Katsuki's crazed smile widened as he watched the floating boulder fly toward him at high speed. In the split second it took the rock to soar through the air and occupy the space just in front of him, he could feel the flesh upon his palms ache and strain as his pores stretch to their limit. Focusing all of his strength into the effort, Katsuki fired off an explosion from his right hand, shattering the rock and sending fragments scattering all about the bottom of the quarry as he continued to fly forward. With his other hand behind himself providing a series of chained boosts, he flew straight through the rubble and toward where he expected Izuku to be. Instead, he found what appeared to be a curtain made of steel blades obscuring his opponent.

Without a second thought, Katsuki planted a foot into the bladed shield and kicked off into a backflip before firing off another blast into the metal in midair. The force of the impacts propelled him backward near to his starting point, and as he landed, the metallic barrier began to smoke, its individual blades turning an angry, steaming orange.

"Ow!" Izuku whined as the barrier folded back into his arm, which he held as his skin continued to smoke. "O-okay! Maybe hold back a little!"

"Not a chance, Deku!" Katsuki called before speeding forward again as the explosions of his Quirk echoed behind him.

In the second exchange, however, Izuku went on the offensive. The shorter, desperate boy lifted his right leg as high as he could before bringing it down in an axe kick, causing a noise even louder than Katsuki's explosions. In an instant, a crescent-shaped, crackling wave of lightning standing thrice Izuku's height began to rip its way across the quarry, rending a long, erratic crack through the stone. Katsuki barely managed to fire a sideways explosion to juke around the dangerous wave, before Izuku spun into a waist-level kick and hurled forth a second, horizontal wave of electricity. Again, Katsuki danced gracefully over the projectile before pulling back his arm and throwing a flying haymaker into Izuku's face. The impact caused Izuku to tumble end over end along the ground as Katsuki landed, looking unfazed.

"Blade-arms… electrical kicks…" Katsuki seethed as his upper lip twitched. He narrowed his eyes at his friend as Izuku slowly stood up with a bruise already forming around his jaw. "That's two. What's all that green shit around your body?"

"Power… doubler…" Izuku answered as he rubbed at his jaw in circular motions. "All Might said it only works on physical attacks. He uses it along with his natural-born Quirk, and usually hides the others."

"Then let's see if you can use that one effectively!"

Forgoing his usual explosive approach, Katsuki raised his fists into a boxer's stance and made his way over to Izuku. He waited patiently for his friend to get to his feet and take a stance of his own, the odd green energy crackling all around his body.

"Alright… so like normal sparring, now?" Izuku asked.

"Like normal sparring… except you might have a chance, and there's no protective gear," Katsuki confirmed before spitting off to the side. "And just like you asked, I won't be holding back. For once."

Izuku's eyes widened.

"Y-you usually hold back when we sp-"

Izuku didn't get a chance to finish his question as Katsuki threw out a jab toward his face. The attack was met with a raised forearm, which Izuku managed to get up just in time to form a defense. A battering of additional blows crashed into Izuku's guard, before he ducked to one side and threw out a punch of his own, his fist encompassed in the new and unfamiliar strength of One for All. Katsuki caught the blow in his open palm, only to find himself shoved backward, his sneakers skidding along the ground and kicking up dust as he was forced away.

"…shit, that actually kinda hurt…" Katsuki commented as he shook out his hand.

"S-sorry!" Izuku apologized immediately. "I wasn't trying t-"

"Shut up, Deku," Katsuki muttered as he raised his guard once again. "That's a good thing. It means you might actually be able to do some damage, now. You usually hit like an old woman!"

Izuku furrowed his brows in confusion for a moment, before his face broke out into a slight smile.

"Thanks! I still have no idea what I'm doing, but the power doubler's pretty easy to work with."

"We'll see about that."

Katsuki rushed back in to begin another trade of blows, only to back off at the last second. Izuku swung wide, a buzzing energy trailing his arm and showing its trajectory. Katsuki seized the opportunity to grab Izuku's hand and wrench the other boy toward him before firmly slamming his shoulder into the center of Izuku's chest. Izuku let out a wheeze as Katsuki dipped low, bracing Izuku's arm over his shoulder before heaving him over his back and onto the ground.

"That stupid power doubler gonna help you break out of a lock, or does it only work for strikes?"

Izuku opened his mouth to try to reply, only for his breath to be stolen from him as Katsuki flipped him onto his stomach and ground a knee into his lower back. Within seconds, Izuku felt Katsuki's full weight atop him as he was pinned down into a familiar locking position.

"Kacchan! Come on!"

"Well? Break out of it, hero," Katsuki spat with a wicked grin. "You're supposed to be seven times the man I am, now. Or is it six, since you can't get All Might's Quirk to work for you?"

Izuku growled as he wriggled against the ground, before closing his eyes and beginning to focus.

"It's not like that! I want your help with this, Kacchan! I have no idea what I'm doing!"

"Is that what you're gonna tell the first villain you run into, who has you pinned and doesn't let up while you're doing vigilante work?" Katsuki mocked, driving his knee in deeper.

"I'm not…" Izuku began, only to growl even louder. Quite suddenly, something seemed to click within his mind, and he could feel himself getting up. He wrenched his arm from Katsuki's grip almost without effort and bucked the larger boy off his back as though he was simply shrugging off a blanket.

"Better," Katsuki praised through clenched teeth as he regained his balance. "So it does just work at all times. Explains a lot about All Might…"

"I'm not better than you, Kacchan," Izuku insisted as he once again tried to wipe the dirt and pebbles from his clothes. "Honestly… this is basically the start of real training for me. You pretty much confirmed it yourself, with some of the things you said earlier..."

"And who are you gonna train with, Deku?" Katsuki asked. "I'll be at U.A., and you've got a lot of hero-prep courses to take before you can get into any academy. What is your plan, anyway? You're not doing vigilante work, so…"

Izuku sucked in a deep breath and tensed his entire body. It was a question that he had been dreading, but one that he knew was entirely unavoidable before the night could end. Slowly, his palms began to split open in line with his fingers on both hands, and his forearms were soon to follow. The resulting tendrils looped around themselves and hardened into steel blades, up to the center of his biceps. More and more blades dropped down to give the appearance of shielded wings, and he raised his arms to protect his body behind the metallic barriers.

"I'm… coming with you."

For quite a while, Izuku wondered if Katsuki had somehow just completely shut down. The blond boy didn't move, blink, and seemed hardly to be breathing as he kept his eyes on Izuku's face.

"I'm… going to U.A., Kacchan. All Might's pulling some strings, a-and he found a way t-"

The sound of explosions cut off Izuku's sentence as Katsuki rocketed forward once again. For several seconds, all he could hear was a chain of loud blasts as the curtain of steel before him began to glow orange once again.

"Are you fucking kidding me!?"

Izuku gritted his teeth so tightly that he was afraid they might snap. Without thinking, two long, black tendrils extended from beneath the sleeves of his shirt on either side and began to lash out at the space in front of him. The extra appendages cut through the air without effort, and Izuku made the mistake of opening his arms to try to see where Katsuki had gone. He didn't notice the trail of smoke curving up and over him until he felt a foot impact the center of his spine, sending him reeling forward.

"What the hell is that one!?" Katsuki roared as he ducked out of the way of a retaliatory tendril. "Doesn't matter, it isn't going to make a difference!"

"I-it's called Blackwhip!" Izuku yelled back as he whirled and struck out with the other tendril, lashing it straight down into the ground. Katsuki sidestepped the blow and began to run forward, to which Izuku used his tendril to pull himself up into the air and out of range. "Don't do anything insane!"

"Insane!?" Katsuki questioned as he looked up at Izuku. "Right now, I have every right to go insane!"

Izuku's eyes widened as he watched Katsuki take to the air in pursuit of him. In a blind panic, he began to swing his whips once again to try to knock the other boy out of the air as his legs started to charge up with electricity once again.

"Oh, so you can fly, too? Great!" Katsuki spat as the pair made a straight vertical ascent. "That another Quirk!?"

"Float!" Izuku called. "I can levitate myself, or other objects! But I can't… if I fall, I can't stop myself!"

"Then stop running!" Katsuki commanded as he grabbed for Izuku.

Izuku dropped like a stone to try to avoid the grab and began to careen toward the rapidly approaching ground below. Desperately, he reached out toward a fallen boulder and willed the massive rock to begin rising from the ground to meet him.

"What are you, stupid!?"

Izuku looked on in horror as yet more explosions lit up the night sky, and he twisted in midair to see Katsuki falling faster, boosted along by his Quirk. Within seconds, the boulder exploded, fragments flying off to the side as the two boys came within ten feet of the ground. Izuku had no time at all to register what was happening as he felt an arm wrap around his midsection, and before he knew it, he was hoisted up and over Katsuki's shoulder. Katsuki landed into a slide, trailing dust and debris behind himself as he went. Without warning, he let Izuku drop, and the boy stumbled backward before landing flat on his rear. As his breathing grew ever faster, his Quirks began to fail one by one, until he was sitting in the dirt as very much a normal, albeit incredibly dirty and exhausted teenager.

Katsuki, in contrast, seemed ready to continue the fight. His teeth were clenched, his fists were balled and shaking, and it appeared that every muscle in his body was straining with rage.

"You… idiot," Katsuki began, the words coming out more as hostile breaths than a coherent sentence. "What was your plan? Fall into a boulder after dropping thirty feet?"

"I…" Izuku started, only to hesitate.

"Shut up!" Katsuki interrupted, leaning slightly forward. He appeared to have an internal battle before leaning back and unfurling a fist to throw his arm out to the side. "You have no idea how hard I've worked! Everything I've had to do to get an audition at U.A.! And if you say 'Kacchan', I'll blow your head clean off your neck!"

The word at the tip of Izuku's tongue suddenly retreated, and he stayed silent as he watched his friend continue to go off.

"And don't say you know, because you've been there. You barely know anything about me at all! You've barely seen what it's like where I grew up! You think we do a lot of training? Do you have any idea how much Quirk training and studying I've done without you, because you were too useless to be able to help? Becoming a hero takes more than just the shit that comes with school!"

Again, Izuku chose to remain silent. He pulled his legs in to sit in a slightly hunched position, suddenly feeling rather guilty. Wordlessly, he stared down into the dirt and began to study the swirls and patterns traced by their battle.

"…are you just being let in, or do you have to audition?"

"I have to audition!" Izuku answered immediately. He looked up to find Katsuki facing away and speaking over his shoulder. "There's no way I could just 'get in' without it being too suspicious. All Might insisted that I earn my way in."

"Tch," Katsuki replied as he shook his head. "And you'll be training on his schedule, I'm guessing? In between pro hero work and whatever the hell other lies he's busy keeping up?"

Izuku opened his mouth to protest, but soon thought better of it.

"…yeah…"

"…there's no way in hell, Deku," Katsuki seethed. "We've got a few months. You're not gonna be ready."

"We?" Izuku questioned, feeling rather hopeful as Katsuki turned to face him.

"Yeah. We, dumbass," Katsuki snarled. "You're an asshole, and All Might's an even bigger asshole, but do you honestly think I want to see you get yourself killed? Don't expect me to be all buddy-buddy and encouraging, but we've got a lot of training to do to get you into fighting shape as a hero. All Might won't have enough time… so I'll do it. And I'll do it better than he ever could."

"You will!?" Izuku asked as he pushed himself off the ground and stood up.

"Don't make me repeat myself," Katsuki threatened as he folded his arms across his chest. "Your body can't handle your Quirks. You burned out in minutes, and you have no control over anything. Not to mention, you can't be walking around U.A. with shit coming out of every pore and your stupid powers changing every single day. You pick one Quirk, and we focus on it until you can use it without blowing out your asshole. You use one Quirk in public, so we don't end up with a million stupid questions from morons who should mind their own goddamned business. You got that?"

"Yeah!" Izuku replied. "All Might recommended the same thing, at least to start!"

"I don't care what he said- if you want my help, you follow my rules. What are you so happy about, Deku?" Katsuki asked as he cracked his neck. "This is real training, now. Every damned day between now and auditions, I'm going to absolutely wreck you."

Izuku couldn't fight back his smile at the threat, and he gave Katsuki a quick nod along with it.

"…that's exactly why I'm happy. I can't wait!"

Author's Note:

Next time- UA!

-RD