A week came and went as Noikari's hero training began. Although his quirk would help him, Eraserhead reminded him that a hero's quirk is merely an extension of themselves, and that a true hero can work without them. Thus, Noikari started to receive physical training in order to learn how to fight properly. Although his showing against the villain on that night in the dorms was impressive, it was unrefined and sloppy. With this training, his technique would not only become more refined, but it would allow him to better his quirk.
With Aizawa and several students from Class 1A watching, Noikari sat silently, alone. His body was in a meditative state as he began to clear his mind. The advice of Aizawa hit his ears. "Remember Noikari, let everything go and make yourself utterly still."
Taking a final deep breath, Noikari breathed out before a familiar purple glow slowly adorned his hands. Bone snapped and shifted loudly as his arms began to shift. The muscles within split before being engulfed in lavender flesh. With his new training, Noikari had learned to activate his quirk 'Conversion Furnace' at will. While it still left him drained, the time he spent focusing on the process and getting a better control over it allowed him to get stronger and faster. As for his skin, though, it was becoming more resilient. With each session, the skin began to harden and strengthen as he used more and more of the power stored within his body.
Noikari's quirk was a most interesting one. His quirk allows him to absorb various forms of molecules in the air and convert it into raw energy by fusing the molecules with protons and electrons in his blood. The stored energy can not only grant a temporary burst of strength and speed but can also be used to create various types of constructs.
Opening his eyes, Noikari stood, examining his now-muscular hands. No abnormalities to be found, which was good. He would need to be in top shape for what was to come. .
Looking on, Aizawa motioned for all of his students to come forward. They got into a group in front of their teacher, allowing him to speak.
"I'd like to thank you all for being so accepting of Noikari, given what you have learned about him. His training has been going well, but I want to see the results firsthand." Pointing a finger at the group, he then declared "I want four of you students to test his abilities in a simple spar."
Everyone was shocked as they quickly started talking amongst themselves. Despite how capable they knew he was, they still felt uncomfortable fighting a kid.
"I'll do it."
All eyes turned to find the identity of the speaker. It was Todoroki who had stepped up.
"I've been wanting to see this kid in action, as well as test myself against an opponent that I know nothing about." The red and silver-haired student inquired, his gaze hardening.
Aizawa nodded. "So, we need three more. Who else?"
A hand nervously rose. "Um... I'll do it." Momo said, her hand raising ever so slightly. Maybe it was because of her friendliness towards him, or an actual interest in his abilities, but Momo came forth regardless.
"Count me in too!" A third voice roared. Eijiro Kirishima strolled in, feeling confident that his quirk 'Hardening' would be able to match the child.
"Okay. We only need one more." Aizawa pronounced. "Any other volunteers?"
The class fell silent once more, shooting worried glances at each other. Which one of them would break the silence and come forward.
"Oh, for god's sake, I'll do it."
Everyone turned in shock as Bakugo walked forward, shoving Todoroki so he could speak. "You idiots were taking too long to decide, so I'll be the last one, got it?"
Aizawa nodded to his student before turning towards Noikari, who had long since deactivated his quirk to allow himself to rest.
"Noikari!" Hearing Aizawa's voice, the child quickly ran over, standing to attention.
"Yes sir?"
Eraserhead briefly grinned before continuing. "Your training has been for the most part successful, but now you'll have a true test. You will face off against these four students." His hand motioned to his side where each of them were standing.
Noikari briefly gulped in fear, but he pushed those feelings aside. Deep down, he knew that he had been itching for a fight.
"Yes sir, I promise I'll do my best!"
"Good, now come with me", Aizawa ordered. Noikari and the rest of Class 1A followed closely behind him. The teacher led them to a special building designed specifically for exercises such as this.
Ground Beta.
Aizawa led his students inside, the doors shutting as the last of them entered. Pointing to his left, Aizawa said, "Anyone who isn't participating in the test, use the monitoring rooms in the basement." With that, Midoriya, Uraraka, and the others split off to spectate, leaving only Noikari, Todoroki, Momo, Eijiro, and Bakugo.
His eyes viewing the five heroes in training, Aizawa motioned for them to follow him. Eventually, the group found themselves in a large room which heavily resembled a standard urban area. While the others had become more than acquainted with this place, Noikari was stunned.
"It's. . It's a whole city in here!"
"Not quite." uttered Aizawa. "This is a simulated training area, designed so heroes can train in a normal environment. This is where you will fight."
Turning his back to the group, Aizawa reminded them of one more thing. "Oh, and try not to cause as much destruction as last time. It's not cheap to repair this place." He then promptly left, leaving only the five students behind.
"So, uh... guess we gotta test you kid." Todoroki stated, scratching his head.
Although the odds were stacked against him, Noikari couldn't help but feel a rush of excitement. He could tell this was going to be a fun battle.
"Fine by me. I've been looking forward to this, so come at me."
Each of the four heroes leapt in different directions, surrounding him in a square. Noikari's eyes darted in every direction as he activated his quirk once more. His arms once again became adorned with dark purple light as the insides of his hands bulged and morphed to accommodate the changes. His eyes also briefly turned a shade of orange as he took a moment to use the energy absorption part of his quirk to get some fresh power for the upcoming battle, storing it inside his body for later. Taking a fighting pose as he was surrounded on all four quadrants, the child simply uttered one statement.
"Bring it on."
With that, the fight began.
Todoroki brought his right arm forward, a veil of ice surrounding the fist. Charging forward, the son of Endeavor launched his fist at Noikari, only for it to be blocked by the child's bulky hand. Noikari briefly cringed as he felt the near subzero temperature freeze his hand, but he ignored it the best he could, instead charging forward and attempting to attack Todoroki's right leg. The result was almost comical as Noikari was blasted back by a large wave of freezing cold wind. He quickly tried to recover his balance and turn around only for him to suddenly be attacked from behind.
While he had been dealing with Todoroki's initial attacks, Momo had rushed in for a high kick that caught Noikari completely off guard. The impact sent the child flying back yet again only for Bakugo to rush in, firing his explosion at the child. As the powerful blast of fire approached the boy, he decided to improvise. Lashing his hands out, the boy caught it in his palms. What happened next shocked everyone.
Like Moses parting the Red Sea, Noikari with significant effort ripped the blast in two, leaving the halves to explode behind him. Bakugo was too stunned to react as the boy rushed forward and smashed him to the ground with a powerful punch, barely having time to avoid a retaliatory strike from Eijiro, who was eager for a challenge. Noikari leapt back before launching forward, hitting the hero in the face with all of his might. . .
Only to shriek and stagger back as he felt the bones in his fingers crack. 'Damn, he didn't think he had activated his 'Hardening' quirk yet.
'I can't keep playing defensive like this' Noikari thought to himself. 'It's time I turn this fight around.'
Noticing Bakugo preparing another explosion behind him, Noikari waited until the moment it was fired. Just as the blast approached him, the child spun around and shoved Eijiro into it, sending the hero in training flying back, groaning as he hit the dirt. Although the fire hadn't done any major damage thanks to his quirk, it did still leave some minor burns.
Bakugo swore to himself as Noikari put distance between them, hunching forward to prepare his next move. His palms began to morph and change, becoming adorned with metal. The fingers contorted to allow metal spikes to adorn their tips, gauntlets covering them. Momo helped Eijiro back to his feet as Bakugo and Todoroki watched on in complete awe.
In the observatory, everyone else was equally shocked. No one could believe it.
Noikari had just made brass knuckles out of nothing!
Shaking his head to regain his composure, Bakugo turned to Todoroki and nodded, his friend nodding back as the two silently formed a plan.
Meanwhile, Momo was still astonished. His quirk, it was like her own. Her quirk also allowed her to create numerous objects out of thin air, provided she understood said object's atomic configuration. But Noikari, his didn't seem to have that weakness.
Momo couldn't help but blush. She was liking him more and more. She wondered if Noikari had a limit to what he could create. How large or small could he make something. . . ? No, no, now was not the time to be thinking about that.
Not when the test continued.
Noikari engaged in a heated struggle with Eijiro, now being able to fight the Hardening hero without worrying about breaking his hands just from punching him. The two combatants smashed their heads together as they continued trying to overpower the other. For several seconds it was a stalemate.
The contest of strength then turned in Eijiro's favor as twin blasts of flame struck Noikari in the back, causing the boy to shout in pain as he lost focus. This allowed Eijiro to strike him across the face, causing Noikari to crash to the ground, his head impacting the dirt.
"Had enough?"
Slowly, Noikari's body rose, his mouth briefly in a circular motion before he spat out a small wad of blood. "Not even close."
Getting a little annoyed with his confidence, Bakugo fired a number of powerful shots at Noikari. Ditching the brass knuckles while dodging the best he could, the child briefly focused and forged a new construct. A bow and arrow formed in his hands as he pulled it back, firing a series of three arrows. Bakugo dodged the first two, but a third pierced into his shoulder, forcing a shriek of pain out of the Explosion hero. Grimacing, he ripped it out of his shoulder, blood briefly spilling from the wound before he placed his hand on it, using his heat to cauterize the wound.
Unfortunately, this allowed Noikari to leap forward and grab Bakugo by the head with one hand, smashing him into the ground before proceeding to violently drag him across the dirt, ending when Noikari threw him into a tree, the immense plant falling to the ground with a resounding 𝘛𝘏𝘜𝘋!
Kirishima and Uraraka watched on, both in awe. With that single move, Noikari had sent one of Class 1A's strongest flying as if he weighed nothing! Just what else could this child do?
As Bakugo recovered, he was shocked to see Noikari once more charging at him. The hero prepared to defend himself, only to be shocked when a cannonball smashed directly into Noikari's chest, knocking all of the air out of him, a horrible wheeze being forced out of his mouth as he was sent careening backwards.
Noikari shakily recovered as he looked to see where that had come from, only to jump back in shock at what he saw.
Momo, with a cannon that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere! And with incredible speed, she had moved towards him, aiming a kick straight at his chest. He raised his arms up to block, the kick coming in contact with his arms and sending sparks exploding everywhere as he took a step back, his hands burning and smoking.
"Gah!" He shouted, clutching his arm.
In return, Noikari swung one of his mammoth hands at Momo. Although she had dodged the actual impact, the sheer force of the blow created a gust of wind which slammed into the heroine, forcing her to the ground as she grunted in discomfort.
Sensing a presence behind him Noikari ducked under a blow from Eijiro, countering with an elbow strike to his gut which forced him to give ground.
As soon as Noikari landed back on the ground however, a barrage of explosions came from behind him.
Quickly turning around to face the incoming explosions, he let out a small yell of surprise, before jumping over the incoming attack.
He could hear Bakugo shouting from behind him.
"I can't hold him down!"
"No need, this will get him!"
Todoroki concentrated as his body temperature decreased significantly. Then, with a shout, he slammed his foot into the ground, a massive ridge of ice rapidly approaching Noikari. His ultimate move, Heaven-Piercing Ice Wall, forced the child to flee, dodging the attack the best he could before turning around. He then saw Todoroki leap over his creation, preparing to strike. Noticing the telegraphed attack, Noikari easily grabbed him and tossed him to the ground, a huge crater forming beneath his feet.
Seeing Noikari's strategy unfold, Kirishima smirked before rushing over and joining his classmates as well, ready to launch a counterattack. With a loud roar, Momo charged forward, shooting a newly created pillar of rock at the child, which Noikari redirected at a nearby building, destroying the structure in its path. However, before Noikari could do anything else, Eijiro arrived alongside his friends, bringing him crashing to the ground.
Eijiro punched Noikari in the stomach, sending him sailing through the air, his back hitting the ground hard. Kicking Noikari in the ribs, the boy cried in pain as he staggered back. He was barely able to stay conscious though because of the intense pain.
In retaliation, Noikari reared his head back as far as he could before smashing Eijiro with a powerful headbutt, sending the hero skidding across the dirt. Eijiro managed to dodge the second attack as it passed over him, but he wasn't fast enough to dodge the third as it crashed into him again, knocking him off his feet. As Eijiro fell, Noikari stood back upright before leaping high above him, kicking him in the head and dropping to earth before sprinting away.
Noikari could hardly get a moment of breathing room before Todoroki and Bakugo rushed in from both sides.
A punch to the left from Todoroki was blocked, the same being done to a fist from the right courtesy of Bakugo. Noikari grimaced as he felt his hands being assaulted by both burning heat and freezing ice. The three students strained, each putting all of their might into attacking and defending respectively. Finally, with a shout, Noikari forced their hands away before grabbing their heads and smashing them together. As the two heroes stumbled back, disoriented, Noikari knew what to do next.
'Bakugo seems to be the strongest physically' Noikari mentally inquired. 'I need to take him out fast.'
Still recovering, Bakugo had little time to react as Noikari landed a series of blows to his stomach before the boy grabbed a counterattack and threw the Explosion hero over his shoulder and onto the ground, quickly landing a kick on the side of his ribcage that caused him to cry out in pain yet again. Before he could react, Momo stepped in front of him and created several stun grenades, each one blinding the boy.
Noikari's eyes widened in horror as he tried to get rid of the stinging pain in his eyes.
"Gah, how the hell did you even make those?" he demanded, wiping away the spots.
"Well," Momo replied as she lowered her hands, "it's my Quirk after all. Plus I've seen your attacks, they're not exactly subtle and predictable, I thought it would be better if I used something else."
"So basically, you've been holding back, huh? Bad idea."
Just before Noikari could reply, Bakugo leapt up into the air and unleashed a burst of flames, causing Momo to flinch in slight annoyance. Once Bakugo was closer, he delivered two punches to Noikari's face and knocked him back a few steps before running up and delivering a swift kick to the boy's chest. With no time to brace himself, Noikari stumbled backwards and fell onto the ground once more, unable to recover.
"You okay?" Todoroki asked concerned.
Nodding, Noikari pushed himself back up and began to walk back towards them. "Yeah". Noikari got back up once more and ran at Bakugo, throwing a punch to his face and sending the explosive hero flying away.
The fight went on and on like this until there was very little left of either side. Noikari, despite having generated several weapons by now, including a spear, still struggled with the use of his quirk. He was running low on energy, the stored amount he had quickly being used up. The boy put a hand to his chest, panting in exhaustion.
The other heroes weren't doing much better, although thanks to their teamwork they were able to put Noikari on the ropes, they were just as exhausted as him. Bakugo was getting frustrated. He needed to end this now.
"Step back you three."
Shocked, everyone turned to Bakugo.
"Are you insane? This is a team fight, dude!" Todoroki reminded him.
"Well then consider the rules changed." responded Bakugo. "I want to take him one on one."
Eijiro was going to object, but knowing how their friend operated, he merely turned to Todoroki and nodded, the two jumping back to allow Noikari and Bakugo to battle.
Momo was worried. She didn't want to see Noikari end up seriously injured. She knew Bakugo could sometimes get carried away when it came to sparring matches. She could only hope that the child could take Bakugo. Turning to join Todoroki and Eijiro, Momo glanced back in concern before requesting, "Please be careful." She then leapt away.
With all distractions out of the way, Bakugo remarked, "No more holding back. One of us is going down and it's gonna be you!"
Noikari's gaze was filled with rage as he brought his hands together, channeling the last of his quirk's energy into one final construct. From his hands, light burst out as a shape took form. When the light dissipated, it was revealed to be a metallic battle axe, the helm glowing with amethyst energy.
At the same time, Bakugo stretched out one hand before using his other hand to create a circle on the palm of the outstretched hand. Dangerously high levels of heat permeated off of his fist, the air around both heroes warping. Noikari started sweating immensely, large beads falling into his eyes. Despite this, he still kept his eyes open, while clenching his axe in a vice-grip.
The two students both knew that one of them would fall.
His ultimate technique prepared, Bakugo shouted as he felt the raw power within boiling up, his hand visibly trembling as he prepared to fire.
At the same time, Noikari, axe in hand, furiously rushed forward as fast as he can before leaping upward, ready to bring his weapon into play.
Bakugo's voice echoed throughout Ground Beta as he uttered a single phrase.
"FULL POWER AP SHOT, FIIIIRREEE!"
The blast was launched with devastating effect, the blast literally melting the ground around Bakugo, turning it to molten slag. He grinned as he prepared to see his opponent defeated, but a look of horror replaced it.
No. . .
As the blast reached mere inches from Noikari's face, it instead smashed into the edge of his axe, the purple glow slowly morphing into a fiery orange. Bakugo couldn't believe it; Noikari's weapon was absorbing the blast!
Growling, Bakugo still refused to stop the blast, instead putting more power into it. All of his power in fact. But it didn't stop Noikari.
The distance between the two heroes rapidly closing as Noikari descended closer, the child let out one final, primal scream, channeling whatever energy he had left into his axe. And then, he swung downwards.
The results were predictable.
With all of the kinetic and thermal energy absorbed by the axe, combined with whatever remaining power Bakugo and Noikari both had, it all combined to create a shockwave of unthinkable proportions. The entire area shuddered, with even those of Class 1A in the observatory feeling the shockwaves. The dome visibly shook, cracks running along the glass roof. Trees were blown away effortlessly, their roots being torn from the earth like leaves in a storm. A crater at least a mile-wide was etched in the area, forever marking the training that had occurred.
Remarkably, both heroes were still alive, but they certainly didn't look the part.
After what seemed like an eternity, the two stumbled to their feet, each horrid breath feeling like needles impaling their windpipes. Bakugo was littered with numerous cuts and bruises which oozed blood. Noikari was even worse for wear. With his quirk having worn off due to using the last of his energy, the purple muscles surrounding his arms had disappeared, revealing the vulnerable flesh underneath, which was horribly burned from the last exchange. Most disturbing however, was that one side of his face was practically nonexistent, burned tendons and nerves being visible from the horrible wound. For a minute, the two students stood there, silent.
And then, Noikari fell.
Before his body could hit the ground, Bakugo limped over and grabbed the child, hoisting him over his shoulder. Despite the agonizing pain that ran through his system, the Explosion hero felt something inside of him change.
He no longer felt that loathing feeling he had for the boy before. Instead, it was replaced by a new feeling; respect.
Noikari became one of the few people to earn Bakugo's full respect.
With the fight now over, Momo, Eijiro, and Todoroki rushed over to their fallen classmates and began to walk them to the nurse's office. Bakugo would be fine for the most part, but Noikari would require the help of Recovery Girl.
Seeing them walk into the nurse's office, Recovery Girl turned to greet them, only to nearly jump out of her chair when she saw Noikari's condition.
"Ah, the students of Class 1A. Who needs my care this t-AAAAAH!"
Momo gently placed Noikari on the hospital bed as Recovery Girl examined the child's injuries.
"What the hell were you people doing?"
The group rubbed the back of their heads, embarrassed.
"Training just got a little out of hand" Tororoki replied.
"I'll say!" Recovery Girl fumed. "Now just give me a minute here."
Taking a moment to focus, Recovery Girl briefly put a hand on Noikari's head before gently kissing his forehead. Following this, a few of the smaller cuts on his body rapidly began closing. Her quirk 'Heal' was allowing the injuries to rapidly heal, at the cost of using the receiver's stamina.
The side of Noikari's face which was scarred slowly started to heal, strands of sinew forming and connecting with each other to repair his mangled face.
The others sighed in relief as the process began. Recovery Girl turned back to the group. "He'll be fine, but his face will take a few hours to fully heal, so you can leave now."
"Hey, I'm kinda banged up too. You wanna help me out here?" Bakugo asked, the annoyance evident in his voice.
"Here, take this." Recovery Girl threw him a simple ice pack.
Momo and the others could hardly contain their laughter as Bakugo's fury exploded.
"WHAT THE FUCK!"