't quite explain?" said Ichigo.
Seeing the men all nod, Ichigo grinned.
"My quirk is like an overpowered, directed version of that aura. It's basically the Mom Voice on overdrive and it can be mistaken for quirk nullification because it causes the necessary chemicals in the brain needed to use quirks or other abilities in a fight to shut down."
"...Okay, that is downright terrifying," said Leorio honestly.
"So basically you're a walking peacekeeper who can end a villain fight simply by exerting your quirk and everyone will mistake it for quirk nullification because they don't understand what it really is," said Ban, openly amused.
"Like I said, mom voice on overdrive."
(A/N: Okay, to put Ichigo's quirk into context for those who don't get it...imagine the scene from the Pixar movie Brave where the Queen basically walks through a massive brawl between the clans and emerges unscathed while dragging her husband and the clan heads back into order. Or a more directed version of the aura Kasumi from Ranma ½ or Nana from Katekyo Hitman Reborn have. That's basically Ichigo's quirk.)
"How is a quirk like that overpowered?" asked Killua.
"Clearly you've never experienced Mom voice properly before," said Ichigo.
"Yeah, even King said that it's hard to deal with since most people wouldn't recognize it for what it was. Everyone back in her home island mistook her for quirkless since it's was so passive until we figured out how to train it," said Gon.
"Ouch," said Killua.
Ichigo looked more resigned than anything.
"You have no idea how relieved I was to find out I did have a quirk...even one as passive as Calm Heart is. The sheer amount of bigotry, harassment and nonsense I had to deal with because everyone thought I was quirkless is not something a child should ever have to deal with," said Ichigo tiredly.
"It can't have been that bad, right? I mean most countries do have laws against using quirks against others, and harassing people based on their ability," said Leorio frowning.
"And if the adults all decided to praise one quirk and ignore the fact that they were allowing a child with a potentially lethal ability to harass and even injure another all because the other party had been diagnosed without a quirk? Especially as they justified it as negative reinforcement?" asked Ichigo.
"What happened?" asked Kurapika.
"I was inspired by the video of All Might's first appearance as a pro hero and wanted to become one myself. When I failed to show any signs of having a quirk, my mother took me to see the doctor where he diagnosed me as quirkless because I wasn't lacking a toe joint, citing some study or another done when quirks first appeared. After that it was like open season from a former friend of mine who had a quirk that allowed him to use his sweat as nitroglycerin," said Ichigo peeved. "The teachers justified their inaction as 'negative reinforcement' when my mother demanded to know why they were allowing Katsuki to use his quirk on me, saying that it was to 'drive the hopeless career choice' out of me and that my mother should have pressured me into a more 'suitable' career choice for someone of my status."
Inko was understandably pissed off about that, and her friend Mitsuki was less than happy that the teachers were inadvertently turning her son into a potential villain, or worse a sociopath with no regard for the lives of others with their actions.
Katsuki had become entitled and believed himself better than everyone else, including adults and possibly even his own parents, all because the teachers heaped on the praise and allowed him to develop some illegal habits like using his quirk on others without regard for their safety or well being.
It was bad enough that heroes like Endeavor kept causing so much collateral damage. He at least registered the need for some restraint.
With the way Katsuki was going, he was likely to do more damage and cause more harm than any villains he was likely to fight.
"Mom remembered that aunt Ayame had a son, so she tracked down Gon's aunt who was willing to let us stay until we had a place on Whale Island. I much rather live there than Mustafu...even if it takes a week or two to get any hero news," said Ichigo.
Gon immediately covered his ears.
"No, no, no...do NOT get me involved in another one of your analysis sessions! It's bad enough you made me test all those awful smells and abominations to cooking to explore the boundaries of my quirk! Even King was leery of you by the end of it!"
Killua looked highly entertained by this reaction.
"Analysis sessions?"
Ichigo's eyes gleamed.
"Give me a brief demonstration of your quirks and I can break them down in less than five minutes to give you and idea of how to make them even better. Quirk analysis is sort of a hobby of mine," said Ichigo.
Kurapika, Killua and Leorio would have an epiphany as to why Gon was trying to drown out his cousin though any means necessary. Ichigo's "hobby" made her slightly terrifying to deal with as she was able to break down and guess at a large number of ways they could expand on their quirks to make them even more potent.
For someone like Gon who was more of a wild child who relied on instinct and less on school work, having to deal with that much homework was likely to be quite the headache for him. He might acknowledge the value of Ichigo's ability to break down and analysis quirks to the point she could make up viable training ideas for them, but that didn't mean he had to like it.
As they made their way down the tower, the value of Ichigo's Calm Heart became more obvious. It was hard to let tempers flare and dissent stir them into actual arguments when her quirk was keeping the peace. By mutual consent, she acted as the voice of reason in the group whenever they were unable to come to an agreement.
It made getting down from the tower much easier by comparison, oddly enough.
Ironically the fact that Ichigo put her badge into her bag from the very beginning ended up working in her favor. No one actually knew what her number was, and thus had no idea if she was their target.
Killua decided to offer up a deal, since Ichigo's target was one number away from his own. He'd help lure her target out and in exchange she'd help him add a few new tricks to his quirk. He had more or less stalled on training it years ago and his parents were less than helpful with anything really creative that didn't involve killing people.
And to be honest, there were only so many ways that redirecting electricity could be used to fry people before it became rather boring.
It took them all of six hours once they were on the island to find and take out their targets. The rest of it was spent playing poker, oddly enough. That or coming up with new ideas to play around with Killua's electric quirk.
Killua was openly fascinated by how many ideas Ichigo had to use his quirk in new ways or just expand his control in general.
The final part of the Hunter's exam was an odd tournament. Only one would fail and have to take the exam next year, but everyone else could theoretically pass.
Everything was going fine...right up until "Gittarackur" revealed himself to be Killua's older brother Illumi under an assumed name for whatever reason.
Ichigo could sense the dangerous way Killua's aura flared. He was absolutely terrified, but it didn't seem to be an instinctive thing. There was also an odd, almost parasitic feel around his head...as if Illumi had done something deliberately to alter his state of mind.
She didn't like that one bit...Killua was in a tense, fight or die state of mind after he forfeited. There was no doubt in her mind that he woud do something stupid if she didn't stop him.
Which was why she did something considerably stupid of her own, not that she was aware of it at the time.
She walked behind Killua...and glomped him.
There was a stilted moment when she felt his muscles tense in a way that was rather worrying. Then her quirk went into absolute overdrive, working to overpower Killua's current mental state to help him reach a more calm balance.
She didn't even notice or care at the way Illumi was watching her like a hawk.
For three tense minutes, Killua battled between his unstable emotional state and the zen that her quirk was trying to create.
Finally, something tipped it over and she felt him relax slightly under her arms.
Once she deemed him calmed down, she let go.
"Thanks," he said quietly.
"Everyone needs a hug now and then, and you were in a really bad way," she replied.
Killua did his best to avoid looking at his brother, especially since he knew very well that Illumi had seen Ichigo successfully calm him down. There was no way in hell his brother was going to let that go, especially considering he had to go home and straighten things out with his old man.
His family was not exactly very...forgiving...about stunts like this. He had to deal with a bit of punishment before his father would hopefully let him travel with Gon and Ichigo.
In the end, he managed to get his license because Leorio's opponent broke his leg during the match. It would heal up in time for the next exam, but there was no way the older man could continue.
The exam was finally over.