It'd been a while since Izuku'd come back to the Forge, intent on getting something 'for' himself. Usually he came to find some of his friends, or happened to run into them as the case could be sometimes with Ruby and Tenya, or so that he could get minor fixes done to Emerald Gust to keep his Gauntlets going. A polish here, unbending some metal there, a cleanup of the various parts here. For once, however, he was there and... well, he was ready to actually order up some stuff for himself. It'd been a while but, hey, it had taken him a while to gather up all the Lien he needed. So, with a deep breath he stepped into the Forge...

Only for a wave of hot air to hit him right in his face, causing him to sweat almost immediately.

"Holy woah..." He muttered to himself as he raised his hand. Sure enough the forge was going hot and, handling it, were a handful of students. One of them was overseeing the others as they practiced and she was just the person Izuku was looking to see-

"Hey, Mei!" Izuku called out over the sound of hammering at the forge. Mei stopped for a moment, having been shouting some instructions over the billowing, as she looked over in Izuku's direction and raised her goggles. She grinned a bit before lowering them.

"Ah, hey, it's you again! Be with you in a second! Wait for me outside, alright?" Izuku nodded at that, quickly exiting the Forge so as to get away from the sheer heat of the machines going off inside. He hung out just a little ways away from the door to keep away from the heat that was still pouring out from the room but, soon enough, the door opened and Mei stepped out, taking a look around with those odd eyes of hers before she spotted Izuku. "Sorry about that, teacher left me here to instruct a few other students in how to handle the forge itself. A lot of weapons get bent out of shape in this school and we can't always be around to help bend them back into shape, after all and people should really know how to take care of their own babies..."

...

He felt like she was accusing Izuku slightly but the moment passed soon enough as Mei dusted off her sooty hands on her baggy pants as she approached Izuku.

"So what's up there Izuku. Coming by to take another look or did you already break your babies again?" Izuku shook his head at that, a slight chuckle escaping his lips as he looked at Mei.

"No, not this time. I'm actually here because I think I finally have the Lien put together to get some stuff done!" Almost as if he'd told a small child that Color Week came early, Mei's eyes went alight as she grew a wide grin.

"Finally! Most of the people who do upgrades and stuff to their gear can already do it themselves and everyone else thinks that their babies don't need love and attention to get better! You're the only person I know who has enough sense to want to upgrade his babies while having absolutely no skill in doing it himself!"

...

Okay, Izuku was really sure she was insulting him, inadvertently or not. Even so, Mei's excitement tampered down on any hurt he might've felt as she immediately reached over and took Emerald Gust, gauntlets and boots, into her hands, looking them over as she did so.

"I see that the last upgrade we gave your babies did good work for them! You haven't broken the fingers on your gauntlet again yet and while the metal has some wear and tear from your use, it hasn't been anything that wouldn't be easily taken care off with a little TLC. So at least you're not hurting your babies!" Izuku just sheepishly scratched the back of his head, partially feeling himself get caught up in Mei's energy, before she turned to look at him. "So? You gotta tell me what you have in mind!" Izuku scratched his cheek at that, looking down to the side.

"Well I've got some notes here..."

Mei muttered to herself as she looked over the little notes and bits of design sketches Izuku did; Izuku's were rudimentary of course as, even after all the time he point into his journals, he wasn't really an artist... but it was still something to work off of, especially when combined with his notes.

"Oho... let's see here... armor piercing slugs to compliment the school provided buckshot, standard... adding more metal to Emerald Gust's right arm to armor it up to your elbow? Well, that's nifty... the additional metal would add more to your overall protection and it'd leave space for new babies... like say this buckler you want to be able to mecha-shift onto it. Interesting... with the extra space I might actually be able to connect it to its own mechanism or to the mecha-shifting mechanism that'd extend the armor up to your elbow. Next up... woof, revolving feeds and expanded magazine capacity to your legs? That's some pretty hefty work there Izuku... not to mention the fact that you actually want me to... replace the reloading mechanism with a more... hrmmm, yes, I've seen this in looking over Yang Xiao Long's Ember Celica, a momentum based reloading mechanism that allows for a more slide in approach rather than individually clicking in clips using a belt... all four limbs..."

"So is it doable?" Izuku asked again, just waiting and watching as she finished going over his notes.

"PFFT! Is it doable? I'm Mei Hatsume, of course this is doable! Why, I bet I could finish these babies up in one night! In fact, I'm going to do just that!" Mei said, a slight cackle to her voice as he watched her snatch the boots and gauntlets of Emerald Gust away from him, a wide grin on her face. "I'm gonna show you it's doable... right after you pay 1,800 Lien for the manufacturing fee and the cost of requisitioning the materials of course..." Mei added, somewhat sheepishly, as she held out her Scroll, a large scanning light shining from it as some kind of business application linked to Beacon was opened. Izuku nodded as he brought out his Lien Card and swiped its bar over the light, the app processing for a minute before it accepted his payment.

"WONDERFUL! NOW GET OUT SO I CAN WORK WITH THESE BABIES!" With that Mei rushed back into the forge, clearly excited by the prospect of working on Emerald Gust at some kind of breakneck speed...

Izuku was already outside of the forge though. So, with that in mind, he shrugged as he placed his hands in his pockets. Content with the knowledge that his stuff would definitely be ready by tomorrow... or at least, that's what he'd believed after Mei's excitement and passion. That was good... that meant they'd be good to go in time to handle Cardin. Izuku tapped his chin slightly as he thought it over... with all those upgrades his ability to fight with Cardin would be greatly improved... including with that ammo.

Still, that did raise a question... the ammo would be much better at getting through Cardin's armor. That was one plus... but it could really hurt him. He'd have to carefully consider your options here; Izuku didn't want to humiliate him but he did have a plan for the fight and... well, if it had to stop immediately because a slug might threaten him, or worse, then that wouldn't do anyone any good...

"... I honestly don't know why you're calling now of all times. The contract expired and I retired, Arata, so I don't particularly see why you're still getting in touch with me." Izuku blinked as he approached his dorm room. Keeping an ear peeled he heard Pyrrha speaking; judging by the fact that he didn't hear anyone else, he had to assume that she was speaking on a Scroll. "Worse yet you did it in the middle of the week? Back when we were working together you were at least respectful enough to not interrupt my classes and... so courtesy gets dropped as soon as the contract does?" Pyrrha sounded slightly bothered and Izuku could imagine that somewhat dismayed expression on Pyrrha's face as she shook her head.

"Please; I left so I could attend Beacon in peace. Bad enough that the fame's followed me here so... what? How did you even know about that? They were a pretty local issue to Mountain Glenn and Vale so I don't see why that kind of news would spread over to Mistral." Silence again as Pyrrha just heavily sighed. "... Right... of course they'd report on something if it involved me." Izuku heard the sounds of Pyrrha's feet as they stepped across the floor, the pressure of her bed springing heard as she probably took a seat on it. "I don't see why you'd call now of all times. The attack was weeks ago, so... what? Huh?... You... you can't be serious? You're actually getting in touch with people to try to turn this into publicity?"

"Arata... yes, I know it'd be doing showings based off of my career as a Huntress but it wasn't my career choice that made me want to leave Tournament Fighting behind! Yes, yes, I know what I said, but that was only a part of it! Do you honestly think I want to go back to just doing the circuits, being famous and being a celebrity? I don't want that, my Team doesn't want that; we just want to be..." She went quiet again as he heard her deeply sigh, dismayed. "Yes... yes I know Hunters can be celebrities too. Yes I know Mr. Yagi has who knows how many deals across Remnant. Mr. Yagi, need I remind you, is the Symbol of Peace. It's something he wants to do. We-... don't you say I'm speaking 'for' my Team!" Wow, Pyrrha actually sounded upset. Like, not just distraught or saddened but actually angry.

"This is why I didn't want you to call me after everything was said and done. Look, just get off the phone and please respect... what... look I... I don't... care if my family would like it if I went through with this. Yes you heard me." Izuku frowned slightly at that as Pyrrha stood up from the bed... a far more skittish pace to her walking back and forth across the floor of his dormitory. "Why do you need to bring them into this? Better yet, why are you having them push for this? The money I'm making off of residuals alone should be more than enough... I don't care how much more we could be making..." Again, Izuku heard Pyrrha sigh and, having just about enough, Izuku cracked open the door; stepping in with one of her fans had helped her out of a similar situation before, after all.

"What did you say about my die-"

"Hey Pyrrha, you having some trouble?" Izuku watched as his much taller partner jumped up a bit, turning to face him as she offered Izuku a strained smile.

"Oh, Izuku! I wasn't expecting you back from class so soon! Listen, I'll be off the call in just a second, so..." Pyrrha's face scrunched up, bring her Scroll back up toward her ear... huh, that was actually a pretty odd thing. Most people took Scroll calls by opening up the window and participating in a video call. Pyrrha must've kept the call private, leaving the video option out and only relying on the scroll's auditory elements, like one of those old-fashioned phones he sometimes saw around various offices. Pyrrha's face went a bit pale, the young woman turning to look at Izuku as she bit her lip.

"My... uh, ex-manager Arata... he says he wants to speak with you." Pyrrha intoned; equal parts nervousness and uncertainty on her face.

Izuku took a deep breath at that; as much as it might've felt right to just grab the phone, tell him he was busy and then shut him down... he had to admit, there was a part of him that was curious. Izuku wanted to know what the deal was here and see if, maybe, coming to understand the situation better might just give Izuku a way to help settle the issue. So he extended his hand out to Pyrrha, giving her a nod as the young woman looked at Izuku. Though uncertain at first, she took in his firm expression and nodded back, handing him the Scroll. Izuku quickly popped it up to his ear, not wanting the conversation to spill out, as he spoke up.

"Hello?"

"Ah, the young man. So you are Pyrrha's Team Leader, Izuku Midoriya, correct?" Izuku had to admit he was a little surprised when the guy said Izuku's name so casually, especially in full. Pyrrha had said his first name but...

"How do you know my full name?" Izuku asked, curiously, as the man on the other end of the line just gave a snort.

"Please, with all of you getting reported on following that dust up in Mountain Glenn it wasn't that hard, especially with the public's curiosity surrounding you all for your team makeup. Of course folks were gonna be curious about who got partnered up with our favorite local, especially when we figured out one of them was none other than the Schnee Company Heiress." Izuk heard a slight puff on the other end of the line, likely some kind of cigarette or cigar. "Add to that the fact that the team leader is descended from local flavor, Midoriya, and it just makes for a nice little curiosity over here in Mistral where the rich and fancy thrive off of that sort of thing." Izuku nodded, slowly, as he tried to wrap his mind around that. Still, he had a point to get to.

"So you wanted to talk to me?"

"I did, I did. Now, I can't know how much of that conversation you were privy to Mr. Midoriya but I can assume that you're at least aware of my former client's history as a Tournament Fighter, right?" Izuku nodded... before realizing how useless that gesture was. Not that it mattered as before he could answer, the fast talking Arata continued on. "Pyrrha was one of the best that I had come through my agency, real sweetheart of a girl too. Honestly think that a lot of her appeal was in that combination of intrigue; kicking ass and being sorry about it. People loved it; good and proper Mistrali manners combined with being a certified ass-kicker, brought in Gods know how many fans and sponsors."

"Yeah, we've noticed... and not for nothing but she doesn't seem to be the biggest fan of that." Izuku also still didn't see what it had to do with him but he heard a slightly dismissive grunt on the other end of the line.

"Yeah yeah, fame sucks, you get these little assholes tailing you around, but come on. Yu Takeyama puts up with worse on a daily basis thanks to that little Semblance of hers and you hear her complaining about it in public? Hell, dealing with the stress of it all is probably what she has that partner of hers around for if the rumors are to be believed." Izuku heard Arata take another deep drag on whatever he was smoking before he exhaled. "Look, it's not that I'm unsympathetic, believe me I wouldn't want to be hounded twenty-four seven by hordes of people who wanted a piece of me for this or that reason. Still though, that's how you get ahead in Mistral: you either work your ass off and stay down or you work your way up through high society and never have to work a day in your life again! Being an artist, an actor, a sports star, a musician... those are the keys to making a living here in Mistral and Pyrrha was on her way right to the top! She and her folks could be comfortable for the rest of their lives if she played it right and, let me tell you, the Nikos family are a nice lot. I'd love to see that happen for 'em, couldn't happen to nicer people... but Pyrrha's bein' stubborn about this."

"Well doesn't she have a right to be? She said that the residuals were enough weren't they, so why push for more?" Izuku asked, crossing your arms as he heard a sigh.

"I'd read that you were born in Mountain Glenn but that's spoken like a true country bumpkin... no offense." Izuku frowned a little before Arata continued. "Everything about being famous in Mistral changes almost on a dime. Some new talent comes forward that you'd best be buying the tickets to see, some new fashion that you're going to need to wear in order to look your best, some new person being knighted at some ceremony in Atlas that you're gonna go see even if you hate their guts. High society doesn't sit still and it isn't cheap to keep up with it. Hell, you think that jewelry that Pyrrha wears came cheap? That's some expensive stuff but, hey, she liked it, her folks liked it, and it added to her image! That's the kind of lifestyle you can afford to live when you're making the kind of money that Pyrrha has the potential to make."

"That doesn't answer my question..." Izuku insisted as the manager groaned.

"It does; my point is why should they settle for less when they could keep living a good life? Besides, her folks are worried about her; that attack on Mountain Glenn might've played well for bumping up Pyrrha's profile as a Huntress, but for her folks and I it's what we thought would happen if she just gave up on celebrity entirely and insisted on being a Full Time Huntress." Another drag and Arata continued. "Look, Full Time Hunting is dangerous work that doesn't get you much of anything. Hell, Team STRQ were set to come up and over but their leadership insisted on doing things the way Toshinori Yagi and Enji Todoroki did them; news flash, there's only one Symbol of Peace and one Endeavoring Huntsman. So one of them died, the other ran off to be a bandit if the rumors are to be believed-" WHAT, "-and the other two are... what? I'd heard they spent most of their time getting drunk but I haven't heard much about them in over a decade."

"Even Shinji and Yu, as dedicated as the former is, make the time to make the rounds." Izuku heard a sigh on the other end of the line. "Look... being famous sucks. Having money doesn't. Not dying in a hole somewhere in the middle of nowhere is good. Which is what happens to just about every idiot who joins up with that profession thinking they're gonna be some hero like Toshinori Yagi or that they're going to do good work for 'the people of Remnant' and all that hogwash. Pyrrha's a good kid and I like her and her family a lot. Yeah, I'm doing this because it could make us all a lot of money but... well, come on. Who could hold that against anyone." A slight laugh before he continued. "So look: could you just do me a favor and help me sell Pyrrha on this? If she came back and made some appearances and did some interviews about the attack, it'd raise her profile and, more importantly, raise your Team's profile. Gotta imagine that even with Pyrrha and the Schnee Heiress on your team that you can be a bit strapped for cash. Well this would get you out of needing to do dangerous assignments by focusing on making some outside cash. It'd be great for everyone involved!"

"After all, you sound like a smart kid. You can't be doing this just to be a Huntsman right? Nobody's that brain dead."

...

'...You know what?'

'I am fucking done with this.'

"Well if that's what you think, Mr. Arata, then I believe this conversation is over."

"Oh come on, don't be such a-"

"I'd say that it was a pleasure speaking with you but, like you said: I'm a country bumpkin and we're raised to be honest." Before Arata could even give one word as a response he turned off the Scroll, a sigh leaving his throat as he did so. He turned to look at Pyrrha, an expression on her face that was a mix of scandalized and amused as she looked down at the Scroll in his hand. "Pyrrha, if this guy does start trying to harass you over this I think it might be a smart idea to block his number." He recommended to his friend as he handed her Scroll back.

"Oh, thank you Izuku... I, uh, will definitely think about that." Pyrrha said with a nod, that awkward smile still on her face as she looked down nervously at her Scroll. "... Oh he's going to be angry."

"A taste of his own medicine might just be good for him." Izuku responded calmly, a slight nod to his head a Pyrrha returned one in agreement. Still, he watched her frown slightly as she looked over at him.

"Still, I'm sorry you had to be subjected to that... Mr. Arata is a crack manager but... well, you've spoken with him."

"Hard to imagine that he's any good with how rude he is though. The thing he said about Hunters to a Huntsman-In-Training..." Pyrrha frowned at that, looking down to the side. Still eventually she smiled as she turned to Izuku.

"Well... whatever he said, it doesn't matter. What matters is that... this is where we've chosen to be, right? That's all that counts now." At that Izuku smiled, nodding in agreement with Pyrrha.

"Exactly. Glad to hear it, Pyrrha." There was still a little nervousness and agitation accompanying Pyrrha thereafter and Izuku got the sense that she suspected that it wasn't quite over... but he took a firm stand against some jerk who spoke so poorly about Hunters he respected and the profession. Whatever he was offering, he didn't want any of it... and it was clear that Pyrrha felt the same way, even if she couldn't quite stand up for herself at the moment.

Izuku was glad he could help her shut this guy down... and it seemed that Pyrrha felt similarly appreciative.

"Alright, the next person up for a spar is Cardin Winchester! Is there anyone who would like to challenge Cardin, or shall we leave this to random-"

"I'll fight Cardin."

That had been what immediately silenced most of the crowd of First Years. Not the announcement of Cardin coming up or even Glynda's call for challengers, but Izuku speaking up as he made his intention to challenge Cardin clear. Everyone had looked at him, even his own friends; some had been excited, like Yang or Nora, ready to see him lay into the guy after the story Izuku told them about the meet up in the hall. Some were nervous for Izuku; maybe he'd only managed to intimidate Cardin by a fluke and the fight wouldn't go as well as he thought? None of his friends seemed to be of that position, though there had been plenty in the crowd who were. The others just watched... wondering just what it was Izuku would do.

Whether he might go too far.

Then there was Bakugou who just stared down Cardin as he quickly left his own Team behind. "Oi, Deku." The voice of his bully and long ago friend called out to Izuku as he started to make his way to the locker room, causing him to look back at Bakugou. "You'd better not make me look bad by losing to this extra, Deku."

"... Gods you just are completely shitty at encouraging people, aren't you."

"Nobody asked you blondie!" Izuku sighed as Yang and Bakugou went for another row, but Izuku nodded at him nonetheless. Even if Bakugou really did beat CRDL by himself, Cardin would probably take beating him in a spar as a way to publicly lord it over him, given that he managed to win out over Kacchan before. Good thing he really didn't intend on losing. Time went by and eventually he found himself in the arena; Cardin had quite quickly armed and armored up before he even managed to get to the locker room and now the tall young man stood in the middle of the arena, waiting for Izuku. He seemed impatient, nervous and... to a degree, scared, though he buried that under anger. Izuku eventually approached the middle of the arena and, finally, Cardin spoke up.

"So what? You finally grow enough of a pair to come at me here, Deku? Fine by me, I'll-"

"Like I said Cardin, we weren't done." Izuku said, calmly, cutting off Cardin's attempt at bluster. "After this... you're never going to harass or hurt another student here at Beacon." Cardin just grit his teeth... Izuku could tell that he probably had some remark prepared, 'who's gonna make me' or something like that...

Izuku hoped that with how serious he was, that answered the question well enough on its own.

"Cardin Winchester and Izuku Midoriya... are you both ready to fight?" they both nodded at that, Cardin reaching up for the head of his mace to flick a switch while he bent down into his stance, ready to fight...

"Then let the match between Cardin Winchester and Izuku Midoriya commence!"

Immediately, before Cardin could even get himself to start trundling forward toward the smaller teen, Izuku's muscles tensed and his bones creaked slightly as he immediately started pushing One For All throughout his entire body, trying to tap into Full Cowl. Only time would tell if it would succeed but, for now, Izuku just focused on pulling that sensation back on, on bringing his strength forward. Cardin, on the other hand, just gave a quick battlecry as he charged forward, his mace primed and ready to club Izuku as he brought it around with both hands. Needless to say Izuku immediately ducked back and away from his attack, taking a simple step while he continued to focus on Full Cowl.

"Come on, Deku! If you were going to challenge me like this then the least you can do is actually fight me!" Equal parts bravado and frustration had seeped into Cardin's voice as his swung arcs back around, basically falling back behind the giant of a young man as he glared down at Izuku. Soon enough Izuku felt Full Cowl 'click' as the red glowing scars across his skin gave way to golden light, his body sparking with electrical energy as Izuku looked at Cardin. No banter, no backtalk, no words; just fighting. Izuku immediately started to set up for the execution of the first step of his plan; reducing how dangerous Cardin actually was. He seemed to depend heavily on his mace; it was time to take that away from him. With a few odd movements and a few falsely thrown punches he started to set up a ruse, making Cardin suspect that his battleplan wasn't to go after his weapon and legs but, rather, that Izuku intended to just drill punches into his gut.

When none of them landed, Cardin just laughed as he adjusted his defenses, centering on protecting his core so greatly that everything else lay wide open for Izuku!

"Was that it? Man, what kind of loser was that chick you clobbered last week if she couldn't avoid these kinds of punches?" With that Cardin swung his mace back around twice. Izuku grit his teeth as he dodged out of the way of one blow and then brought Emerald Gust up to knock the other away. As much as he was ready to try his hand at using the new Buckler, he didn't want to give Cardin a chance and Izuku's skill with his shield was minimal at best. So he just stuck to the usual of bouncing Cardin's hit off of his armor...

Click!

BOOOOOOM!

As soon as solid contact was made between Izuku and the head of Cardin's mace an explosion went off, one that momentarily forced Izuku to avert his eyes as he jumped away lightly. Izuku parry had worked and the actual force of Cardin's swing had been batted away, but the explosion hadn't been expected. A quick look over his arm and Emerald Gust showed that, yes, Izuku was fine and his weapon was fine, Izuku's Aura and armor having been thick enough to tank the entirety of the hit. With a slight glare he looked back at Cardin, self-satisfied as he was as he prepared his weapon around.

"That pansy crap you pull isn't gonna work here Deku, if you keep trying to knock my hits away I'll just blow my way through your defenses! Let's see how long you last at that rate!" With that Cardin swung his weapon around carefully a few times as Izuku looked at it. Interesting; so the Dust Crystal he kept housed in the head of his mace did work like Izuku had thought, only it was so sensitive that even the sudden stop of a parry or, perhaps, even a shield would be enough to cause it to pop off. Well that just gave Izuku even more reason to be rid of the thing. With that he stepped forward back into range of Cardin, the young man just grinning as he prepared to move his core away from Izuku...

Only to be completely and utterly flabbergasted with Izuku punched his hand.

"What the-" A cry of pain interrupted Cardin's surprise as Emerald Gust went off against Cardin's hand, causing him to snap it open and leaving his mace to the wind. The weapon immediately dropped and skittered across the ground... to Izuku's feet. With a quick kick against the ground Izuku managed to send the mace skittering across the floor back behind him, causing Cardin to growl. "You little-" Izuku ducked down to the down and immediately send his leg sweeping out and, again, Cardin didn't see it coming. With a kick and another blast of Emerald Gust, that time from a boot, Cardin was sent falling flat onto his back. Before Izuku could respond, and with Cardin gasping somewhat from the sudden shock of falling, the giant of a young man immediately forced himself back onto his feet and threw himself at Izuku, attempting to grab his opponent up into his arms.

A quick step and a grabbing of his wrists ensured that Cardin wouldn't lay a finger on Izuku. Following this Izuku immediately did his best to try and throw Cardin down onto the ground but, as he flipped him through the air a quick burst of Aura allowed the Winchester to land on his feet, having avoided being sent down by his throw. Izuku tried to rectify that by dropping back down and kick at his legs again, only to find that Cardin barely has to hop back to avoid the poorly placed kick. Enough being enough Izuku grit his teeth and pulled back his fist, focusing a Smash into it.

"Beacon... SMAAAAAASH!" Izuku's right arm glows with the red glowing scars he'd become familiar with as he charged 5%, and slightly more, of One For All into his right arm. Despite Cardin's best attempt to dodge out of the way Izuku slipped right into his space and slammed his fist into his abdomen. With a great, hacking fit Cardin doubled over as his Smash drove right into his core followed up shortly by a blast of Emerald Gust. Izuku's careful aiming allowed his blow to avoid the chest piece that had protected the young man, leaving only flesh and Aura to protect Cardin as Izuku's punch drove him back a bare few inches, Cardin's great strength having kept him on his feet.

Still cardin's arms wrapped around his torso as he strained himself from the hit, the pressure against his abdomen, while not having done direct damage, had been extremely painful on him. Cardin glared at Izuku for a moment, rage and fear circling about in his gaze at once, before he charged at Izuku only to dodge to the side pick up his mace. Izuku took a breath and charged after him, pushing his body to its limits as he sought to end the fight there and then. It overextended him and, if he failed, it'd leave him wide open... but he had confidence. As Izuku moved he had enough sense of mind to turn on his gauntlet's safety to avoid blasting a hole in Cardin, considering how haggard the young man seemed.

One swing. Cardin ducked out of the way successfully, his Mace far too loose in his grip to parry Izuku away. Another swing, Cardin forced Aura into his body as he narrowly avoided Izuku again. One last swing and, that time, there was no getting out of the way. Cardin took Izuku's fist right into his gut and choked, his breathing hoarse. Cardin dropped his mace again as he stumbled back and away, holding onto his gut as his face turned slightly red.

The signal then went off, the fight was over.

"Cardin Winchester has fallen into the red. Izuku Midoriya has won!" Immediately a cheer went up through most of the crowd, many people feeling vindicated and victorious through Izuku's win over Cardin. He sighed as he looked at Cardin...

Hopefully Cardin would get the picture; Izuku would protect the students from him... and from now on, the students would know he could protect them. His intimidation of their class was over.

"Congratulations you two: Mr. Midoriya, you successfully disarmed your opponent of his best means of dealing with you and controlled the pace of the fight throughout... a simpler approach upon doing so would have likely won you the fight more quickly once you disarmed him. Going for the flashy moves isn't always the best option in every fight, even in ones where you possess an advantage." Izuku nodded at that as Glynda turned to Cardin, the young man clearly frustrated. "Mr. Winchester... while you are clearly strong, I hope this fight is a lesson that pure muscle isn't going to carry you anywhere, especially as your fellow students become more skilled in combat and become faster and more agile. I'd suggest varying up your training before you fall behind..." Cardin just grit his teeth at that, the Winchester just standing up after that and walking away, Glynda sighing as she adjusted her glasses.

"All to be done now is wait to see if he gets the message. We've done what we could." With that Glynda gave Izuku a nod and excused Izuku... it was a good fight, all told.

E/N: Cardin wrote a check his body couldn't cash. How sad.

-Shovern.

a/n: Thus we see the defeat of Cardin Winchester. It had been a while coming and while his intimidation at the hands of Izuku could be said to be the effective end of the arc, in the end, when the chance for players to confront him directly came up when he was an option to spar, no one was surprised when people chose to fight him. This effectively spells the end of Cardin's presence in the story for a good, long time yet (even now on SpaceBattles where the Quest has been running still, he hasn't really cropped back up in a major way) as suits the more tutorial of the social adversaries in the Quest.

Also, apologies for taking so long to come back to this. I've been majorly distracted and let this fall waaaay to the wayside when I really shouldn't have. Hopefully, this chapter will prove to be a fun return for those of you looking for some action and cartharsis.

-gorilla_fingers