Okie dokie!

Chapter sixteen, sorry to leave everyone with that cliffhanger a few days ago. To be honest, someone just reminded me that cliffhangers tended to be my specialty. I'll try to keep them restricted to the middle of the five chapter post blocs that I do, but no promises.

Now, let's get into it.

)=(

Aizawa watched as Izuka faced off against the second year student.

"Aizawa, the preparations in ground Alpha are completed. Several of the combat robots have been placed on the 'kidnapper' setting."

Aizawa nodded as Cementoss walked in. "Thank you."

"Oh, Midoriya has your eyes right now… A brilliant mind to be certain." The hero nodded.

Aizawa blinked slowly. "She can get a good read on situations and formulate pans on a moments notice. Her overall potential far outspans many that have already walked these halls. The only problem is her lack of a quirk."

"The public would shun her."

Aizawa nodded. "I fear that the fact of that could turn the public against her. Even fellow heroes may not be willing to help."

"You might be right… but then again, she can always lie and say she has some minor quirk. That, or some type of analysis! She's smart enough for it."

Aizawa shrugged. "The main problem is, is that what she wants to do?"

"What do you mean?"

Aizawa picked up his sleeping bag and drew it around his frame. "Society has struggled with quirk discrimination for a long time. Kids with so called 'villainous' quirks are bullied into becoming villains, while so called 'golden children' steal the spotlight with explosive superstrength, or laser vision. A quirkless hero could inspire hope, not just in the quirkless population, but also those kids who were told that they had no chance."

Cementoss nodded. "I see your point… Well, what's your opinion? Do you think that she'd be willing to push through the hate from others?"

Aizawa nodded. "I have no doubt that she could do it, but what about getting there in the first place? The hero commission contains members with very biased opinions. That's what I'm worried about."

"You think that the commission would bar someone, strictly because they didn't approve of their quirk status?"

Aizawa nodded. "It's happened before. Nezu's best friend in highschool was barred from receiving her license because she proved quirk awakening and evolution theory. It was the change that she signified which scared the commission."

Cementoss nodded. "And this entire idea of having every kid being inspired, to have them push through the bullying and rude remarks…"

"The commission requires a balance of heroes and villains to remain in power. They help the hero's tip the scales. At the end of the day, they would most likely use a black hero to cause a false natural disaster, and create new villains."

"Explain why we work for this idiotic system again?" Cementoss chuckled.

"Because we want to save lives. The commission will just get in the way of that if we go against them, so we do what we can."

The cement hero nodded. "Hopefully some of the legal action that Nezu has been taking will help with that."

Aizawa turned back to the display of Izuka and Kori. "One can only have faith."

Meanwhile, Izuka was locked in a staredown with Kori. The young woman held her metal staff in both hands, ready to use it in any way possible, whether it be fighting, or moving around.

Kori's hands twitched, before an orange paint like substance began dripping from them.

Izuka took a slow step back, keeping her eyes on her opponent.

The wind shifted within the street, and Kori hurled a glob of his quirk at Izuka.

The young woman swiftly dodged out of the way. Her opponent took the opportunity to get closer in order to attack.

Izuka smacked Kori's outstretched hand away with the butt of her staff, maintaining a decent distance between them.

"Your weapon is annoying…" The second year grumbled.

"Yeah, well so is your quirk."

'Think, what could its functions be?'

Kori smirked and tossed a few more globs of his quirk at her.

'He can activate this in order to stun opponents. It's pretty versatile, as he can wield it at close range, or medium to long range…'

Izuka dodged out of the way of another attack. The young woman sneezed as her nose began to itch.

"Finally airborne… now, Static cloud!"

Izuka gave a shout as static shocks erupted across her body. The young woman leapt back, finding that where she had stood beforehand was getting covered in a fine orange mist.

'It can go airborne too… I wonder.'

Izuka whipped her staff around, bowing a few clouds of the young mans quirk away from herself.

"Nowhere to run hero!" Kori grinned, running in.

Izuka grunted as he kicked her arm, before grabbing the staff and tossing it aside. Izuka was sent staggering back by a well placed kick in the chest.

The young woman coughed up a glob of spit, before wiping off her mouth and steeling herself.

"I am not done yet."

Kori grinned. "Glad to hear it! It's been a while since I had this much fun at school!"

'What is going on?' Izuka thought as she was sent back again and again. Ori's quirk shocked her multiple times. 'I feel the pain of this fight… but my body doesn't want to give up… My body won't listen to my nerves…'

Izuka blinked spots out of her eyes as Kori delivered three swift strikes to her face.

'What… is happening to me?'

Izuka's head snapped up as her instincts took over. She quickly bent back, ducking beneath a pretty decent haymaker.

Arching backwards even more, Izuka rolled onto her hands and Kicked Kori's shoulder, making him stumble back as she put distance between them.

"That was pretty brutal… that last swing meant to put me down?" Izuka smirked, wiping a bit of blood from her nose.

"I'm surprised you've lasted this long. That was quite the beating." Kori smirked. "Are you going to use your quirk? Or are you the student that my professor was hyping me up for?"

Izuka let her arms fall limply to her sides, out of instinct. "I don't have one, if that's what you're trying to figure out."

Kori grinned. "I have to hand it to you, you put up a way better fight than the rest of the school."

Izuka nodded, before stepping out of the way of another glob attack.

'Slower… it must be the adrenaline rush…'

Izuka took a deep breath and got into a beginning stance. "There's a fighting style that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't learn."

Kori blinked, confused.

"The fighting style was designed by individuals with speed or adrenaline quirks, who could use it right off the bat, and process fights at a faster pace. The point of this style was to turn your rush of energy into a weapon of pure force. It's hard to get to that level for many other people without that type of quirk."

Izuka shifted her foot as Kori got into a stance of his own.

"Come on, approach me if you dare."

'What is this… her entire demeanor just changed…' Kori's eyes narrowed.

"I don't know if this is a bluff or some sort of way to stall time… but in either case I won't buy it! COME ON!"

The second year ran in, his hands covered in his quirk.

Izuka dodged his first strike, before redirecting his second. Kori delivered punches and kicks, along with quirk splashes, but Izuka dodged or blocked each of them.

'She's faster. Her eyes are like that of an animal. She's completely zoned in.'

Aizawa blinked as Izuka turned the tables. "An interesting style."

"She's taking care of each of his attacks with ease, no matter how much trouble they caused her beforehand." Cementoss nodded. "That adaptability is incredible."

Aizawa nodded. "That it is… I wonder why she hasn't acted like this in spars…"

"The camera picked up something about her not having a fast enough mental processing speed. Perhaps her adrenaline rush?"

Aizawa blinked. "I see… Flash striking."

"You mean a speed quirk style?" Cementoss blinked.

Aizawa nodded. "It's utilized by those who can process events at a very quick speed. It's useful with speed or adrenaline quirks, as they can move their body fast enough to match the style. Several of those moves she's using are from that technique."

"Ah…" Cemetoss nodded back. "She's made her own style for when fighting goes on for a longer period of time."

"A pretty excellent skill, I would say." Aizawa blinked at the screen.

Izuka tilted her head back, dodging yet another punch from Kori.

"COME ON AND FIGHT ME!"

Izuka dodged another attack, before redirecting a kick, her eyes studying her opponent, waiting for any opening she could take advantage of.

'I developed this technique after Recovery Girl talked about my bone density. While I may not be as fast as some quirked individuals, by utilizing this adrenaline rush, I can throw my body weight into better, more calculated strikes.'

Izuka deflected a few more strikes, before Kori made a sight slip in his attacks.

'Now!'

Izuka grabbed the boy's wrist and pushed it aside, before going in for a strike right beneath Kori's lungs.

'Open Palm, Shattering Piston!'

Izuka's open hand made a reverse jellyfish motion. Her fingers stopped as her palm thrust forward, pushing the full weight of the strike into Kori's diaphragm.

The second year wheezed as the wind was knocked out of him. Izuka took the opportunity to deliver the last few strikes.

An uppercut to his chin, followed by a strike to his shoulders, before jumping and roundhouse kicking the young man into the ground.

Izuka stood panting as Kori laid on the ground, eyes wide.

"Holy shit girl…"

Izuka gave a raspy chuckle. "Sorry to do that to you. It's my last resort."

"I'd hate to see a villain push you that far when you go pro." Kori said, holding up his hands. "You gonna cuff me?"

Izuka panted while slowly shaking her head. "The adrenaline is quickly wearing off. I can't move my arms. Too tired."

Kori chuckled as he let his own hands fall to the ground. "Well, I can't get up, so I guess we just wait until the end of the exercise?"

"Good idea."

"You're really cool. Not many kids put up that good of a fight against me."

Izuka nodded. "So you said. Then again, I assume you rely more on the element of surprise."

Kori laughed. "Yeah, that's probably my only flaw. I rely on it too much. Eraserhead said I was making him proud by not relying on my quirk as much. It's my dream to be an underground hero like him."

Izuka chuckled, letting her body fall down next to the young man. "You'll be a good one Kori."

"Thanks. You're not so bad yourself."

It was Izuka's turn to laugh. "I guess this means we should do introductions?"

"Sure, Kori Kaku, second year heroics class, specializing in underground work."

"Izuka Midoriya, First year special study specializing in quirk engineering and heroics."

"Glad to meet you Izuka."

"You too Kori. Officially, that is."

)=(

Izuka and Kori sat in chairs within the observation room, munching on fruit jackets provided by Aizawa to restore their energy.

"You all did fairly well. Props to the one's that set up rescue areas when the exercise began."

Most of the class scratched their heads awkwardly. Aizawa clapped his hands. "Can the other three come to the front?"

Three students walked to the front of the room and gave a bow.

"These three, plus Kori, who's sitting with Midoriya, are second years place among you as a secondary test. Please check yourselves for any type of marking, such as a handprint, polka dot, or glowing square."

The students checked themselves over, surprised to find that many had over five marks.

"The secondary part of this exercise was to test your investigating and deduction skills. These four were 'traitors'. The marks on you mean that you had been struck. If you have over five strikes, you're dead."

A lot of the class groaned. Izuka sighed happily as she finished her fruit packet.

"I know of one student who got as far as I wanted them to. I didn't actually expect you to beat Kori of all people."

Izuka chuckled. "Dunno if I really beat him, it was more of a tie."

"Hey! I surrendered to you! Don't be so modest, kid."

"You're not that much older than me, you know." Izuka rolled her eyes.

"I'm your upperclassman, deal with it."

Aizawa cleared his throat. "Midoriya, I'll be giving you an extended rest before the next exercise. You and your random group will be going in last. I'd also like to talk later about your fighting style."

"Oh, um. Okay!" Izuka smiled.

Aizawa nodded. "Okay, next order of business. Your grades for this exercise are as follows. For those of you who are now 'dead'. You get C's. Those of you who were alive, with less than fifty civilians saved, C Plus. Anyone alive and under 100, B Minus. Under 150, B. Under two hundred, B plus. And to anyone who figured the second task out, even if they were told by a classmate, or died, you get an A. Well done, I didn't have to give out any failing grades."

Cementoss walked out from behind Aizawa. "You can all follow me to ground alpha. We'll go over the next exercise there."

The students nodded and began following Cementoss out. Aizawa walked along with Izuka and the second years.

"Your fighting was very good." Aizawa nodded.

"Thank you." Izuka smiled.

"No need to thank me. I don't know many who could stand up to any in this group. They've held on in class for this long."

"They've held on?"

Kori chuckled. "Aizawa expelled the rest of our class by the end of our second semester. He said he saw potential in each of us. Since we're a small class, he can pay more attention and help us with our hero studies with a much more hands on approach."

"Woah…"

"Some kids just don't have the potential. You've already proven yourself, so don't worry." Aizawa smirked. "In fact, I'd like to teach you a few moves with my capture scarf. It could be a good addition to your suit."

Izuka's eyes glimmered. "Really?"

The second years gawked. "Wait, really? We just started that this year!"

Aizawa nodded. "I want to give her a better edge."

"Well, I guess you'll have more time to work on it than us…" The students sighed. "But hopefully we can share some notes."

Izuka smiled. "Of course."

"Now." Aizawa said, as they stopped in front of the walls of ground alpha. "Are you ready for a crash course in active disaster and hostage training with Cementoss?"

Izuka's eyes widened.

"Well, this is a quick change."

)=(

Chapter sixteen! I've revealed Izuka's trump card, and given her her first relatively big win. It isn't super big compared to the rest, but it's a step towards development.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Let me know if you have any questions.

Until Next Time!

Sushui Out!