Chapter Two
Elena POV
Well, Elena thinks to herself, I definitely won't be making any friends today.
It is very obvious that her classmates have no intentions of becoming buddy buddy with her. She feels incredibly isolated, but reminds herself that she is there to spy on them/treat any potential mental health issues in the first place. She has a mission, and her admittance into the school depends on her ability to complete it.
Aizawa-sensei made it very clear when she first met him that she would only be allowed to remain in his class if she could beat his top three students in combat. He is a pragmatic man and does not want any of his students to get suspicious and think that she is receiving special treatment. This battle is her last entrance exam, although the rest of the class doesn't realize it.
Elena looks in the mirror of the changing room, as she ties her long hair into a loose braid. She is wearing tight black leggings, a tight black long sleeve shirt with the name of her hospital across the front, and black old school Vans.
Gazing at her reflection, she begins emptying her mind of all thoughts to prepare for battle, until she realizes that she isn't alone. A small girl with light brown locks enters the room, light bouncy steps clicking on the tiled floor.
"Oh! Hi! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to sneak up on you! I just wanted to introduce myself to you and let you know that I'm rooting for you! My name is Uraraka Ochaco! " the girl says, her nervous voice filling the empty room. She stands in a black tank top and the blue UA track pants, her slightly chubby figure spilling out of her clothes in an adorable way. Her round eyes are wide with sincerity, as she continues talking at an even faster pace. "And I also wanted to ask if you feel okay before this all starts? I know Aizawa-sensei said you have to do this, but I don't think it's fair that you have to fight three of our strongest classmates on your first day. Of course, I don't mean to say that you're weak because you must be so strong! But-but I just mean that they are known for getting out of control sometimes and I just wanted to make sure you know that you have nothing to prove!"
Uraraka's nervous rambling is a breath of fresh air, and Elena starts laughing. Although she is wrong (Elena does have something to prove), Elena can feel an exuberance and friendliness oozing out of this girl. Despite her small stature, the effect that she has on Elena is strong and she begins to feel a little less alone.
"It's nice to meet you Uraraka-chan. I'm Elena Haiba. Don't worry about me, I'm going to do my best. A couple boys can't stop me," she says confidently, smiling reassuringly at her new acquaintance.
At her last remark, Elena detects a pang of envy in Uraraka's heart well up. It isn't vicious or evil, and she can tell that Uraraka isn't fully aware of it. In fact, it almost feels like a protective jealousy, and Elena assumes that Uraraka probably has a crush on one of the opponents that she will be fighting. For some reason, Elena hopes it isn't Todoroki, the boy whom she had met in the hallway.
"Good luck then Elena-chan! I am rooting for you!" Uraraka exclaims, kindly placing her hand on Elena's shoulder before heading outside.
Elena looks at her reflection again before turning around and following her out.
Let's get it E.
Off to the side of the open grass field, the entire class is standing and waiting expectantly. Some of them are chatting with each other, others are laughing and joking around. Aizawa-sensei is leaning against a nearby building, observing his students.
Elena feels a slight longing in her chest, wishing that she could join in on their conversations. As soon as she starts walking towards them, their voices turn into hushed whispers as they anxiously wait for the first battle. Uraraka's smiling face appears in the crowd, slightly waving at Elena, eliciting a flurry of questions from Midoriya who stands besides her.
Elena doesn't need to use her Quirk to detect that the class is concerned for her because she will be fighting three consecutive battles with the top first year students in the school. They are likely second guessing Aizawa-senpai's decision.
However, Elena isn't worried. She had spent years receiving combative training because she was in charge of treating clinically insane patients at the psychiatric ward who had no control over their quirks. She has been blasted, hit, smacked, slapped, scratched, even swallowed at one point. All of these interactions have helped her master tactics for subduing and restraining opponents through her Quirk.
Her first opponent is Katsuki Bakugou. He stands about 10 feet away from her, with laser focus locked onto Elena. Beads of sweat are rolling down his forehead, making him even more dangerous. To her understanding, Bakugou can secrete nitroglycerin-like sweat from his palms and ignite it to create explosions. Elena starts to giggle when she realizes that her opponent is literally using his teenage sweaty palms to fight her, causing Bakugou to yell at her to stop laughing.
While she knows that she is not nearly as strong as any of her opponents in hand to hand combat, they have no idea what she can do. All she needs to do is focus, dodge, then get close.
"Three.. Two.. one. Begin," Aizawa lazily counts off.
Immediately, Bakugou unleashes a huge blast from both hands and begins propelling towards Elena in the air with swift steps. She slightly stiffens, shocked by the magnitude of his explosion. Although it is only his first attack, he manages to nearly close the gap between them in one leap.
Stay calm Elena.
"Die you dumb piece of…"
His screams begins trailing away as Elena closes her eyes, welcoming the familiar darkness as she activates her Quirk. Instantly, images of hot, fiery explosions fill her mind as she taps into his emotions. Although the blasts around her are only projections in her head, she can physically feel the heat rising against her skin because of how strongly Bakugou feels things. Through the haze, she feels a right hook that is coming for her face materializing as he tenses up his right arm. She swiftly steps backwards, dodging his first blow with ease.
In this moment, Elena is aware of everything that Bakugou is feeling. She is actively processing his emotions before they can be translated into actions, and dodging his movements by forcing her body to respond before his can. It takes all of her concentration to keep up because Bakugou begins moving faster and faster. However her Quirk works better the more emotionally unstable her opponents are, and Bakugou becomes increasingly agitated as he realizes none of his hits are landing.
"DIE YOU DUMB BITCH!" she hears him say. His words are soft whispers floating in her mind that she can barely register, as she is completely entranced with his emotions.
His anger is a roaring furnace, hellbent on consuming every last bit of Elena until only ashes remain.
She detects that a left jab is coming, followed by a frontflip over my head and a blast from behind her body. She immediately sidesteps and kicks his feet out from underneath him before he can propel himself over her. In the split second that he is falling, she cups his hands around his fuming face, places her thumbs under his eyes, and forces him to feel one emotion as strongly as she physically can: sleepiness.
He crumples like laundry and the battle is over. Bakugou is out like a light.
As the smokey haze begins clearing, Elena opens her eyes and turns to Aizawa-sensei, while panting for breath. She searches his face for approval and he nods. A cold wave of relief washes through her body, as Bakugou's anger that she tapped into begins subsiding. There is no time to think about anything, only to feel, or else she will lose the next battle.
One down. Two to go.
Todoroki POV
What in God's name has just happened..
Although it is difficult to make out what exactly was happening, it appears that Elena has just subdued Bakugou in less than five minutes, without taking a single blow or even landing a single blow for that matter. With her eyes completely shut, she has somehow knocked him out cold.
Bakugou's loud snores punctuate the silence as the entire class stare at the smokey outcome of their battle in stunned silence.
After watching the battle, Todoroki assumes that she possesses some kind of Foresight Quirk to foresee the decisions of her opponents, like Pro Hero Sir Nighteye. That would explain how she can so easily predict and dodge all of Bakugou's hits. Yet she somehow has forced Bakugou into an instant and deep sleep. Through the blasts, it is hard to see how hard she hit him, but it almost looks as if she has simply touched his face before he passes out. That cannot be explained by any kind of predictive Quirk.
Does she have some sort of Sleepiness Quirk and ability to slow down her opponent's movements then send them to sleep with touch? But it seemed like Bakugou was fighting at his normal capabilities.
Suddenly, Todoroki's racing thoughts are interrupted by Midoriya whose eyes are shining with excitement. Todoroki watches as he sets down his notebook, which he has been scribbling notes into furiously about his opponent. His eyes are gleaming in awe and practically drooling with excitement to battle her, although he is also unsure of what has just happened.
"Elena-chan, my name is Izuku Midoriya. I'm looking forward to fighting you. I'll do my best," he shouts, balling his fists up in determination as she walks towards him for her next battle. She returns his gaze, although her eye contact is glassy, as if she is sort of checked out.
"It's nice to meet you Midoriya-kun. I will do my best too," she says, tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear. It will be much easier to analyze her actions in combat with Midoriya, whose Quirk doesn't produce as much rubble and smoke as Bakugou's.
Bakugou is still out cold on the grass beside Kirishima and Kaminari who are howling with laughter and discussing whether they should draw on his face with a permanent marker or not.
Todoroki looks at Elena again, unsure of what to make of her. She stands in a tight black exercise outfit with her long brown hair in a loose braid down her back. Todoroki finds himself noticing the curves of her body that are accentuated in her tight black exercise gear. Her cheeks have become slightly flushed and she is slightly panting for breath, her pink lips slightly ajar. She looks just like a tiger, ready to pounce on her prey. Todoroki shakes his head, clearing his head of those thoughts.
Todoroki has never witnessed a battle end so quickly with an opponent as skilled as Bakugou. A tight feeling in his chest is welling up rapidly that he doesn't recognize. It is something in between absolute awe and deadset competitiveness, a rising admiration for this girl who has appeared so suddenly and taken out one of his only competitors.
"Good luck Deku-kun!" Uraraka shouts, jumping up and down. The other classmates seem to have snapped out of the shock, and Todoroki can hear them chattering excitedly about the fight. His eyes are glued to Elena.
The battle begins with another countdown and Midoriya begins running towards Elena at a slower tempo, crackles of green electricity coursing through his body. He isn't running as quickly as Bakugou had, but varies his footsteps in a zig zag motion to confuse her.
Todoroki wasn't sure if he had been imagining it because of all the smoke and rubble that Bakugou had created, but it looked like she had kept her eyes shut the entire duration of their battle. She completely shuts her eyes again, confirming his observation.
He watches carefully, trying to see if she is shooting any projectiles or emitting any substances. Yet, Elena doesn't move at all, taking more time than she did with Bakugou. She stands there, frowning and mumbling to herself as Midoriya closes in, like she is solving a complicated math problem. Todoroki is standing on his toes, anxiously waiting to see what she will do. As Midoriya closes in with a big right hook, Todoroki suddenly feels the strongest urge to protect her and immediately wills himself to calm down.
Right before Midoriya's fist is about to make contact with her face, her head shoots up so that the two are face to face although her eyes remain shut. It is as if a light bulb has clicked in her mind.
"From All Might?" she asks clearly, disbelief in her voice. Todoroki doesn't understand what she means, but Midoriya is clearly caught off guard. His eyes widen and he hesitates for a split second, dropping his fist.
"How di-"
Too late.
Her hands are wrapped around his cheeks like a baby, and he is out cold. The battle ends as quickly as it had begun, causing many of the students to gasp in awe. A few of the girls run up to Elena, congratulating her for her victory.
With both Bakugou and Midoriya asleep on the floor, Aizawa-sensei clears his throat and announces that the demonstration is over, meaning that Todoroki won't be able to battle her. Strangely, Todoroki doesn't really care which is uncharacteristic of him as such a competitive student.
He doesn't move an inch, simply staring at this girl who has begun walking towards him.
This girl who has just shut down both of his competitors.
This girl who can clearly fight for herself, yet he feels the need to protect.
She shrugs her shoulders, as if to say Maybe next time? before following Aizawa-sensei back into the classroom.