The large gate to a suburban arena loomed over Izumi and made her feel far smaller than she actually was. Sure, she had a super tall girlfriend, and was the shortest of their friend group, but she could fly and they couldn't… except Nejire. And Momo probably owned a jet. Her girlfriend owned a jet. Izumi blinked and looked up at the clear late spring sky that was sparsely clouded, and couldn't help but think about the beach.

She wanted to go to the beach. She wanted to wear a super cute bikini, play in the water, and bury her face in her girlfriends boobs.

She paused and pouted slightly. "Maybe Momo's right about me having boobs on the brain."

With a sigh, she hopped off her broom and examined her testing area. The written exam had been easy thanks to Momo's gigantic brain and a lot of sleepovers, but her practical exam was a mystery shrouded in an enigma wrapped in confusion.

"How do I even know I'm in the right place?" She examined the gate and then looked back down the long dirt path she had flown over to get here. The bus that had ferried her here was already long gone. She had been told to get off and wait for the red light to turn green to start her exam all alone.

No context about her opponent.

No partner.

Nothing.

All she knew was that she did have someone that was going to kick her butt, she was alone because pairing anyone with her wouldn't be fair to them, and that she shouldn't let that fact go to her head. Which was probably a good idea.

"If I fail because I got wrong directions, I'm going to be really mad!" Not that she thought they would actually fail her because of it. Unless this was part of the test. She looked around for someone watching her and then let out a low whine. This wasn't how she wanted her exam to go! She thought she'd get to show Vlad-sensei just how much ass she could kick! Or maybe she could, umm… Actually, she really didn't know who she wanted to go up against. Especially if it was just teachers.

Maybe if she went up against another student, things would be fun. Like Inasa, or Shoto, maybe even Nejire!

BZZZZZZZ

The light switched to green and Aizawa-sensei's bored voice grated across the speaker. "Start your exam."

Izumi stared at the green light and then shrugged before heading into the large suburban arena that was going to make up her testing area. Most of the houses were only a few stories tall, and the roads were tight and narrow aside from the large main street that took a turn a few blocks down. The largest buildings were apartments that peaked at maybe six or seven stories. It didn't feel like the kind of place that was designed to make the test harder. If anything, this kind of arena was probably as close to neutral as she could get.

"At least there's no height limit." Izumi kicked her foot on the ground and guided her broom towards her. With one hand on the polished wood, she hopped on and thought about her best course of action. Technically, if she wanted, she could fly straight up and then dive bomb to the goal post, but until she found out who she was up against, that might not be a good idea.

She closed her eyes and recalled Nezu's words. "Remember that this is a test; if you skip all the other answers and just answer the last question, you're not going to do well."

Which was equal parts smart and stupid.

Stupid Hamtaro-wannabe, holding new runes and stuff hostage! How was he so smart anyways? She barely even managed to make one new rune by the time he probably had ten!

With a growl that turned into a determined grunt, Izumi pushed herself off the ground and zoomed forward. She'd stay above the houses and try to find out who was testing her so she could kick their butt.

"Hello there!"

Gack!

A pair of bright blue eyes shined at her as she nearly crashed into the large blond man that had appeared in front of her just as she cleared the first house, his long red cap flowing effortlessly in the wind. Izumi recognized him the moment his open palm pressed into her chest, forcing her off her broom.

Mirio Togata: someone that she had seen a few times with Nejire, and someone that was rumored to be the strongest in the school.

Izumi rolled back on the slightly slanted roof, and she slid a bit before she caught herself on the rough shingles that now made up their battleground. "I have to go up against you?"

"Yep!" Mirio grabbed his shoulder and rolled it with a big smile on his face. "Vlad-sensei asked that I take you on, since apparently you're a bit too problematic for the other teachers to test fairly, but that doesn't really matter."

"What?" Izumi asked, trying to keep Mirio's attention on her. Her broom had gone right through him, so she still had it under her control. "Why?"

"Oh, well you see, Nejire talks a lot, and she likes to talk about her super cute and amazing kouhai the most!" Mirio beamed and thudded his chest. Her broom flew right through his head and he didn't even blink. "So of course I wanted to see just how amazing you were for myself! Let's have a good fight, yeah?"

And with that, the goal of the test changed.

She wanted to beat the powerful hero right in front of her.

"Guess I'll have to figure out how to beat your invincible quirk. But, first," Izumi hummed, guiding her broom into her hand and holding it behind her. She shifted her feet on the tiles and smiled at Mirio. "See if you can catch me."

Mirio fell through the roof without even leaving a hole, then in the blink of an eye he shot up right in front of Izumi.

She leapt back, barely dodging his uppercut, and fell off the building. She grabbed onto her broom like it was a gymnastics bar and flipped around before sticking the landing. She stuck her tongue out and zipped back down into the narrow alleyways that were interwoven between the fake houses.

Simply running would be the easiest way to get to the goal; she doubted Mirio's quirk let him fly, but he could somehow use his quirk to teleport. What did Nejire say about his quirk? Dammit, why did Nejire talk so much? And like, most of it was important too, but there was just so much of it that it all turned into a white noise in her brain!

What was it called? Persistent? Permanence? Perm? Peril? It started with a P!

And he could like, go through stuff!

Including the ground, and when he stopped going through stuff, he'd pop out!

Wait, how was she going to deal with that?

Also, how was she supposed to capture him? He could just phase through her cuffs.

"Nezu! Why'd you make this so hard to do fairly!" She screamed as she dragged her foot along the ground to make a sharp turn. She kicked off the wall and resumed her speedy zipping through the streets, thankful for all the flying practice she had gone through to get to this level of control.

A street wide enough for two cars greeted her, and she saw Mirio pop up on the far edge of it like some kind of blond terminator ready to beat the ever-living shit out of her.

She hopped off her broom, using her momentum to spin as she drew a simple spell in the air and fired it right at Mirio.

Force. Arrow. Fast. Forward.

A shimmer the size of a small bird appeared right at her fingertips, taking less than a moment to solidify before it shot forward. Fast was a new rune, one that traded power and range for speed, and couldn't be affected by the guided modifier either. Still she hoped that Mirio wouldn't be able to react fast enough to dodge it.

To her surprise, the force arrow actually hit, and Mirio recoiled slightly before looking at his shoulder where he had been struck. He looked shocked.

"Were you using your quirk?" she asked, standing with her broom armed, a bit of light appearing from her fingers as she was ready to use another spell.

"Apparently?" Mirio responded back with confusion in his voice. "I'm not sure how though, I had everything but my feet permeated. Everything should have gone right through me."

Right! His quirk's name was Permeation!

"Well whatever, we can figure out why later!" Izumi let out a laugh and twirled her broom around, the individual brushes lighting up as she drew a symbol in the air.

Force. Arrow. Guided. Target.

Dozens of twinkling stars appeared in front of her and then raced towards Mirio like each and every one of them were determined to be the first to strike him.

Mirio stepped forward and fell through the earth again, a few of her arrows barely managing to tag his cape before he appeared again right in front of her, rising out of the earth like a man-shark that said fuck you to physics. He emerged with his fist drawn back and a great big smile on his face.

Her reflexes betrayed her, and Izumi brought up her broom to block the attack. Mirio's fist went right through it and slammed into her face.

With a sound that was the exact opposite of cute, Izumi rolled backwards, her back sliding along the ground and her hat sent flying. Still she managed to land onto her feet just in time to actually dodge Mirio's second attack, though he managed to pull her broom away and promptly snap it over his knee.

"My broom!" Izumi sneered, despite the fact that her nose felt like it was ready to start bleeding.

"What?" Mirio asked, looking at the broom. "I was just trying to make it so you couldn't run." He looked at both pieces and frowned. "I didn't break something expensive, did I?"

"No, but, my girlfriend gave me that one!"

"Uhh." He gave an abrupt bow. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Izumi waved it off. "It's my fault for bringing it to the exam."

It was supposed to be for luck.

With the flick of her finger, Izumi directed the half of the broom she still had control over and sent it right towards Mirio's face.

He stared at her with his tongue out. "Well now I don't feel bad anymore."

"I had a feeling that wouldn't work." Izumi pouted and examined her options. She was more or less backed into a corner; without her broom, Mirio's speed would decimate her while his raw power would make it a quick fight. Was this the point of the test? To show her that she was weak at close range?

She knew that!

She was a mage!

That was like a trope in every single movie!

She hopped back.

Barrier. Self.

A shimmering bubble appeared around her. If Force could work on Mirio, then maybe Barrier could too?

Mirio stuck his hand out and pressed it against the barrier. For a moment, Izumi thought her defensive spell would work. Then Mirio calmly walked through the sphere like it wasn't even there.

"Shit," she swore and jumped back, then started to run into the maze-like alleyways once more. Mirio ran through the buildings to cut her off, and even attempted to catch her.

Light. Light. Light!

A triple spell of bright light erupted in front of her, catching Mirio off guard as he tried to dodge an aggressive attack from her. He was being cautious since her Force spells could go through his quirk.

Wait.

What would happen if she just used Force?

She nearly slipped on a puddle as she took another sharp corner hoping to lose Mirio in the maze so she could have a moment to think and prepare.

She needed to put some distance between her and Mirio.

And figure out how to capture him even though he physically couldn't be captured. Even if she used Person to target him in a barrier, then he'd just slip out of it. Dammit, why didn't she have some kind of a sleep rune?

Mirio appeared again, his eyes still squinted from the blinding light she had put him through.

Force.

She drew the rune fast and sloppy—nearly messing up—and held it in her fist, hoping that her idea would work.

She stepped hard on the ground right in front of Mirio and put her entire body weight behind a punch. Mirio's eyes went wide, then he showed that not even he was immune to flinching as he closed his eyes. His quirk activated as her fist passed right through him, but her force spell still made contact with his face, sending him flying far further than she could physically.

"Holy shit! That worked!"

"I can't believe that worked!" Mirio groaned from the ground, a hand covering his nose. "Do I have to actually dodge everything you do?"

"Welcome to my world!" Izumi stuck out her tongue and ran away. She really didn't know why Force worked on Mirio; maybe it was because it wasn't so much an object and more that it was just like a force, like how he still gets affected by gravity. That made a surprising amount of sense.

As much sense as quirks actually worked.

Still, without her broom, she was still at a disadvantage. Part of her wanted to make a minefield of barrier spells; even if they didn't stop him, they would probably still slow him down. She remembered Nejire mentioning how he couldn't see or breathe when he used his quirk, so putting a bunch of obstacles in the way might help.

But wait, how did his suit stay on?

Could he not phase through it?

She had an idea.

Just like when she took the recommendation exam, Izumi created a series of barriers and used them to gain height until she reached a comfortable height a few meters above the ground in a more or less open park near one of the apartment complexes. This would give her plenty of space to target Mirio before he got to her.

Standing inside her own bubble, Izumi kept an eye out for any sign of movement, constantly examining the area for Mirio.

She barely caught sight of him as he came rocketing out from the ground. The bit of blood on his nose was a mark of pride for her. She barely had the time to react as he phased through her barrier and connected with her stomach.

Still, he fell for her trap.

With a quick rune that had Mirio on guard, she forced the barrier they were in to rise up.

"What are you planning?" Mirio asked, still in a fighting stance. "Also, you're pretty durable."

"Thanks, but damn you hurt." Izumi smiled and stared up at the taller man as the sphere began to contract around them. "And as for what I'm planning, it's more or less this."

"Haha! Trapping both of us so high up?" Mirio laughed and placed both hands against her barrier before phasing his arms through. "You must have realized I keep my momentum when I pop in and out."

Izumi just nodded as she was forced into Mirio's chest by her barrier. "Something like that."

Except not at all.

"Well, it's a cute idea, but I'm pretty good at timing my phasing so, have fun Izumi." He phased out of her barrier and fell backwards.

"Gotcha." Izumi smiled.

Control. Target. Item.

She never understood why it was so easy for her to control brooms, but even so, something like Mirio's costume wasn't outside of her own abilities. But still, trying to control an object that was being worn by someone was on a whole other level. She was barely able to make him stop falling and hover in the air.

"What the?" Mirio asked, and Izumi found herself all but powerless to stop his arms from moving. "Ha!" He laughed. "It's like I'm stuck in jello! This is great, Izumi! I can barely move."

"Thanks," she muttered, focusing on trying to keep him still. She initially wanted to ride him across the finish line, but just keeping him still felt like it was taking up so much of her mind. She even had to use a hand to keep her focus on him. "So, do you want to give up, or do I have to start blasting you with force spells?"

"Hmm." Mirio tapped on his chin. "I think I could escape, as I think you just have control over my suit right now."

Dammit.

"But, I also don't want to keep fighting you naked and accidentally show you my willy."

"Sooooo, which is it?" Izumi asked, gritting her teeth. Her head was seriously hurting from that punch she took earlier.

"Up to you." Mirio gave her a thumbs up and smiled at her. "This is your exam. Remember, I'm just your opponent."

She decked the strongest student in the school. "I think we're done here."

"Great!" Mirio cheered and let his body go limp. Then he glanced back up at her. "Wanna go get food?"

"Yeah."

She was starving.

AN: I'm baaaaack