A/N: Whoops, been gone for a while….

Well, This chapter's odd, but exciting things are coming~

Also I for some reason had people calling her Mei this whole time, when everyone calls her Hatsume— Whoops. From Ch. 12 on it'll be Hatsume, but Ill edit previous chapters eventually!

Enjoy!

Chapter Twelve: Challenge: Izuku vs Ken

Izuku thought that their first exciting week at U.A would close out peacefully, so that they could reflect on everything and consolidate their learning that weekend. Mei and Shiro had won the robot battles with ease, while Izuku and Ken struggled to work together after Izuku was gone for most of the time spent working on it. His grades took a large hit, but Izuku was just glad that the boy didn't absolutely hate his guts.

However, that Friday, Izuku quickly found that the crazy week was only ramping up to a climax.

It all started with a discussion about Ken's Quirk, with Izuku interested in the process of what deciding what he can and cannot create with it. It quickly took a turn for the worse when Izuku brought something he had noticed up.

"Ken, you always use pencils over pens… Is that a preference?"

Ken stopped his writing, blinking down at the paper before him, tensing up a bit. Izuku blinked at him, a bit confused by his reaction.

"It's nothing," the boy said simply.

"Eh? I mean, there's gotta be a—"

Suddenly, Ken flashed Izuku a dark look, making him stop in mid-sentence.

"It's… not something I can discuss," Ken said, making his pencil go back into his hand and sighing.

That's just… super sketchy! I want to know even more now! Izuku thought.

After discussing it with Mei a bit, he approached Ken just before lunchtime. The boy noticed Izuku coming and gave him a highly skeptical look, as if already suspecting something was up.

"Here, Ken, I thought this might be easier to use!" Izuku presented him with a black writing pen.

"No."

Izuku chuckled nervously. "B-But you know, sometimes you have to use a pen for certain tests—"

Suddenly, Ken slapped the pen out of Izuku's hand, sending it sprawling to the ground. Everyone stopped and looked over towards them in confusion. They were in their study period, with free reign on what they worked on while the chosen teacher, today Present Mic, watched over them. Though the man was preoccupied with a book and usually didn't seem to pay them much mind.

"What was that for?"

Ken crossed his arms and shook his head. "Look, I used a pencil throughout all of my school years… I was innocent and dumb, and I never used a pen, ever, so I can't create one with my Quirk."

Izuku didn't know what to make of that explanation, feeling his brain frying a bit.

"Er… can't you just… Do it now," Izuku pointed out.

"Never! It's my curse, my punishment for being so foolish," Ken exclaimed with some angst behind it.

"Wow this guy's kinda an idiot," came the voice of Shiro who was snooping on their conversation.

"Come on Ken, it's just a pen," Izuku said, trying to smile it off as he picked the pen up.

"Don't come near me with that!" Ken pointed accusingly at Izuku and backed up a bit, as if a frightened animal.

"Is he like… Threatening to stab him with the pen? I didn't know he was like that," the sharp-toothed Risako commented from nearby, a big smirk on her face as if she loved the thought of violence occurring.

Realizing everyone was watching them and making assumptions, Izuku gulped and looked down at the pen. If he really wants to be difficult about it, then—

Izuku wasn't sure at that point why he had done it, but he lifted the pen, pointing it at Ken, a determined look on his face.

"Then I'll challenge you, Ken! If I win, you have to accept this pen from me!"

There was silence that followed, mostly out of confusion as to what was going on. Ken was a bit shocked by the outburst, looking around at all the eyes on them. He scowled and turned away from Izuku.

"Well, that's an official declaration then… So this afternoon then, we'll do it," he said solemnly.

Izuku nodded. "Alright, then that's settled!"

What the hell is going on? Thought most of the rest of the class.

After having to try and explain what was happening to most of the class, Izuku finally got to decide on a challenge with Ken during lunch, before he gave him the cold shoulder once more.

T-This is ridiculous, but I won't let him be afraid of something so dumb! Izuku thought as the time came for them to return to class.

Power Loader was awaiting them, prepared to begin a lesson on how the Business course students could become their best way of getting friends in higher places to support their creations in the future. He took notice of a sort of excited atmosphere.

"Did I miss something?" Their teacher looked around at everyone.

"Actually, Midoriya had challenged Ryuken to a challenge earlier today," the short and round boy named Kiyotaka, preferring just 'Taka', said, adjusting his glasses.

Power Loader looked out at the two boys. Izuku and Ken flashed each other a glare. Their sensei sighed and scratched his chin in thought.

"Two in one week huh, Midoriya," Power Loader commented.

"S-Sorry! You did say we can only be challenged once a week but challenge as much as we want," Izuku explained apologetically.

"But you also have extra credit work that you still need to complete," Power Loader retorted.

Izuku hadn't forgotten the three requests from the Hero course he still needed to complete. He hadn't been able to do much over the past couple of days, and only had five more to go before they were due.

"Sensei," Ken spoke up, "I'll help him with the extra credit if you allow us to do this challenge."

Izuku looked back at the boy in surprise, but Ken looked away with a scoff.

"I'll help too!" Mei shot a hand up.

"I could spare some time," Yuki spoke up from his seat, shrugging.

Seeing Yuki agree, Shiro jumped up. "I'll totally help too!"

Power Loader made a helpless gesture. "Well, if you insist… What do you both have in mind?"

Izuku stood and began to explain. "Well… We wanted to test our abilities at creation, so that we aren't wasting any lesson time," he began. "So we wanted to go with base building!"

"Base building?"

"Yeah! Whoever can make the best protection against a simulated Villain attack wins!"

"Now that's actually interesting," Power Loader said with a nod. "If you had said Jenga again I might've kicked you out of the class. Very well, we'll take the lesson outside then."

Everyone cheered, happy to get out of the classroom. Izuku was glad that nobody seemed too excited about their challenge, remembering how intense the games against Yuki had been with everyone watching.

"If I even think for a second that you're letting me win," Ken said simply as he passed Izuku, "I'll totally kill you. Good luck."

"Y-You too…"

Mid- Chapter Break~

Name: Ryuken "Ken" Takana

Age: 15

Quirk: Skin Creation - Can recreate

Personality:

Power: 2 / 5 D - Speed 2 / 5 D- Technique 5 / 5 A - Intelligence 4 / 5 B- Cooperativeness 2 / 5 D

Power Loader had taken the class outside to an area within the trees that filled a lot of the space of the large U.A campus. Here, there were many broken stone formations and large chunks of metal jutting out of the ground, with caution tape surrounding the area.

"The second year Heroes kind of made a mess out here," Power Loader explained. "I owe them a solid for helping with some slackers last year… So consider this some community service mixed in with the challenge."

Everyone groaned, thinking they would have an easy time outside, only to find a lot of work awaiting them.

"Yeah yeah—Midoriya, Ken, you can both pick one person to help you out," Power Loader told the two. "The rest of you need to pay attention to the lesson."

The students groaned again, seemingly conflicted about a lesson versus hard labor.

Izuku already knew what he wanted to do. He approached Mei, who held up a hand in his face to stop him.

"Nope! I need to learn all can about future investors," Mei said to him.

"B-But—"

Mei laughed. "You've got other classmates and friends and stuff now right?"

Izuku turned to see three people approaching him quickly, taking him by surprise. Beyond them he could see a few others going up to Ken as well.

It was Taro, Taka, and Tokoi Konoda, the three all looking at Izuku expectantly.

"Work with me!" They all said in unison.

"U-Uhh, well…."

Izuku looked for an out, but saw Yuki politely sitting beneath the shade of a nearby tree, seemingly uncaring about the situation, while Shiro seemed to be stalking him from afar. With a sigh, Izuku decided to think about the three before him.

Urushima Taro was a beautiful girl, her distinctive red curly hair making Izuku get nervous just being around her. From the past few days, he had learned that her Quirk allowed her to maximize her effort at one task, going many times faster than she could normally, before getting tired out.

Taka, as he liked to be called, was short and well-rounded, but his Quirk was quite useful. It allowed the boy to vividly recall anything he had seen or heard, creating what he described as an "interactive simulation" in his head. He also proved to be knowledgeable in most things, most of the time to the annoyance of others.

Lastly was Tokoi Konoda, someone who truly stuck out amongst 1-H. His head had taken on a sort of Hammer-like shape, his face rounded and flat with his hair jutting back like the backside of a hammer tool. He always seemed annoyed or bored so Izuku hadn't talked to him much, and he wasn't exactly sure what he could bring to the table.

"Konoda, um… What do you use your Quirk for?"

The hammer-headed boy scoffed and thumbed to his head.

"I mean, what do you think…? My head's as hard as Tungsten metal, so I hit things with it," the boy explained roughly.

"I-I see," Izuku said with a nervous smile. I'm sure he's tired of people asking him about that…

He asked for their specialities: Taro was good at Combat devices, Taka was good with computers and robotics, and Tokoi mainly did metalworking and forging(of course stating that it should have been obvious what he specialized in.)

After thinking for a few moments, Izuku made a decision.

"Konoda, could you help me?"

Konoda seemed surprised by the choice, crossing his arms and nodding intensely.

"Of course!"

Taro sighed. "I just wanted to skip a lesson for once.." The girl seemed dejected.

Taka shrugged. "I could've played back the lesson later with my Quirk, but no matter. Good luck!"

As the two trudged off, Izuku felt like he could breathe again. He looked over to where Ken had seemingly chosen his partner— A girl named Sae, who was always very kind and motherly to everyone. Ken noticed his gaze and looked back at him.

Alright, you're on! I'll win this for sure!

"-And with that, you have the perfect streamlined path to a truly successful business partnership!"

Power Loader finished his long lecture loudly and happily, but he looked out at everyone to see that most of them were incredibly bored, while Mei sat and was intensely excited about it all.

"Ahem, well, in summary, Just make sure you cherish the relationships between your fellow students, you never know when it might come in handy," he finished off.

Suddenly, Shiro stood up, pointing away.

"Whoa! Look at those!"

Everyone looked over, shocked to find that the two had finished. Power Loader looked up at the sky, seeing the Sun's position. Finished in just a couple of hours huh?

Where there was once much debris and wreckage was now cleaned up and barren, except for the two small towers that now stood prominently. They were both a story tall and just wide enough to fit two people, and each had their two creators standing at the top confidently.

Izuku and Konoda's tower was a simple square design that got thicker at the bottom and top to add more sturdiness. Hidden below the bottom was lots of metal pieces that they had used for a foundation, making it much more secure than its rough appearance would imply when just looking at it.

Ken and Sae had created what could only be described as a Church clocktower of sorts. Its design led to a thin point at the top, and had stainless glass windows across it, and a thick metal base at the bottom. Sae's Quirk, which allowed her to sing to blow glass from her hands, had managed to create what looked like masterful pieces of stained glass art, wowing everyone as the Sunlight made it glitter.

"Too showy, ours is way more practical," Konoda said.

Izuku nodded confidently. "Yeah, I believe in our teamwork— Oh, theres a panel sticking up here."

Konoda looked at what he was talking about and approached the panel. He pressed on it, but it came back up, bent a bit.

"Let me get a tool—"

"Nonsense! This is what I was made for," Konoda exclaimed, getting on his knees and rearing his head back.

"N-No don't—!"

Before Izuku could stop him, the boy slammed his head into the panel hard. The strength behind it made the entire tower tremble, as Izuku noticed more metal sheets and panels starting to come undone.

"Run!" Izuku and Konoda both abandoned the tower, which began to tremble violently as they left it, before finally collapsing into a dangerous pile of metal rubble, sending dust all around.

Coughing, Izuku looked at their destroyed creation after the dust had settled, in complete disbelief.

"Well, I uh…" Konoda blinked and looked away from everyone's gaze. "I've got a strong head…"

Power Loader approached Izuku, looking at the rubble.

"Well, at least it's all in a nice pile," he commented. "Needless to say, I think you lost."

Izuku nodded, dusting himself off. Well that could've gone much worse… I mean, who did they plan on using to test them out anyways?

"This dust makes for a dramatic entrance! I am hereeee!"

Izuku slowly turned his head at the familiar voice. Through the fading dust, the familiarly large buff figure could be seen.

"All Might!" Many of the students exclaimed all at once.

"A-All Might! No way that they'd test us out with him, that's gotta be—" Izuku was cut off as Ken suddenly began to yell.

"Don't go easy, All Might! I want to show my power!"

All Might laughed at the enthusiasm of the boy, looking to Power Loader for confirmation. He gave him the 'okay' before the Hero stepped up, seemingly taking in the excited talk of the students who would've never expected to see him show up for their class.

"Just one good one and then I've gotta run," the Hero said with a grin. "You should both vacate the base you know!"

Ken folded his arms and stoos confidently. Sae didn't look quite as confident, but she wasn't going anywhere, giving a shrug and a warm smile.

"I see… Well…" All Might held up his hands innocently. "I might have to hold back a bit then."

"Hmph, whatever you do won't matter," Ken retorted. "Because I know it'll hold up!"

"Alright then, here it comes!"

All Might dramatically began to roll his shoulder, as if winding up a punch, the air starting to kick up around him. Everyone was surprised, watching the powerful Hero begin to charge up what seemed to he an incredibly powerful attack.

Sae had backed down, apologizing before leaving the structure. Ken stood tall, trying not to show any fear, though he was starting to sweat from the rising anxiety.

Finally, All Might let the attack rip… Just much slower than everyone had anticipated.

The Hero's fist came forward steadily and slowly, before reaching its max reach. At the very end, there was a slight push of force, and that made much of the wind swirling around suddenly get blasted forwards. Everyone watched as the strong wind current slammed into Ken and Sae's base, making the boy have to hold on as the entire structure began to shake.

Nobody could hear what Ken was yelling, but the boy was yelling something. The stain glass of their over-designed base shattered and flew up into the air. As the wind settled, the sparkling glass fluttered down, gleaming in the light as Ken stood back up slowly.

The base was still standing. He opened his arms dramatically amongst the sparkling glass floating down all around him, his hair shooting straight up now.

"I… Am… The best!"

With this exclamation, everyone cheered, even Izuku who couldn't help but he amazed.

"I'm impressed you held back," Power Loader commented.

"Nonsense! That was full power, just… Slower," All Might lied with a laugh, before turning and darting away quickly, leaving clouds of dust in his wake, before anyone could stop him.

The students of 1-H were amazed to have seen All Might, but Izuku was just glad that the Hero hadn't said anything to him.

Not much time left to finish the Hero items…

"Midoriya!"

Izuku looked up to see Ken approaching him. He reached a hand out, and Izuku blinked at it before taking it and shaking it. Ken still wore his usual bored expression, but he could tell a fire was burning in the boy's eyes.

"Thanks for the opportunity to show my stuff," Ken said. "We gotta work on those items right?"

"Y-Yeah," Izuku said with a smile. "Good job! You're really great!"

Nearby, Tokoi scoffed at being left out, still feeling sour about his role in destroying their chances. Sae patted his shoulder comfortingly.

With this, their first week of U.A had come to an end, and Ken continued to never write using a pen.

But it wouldn't be long before the lingering darkness lurking around U.A would manifest and show itself….

To Be Continued

Next Chapter: Lockdown (USJ Arc)