A/N: Now I know that most of you, if not all of you, are expecting me to try and cover the entirety of what I like to call the "Dance Trilogy" in a single chapter, and while I might be able to do that if I really crunched for time, the buildup to the final episode of the arc isn't something I can rightly ignore. So, I'm sorry to say that you'll have to wait a little bit for dance. But I'll do everything I can to make it as enjoyable as possible, that I will promise you.

There's no music for the fight scene in this chapter. It's not really that tense in the overall scheme of things, even though it does change up the canon a little bit. That's just how low stakes this fight is. Even if Mercury can be a downright asshole sometimes. That and I couldn't really find a song to fit with the mood of the fight. If you have any story or music recommendations for me, let me know! As I've said before, I try to read and respond to all the reviews I get, provided I have the time and can actually respond to you. I appreciate them all, even the ones that criticize my work for its short comings. Speaking of...

Edit (11/26/18): It's the same as usual. Not much to change here.

Review Responses:

Red John: That's actually a really cute ship, and one that I've had on the brain for a while now. But, as much as it pains me to say this, they haven't really had much interaction other than that one time when he got CRDL off her back, so as much as I want them to end up together, they don't have any chemistry to go off of, so at this point it wouldn't make all that much sense. Plus, CFVY's on a mission during the dance, so it would probably break the canon too. Sorry!

Also, we've cracked the 100-follower mark! Thank you all so much! I'll continue to try and earn your support!

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or My Hero Academia. They belong to Monty Oum, Kohei Horikoshi, and their respective publishing companies. Please support the official releases.

I do not own the cover image.

Chapter 14: Dance Dance Preparation

The sound of the arena buzzer sounded throughout as Pyrrha stood up from another battle as the victor, her opponents lying in painful defeat, both metaphorical and literal. Team CRDL, well, Cardin specifically, had challenged the invincible girl to a sparring match with his entire team. She courteously accepted, and then proceeded to kick all of their asses, much like Bakugo had previously in the underground arena, only in a much quicker fashion. This caused the explosive faunus to almost immediately thereafter begin to shout and swear challenges at her which were thankfully muffled by Tenya. At least before Goodwitch heard any of them, thank Oum.

Context time! After last week's info hunt, where he, Shoto, and Tokoyami had run into Yang and Neptune, they confronted Team RWBY about what they were actually doing and, as Yang promised, they explained everything. They were gathering information as well, but on an enemy of a different kind. The White Fang and Torchwick to be precise. Apparently, after a rather heated debate amongst the four of them, they agreed that they needed to stop whatever the two were planning as soon as they could, and while the others were rather hesitant to reveal any details at all, Yang told them all she knew on the matter, which wasn't much more than the fact that Torchwick had brought another henchman into the field by the name of Neo, and that he was somehow getting ahold of advanced Atlas tech and weaponry before it was released for public use. But I digress...

"Okay. I know that display would be hard to follow up, but we do have time for one more match. Any volunteers?" Goodwitch asked the class, her eyes settling on Blake as she continued, "Miss Belladonna? You've been rather docile these past few classes. Perhaps you could-"

"I'll do it." A silver-haired student near the top of the spectator's area interrupted her mid-sentence, a cocky smirk ever present on his face. He sat next to two of his teammates, a girl with dark skin and crimson eyes, and a boy with a hooded black jacket pulled over his head and cloth half mask that obscured most of his face, the only visible part of his face being his heavily lidded turquoise eyes. Izuku didn't know who they exactly were, but he did know that they were absolute monsters in combat, if their very brief sparring matches were anything to go off of. They didn't even use their semblances. He couldn't remember their leader all that well either, and she'd only sparred once in the time since they'd arrived at Beacon; however, she was ridiculously strong, and while she put on a pretty smile, seeming to be the best kind of trustworthy, Izuku, despite arguing with himself for a full thirty seconds on the matter, couldn't help but feel that something wasn't quite right about her. Moving on...

His attention was drawn back to Goodwitch as she continued, "Mercury, right? Well, let's find you an opponent."

"Actually, I wanna fight... her," he objected as he pointed to Pyrrha, who was still standing within the arena barely even winded.

The aforementioned redhead warrior blankly asked "Me?" in surprise, obviously not expecting an outright challenge from someone, especially not after the display she'd just put on.

Goodwitch, obviously concerned for the boy's health, objected, "Miss Nikos had already finished a match. I recommend you choose another partner."

"I concur," Shoto stated, surprising almost everyone there with the exceptions of a few of his primary classmates, his partner too absorbed in his own notes to notice what the boy had just said.

"Does the mean you will be fighting Mercury, Mister Todoroki?" Goodwitch inferred.

"No. But I do know someone who should." Immediately after he said this, he turned to Izuku and tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. The green-haired boy then looked up at his, and Shoto promptly pointed towards the arena and simply stated, "You're up."

Izuku glanced towards the arena, where Pyrrha had just left and Mercury now stood in her place. He then stood up and shuffled towards the arena entrance, grabbing Gale from his locker as he went.

Now, it may have seemed like Izuku was being calm, collected, and maybe even a little cold, making Mercury just the slightest bit scared. But only slightly. However, on the opposite end of the spectrum, Izuku felt that he was in completely over his head, since being pulled into the fight the way he was prompted a total internal analysis and subsequent breakdown of his chances, which were, in his biased opinion, not very good. And one thought raced through his mind on that arena floor more than any other at that moment.

Sword or Scythe?

If you repeated this line once every half second, you could probably get close to the speed of how fast this thought was repeating itself in his head before the buzzer sounded the beginning of the match. Mercury dashed towards Izuku with a loud boom emanating from his boots as he jumped into the air and raised his leg to deliver an overhead ax kick, which Izuku barely managed to dodge before it landed where he stood not half a second earlier, a crater lined with buckshot appearing beneath his opponent's foot. Izuku, now in full on panic mode, brought Gale off his back and in an instinctual fashion, thought, Scythe! Use the Scythe!

Using Gale, still in its greatsword form, he made a wide sideways arc, causing Mercury to jump backward to avoid the blow that would've cost him almost a quarter of his total Aura. Izuku then shifted Gale into scythe mode, the blade curving inwards to form the primary blade before the handle extended to its full length, making it a rather simple yet intimidating looking weapon.

The two then began to slowly circle each other, Izuku gripping his scythe life a lifeline with the blade angled behind him while Mercury held a composed but rather loose looking boxing stance. They then both charged at each other, Mercury opening the fight with a straight side kick that Izuku ducked under while he made multiple attacks with all the angles he could use, from spinning Buzzsaw arcs to the simplest of quick jabs and slashes, trying to hit his opponent with either end of the scythe.

Mercury dodged all of his attempts, though one of the of them nearly managed to cut his hair, and made some acrobatic moves backwards, giving him room to once more breathe. They only paused for a few seconds as Izuku charged this time, his strikes matched by the force of Mercury's shotgun boots as they held their active standoff for four seconds before Izuku managed to graze him with the blunt end of his scythe, pushing him back about ten feet. Mercury then gave Izuku that said "better than I thought," though the green haired boy, still not having a whole lot of experience with sarcastic praise, was only confused at the gesture.

He didn't have much time to be confused, however, as Mercury launched himself at him with an overhead spinning axe kick that Izuku blocked with the handle of his scythe, which was then followed up by three roundhouse kicks, one aimed at his legs causing him to jump, barely managing to block the second one with the handle of his scythe and backflip out of the range of the third, landing in a crouched position while he held his scythe in a readily defensive stance.

Mercury at him again, jumping into the air once more to deliver three rapid-fire kicks that the blazer-wearing boy just barely managed to block, which was followed by two more spinning side kicks and a back kick, knocking Izuku's scythe from his hand. Not letting up, Mercury aimed for Izuku's now exposed face as the boy began to reach for his scythe, an action that Izuku quickly turned into a block. Seeing an opening, Mercury performed a twist b flip and kicked Gale away from Izuku, the blade of the weapon embedding itself in the wall to his right.

Mercury tried to finish the fight with a reverse roundhouse kick that Izuku, with Full Cowl activated, effortlessly blocked by grabbing Mercury's calf with his left hand. The silver-haired boy's eyes widened in surprise, but Izuku gave Mercury no time to sober himself as he jerked his leg back, putting him on the floor before he raised his right fist above his head, ready to give Mercury a pile driver punch when, mid-strike, he forfeited.

Izuku managed to stop his punch only three inches away from Mercury's face, a loud boom echoing throughout, followed by a dust cloud rising from the arena floor. Izuku then opened his fist to offer his opponent some help getting up, which Mercury took with a sheepish grin on his face.

"The winner is Izuku Midoriya. Wonderful performances from both of you. Though I must ask, why did you forfeit, Mercury?"

The silver-haired boy in question simply shrugged and stated, "He's a lot better than he looks. I actually think he could take on Pyrrha Nikos."

Izuku immediately began to stammer at the unexpected praise, barely managing to deflect his assumption. "I-I-I'm nowhere n-near h-h-her l-level."

"I disagree." Pyrrha objected as she hopped down from the spectator's area. "You've gained much improvement since your first spar. I daresay you could be stronger than me someday."

"See? The woman herself thinks you could take her. Now, I honestly don't know who would win in that fight, but what I do know is that you're definitely stronger than me." Mercury said with his usual sarcastic smirk and a nonchalant shrug accompanying his words as he exited the arena, leaving Izuku alone as he struggled to pull Gale out of the wall, declining help from Pyrrha as he pulled on the handle of his rather heavy weapon.

(six hours later, Team STIK's dorm)

"I think that was, quite possibly, the longest lecture I have ever had to sit through," Shoto said as he slumped onto his bed, his seemingly unbreakable monotone now slipping due to sheer exhaustion. The rest of his teammates were in similar positions, though they had to drag their explosive friend up with them since he'd passed out halfway through Port's class and none of them could wake him up. Well, Izuku didn't want to take the chance of getting blown up, so that was a part of it.

Tenya shifted around until his back was facing his mattress, saying, "For once, I can agree with you on that front. It had no academic value whatsoever. I hope that things will be different after the break."

Izuku managed to prop himself up on his elbows and sit himself up, which his conscious teammates attributed to his massive amount of stamina, and said, "Speaking of, the Vytal Dance is this weekend. Do I have to-"

"You're going." Shoto and Tenya synched in monotone, Izuku paling at the prospect of a social gathering.

"But-"

"It's mandatory," they synched once more, the finality in their voices leaving no room for argument. Izuku then sighed in defeat and dropped back onto his bed, praying that one of them wouldn't pop the question he so desperately didn't want to answer.

Unfortunately for him, that's exactly what Shoto did, asking his teammates, "So, does anyone have a date for the dance?"

Izuku went completely silent as he contemplated how to answer this question while Shoto and Tenya talked about their own plans for the dance. The two seemed fine with going to the dance alone, seeing as they'd proven to be invulnerable to all the girls who'd asked to accompany them to the event; but their green haired teammate was going crazy with nervousness, specifically because he did have someone he wanted to ask to the dance. A certain blonde brawler to be precise.

He began to blush at the mere thought of her, shifting his face towards his pillow in order to hide his slowly reddening face from his teammates. They took note of this sudden action but continued their conversation regardless.

Izuku recalled his spars with Yang, the way she always seemed to smile or crack a joke in the heat of intense battle, her beauty matched only by the might of her fists. Her golden hair shining in the early dusk as she helped him off of the training arena floor with a kind smile that reached far past her eyes. The way she encouraged him even after tripped on his own shoes for more than half an hour while he tried to perform the basic combinations, her dumb jokes that always managed to make him laugh, her boisterous nature and the caring honesty she gave all her friends, even Weiss. She was... well, he thought that she was out of his league. And yet...

Why can't I stop thinking about her?

It was at this thought that Shoto had ironically decided to see if his partner was alright, prodding the young boy to try and get his attention, which proved itself to be a futile effort as he shifted closer to the wall near his bed. He then asked, "What's wrong? You're looking a little down."

This only caused his teammate to shift even further towards the wall, which tipped Shoto off to the fact that Izuku had something in his head that he didn't want to share. However, Shoto also knew the consequences of bottling up secrets until they couldn't be hidden anymore, so he figured that he might as well have at least one person to confide it in.

He then turned to Tenya and gestured to him to take Bakugo and leave the room. When the spectacled boy asked why, he said, "This should probably stay between me and Izuku." Tenya nodded in understanding, carefully lugging Bakugo's unconscious body off of his bed, over his own shoulder and out of the room, presumably to the library.

Shoto then rose up from his own bed and walked over to the edge of Izuku's, staying there for a few seconds as he silently let his partner recognize his presence. Izuku then slowly shifted away from the wall and sat next to his leader the silence making the situation all the more uncomfortable.

Tired of the aforementioned lack of sound, Shoto asked him outright, though with a little empathy added to his normally neutral tone. "What's on your mind? Is it about the dance?"

Izuku didn't speak, opting to instead go the silent route and nodded. Shoto's expression softened as he continued, "Well, why? Are you scared?" Izuku nodded again. "Of what?" Izuku froze as his face began to redden once more, hiding his head behind his knees to hide the effect, though Shoto obviously noticed this and became a bit more concerned. Izuku slowly took his head away from his knees as he felt his blush recede, the expression on his leaders face clearly expecting an answer.

Izuku, albeit reluctantly, answered Shoto's looming question. "I... I want..." He hesitated, choking on his own words before he finally managed to blurt out in a whisper, "I want to ask Yang to the dance."

"Hmm?"

"I said I want to ask Yang to the dance!" Izuku yelled in frustration, almost immediately covering his mouth at this out of character action and curling up into a ball once more.

Shoto, however, was hardly even surprised. He simply sighed in realization, saying, "Well, at least you finally realized it."

Izuku then looked towards his leader in surprise, asking, "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"It means you finally realized the obvious." The two sat in silence once more, though the air carried a friendlier tone than it had previously. Shoto broke it again with another question. "So, what's got you so nervous? If you want to ask her to the dance, ask her to the dance."

"I know, and that's not the problem. It's just... I'm afraid I'll get rejected. I mean, she's totally out of my league, and she's probably having to punch guys in the face just to give herself some breathing room. What chance have I got if-"

It was at this point that Shoto got tired of listening to Izuku's self-deprecating speech and smacked him upside the head. As his partner rubbed the back of his scalp in confusion, the half and half boy began a little speech of his own. "Quit thinking like that. It's only going to make you even more nervous. Look, asking someone to a formal event of any kind, especially one as big as this, is very hard to do; trust me, I know all about that part of life. But look, if you never expect yourself to fail at something at least once, then you'll never succeed later on.

"So just ask her. No suave moves, no overcomplicated schemes that will likely begin to fall apart at the first step, just ask. Although I'm pretty sure the former isn't something you'd manage to pull off."

"That's true," Izuku admitted with a slight chuckle. He then stood up from his bed and walked to the door, stopping just before he left as he turned around to face Shoto once more, asking, "Why are you going to the dance alone? There must've been dozens of girls pining for you."

Shoto gave Izuku the first smile that was larger than the slight smirks he always gave to his teammates, and replied, "Because, in that regard, I've already got someone waiting for me back home in Atlas. I made a promise to her, and I'm not about to break it."

"I see." Izuku smiled at his leader's happier expression before he asked, "What's her name? If you don't mind me asking, that is." He hastily added to the end of his sentence, a nervous chuckle punctuating it.

Instead of the stern no he was expecting, Shoto simply looked at the slowly descending sun and answered his partner's question. "Momo. Her name is Momo Yaoyozoru."

(thirty minutes later, dorm building hallway)

Izuku walked down the dimly lit halls of the dorm building in the now fading auburn hue of the sunset, and he felt even more nervous than he had been before. His thoughts trailed towards the fear of rejection and embarrassment constantly, and sometimes they bordered on complete and total social rejection as well as that of the romantic kind.

However, as he remembered the advice given to him by his leader a few minutes earlier, Izuku realized that he was overexaggerating the consequences of this action he would soon perform. Why was he so anxious that he walked around the dorm building to specifically avoid Team RWBY's dorm for the past half an hour anyway?

.

..

…

Actually, don't answer that.

As he broke from this train of thought, he accidentally bumped into Blake, who was stomping rather uncharacteristically loudly towards the library in a rare moment of what looked to be frustration, the bags under her eyes indicating that she hadn't slept for what was implied to be entire days. Although Izuku wanted to help the cat faunus, despite not being all that close to her, he could somehow sense that if he even tried to start a conversation with the girl, he'd more than likely get his head bitten off. Metaphorically, of course.

Izuku then rounded the corner to RWBY's dorm room, he saw Jaune outside of the aforementioned room, strumming at the guitar in his hand as he began to serenade a song that sounded so cheesy even Izuku didn't like it. It was only a split second later when Izuku heard the door to the room slam in Jaune's face. The blonde wouldn't give up, however, and began knocking on the door, asking for a chance to explain himself, even promising that he wouldn't sing, though he kept the guitar in his hand despite these words. He proved himself to be lying when he began another serenade, both with the same goal: ask Weiss to the dance. Unfortunately for him, she appeared to not be interested in the slightest and slammed the door in his face a second time.

A ghostly sigh escaped the nonexistent lips of Lancelot as the traditional knight's helmet that was his head materialized next to his master, saying, "I told you this wouldn't work. If you wish to court the young mistress, you ought to do so when you know more about her other than her name and the fact that she's incredibly beautiful."

"And what would you know about romance, Lance? " This was the pet name that Jaune had taken to calling his aforementioned Fable as payback for always calling him 'master,' which the ghostly warrior, rather than being offended by it, took a liking to, and actually insisted that close friends of Jaune's, like Izuku and Pyrrha, call him by that name instead of his full title. It was easier to say than Lancelot at least. But I digress...

"More than you do, apparently," was Lancelot's response, his neutral tone never dropping from his voice. This was all kinds of ironic, seeing as Lancelot was a warrior born of Jaune's own strength of will and Aura, and yet he still knew more about the opposite sex than his master did. The gods were not kind to the boy.

As the two walked down the hallway, Jaune having a one-sided argument with his own Fable, the latter of whom only responding in kind, Izuku walked over to the entrance of Team RWBY's room, noting that Yang's other two teammates were likely still in the room with her. A slight pink shade dusted his cheeks just a slight shade below noticeable as Izuku nervously reached out towards the pale colored wooden door and rapped his knuckles against it, making an audible though rapid tattoo.

"I TOLD YOU, NO!" Weiss' yell echoed from within the room to answer Izuku's knock, obviously believing that Jaune was back to try to ask her to the dance for the third time. Izuku managed to shakily speak up, saying, "I-it's not Jaune."

The door then flung itself open, revealing Weiss with a rather doubtful look on her face as she looked to the left and right, making sure that Jaune wasn't anywhere near them, and when she was done, grabbed Izuku and pulled him into the room in a rather uncharacteristic moment of sudden strength.

Izuku, knocked off balance by the sudden movement, stumbled and fell on the carpeted floor, a rather confused looking Ruby and Yang staring at him as Weiss once more slammed the door, not willing to take any chances of Jaune coming back.

"So, why are you here, Midoriya?" The ice princess said in her usual cold tone, causing Izuku to flinch as he briefly recalled the explosion he'd accidentally caused as her lab partner in Dust class. He quickly sobered himself, however, and stood up from his earlier position to say to them, "I need to talk with Yang about something."

"Okay. Talk away."

"I-I meant in private?"

Weiss raised her eyebrow in confusion for a few seconds before she managed to connect the dots, a look of realization coming onto her face. She then turned to Ruby and grabbed her by the hood, saying, "You have ten minutes. If you take any longer, I'll turn you into a pincushion," before she dragged her teammate out the door and beelined down the dorm halls, the caped young girl struggling against Weiss' uncharacteristically strong pull the entire way.

Izuku sweatdropped at the girl's actions before he turned to face Yang, who now stood just a few feet away from him with a kind expression painted on her face. This only caused Izuku's blush to deepen further, though the blonde brawler hardly seemed to notice.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he stuttered out, "Y-Yang? I-I was w-wondering if... m-m-maybe, y-y-you c-could go t-t-to the dance with me? Y-y-you don't h-have to i-i-if you don't w-want to. I j-just-"

Izuku never finished his sentence however, as Yang pulled him into a rather tight hug, his protests nonexistent as he slowly but surely returned the hug. He wasn't sure why she'd initiated the hug, but he wasn't about to complain, relaxing into her hold as he wandered his own thoughts.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Yang was beginning to blush. She never blushed. Ever! Not when the hottest guys at Signal asked her out, only for her to punch them where the sun didn't shine when their hands went where they weren't supposed to go; not when she was embarrassed for the first time in kindergarten; hell, not even when she shamelessly flirted with a few of those same guys before she punched them in the balls; it didn't have any impact on her. Ever! So why the hell was she blushing now?! It was just an offer to a dance from a guy she thought was kinda cute-

Yang mentally slapped herself out of it and let go of Izuku, backing away half a step and stared up into his emerald eyes and searching for a reason. What she found were fear and respect. Izuku was one of the only guys she'd ever met who didn't tirelessly lust after her. He was just as scared as she was, likely even moreso. And so, she answered his question, "I'd be honored to go with you, Greenie," with one of the largest grins Izuku had ever seen her give. It soon dropped as she explained her predicament. "But I gotta get Blake to go to the dance before I can promise anything. Plus, I've still gotta help prep the actual dance."

"I could help with that." Izuku blurted out before reducing himself to a quick talking mess once more. "I-I mean, if you want my help that is, I mean I know it might be kinda overwhelming, what with the fact thatTeamCVFYleftforamissionalittlewhileagoandthey'renotgonnabeheretofinishwithallthedanceprepsoyouandWeissgotthejobpushedonyouandIwaswonderingiftherewasanythingIcoulddotohelpout-"

"Greenie!" Yang raised her voice, drawing attention to the fact that Izuku was beginning to go off on one of his mumbling tangents. Izuku, still a little flustered, apologized for the sudden outburst, though Yang simply waved it off and said, "It's fine. I would really appreciate your help with the dance. But like I said, I have no idea how to get Blake to go to it."

"Wait, does this have anything to do with why she looked so tired earlier?"

"Yeah. Wait, how did you know that?"

"I-I-I bumped into her earlier."

"Oh. Well, she's become over-obsessed with busting Torchwick and the White Fang ever since he got away last week. And, you know, fought us with a ten-ton robot the size of a house." Yang chuckled at that, as did Izuku, though they both quickly sobered themselves as she continued, "I'm getting worried about her. Obsessing over Torchwick and the White Fang to this extent is becoming really unhealthy for her."

Izuku sat down on Weiss' bed, his hand on his chin in a thinker position, closing his eyes as he went into a deep analyzation state. Okay, if we're going to get Blake to go to the dance, we need her to realize that she needs to take a break, or at least help her slow down enough to get some rest. Well, we could try and force her to go, but that would just make things worse. I don't think she dislikes the dance itself, maybe just the fact that everyone else is taking a break now that it's happening. Maybe if we can convince her that her team hasn't given up on their plan to stop them, she should agree to go to the dance. Hopefully.

Izuku opened his eyes and rose from Weiss' bed, saying, "I think I know how to get Blake to go to the dance."

He then began explaining his plan to confront Blake to the blonde brawler, his tangent continuing even after Weiss and Ruby finally came back to the room, the two listening attentively to his plan.

(same dorm hall, Team CDEM(Condemn)'s dorm)

"And finally, we have Pyrrha Nikos," Emerald said as she listed off the last student on the possible major threat list. The aforementioned mint haired girl sat in the middle of the floor with her scroll on hand while Mercury laid next to her on his back, reading a comic book held in a loose grip over his head. Their 'official leader,' Cinder, sat above the rest of them on her bed with her legs crossed in a seductive manner, her elbow propped up on her thigh as she held her head in her outstretched hand, a clear authoritative position to be sure, and her demanding gaze completing her pose and almost making her look like royalty.

Dabi simply sat against the wall next to his leader's bed, not really giving a damn about Cinder or her authoritative sitting position, instead opting to clean and sharpen Purgatory while he simultaneously listened to the conversation between the three across from him.

"Ah, the invincible girl," Cinder said in recognition.

"She's smart, fast, and definitely stronger than just about everyone else here. I think invincible is pushing it," Mercury responded to Pyrrha's title, denouncing its accuracy immediately.

"Do tell." Cinder removed her head from her hand, her interest now piqued at Mercury's inquiry about one of the most dangerous of their possible hits.

"While I didn't actually get the chance to fight her, she did seem to manipulate CRDL's movements fairly easily." He then sat up, laying the comic book down at his side. "She seemed to have a much easier time with the armored ones too. I think her semblance has something to do with manipulation of... well, something."

Without looking up from Purgatory, Dabi quipped in, "Ferrokinesis. That's her semblance in a nutshell."

"And just how have you come to that conclusion, Dabi?" Cinder asked the boy, her distaste for her teammate ever-present within her voice.

"For one, Mercury already pointed out that she had an easier time dealing with her armored opponents: metal armor. The second is the fact that if you watch her movements closely enough, you can see that she doesn't just broadcast her power, even though she could likely take on an incredibly skilled huntsman or huntress if she did. By keeping her semblance a well-guarded secret, it puts all of her enemies at a disadvantage before they even fight." He flicked Purgatory's bullet chamber closed and extended the blade, pulling a whetstone from his right jacket pocket as he began to sharpen the edge.

"Hmm... so, people think that she's fated for victory when really she's just taking fate into her own hands. Interesting. Emerald, do add her to the list."

Emerald the tapped away on the screen of her scroll until a slight beep sounded from it, the aforementioned amazon's face appearing on an ever-expanding roster of threats.

"There are a few more that we ought to add," Dabi said before he continued. "For one, there's Shoto Todoroki, son of the second most powerful huntsman in the world, Enji Todoroki."

"So? Why should we care about some rich kid?" Mercury jaded, not being the largest fan of any real authority with the exception of Cinder, who had already proven herself to be far more powerful than he was.

"If you could shut your damn mouth for five minutes, I'll explain." They sat there for several moments of uncomfortable silence before Dabi continued, the only sound present other than his voice being the sound of his whetstone sharpening the edge of Purgatory. "He has heterochromia, which is itself pretty damn rare. But the theory behind it goes that if you have heterochromia, you likely control more than one semblance. If you want an example, just look at Neo."

Mercury and Emerald nodded at this. Being introduced to the ice cream loving teen was... an odd experience, to say the least. But if one thing was definitely true about her, it was that she was incredibly powerful, moreso than the duo combined, especially due to her speed, damn near flawless control over battlefields, and her impressive stamina. How else would she be able to make all those damn illusions? Moving on...

"And that's not all," Dabi continued. "He wields two sabers, Jotunheim and Muspelheim. While he could easily use them both, he only seems to use Jotunheim. In the time since we arrived, I haven't seen him use Muspelheim or his fire powers even once. He's either holding back or has some degree of trauma regarding the other half of his powers."

"So, he's a pushover?"

"Quite the opposite. I'm sure you haven't bothered to pay attention to the leaderboard, but he is the undisputed second best at Beacon. And when you consider the competition, that's really something. If he actually bothered to use the other half of his powers, I'm sure he'd claim the top spot without breaking a sweat. The stats may say otherwise, but in terms of raw power he is likely far stronger than Pyrrha." He removed the whetstone from the blade's edge, lightly dragging his finger along it as he tested his handiwork. Razor sharp, as always. He then reverted Purgatory to its revolver form and put it in the holster underneath his jacket.

"You make many valid points. Add him to the list." Emerald did as she was asked.

"There is another student I'd like to address before you dismiss this meeting. You fought him earlier today, actually." He nodded towards Mercury. "Izuku Midoriya. His parents aren't really all that notable, though his father was an up and coming huntsman before he disappeared almost sixteen years ago. The official story on him is that he went on a mission and never came back. Most people think he's dead, but with a semblance like his, I highly doubt that's the case.

"But back to Izuku. Before his more recently acquired weapon, he used a pair of gauntlets and has shown prowess in multiple martial arts. These weapons were broken during that dock fight you had with those three trainee huntsmen teams, when he went toe to toe with Tomura. The weapon that he used when he fought against Mercury is a recent acquisition, and a damn powerful one at that. I'm not sure what that thing's capable of, but he definitely knows how to use it.

"Now, what I'm about to say is going to shock you." Dabi then looked up at Cinder. "Well, most of you. During Initiation, it's said that Izuku managed to defeat an Orochi Youth by himself."

"So what? I'm pretty sure Cinder can do that no sweat." Mercury said with his signature cocky smirk.

"If you would let me finish... I didn't mean to imply that he fought that thing over the course of several minutes. I mean that he managed to blow that things head off with a single punch."

The looks of shock on Mercury and Emerald's faces were almost cartoonish, the latter covering her open mouth while the other had his mouth so wide open that his jaw nearly hit the floor. Even Cinder lost a bit of her composure, her normally overconfident smirk falling from her lips and her right hand balling itself into a fist.

"However, this doesn't look like something he does very often. He seems to hold back on his power, and I have deduced two possible reasons for this. One, he's someone who enjoys the thrill of a fight, something that I highly doubt based on his behavior. Two, there's some sort of drawback to using the full force of his power, hence why he's almost never seen using it to the extent that he could otherwise.

"But, if I were to put him up against either Pyrrha or Shoto in a battle of skill, he'd most definitely lose. In terms of raw power, however... if Izuku used his full strength, he could likely win against either of them. He won't be the toughest of our hits, but he'll definitely be the strongest."

"So, he's not unbeatable, but he's so powerful that it may not matter. He'll be a tricky one for sure. Top of the list." Emerald snapped herself out of her dazed look and did as she was asked, the seemingly innocent looking boy's portrait appearing at the top of the list, just above Pyrrha and Shoto.

"But if we handle this right, I don't think they'll be that difficult to beat," Mercury said, the earlier shock leaving its remnants on his expression even with his now recovered smirk.

"Mercury, the key to winning this battle isn't about overpowering our enemies. The key is to strip them of whatever power they have. And we will. Eventually." Cinder responded ominously.

"Ugh, I hate waiting!" The silver-haired boy complained as he slumped back down onto the carpet.

"And I don't care." Dabi quipped in.

"You should, Dabi. And don't you worry, Mercury. We have an entertaining weekend ahead of us." She said as she stared at the flash infector that had been entrusted to them by Roman, and on it was a virus designed to take over the entirety of the CCT's controls bit by bit.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Also, for those of you who shipped Weiss and Shoto, I am so very sorry. This idea just sort of popped into my head and I went with it. Oh well. Might as well see where this rabbit hole takes us.

Now I know that most of you will be outraged that I had Izuku, however nervously he may have done it, ask Yang out to the dance. Does this mean that they'll end up together afterward? No. Right now, they're still only friends who're going to a dance together, and they'll still be friends afterward. They're just really confused by their own feelings. Teenage angst at its finest.

And now, the profile.

8-Dabi

Age: 17

Race: Modified Human

BDay: N/A

Handedness: Right

Hair: Black and Unkempt

Eyes: Turquoise

Blood Type: N/A

Height: 5ft 9in / 175.26cm

Gender: M

Semblance: Surt, allows Dabi to generate and manipulate dark tinted flames. While the exact extent of this ability is unknown, he has shown that he can light an entire building on fire with little effort, suggesting that he may be as powerful as Cinder. Can become overheated incredibly fast if he uses this ability too much.

Weapon: Purgatory, a Python Revolver/single edged straight sword with a main color of gray and red designs, the edge of the sword tinted the same color as the designs.

Range: All

Fighting Style: Standard Sword Fighting, Gun Kata, Karate

Next Chapter: October 13th

Seeya in the next one!