Rule #43: Divide & Conquer

Pushing herself off of a piece of nearby rubble, Toru encased herself and Iida in a violet bubble, protecting them as they were tossed about. Unfortunately, Iida was the only one Toru had been able to reach and as such she could only watch as their classmates were tossed about. Off to the side she saw Jiro, Yaoyorozu, Asui and Shoji slam together; then there was Koda, Tokoyami and Mina who were knocked back together. Ojiro received a mouthful of tape as Sero took a faceful of wailing Mineta and that left only Ochako and Midoriya to fend for themselves.

"C'me on!" Mera yawned, "There should be at least one or two who have passed by now! Stop biding your time and get this over with!"

"Are you alright, Iida?" Toru asked as they finally came to a stop in the middle of a valley behind where some of the other students had parked themselves.

"Hagakure?" Iida glanced up to see the invisible girl hovering over his shoulder. Because of the way she had encased the two in the violet forcefield, it looked a lot like she was about to bellyflop onto the boy. However the slight glow lighting up her veins and her fingertips seemed to be what was keeping her suspended above him. "Where are we?"

"Uh—" Before she could get anything out, the students who lined the valley ridge finally spotted them and suddenly the ambush at the mountain didn't seem so bad.

"HEY! THERE THEY ARE!"

"IT'S UA!"

"GET 'EM!"

"Iida—run!" Toru pleaded, her voice rising a couple of octaves as she watched their only exit become blocked by the armed students line the ridge, ready and waiting.

"Wha—?" Iida puzzled, still not quite sure what she had noticed.

"RUN!"

"Right!" He nodded once before turning back to the front and knelt to run, the engines in his calves revving before he launched forward, taking the bubble and subsequently her along with him. Like two hamsters in a ball, the two ran through the valley under the fire of rubber balls. Toru let out the breath she didn't know she was holding when all the balls that met the bubble melted into a puddle of goo or sliced straight through like a hot knife through butter.

"Huh? It's about time someone perked up and passed!"

"Someone's passed already?" Toru mused as their opponent's grew even more frustrated.

"So it would seem—" Iida replied.

"WAAH!" Toru & Iida cried out in chorus with Mera as their little bubble was suddenly forced sideways. Growing dizzy, Toru felt like she was being tossed about in a washing machine as the bubble was swatted aside like cat with a ball of yarn. With her stomach in her throat, Toru dismissed the violet bubble encasing the two and they free fell towards the ground, now far from where they had started.

At some point, the two were separated from each other, Toru headed towards the urban area whilst Iida was headed back towards the mountains—not that the two could do anything about that in the moment. In actuality, it was only through muscle memory that she was able to roll to her feet in order to avoid hurting herself when her feet returned to the ground, this time not far from the base of a construction site.

"Hurk! Ugh!" Toru gagged at the upheaval of her stomach before slapping a hand over her mouth, stubbornly refusing to vomit despite the sickly sweet taste in her mouth. Up above, Mera's voice suddenly sounded far more awake.

"WHAT?! THERE WERE 120 PEOPLE TAKEN DOWN?! A SINGLE PERSON MANAGED TO DO THAT IN JUST ONE ATTACK!"

"What? 120 people?! That's insane!" Toru gasped as her head jerked up to find herself face to face with a diamond-encrusted student from Seiai Academy (as seen by the crisp white school uniform she wore), ready and waiting. From what she could tell, the news seemed like a shock to the older girl just as much.

"That actually surprised me so much that I'm awake! I assume we'll see a lot of people pass from now on! Everyone! Let's get this out of the way so I can take a nap! Good? Good!"

Whilst Toru had been paying more attention to the announcement than the girl in front of her, it seemed that the diamond-encrusted girl had taken the opportunity to hit one of Toru's targets, lighting it up red. A stupid move on Toru's part, really. The bleeping sound of the target going off next to her ear was enough to pull her attention back to the task at hand and in her infinite wisdom spin on her heel and race for the skeletal steel of the building behind her. Climbing up the beams in much the same manner she had done when rescuing Hound-Dog Sensei's baby, Toru easily hauled herself up the red frame with her opponent on her tail.

It didn't take long for the UA student to reach the higher levels of the structure, kicking aside one of the Seiai's allies from Shiketsu (as seen by the beret firmly tucked onto their golden locks) who lost their footing and toppled over the side, allowing Toru to climb even further still. Adrenaline pumped in her veins as from somewhere below a large ball of fire raced up the center of the supports, but thankfully barley lapped at the soles of her shoes. The next attack came from an adjacent building, but this time it was an onslaught of balls. Swiping a violet arm towards the barrage whilst the other clung to the uppermost rung of the ladder, the balls were returned to their owner's much to their dismay. It was only through sheer dumb luck that enough of the balls hit their intended targets; although Toru was only able to obtain one out, out of the entire attack.

The next problem quickly arose however—Toru was quickly running out of steel to scale. She really had only two options to available to her: descend back through the steel structure and risk being hit or leap for the hovering load of beams hanging from a nearby crane. Maybe Midoriya's recklessness is rubbing off. Toru mused as she leapt for the beams. She hissed a curse as her knees aged against the outside of the beams when her feet slipped, however her hands gripped tight to the top of the cage and she hauled herself up onto the top before moving to climb the wire cable connected to the crane. It's kinda like the rope climb! Toru grunted as her feet locked and unlocked together around the wire as she pulled herself upwards, intent on making it to the crane arm itself before she was caught.

Thankful for her small stature, Toru was able to easily slip through the inside of the crane's arm, ducking only slightly to avoid hitting her head as she moved swiftly. The reel of wire at her feet whistled as her chaser quickly retracted the hook after ejecting the beams from the crane and letting them fall all the way to the ground with a metallic clang. Sparing a quick glance over her shoulder let Toru see that whilst she had decided to travel through the crane arm, the Seiai girl had gone for creeping along the exterior with careful steps and clenched grips.

This isn't working! When the diamond girl was almost on top of her Toru decided to switch things up and hauled herself up even further onto the uppermost surface of the crane arm. Here it was flatter, yes, but it was also encased in a slippery metallic sheeting that set her nerves on edge. One wrong move and she'd be a bloody pancake on the ground far below.

"Looks like you're out of options!" Smirked the Seiai girl as she too hauled herself up onto the top of the crane opposite Toru. A quick glance around them showed another crane a little lower, the end of their crane, the top of a nearby building, the steel structure they'd left behind and the tiny little ants of the others examinees on the ground far below.

"Not quite!" Toru retorted as she palmed a ball and threw it at the girl without really trying to aim properly. Full of reckless abandon, Toru used the brief window of opportunity to run further down the crane and towards the other one.

"HEY!" Came the call as Toru swallowed her anxieties and leapt onto the one below them. With heart in her mouth, she felt like she was hanging in mid-air—that time had slowed down—between the two cranes. A feeling which was immediately dashed when her legs jolted against the slim outer railing. Without wasting time to see if she was being followed, Toru flew from that crane to the building below, encasing herself in violet as she rolled to a stop before she reached the edge of the roof. "Well, we finally had a 30th person pass!" Mera cheered, his tired voice driving her forward. "Still a pretty long way to go though; can't you kids speed this along? For me?"

Now back on mostly flat solid ground, Toru wasted no time in dismissing the forcefield she had used to break her fall before she began to sprint across the rooftop like a bat outta hell; hurdling the odd object or randomly placed air conditioner as she did so. Dust flew up her nose and she tried her best not to sneeze, not wanting to go over the side because of something so trivial. Eventually coming to a flight of exposed stairs, she easily leapt from platform to platform until she was able to find a door that opened. "Oh c'me on!" Toru groaned, jiggling the lock as the sound of harried footsteps sounded above her. Thankfully however, she was able to get it open just far enough to squeeze through and then she was off once more.

Weaving her way through the bland hallways of the bare building, Toru hurdled oddly placed tables and flung herself through open windows in an effort to lose the girl still on her tail, but to no avail. Surely, she's gone be now? Toru thought as her chest heaved with breaths whilst she glanced about. Or not. Skidding around the corner of the hallways was the Seiai girl just as red-faced as she with balls in hand. Ducking beneath one ball, Toru ran like she was trying to make it to home base, sliding straight for the open shaft of the elevator and easily fell down the darkened shaft.

Hopping from one level to another, the invisible girl descended another couple of levels as curses floated down after her. It didn't take long for her to emerge out onto another floor, and it took even less for her to fling herself out of the small window that overlooked the exterior elevator. Using the top of the rising elevator as a launching pad, the invisible girl flip tucked onto the adjacent stairway where she rolled to a stop not far from the hand railing. "Let's see, where are we at now? Things have been moving a lot ore quickly. Looks like 52—make that 53—have passed and looking on the other side of things, it seems 230 examinees have failed. Less than half the spots are open! Now's the time to move! Don't dilly-dally kids!"


A few minutes later found Toru still running from the Seiai girl, now far less regal-looking than she had been when the chase had first began. Somehow the pair had wound back up at the destroyed mountain terrain where a few students still remained in hiding. The adrenaline in her veins had calmed a little by this point, allowing her to noisy pant like a dog as she ran and take stock of herself. Of the three targets, only one of mine is hit and I've already got one guy out. So halfway there! If I can get this chick, I'll be golden! But I can't let her get my last two!

Leaping from the outcropping in front of her, Toru flew over the group of Ketsubutsu kids she quickly discovered hidden there much to both of their surprises. "Uh…hi!" She waved as she rolled to a stop not far away from the edges of their little huddle. Of course, this surprise didn't last long as Shindo's hand quickly slapped onto the earth. "Tremoring—!"

"—No, you don't!" Toru threw her own hands up towards the group—well-aware of what he could do by now—and encased them in a violet bubble all their own, trapping them inside like hamsters before knocking them aside as the diamond Seiai girl appeared over the ridge of the mountain terrain.

"What the—!"

"What is this?" Nakagame (one of Shindo's bubblier classmates) cried as she leapt back from the edge of the shiny bubble now surrounding them and collapsed back into one of her classmates. "It's so shiny!"

"Urgh! Nakagame! G'off!"

"Sorry! Sorry!" There was a fair amount of banging on the interior walls of the bubble in the efforts to find a way out, but the translucent walls held firm.

"Let's see…the 62nd person just passed the exam. Haa, another 38 and it'll FINALLY be over"

Again their proctor's voice echoed out across the arena, counting down the spots until the exam—and their chances of getting the Provisional Licenses were gone. Flipping away from the onslaught of well-aimed balls, Toru eventually landed atop the bubble and crouched low, gripping tight to the violet surface that rippled beneath her touch. The only damage really done was to her boots which had begun to smoke when they met the ultraviolet exterior of the bubble, but otherwise the only reaction she ever showed was to a muttered comment from someone below her and the resulting smack and scolding of said pervert.

Just as red flushed across her cheeks, violet light flowed through her veins causing her silhouette to appear to the naked eye under an eerie glow; as her opponent leapt from the ridge and came to a stop not far from them. "Y'know, I always knew that UA was insane, but leaping from cranes? You must have a death wish!" The girl commented palming another ball. This time she was close enough that Toru could see her earlier ball had actually met its mark as one of the three targets had been ignited red. Which meant that the yell she thought she had heard when she had leapt from the cranes was not one of concern, but one of ire.

"Ah, well, we all have our hobbies" Toru shrugged noncommittally tracing the girl's movements with calculating eyes.

"I'm sure" Diamond eyes narrowed on violet ones, both girls palming their own balls as they waited for the silent signal to begin their fight. Pure unadulterated violet pulsed around her limbs like tiny little suns and in turn, diamond limbs creaked and groaned as limbs were sharpened to sword-like proportions. For a beat no one moved, no one dared breathe and it was in that moment that Toru pounced. Rocketing from the top of the bubble with so much force that she sent the Ketsubutsu kids toppling backwards, the invisible girl launched a volley of condensed UV blobs at her opponent, intent on catching her off guard as she granted herself enough time to land and react.

No sooner had her feet met the ground mere centimetres from the Seiai girl, did she spin and launch a violet kick straight through one of the arms outstretched to her. The pulsating violet limb sliced through her mineral one like a hot knife through butter, letting the claw-like hand fall away harmlessly as Toru rolled further out of reach and the older girl stepped back to assess the damage done to her. "Holy fuck!" Shindo cursed, pressing himself up against the bubble as the hand with wrist now bubbling a light purple bounced to a stop not far from them.

"Y'know suddenly, I'm okay with being trapped in here…" Nakagame replied, her voice climbing several octaves as they paused in their escape attempts and turned to watch the fight.

The following tangle of limbs was only intercut with the occasional skirting of rubber balls and bleeding scratches as the two girls silently went at each other like rabid dogs. Toru fought mostly with her legs, her hands meanwhile far more occupied with the upkeep of the bubble off to the side. "You're…good" Panted the older girl as she dodged a fiery leg to the head.

"You're…not so…bad yourself" Toru returned the compliment as she swept the girl's legs out from under her with enough force to flip her over and belly flop onto the ground.

"ZHAO!" One of the Ketsubutsu kids suddenly called out through cupped hands. "FUCKING GET ON WITH IT!"

"You know her Makabe?" Shindo turned to him.

"I met her before the exam" The blue boy shrugged, turning back to the fight. Toru was just glad she could finally put a name to a face.

As the two paced around each other like lions in a stadium, Toru could almost picture Bitch-Sensei perched on one of the rocky outcroppings, scantily-clad in the cheerleading uniform she had worn during their sports day last year, cheering her on. It was an odd image; something that her both smile and shake her head at. But even in her mind's eye she could see the blonde Russian waving her pompoms like crazy and yelling "KICK 'ER ASS!"

As if on cue, Toru reengaged Zhao with a roundhouse kick in which she quickly bowed beneath as if it were a limbo stick, ducking out of the way before another limb was sliced off. In turn, Toru ducked beneath the jab aimed for her neck in time to lodged an in Zhao's chest and face, subsequently knocking the breath out of the diamond girl who retaliated with a right hook that nailed Toru right in the translucent cheek. Almost as if in reply, the invisible girl dove under the following punch and tackled Zhao around the waist, pushing back far enough that she could bend far enough to bring a blazing foot up over her head whilst a hand came up and tapped one of her targets.

The attack via blazing foot just barely brushed the diamond girl's ear as Zhao pushed Toru away far enough that she could grab some of the abandoned balls just littered about the place as well as a jagged steel pipe that had been jutting out from behind one of the rocks. Instead, she swung the pipe like a baseball bat, uncaring for technique or strategy as she just tried to hit the invisible girl who was giving her no leeway. Collapsing to the ground like a puppet who strings had been cut, Toru narrowly missed the pipe aimed for her head before she rolled onto her hands and began to spin as Zhao rained down on her again with the pipe in hand. At least until she had to quickly backpedal to get away from the flying fiery limbs headed for her. Who knew that Gato's head spins would come in handy? Toru thought of the holographic boy as her legs easily sliced through the pipe like it was made of butter.

Coming out of the impromptu dance, Toru and Zhao jumped apart once again to asses the situation once more. For Toru, she had hit two of Zhao's three targets, sliced off a limb (which appeared to be regenerating itself if what she was seeing was correct) all the while she kept their 'cheerleaders' locked away. In turn, Zhao had hit one of Toru's targets and had inflicted several long weeping wounds and yellowing bruises. Their time was running short and they all knew it. Again, Toru saw Bitch-Sensei in her mind's eye but this time she bore the costume of a strict teacher—metal ruler included. "IS SHE DEAD YET?"

"Not yet" Toru found herself murmuring in reply as they two continued to circle each other. This time Zhao stood in front of the bubble and Toru opposite her.

"THEN STOP PLAYING WITH YOUR FOOD! KILL HER!"

Toru's violet eyes gleamed dangerously at the word 'kill' that echoed through her mind. It triggered something deep inside her—something which had been ingrained over the past year, something that got her heart racing and her blood pumping. She charged towards the Seiai girl with reckless abandon, a smirk firmly planted on her lips and a rubber ball in either hand. Zhao ducked and rolled out of the way just in time as Toru kicked off of the bubble and rebounded over the diamond girl, flipping this way and that as she drove her UV-powered limbs into the earth in her need to disable the older girl.

At some point a jagged sheet of metal was introduced to the mix and Toru had to quickly backpedal lest she find herself decapitated. Once again using her feet as her weapons, Toru sliced clean through the sheet of metal before throwing a knee up into the older girl's chest hard enough to knock the wind out of her. Zhao in turn, replied with a foot to the chest, kicking the younger girl away and returning the favour. Both girls barely remained on the ground as they wheezed for breath, far too pumped full of adrenaline to slow down. Rising to her feet, Toru met Zhao head on one final time. Time seemed to slow as the two leapt in the air, each armed with rubber balls. Her movements were both far too slow and way too fast to see, but at the same time the bleeping of targets seemed to ring loudly in her ears.

And then time resumed. Toru fell to the ground, skidding to a stop in front of the bubble and jerked her head upwards to see if Zhao was going to attack again. As the two girls slowly rose to their feet again, they were able to see that the sounds they had heard had in fact come from both of them—where Toru now had two of her three targets ignited red, all three of Zhao's targets were ignited red telling them exactly what had happened. An ecstatic grin leapt across Toru's lips just disappointment fell across Zhao's. She had passed! "YAS!" Toru cheered before collapsing back onto the dirt as she panted heavily, tired from both the chase and subsequent intense fight against the older girl. "Students who have passed or failed the exam should congregate in their corresponding ante rooms. Chop! Chop!" Intoned a feminine voice from the three targets glued to the invisible girl as they blinked over to a cerulean blue, letting the other participants know that she had passed.

A small thump in the dirt next to her caused her to roll her head over towards the equally tired girl now sat next to her. "Good…fight" Toru panted, her chest heaving up and down as she tried to regain her breath.

"Uh…you too" Zhao replied, granting her a small sad smile.

"Sorry…about your…hand"

"That's okay, it'll grow back, see?" Zhao waved the small nub in her direction as the two girls talked, somehow forgetting that they had an audience.

"You regenerate?" Toru propped herself up onto her elbows in interest.

"Er, yeah…"

"That's so cool!"

"Uh, thanks…" Zhao blushed as she tipped her head back to bask in the sun and hide her embarrassment. "We're gonna sleep well tonight, huh?"

"Tonight? I'm gonna sleep on the bus!" Toru retorted happily, her breaths no longer as laboured as they once were; but her arms remained stretched out towards the bubble in which the Ketsubutsu kids were still encased.

"…Are you ever gonna let us out?" Nakagame whined from behind them, jolting the two girls out of their quiet conversation and making them spin around to face the audience they had totally forgotten was there.

"Uh…eventually" Toru replied bashfully as she flushed crimson before she turned back to Zhao. "Uh, do you need a hand—I—I mean—um—"

"It's alright!" Zhao laughed as the younger girl stumbled over her words. "I'd love a hand, thanks!"

"A-a—all right" Toru nodded, slowly getting to her feet before holding a hand out to the older girl, intending to give her a piggyback. Zhao, who seemed to notice her kohai's rather rapid recovery as the invisible girl pulled her up and onto her back in a piggyback, pointed out.

"How're you recovering so quickly?"

"Sun's out" Toru pointed upwards.

"You're…photosynthesising?"

"Ye~ah…pretty much"

"Cool" The two shared a grin as they recovered, sharing stilted conversations as Toru shuffled over to the bubble now residing next to a eater fissure which had sprung up at some point—likely during Shindo's original attack, if Toru had to guess.

"What…are you doing?" Shindo warily dragged the question out as Toru grinned in reply—something that was rather eery now that most of the UV in her veins had receded, leaving just a few spots highlight by the violet—such as her mouth and eyes. As if in reply, Toru simply began to push the bubble out onto the rapidly moving water fissure.

"Wait—! Don't—!" Nakagame—who seemed to have cottoned on to what was about to happen— pleaded. Toru merely swiped her hands in a 'cancel' motion, making the violet bubble pop and dunked its contents into the water below.

"Have a nice swim!" Toru couldn't help but laugh as she turned made her way over to the ante rooms at the far end of the arena, Zhao laughing the entire way.


"…1-A! Class 1-A! Class 1-A! Class 1-A!" Chanted Sero, Ochako, Kaminari and Kirishima in unison as Midoriya stood off to the side like a mother watching their children goof off.

"Are those your classmates?" Zhao asked, perplexed as they finally reached the ante rooms.

"Yeah…" Toru admitted, "What the hell are they doing?"

"It looks like some kind of ritualistic dance!"

"It could be, who knows?"

"UA is insane"

"Well, it's hard to argue with that…" Toru agreed, "Are you gonna be okay from here?"

"I was fine two two kilometres back, just too lazy" Zhao replied as she got down.

"Hey!"

"What? It's not like you caught on!"

"Ah…! Eh…"

"Well, good luck for the next round, Hagakure!" Zhao flashed the invisible girl a thumbs up. "I'll be watching!"

"Uh, thanks Zhao" Toru replied, bashfully scratching at her cheek as she waved goodbye to the older girl and disappeared into the ante room for those who had passed.

It didn't take long for Toru to meet up with the rest of the classmates who had passed, grabbing some refreshments on the way. "Oh hey!" Greeted Yaoyorozu with a plateful of steamed buns in her hands, "What a relief! I was starting to get so worried!"

"No need to worry about us, Yaomomo!" Kaminari replied, coming over to greet the girl. "What's up? When did you guys pass? You been here long?"

"We just finished as well" Shoji replied from beside Yaoyorozu. "Todoroki beat us"

"I was kinda shocked that Bakugou wasn't here already" Jiro added as she and the blonde joined in. "But I get it now, it was because you were with him"

"Hey! C'me on! Why is everyone dragging me today?" Kaminari complained.

"The queue to take off your targets is in the back" Asui supplied next, "They asked us to return them to the shelf now that we're done"

"Oh thanks Tsu!" Toru smiled, "We should go do that"

"It looks like only twelve from our class have passed" Todoroki noted, after he had finished counting heads as both Ochako and Toru passed by on their way to dispose of their targets.

"So eight more to go" Midoriya noted.

"The announcement said only seventeen spots left!" Yaoyorozu added worriedly.

"Wow! Eight people just passed at the same time! That leaves only nine open spots!" Mera's voice intoned as the two girls lined up.

"Nine spots?" Ochako worried, "There's only enough for our class!"

"Or less" Toru added, biting her lip as they shuffled into the back.

"Oh I hope everyone'll make it!"

"Me too" Well, maybe not Mineta—that little Perv!

"That's two more in!" Mera intoned, his voice brightening as he realised they were almost halfway through their exam. "Seven spots left! Six spaces remain! Five left! Make that four! Pressure's on now! In the final minutes UA came together and pulled off some absolutely INSANE combos! Three spots! Ooh! That one's from Shiketsu High, so only two spots remain! THE LAST STUDENTS PASS! THE FINAL SPOTS ARE NOW FILLED! 100 STUDENTS WILL NOW ADVANCE! THE END IS FINALLY HERE! WAHOO!"

"They did it!" The two girls cheered, jumping up and down after the targets had been removed, placed back into the boxes and moved back over to where their classmates were similarly celebrating.

"OUR ENTIRE CLASS PASSED THE TEST! I'M SO EXCITED!" Ochako grinned.

"MAN! I AM SO PROUD OF US!" Agreed Sero.

"Ribbit! Ribbit!" Asui happily croaked.

"We really pulled it off, you guys!" Midoriya happily sighed.

"Yeah!" Nodded Shoji.

"Unfortunately, those of you who failed will now have to withdraw from the licensing exam. Please make your way to the stadium immediately!"