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CHAPTER START---
---Wednesday, 25th January 2315, 6 weeks until Ascension...
After lunch at UA class 1A are all dressed in their PE uniforms, sitting outside at the training area on some bleachers for close combat training.
Horizon was at the top row of the bleachers sitting beside Jiro, she had one of her Earphone Jacks plugged into his phone as he showed her a new song.
As she leans against him and nods along to the music, just as he was doing, they carefully watched Ojiro and Bakugo fight in the field.
Trading blows in the small circle painted on the dirt field, both aspiring heroes give their all in this exercise.
But Ojiro was quickly gaining the upper hand.
"Tail boy got better during the winter break," Horizon says.
"That almost sounded like a compliment," Jiro says. "Careful, or else people might think you have a heart."
"Can't have that, my public image would be in pieces."
Jiro giggles and leans into him a bit more, and he drapes an arm around her, "I bet Bakugo wishes he had more room to use his Quirk in that circle."
"Mhm," they see Bakugo continuously try to line up his explosions only for Ojiro to react faster and swat his hands away. "He should just use his explosions away from Ojiro, spin himself with them to gain momentum for powerful kicks. He's so used to swinging his palms he only fights like a boxer in times like this..."
"That's pretty smart, any insight on how I could have done better in my fight?" Jiro asks.
"Yeah, don't fight Kirishima close up."
Jiro sighs and Horizon pats her head, "some matchups just aren't good no matter how you try to go about it."
"Yeah well I've got the bruises to show for it," Jiro says.
While they were talking, on the other side of the bleachers was Momo, chatting with Uraraka and Toru, who as usual was entirely visible.
"She really offered you that, already?" Toru asks Uraraka. "You've only been working with her for like 3 months."
"Yeah, its kind of a strange situation since this really wasn't in my plan."
"But you have to at least consider it," Momo says. "We know your heart is set on being a rescue hero, but a contract with Ryukyu for after you graduate isn't something you can simply turn down."
"Yeah!" Toru cheers. "You've gotta think about her ranking too, she's super high ranked, almost in the top 5. If you work with her even for a year or two then every rescue hero will send you offers and you can just pick any one you want."
"And you'll be able to negotiate for better pay," Momo adds. "That is why you're becoming a Pro Hero after all, if you do this then you can better provide for your family."
Uraraka blushes a little but awkwardly smiles a them, "well yeah, and I guess its better to know how to fight strong villains before I go into being a rescue hero. The last thing I want is to get caught off guard and be defenseless, and since rescue heroes don't fight much I won't have many chances to sharpen my skills when I find a rescue agency to work with."
"Exactly," Momo says. "Better to be a warrior in a garden than the other way around, just be sure to think carefully before you commit to any contracts. Consider how popular and capable you'll be at the time of graduation and judge the offer against that version of Uravity."
"Yeah, I'll be sure to think a lot before giving her a answer, but what about you Toru?"
"Huh, me?"
"Yeah, didn't Mt. Lady sent you an offer to work with her, that'll make you a member of team Lurkers...sort of."
"Oh yeah I already accepted," Toru says. "Working with a team that does stealth and infiltration stuff is perfect for my Quirk, plus two of the top 10 Pro Heroes are on that team so everyone will be watching me."
"That also means you'll be seeing Sero a lot," Momo says. "He's still working with Edgeshot after all, and his previous Pro Hero mentor Kamui Woods is also on that team."
"Ooo, maybe I'll even get a part in whatever next big operation Horizon is planning!" Toru gets so excited she fades in and out of visibility for a few seconds. "That'll make me super popular for sure!"
As they continue talking, not even a minute later a loud whistle is blown.
All eyes go to Aizawa as he raises a hand, "Bakugo is out of the circle, Ojiro wins," he announces.
Ojiro respectfully bows as Bakugo just gets up and stomps back to his seat, not returning the gesture.
"Alright the next match," Aizawa reaches into a box and takes out a ball with the number 18 on it. "Midoriya, you're up."
Deku jumps out of his seat and rushes over to the circle, confident in his close combat skills.
"And his opponent," Aizawa takes out another ball, and winces when he reads it. "Seat 19, Horizon..."
The entire class goes silent as they look back to Horizon, even Jiro stiffens as she's leaning against him.
"Me and Deku, well, its about damn time..."
SHAMBLES!
He warps into the small circle, standing opposite Deku. The entire circle was only 5m -15ft- wide, and suddenly it felt entirely too small for Deku's liking.
Aizawa looks over at them, seeing Midoriya already getting nervous.
"Horizon, when I blow the whistle you stop, understand?"
"..."
"Understand?!"
"Yeah, I got it," Horizon says.
"This is a training exercise, so don't use Counter Shock, I want to actually see Midoriya's progress, not just watch him get fried in the first second."
"Play it out and have some fun, got it," Horizon raises his hands in a boxing stance. "C'mon Deku."
Taking a deep breath Deku enters a low stance, ready to pounce forward at any time.
'ONE FOR ALL: 30%'
Small arcs of current begin bouncing across Deku's body as he focuses on Horizon.
BOOSTER SHOT!
"Begin!"
Deku launches forward and upward, spinning his entire body and kicking toward Horizon's face.
Horizon raises both his arms and takes the hit onto his forearms.
"Hngh!" Horizon's bones quake as the hit was much much harder than expected, but he immediately uses Booster Shot to amplify his physical strength once more and pushes Deku back.
'I've barely seen my classmates train these past few months, that caught me by surprise,' Horizon thinks.
Deku recovers instantly before even approaching the edge of the circle and rushes back in.
'A lot faster too,' Horizon thinks as he notices Deku's features becoming harder to track. 'One serious hit from him and I'll get pushed out of the circle, need to be careful.'
In the same millisecond it took him to realize this, he also analyzed the result of the Scan he did when they made contact.
'Deku's teeth are different now. Quirkless people can't regrow teeth, they're less evolved like pre quirk era humans, but this Deku can regrow teeth and metabolize enamel. One For All must be fully integrated into his body, that's why he can use this much power without breaking himself apart.
He's no longer a Quirkless little shit that got handed a Quirk, now its more like he was simply born with One For All. He's indistinguishably melded with it, just like All Might the first time I scanned him and couldn't tell he was born Quirkless.
Looks like he's one step closer to surpassing All Might, maybe if we ever get a real fight it'll actually be fun, well, at least until I get bored. He's still only human after all...'
In the millisecond it took for this analysis to happen Deku also realized something, for the first time against Horizon, he had an advantage.
His mind doesn't move as fast as Horizon's, but when they clashed he could feel Horizon buckle and have to summon more power before pushing him away.
And that was all the confidence boost he needed.
'One for All: 32%- Shoot Style!'
Deku crouches down and leaps forward, intent on spinning to deliver another kick without ever making contact.
Horizon knows what he's about to do and rushes forward, getting into Deku's personal space before he could finish the kicking motion and grabbing his leg.
Realizing his kick wasn't possible anymore Deku takes advantage of Horizon's grip keeping him in the air, leaving Horizon to hold his ankle he twists his body and kicks at Horizon with his other foot.
BOOSTER SHOT!
Horizon grips his ankle so hard it felt as if he would snap it, then pulled downward, slamming Deku's back into the dirt.
"Ngh!" Deku spins on the floor, trying to kick Horizon's leg and sweep him off his feet.
But his foot makes contact with nothing as Horizon leapt up.
He barely rolls out of the way before Horizon lands on the dirt, right where his chest was.
Deku does a flip and gets back onto his feet, raising his hands once more to continue the fight.
'I need to keep things simply and contest him with just pure strength, and I can't take my eyes off him even for a second,' Deku thinks as he rushes in once more.
This time he performs a non-stop barrage of punches, all at 30% power.
Horizon and the spectators alike can feel the air being pushed past them with each attack.
Horizon constantly uses Booster Shot to heal the damage being done to his forearms as he blocks all the attacks, beneath the body glove the muscle and bone were constantly being damaged and healed.
"So that's how strong you've gotten," Horizon says as he begins emanating blue energy vapor from his arms.
He pushes Deku back and immediately prepares a strong right and launches it at Deku.
"Let's just wrap this up, show me if you're even worth having a real fight with!"
Hearing this Deku smiles, looking back he wouldn't even understand.
But it just felt right, and he couldn't help but smile.
He rushes forward and the ground gets cratered beneath him when he launches into another Shoot Style attack.
Horizon's entire right hand is shrouded in the blue energy mist as they make contact, but even as Deku pushes away all the air around them the mist clings to Horizon.
Deku's foot makes direct contact with Horizon's gloved fist, and a shockwave rips through the air.
BOOM!
A cloud of dust covers the area as everyone covers their eyes and gets caked in dirt.
A few people begin coughing and moments later the dust begins to settle.
"Argh, I can't feel my leg," Deku winces as he sits at the edge of the circle, holding his right let.
"Did you break it again?" Aizawa asks as he swats the dust away from his face.
"No, its just numb," Deku says. 'Why did I do that? I've never used 45% before, but in that moment it just came out...'
"Looks like you won, congratulations," Horizon says as all the dust is finally cleared. "My new variation of Booster Shot still needs some work..."
And everyone is shocked to see both his feet carved out a trench in the dirt, ending a few inches outside the circle.
Deku is most surprised to see this, but he frowns at the result, "you only moved back a few inches further than me...I've still got a lot of training to do."
Horizon chuckles as he casually walks up to Deku, who was still on the floor, "and here I thought you'd be happy to finally beat me at something."
Deku forces himself to stand on his numb leg, "a fight where you could only use you weakest attribute...which happens to be my strongest, how can I become the #1 Hero if that's the only victory I can get?"
"That's the thing, you don't become the #1 Hero, I do..."
"I'm still growing too you know," Deku says, surprising everyone as he actually stands against Horizon. "Don't count me out yet."
Aizawa looks at the scene carefully, ready to intervene, and everyone stares on in silence.
But Horizon just looks down at Deku, clearly more amused than anything else.
"Alright, 'Small Might', then prove it in a real fight---"
Deku's face immediately pales.
"---I'll be in the finals at the sports festival, as usual, just meet me there and you can show me what you've got, that should be easy, right? Mr. #1 Pro Hero..."
As Horizon walks back to his seat Deku is finally able to breathe again.
'What the hell is wrong with me, that could have gone so badly, but, he's right. If I want to prove it, then the sports festival is the best place to do that, and I've only got a few months to master my new moves...'
END CHAPTER---