Chapter 27:

"So far 40 contestants have been eliminated and 11 have passed! Only 89 spots left!"

"They should have been part of those 11 passes. If they would have moved out the minute the walls came down, they could have been. Instead, they stood there wide open, like walking targets." Endeavor commented, looking down from the seats overlooking the arena.

"They should have been more vigilant. They're too confident for their own good, that's why that girl with the shrinking quirk was able to steal a flag from each of them." A vein in Aizawa's temple popped from irritation. "Clearly they need to train more."

"Relax." Akari chuckled, amused by the stress emanating from both pro-heroes. "They're just getting started."

"What are you talking about?" Aizawa asked with a scowl.

"They've both lost a flag and are outnumbered, how are they just getting started?" Endeavor scoffed.

"Because they've been sizing those extras up." Bakugo spoke up.

They all turned to look at where he was slouched in his seat, legs sprawled out and arms crossed over his chest. At first glance he looked uninterested, but the truth was he was carefully studying what was going on below.

"They let them attack, so they could see what their quirks were. Now they'll be able to come up with a plan to take them down, which should be easy enough. Imai and Shinso have been training together for so long that they'll be able to fight without having to communicate verbally." Midoriya murmured before he started his usual mumblings.

*

The girl with the baby blue jumpsuit could shrink to the size of a bug. The brawny guy with the sleeveless thermal shirt could teleport anywhere he could visually see but was limited to 20-foot radius more or less. The Last girl could shoot lasers from her eyes, and the special googles she was wearing was to help her control her aim.

It had cost them each a flag, and a couple hard hits, but it had been worth it. Noriko rubbed her side to help ease the ache from the hit the brawny guy had landed. She was pissed about all of it, but they were outnumbered, and they couldn't jump into the fight blindly.

After learning all their quirks, Noriko concluded that Shadow dude was the most problematic one. There was no way to reduce the number of shadows in their immediate area. Unless she created a huge wildfire, which she didn't want to do.

In a real-life situation, that wouldn't be an ideal way to handle a villain since she would be causing more harm than good. So, he would have to be Shinso's responsibility.

"You really went to get backup to deal with us. Didn't feel confident taking us on yourself?" Shinso taunted shadow dude, already one step ahead of her.

"Of-" And just like that he fell for the trap.

"Kage?" The girl in the blue jumpsuit looked over at him with concern.

Noriko used the distraction to her advantage, blasting the molecules around her legs to increase her speed.

In seconds she was on the girl, landing a solid punch to her face as she turned back around. In the next second, she covered her mouth and nose with her other hand and let loose a dose of nitrous oxide.

"Microgirl!" Laser eyes shouted, her hand coming up to the knobs on her googles.

Noriko didn't take her eyes off her while she gently let Microgirl fall to the ground unconscious. A couple feet away, teleportation guy took advantage of Noriko's distraction to pop up behind her.

"What did you do to my friends!" He roared, arm drawing back to hit her, but Noriko completely ignored him.

She only moved to throw up her crystal barrier in front of her to avoid the laser shot coming at her. It was Shinso that used his capture weapon against teleportation guy. His bindings wrapped around his arm, yanking him back away from Noriko.

"What the hell?!" Teleportation guy exclaimed as he lost his balance, unable to teleport away before the binding cloth was wrapped around his torso.

"No! You guys don't get to win!" Laser girl shrieked, shooting lasers wildly at Shinso and her friend to try and cut his bindings.

With her focus on Shinso, Noriko was able to jump over her crystal barrier to attack. She used her molecules to launch herself through the air until her shoulder connected with the girls chest, knocking her back. Not wanting to give her a chance to shoot another laser, Noriko's hand came up to cover her goggles, creating a frost that covered her view.

What she didn't expect was for the girl to get her legs up to kick her off. Noriko fell on her back, but didn't stay down, getting her hands up to flip back onto her feet. She watched as the girl yanked her goggles off and get into a fighting stance.

"I'm not backing down so easily." She snarled. "My quirk is unstable without my goggles, but I can still fight."

Noriko smiled viciously, getting into stance. "Good, it would have been boring if you just gave up."

With that, she attacked. The test had passed the first hour mark and there were 65 spots left. She wasn't about to sit around and waste more time when it could be over with now.

Behind her she could hear Shinso facing off with teleportation guy, but she couldn't on him right now. He was more than capable of handling it on his own.

The girl was good, blocking each of her hits, which was impressive. She must have trained hard to make up for her quirks set back. However, unlucky for her, Noriko was better.

She feigned a left punch, which left her side wide open. A kick, boosted by her quirk, sent the girl flying into a tree. Noriko followed, ready to continue until she realized she was knocked out.

Relaxing, she turned to check on Shinso only to see he had also finished his fight. He was standing over a semi-conscious teleportation dude. He glanced up at her, taking in the sight of her opponent before sending her a smirk.

"Guess we're still tied." He let out a breath, moving to collect the flags.

"We still have the second half of the exam." Noriko picked up laser eyes flag and then Microgirls.

"Two more have passed, only 58 more spots to go!"

*

"This next part of the exam is going to consist of a major villain attack involving multiple hostages. A group of highly organized villains have taken over the city's largest museum, holding an unknown number of hostages. Your job is to work together to arrest the villains and save all the hostages with minimal damages." Yokumiru announced almost an hour later.

After they had collected their flags and passed the first exam, Noriko and Shinso had moved on to a waiting room. They drank water and ate some of the food provided to make sure they were fully energized for the final part.

Almost an hour after they passed, they announced the end of the first part of the exam. 20 minutes later, Yokumiru had appeared on the screen again.

"This portion of the exam is to see how well you work with local law enforcement and other heroes to capture villains and save hostages during high stress situations. It will be up to you all to organize yourselves accordingly."

All 100 examinees watched as the screens shifted to a large building surrounded by the police. There was no visual from the inside, which Noriko didn't expect. They wouldn't make this easy for them.

"Doesn't seem that hard." Someone in the back commented.

Noriko scoffed, rolling her eyes in exasperation. Shinso chuckled, glancing over his shoulder to look at the guy that had spoken.

"The final exam starts now! Best of luck to all of you!" This time one of the walls rose up, leading to the final exam location.

All examinees ran out to exam the scene, splitting up between heading straight to the command center that was set up by the chief of police and the other officers scattered around the area.

"What have we got?" A guy with blonde hair asked the officer leading the operation.

"We were able to evacuate most of the building except 15 civilians. 6 of them are museum employees, and they're all currently being held up by about 4 armed men. There are also four points of entrance which are being guarded by two perps each. That's all we got before the cameras were cut off."

"What's their objective? Why hold up the museum of all places? The national bank is a couple blocks away from here, and that would make more sense." Noriko asked, pointing at a location on the city map laid out.

"An exhibition for rare jewels found in an excavation in Egypt, dating back to the Old Kingdom era was being showcased today only."

"On what floor was the exhibition, and where are the hostages being kept?" Shinso leaned over the blueprints spread out on the tables.

"Second floor, east wing. They've all been rounded up inside the exhibition area."

"I think we'll need three teams. Team A will take down the perps guarding the entrances and get Team B and C inside. Team B will focus on apprehending the villains holding the hostages, and Team C will focus on getting the hostages out safely." Shinso looked around to gauge everyone's reaction.

"We should have a fourth group out here to run a First Aid area to check on each hostage. We don't know what the situation is like inside. Any of the hostages could be hurt or in shock." A girl in the back called out.

"Good idea. Do we have any ambulances on the way?"

"They're still about 20 minutes out." An officer responded.

"Alright, everyone, let's start setting up the teams. Team A should be composed of offensive quirks, teams of two at least. Team B should have a couple of defensive quirks to guard the other teams. Team C, needs to coordinate with Team B for the perfect execution to make sure the hostages are safely brought out." Noriko clapped her hands to signal everyone to get moving.

"Anyone not joining the tactical teams, please help set up a first aid area. Anyone with healing quirks please come forward as well!" The girl from earlier raised her voice, moving towards an open area.

"What about the rest of us?" A girl with pink hair asked, coming in closer to Shinso and Noriko.

A few others followed her lead, huddling around them. Noriko blinked in surprise, not having expected the group to look up to them for more instructions. She looked up at Shinso, seeing he also looked a little shocked.

When everyone continued to look at them expectantly, Noriko turned to face them. "We join the officers to secure the area, make sure no villains can escape. We also need to check the immediate area to assure that they don't have backup waiting around somewhere."

Right as Noriko finished her sentence, a loud explosion shook the area, but it didn't come from inside the museum. They all turned to see Pro Hero Ryuku's dragon form flying towards them from the left and an army of her sidekicks following her.

"That's Ectoplasm!" A couple screams rang out from behind them, pulling their attention from the Dragon hero.

It was Ectoplasm indeed, or at least a hundred clones of him were jumping across the rooftops and running down the street towards them.

"Teams A, B & C, continue with the plan! We got you covered!" Shinso shouted at the teams that had paused in their advancement when they saw the two pros coming at them.

"Everyone not in the tactical teams or helping with the First Aid Station, get ready to engage!" Noriko called, holding her hand out at her side.

Her bow staff emerged from her open palm, while a handful of other students lined up behind her. Twirling the staff in her hands, she got into position just as the first of the 'villains' advanced on them.

*

"Is that Burnin'?" Todoroki leaned forward to get a better look.

"What?" Bakugo sat up quick, almost going completely over the railing in his haste.

Akari's bit her lip to keep from laughing out loud. She knew about the confrontation between Noriko and the sidekick from a brief conversation Endeavor had with them about it. She also knew without Noriko telling her, the real reason she didn't like woman.

It was easy to see that both Noriko and Bakugo had feelings for each other, even if they didn't acknowledge them. She couldn't wait until the day her little sister actually admitted her actual feelings, same with the stubborn blonde boy.

"Oh yes, Ryukyu asked to borrow her for today." Endeavor answered nonchalantly, completely oblivious to the aneurism Bakugo was about to have.

"I don't know if that was the best idea." Todoroki pipped up.

"NO SHIT ICYHOT!"

"What's the problem?" Endeavor asked, looking at them for a second before turning back to watch the fight.

"If you're all worried about the tension between Burnin' and Imai, then don't." Eraserhead commented off handedly.

"And why's that ani?" Akari asked leaning more towards him.

"Cut it out." He snapped, glaring at her. "And because Imai needs to learn to control her emotions. She has a short temper and easily triggered, so if she can get passed this, then she'll be a step closer to being the hero she wants to be."

"I thought the little issue between them had been settled the same day of their little altercation."

"I wouldn't call their issue 'little'." Akari murmured, eyeing Bakugo slyly.

This time she didn't stop herself from cackling when he turned his glare onto her. He started to open his mouth to say something, but a large explosion from below cut him off.

Down in the exam arena, Noriko was facing off Burnin', a fierce glare transforming her exposed face. Across from her, a smirking Burnin' was swinging Noriko's mask on a single finger.

"Uh, I don't think this is good." Midoriya sweat dropped.

*

"Give me my mask back Burnin'." Noriko commanded in a low voice, trying her hardest to keep her temper under control.

Already she had caused some damage to the building next to them from triggering an explosion when she felt the bitch's hit. She had to stop herself from rubbing the scratches on her face from where she had clawed off her mask.

"You think that in a real battle, a villain will do what you say just because you ask?" Burnin's smirk wasn't helping Noriko's barely contained rage.

"Figured I'd try a simple approach first, avoid using force and what not." Noriko's voice was casual, as if there wasn't a battle raging on around them.

"I'll commend you for that, but that's not the approach I'm going for right now."

Burnin' had to admit that while part of her was testing the young hero in training, another part of her was itching for a fight. So far Noriko Imai was doing a great job keeping her temper in check, but she still had a bitter taste in her mouth from their altercation weeks ago.

So regardless of the repercussions, she continued goading the teenager.

"I wanna see how a little brat like you does against an 'old bat' like myself." And with that she tossed Noriko's mask behind her and took a chunk of her hair into her hand instead.

When Burnin' took aim and launched a fireball at Noriko, she didn't move. Only when it made impact, did Noriko move to brush off the flames. A bone chilling laugh slipped passed her lips, when Burnin's eyes widened.

Twirling her bow staff, she crouched low to give herself a solid momentum to launch herself into the air. Once she was a dozen or so feet in the air, she quickly shifted the molecules in the air to drop her down fast and hard, her staff clutched in both hands.

Despite how quick Noriko was moving, Burnin' still managed to just barely dodge the attack.

An annoyed growl came from Noriko when she landed, destroying the pavement. Spinning around quickly, she followed Burnin' as she retreated. Her bow staff made low swooshing sounds as it missed its target each time.

She was starting to get frustrated that she couldn't use her quirk without the risk of overusing it when she spotted her mask.

It was lying on the ground a few feet behind where Burnin' was currently dodging her attacks. Faking a hit to the left forced Burnin' to move further to the right, giving her an opening. She dropped her bow staff, allowing it to dissolve and dove straight passed the sidekick.

She caught her mask in her hands moving straight into a front flip than landed her on her feet. Not stopping, she ran off in between a few buildings, jumping up until she reached the roof of one of them.

Hiding behind a large vent, she made sure she was alone before re-hooking her mask to the lightweight oxygen processor built into her suit. Once fully hooked, she could continue the fight without worrying about passing out. At least not within minutes of using her quirk.

From down below she could hear the chaos from the other fights, and a quick peek over the edge showed her a large group of Ryukyu's sidekicks teaming up against a few other examinees.

Briefly she wondered how Shinso was doing. She had no idea how the rescue was going, but no doubt the exam wouldn't end until all hostages were rescued, and all villains were arrested.

"Running away is for cowards, you know!" Burnin's voice echoed around her, signaling her arrival.

"Who said I was running." Noriko snipped, emerging from behind the vent after fastening her mask back on.

Immediately, fireballs came hurtling at her. Her agility was what helped her dodged each one, but it was pushing her more towards the edge of the building. If she kept it up, the bitch would have her cornered.

So, she stopped dodging them, and started swiping them out of the air before they hit her. This gave Noriko the chance to get closer, and soon enough she was close enough to throw a 2-hit combo, that threw Burnin' off.

Once of Noriko's punches hit her on the jaw, which pushed her back enough to give her a chance to try something different. Grabbing two chunks of her hair, she smashed both her palms together right in Noriko's face.

The sudden blast disoriented her, which gave Burnin' an opening to send a kick to her stomach. Noriko cried out in surprise as she flew across the roof, only stopping when her back hit the ledge.

Annoyed at being caught off guard, she shook herself off and got back on her feet.

"All the hostages have been evacuated from the building! Get them into those ambulances and the hell out of here! Mindjack and Sparks' teams are still rounding up the villains!"

She turned to look down below and saw that a group of examinees were now standing between the villains and the ambulances lined up. Scanning the area quickly, she formed a plan.

"I should deduct points for taking your attention off your opponent!" Burnin' shouted with a smirk, thinking she had the upper hand now.

She crouched, ready to end the fight, when a sudden chill ran down her spine.

Noriko hand's started glowing blue, the air around them quieting until everything was still. Then suddenly there was a buzzing as the air around them started vibrating. Little by little, water droplets started forming in the air. A little twist of her wrist and all the droplets started bonding together to form larger masses of water.

The hesitation from her shock, was enough to slow her down. So even when she grabed two chunks of fire from her hair, it was too late. Noriko had thrown her right arm out and the water masses followed her command.

They hardened into ice spears that zoomed through the air. Two pieces hooked onto the sleeves of Burnin's hero suit and pinned her against the side of a taller building across from them.

The rest flew over the ledge of the roof towards the other villains. One by one, they were scooped by the ice spears and pinned to the ground or sides of the buildings closest to them.

Glancing at a struggling Burnin' and then the other sidekicks below, Noriko was satisfied with her work. Stepping back from the ledge, she started doing her self-checks to make sure she wasn't lightheaded and good to go. A quick glance at her oxygen process showed her levels were still within a normal range.

Satisfied Noriko began relaxing when a roar startled her. Ryukyu's large dragon form rose up in front of her, the wind pressure increasing from the strong flap of her wings. Using that to her advantage, Noriko jumped, allowing the wind to carry her back away from her.

"Nice job rounding my sidekicks up, points for creativity." The comment came out in a low sort of growl.

"Thank you, I have a lot of creative ideas up here." Noriko pointed at her head, smirking.

A quick flick of her wrist of the hand by her head, sent a strong flood of air particles at the pro hero. Immediately her wings started flapping around unsteadily, trying hard to keep her in the air.

Ryukyu was used to sudden changes in the winds that could affect her flight, so she easily recovered and flew closer to Noriko. Yet the smirk never left the young girls face, making her cautious.

But that didn't prepare her for the sudden crystal mass that sprung up beneath her, encasing her in a beautiful blue iridescent cage. Ryukyu blinked, still trying to process what had just happened. Her entire interaction with the young hero in front of her had been a total of maybe a minute.

She had never seen someone, other than UA's Big Three have such quick reflexes. Especially this year's batch of examinees, with only a few showing true potential. And she had underestimated this girl because she had assumed she was like the rest of them.

"And just like that, the two villains and all their sidekicks have been successfully captured! This marks the end of this year's exam!"