[EVENT] - THE FIRST DAY - STADIUM ONE

[Please only post in this thread if you are one of the four participants in this field.]
[Right Side: Chizue, Keiji]
[Left Side: Shizuka, Izumi]

Izumi's nerves were tense as she made her way to the assigned stadium entrance. Shizuka had expressed some confidence in their ability to keep the flag so long as they looked out for each other. For the most part she agreed. But there were too many unknowns to feel confident going into things. What if they weren't on defense to start? What did the opponents' quirks do? All of this information she didn't have and needed to make a sound strategy. But then, what hero had all of the information going into a crisis? This would test their abilities to adapt on the fly. So maybe Shizuka's mindset was right. Believe in yourself to start and figure things out as they come up. Upon entering stadium one, Izumi was immensely relieved to see the flag waiting for them in what looked to be some sort of warehouse.

"Look, Shizuka-chan, we're on defense!" she called out to her partner, excited to see the girl's thoughts validated. She immediately began inspecting anything she could. From the looks of things they were in a structure on a hill. And it wasn't long before she stumbled upon the intricate system of tunnels connected to their base of sorts. "We could probably hide in there without ever getting caught if we were smart." she thought aloud. However offensive their opponent's quirks were she doubted they'd be able to use them well in such close quarters. At the least if they did, they might well trap themselves in the process and lose their chance at the flag.

"I'm liking our chances!" Izumi couldn't help but exclaim as things continued to fall in their favor. Of course that didn't mean much if they weren't on top of things. All these advantages could be overcome by a wise enough opponent.

Shizuka cheerfully followed Izumi into the stadium, and began looking around the place with her. Some kind of warehouse or fort or something. It looked pretty defensible, at least. And they were starting with the flag, which was a huge benefit. Of course, being in such a good defensive position meant that their opponents must have had a pretty sizeable strength advantage. Still, Shizuka was incredibly confident in her and Izumi's abilities to support each other, especially given the field advantage they now had. "See, Izumi-chan? I told you, we've got this!" she assured her friend, "If we stick to the secret passageways, we'll probably be safe."

Shizuka walked to where the flag stood in its podium, and, with a small sound of effort, yanked the flag out, "It's not all that heavy," she noted, "but it's big. I should probably hold on to it for now. You probably wouldn't be able to kick very well if you had to carry this thing too." And besides, Shizuka wouldn't put up much of a fight whether she was holding the flag or not, so it wouldn't be dragging her down any. "Well, no time to waste, right?" Shizuka began to make her way to the nearest of the secret passage entrances. From there, decisions would have to be made as they came. Could they just stay down there the whole time, never having to leave the safety of these tunnels, or would Chizue and Keiji force them on the move, or worse, into a fight? The claustrophobic nature of the tunnels gave them somewhat of a defensive edge in the case of a direct fight, but there was no telling how strong they might be in the first place.

Keiji decided to go on to the stadium to wait for his partner. He stood at the entrance to stadium one and let out a sigh. “I can’t believe I’m gonna meet my partner without my cool helmet.” He glanced at the stadium and got lost in his own thoughts. “This is gonna be hard, a lot of the students seem super determined this year. Whatever, I’ve just gotta give this one my all and be more determined! I would be a huge jerk if I dragged my partner down with me! Yeah!” He was excited now after mentally hyping up.

Armed with the answers to her three questions, Chizue marched towards Stadium One. It was a bit disappointing she couldn't go all-out and utterly crush Shizuka and her partner's both mentally and physically but within these confines there was still plenty of options for Chizue in enacting vengeance. She took her time getting to it, arriving with only a few of the fifteen minutes they had been given left. In her mind, fashionably late and arriving with a dramatic entrance. Except there wasn't anything to make a dramatic entrance with. It was just a walk. Even worse, instead of walking up straight to the door like a badass, when she saw her partner she awkwardly froze up for a moment. Just her luck that her partner was a boy in this outfit. Adjusting her scarf with claws these giant would have just drawn more attention to the embarrassment that was hopefully hidden beneath it without the adjustment, so she quickly recovered herself and walked up to the door to the stadium as the moment it would open drew near.

"Offense or defense, stay out of my way. I'm going to crush them with my strength no matter what." The massive gauntlets made the clenching of Chizue's fists extremely obvious. And, with perfect timing that Chizue had almost messed up in the moment she'd been distracted by seeing her partner, the door to the stadium opened. She processed everything as quickly as she could. No flag. Offense. Time is of the essence. Move fast. Give as little time as possible for the defense to prepare. Without waiting for a response from her partner, she dashed off at full speed, looking towards the fort on top of the hill.

Once she was in range, 8 of her claws shot out on the ends of chains. They dug into the outer walls of the fort, and dragged Chizue towards them at high speed. When she neared the wall, Chizue ripped the claws out of it with a twirl and retracted them into the ends of her gauntlet. Continuing the twirl and carried by her momentum, Chizue slashed the wall full-force with her gauntlets, loudly smashing through some of the outer concrete but not even close to breaking through the whole wall.

"Tch... Too much to smash through that easily. The front door it is."

Keiji tapped his foot in anticipation of the exam, checking every now and again to see if he could find his partner. After several moments, Chizue revealed herself. She coolly marched down to the stadium, stopping for just a moment to get a look at her partner. Keiji’s mouth was agape as he was in complete awe. Before him stood a mighty warrior wielding massive claws. Had their been a gust, he’s sure that her scarf would be waving like a banner of victory in the wind. He noticed how she quickly composed herself, and saw her eyes focus on the task ahead. And just like that Keiji snapped back to reality.

He walked up to her, just sort of mumbling. “S-so cool. Wow…” She quickly laid down the law for him. He was to not get in her way at all. She sounded confident as she proclaimed that she would crush the opposing team with her strength. Keiji remained speechless for a moment, still sort of letting the cool sink in. The door opened. Keiji turned in surprise, then saw a flash of red dart across his field of vision. “H-hey, Chizue, shouldn’t w-“ Alas, he lost his words as he saw her unveil her quirk. Claws shot out at blinding speeds towards what appeared to be a fort. With chains attached, she was able to zip up to it within seconds. Using her momentum, she slashed at the wall of the fort. She didn't make it all the way through, but the damage to the wall was not insignificant. “OH MY GOD! YOU’RE SO COOL!!”

It was time! He charged in as well, trying to take in his surroundings as he ran. “We’re on offense, perfect!” He looked up to see the fort. It admittedly looked rather imposing. “So a fort on a hill, huh? Well, can’t really blame them when this chick is so strong!” Keiji decided to keep up a sort of jog to the fort. He figured it not only allowed him more time to think, but also assured that he wouldn’t wear himself out early. On his way, Keiji pondered on how to infiltrate the fort. “Looks pretty durable. Her quirk is definitely more destructive than mine and it didn’t break all the way through. The only chance for me to break through would be to unload all my candles, but that would totally drain me. I should save them for the enemies anyway.”

He decided it was an ineffective idea to start lobbing his fireworks. Fortunately, he was still making good time and had barely broken a sweat on his climb. “Don’t worry, partner, I’m right behind you!” He said excitedly on his way up.

Izumi agreed with Shizuka's course of action. However light the flag was, it was better she be free to fight most effectively. However sturdy the room was, leaving the flag out in the middle of this place also felt foolish so her partner's plan was fine by her. She began walking after her into one of the many tunnels.

"I think we should move slowly and quietly through the tunnels. If we're always on the move we'll be harder to track down but too much noise and we'll give ourselves away." she began in a whisper as she hovered close to Shizuka. "Ideally, our opponents will split up to cover more ground which will give us the edge if a fight breaks out." Izumi continued as they came to their first branching path.

"One of us should probably be focused on watching behind us. Whatever happens we can't get caught from both sides or we'll probably lose the flag." the green-haired girl went on. She looked behind the duo for a moment in response, sure no one could have closed in on them that fast. But it was always better to be ready. "Try to save your adrenaline rush for a pinch if you can. The more surprises we can keep on our side the better." she finished strategizing aloud and took point. It made more sense for their enemies to come from the front, at least early on. The longer this went the more possibilities opened up. More possibilities meant less factors Izumi could plan for and less chance they won.

Shizuka nodded silently along with Izumi. Staying quiet would be difficult for the girl, but it would obviously be beneficial to avoid alerting their opponents to their position. And saving her adrenaline rush until a critical moment was a sound strategy. The surprise factor of Izumi suddenly becoming much stronger and faster would surely throw Chizue and Keiji off if it came down to it. So, Shizuka thought Izumi's plan was solid, "Okay, I've got your back," she whispered, following her friend further into the expansive tunnels.

As they quietly marched through the dark, cramped passageways, Shizuka kept her ears open, listening intently for anything: voices, footsteps, anything to tip her off that somebody might be about to come up behind them. She kept her eyes on the path they'd already made, glancing back every few seconds, occasionally turning around fully and walking backwards for a time, but always keeping the flag between her and Izumi, so it couldn't suddenly be snatched from her when her guard was down. The near silence of the tunnels was ominous, as was the anticipation of the foes they may soon have to face. But being with a friend eased Shizuka's mind. Izumi seemed so strong and smart. As long as she was here, Shizuka was confident in their chances.

Chizue moved into the fort, spending the first few minutes moving as silently as she could. There was no sign of either of her targets. It seemed Shizuka's partner wasn't completely incompetent, at least enough to get Shizuka to actually be quiet. Moving quietly and attempting to get the drop on them like this was going to be too time consuming as it was going to be essentially random whether or not they even encountered each other. While Chizue did have a technique she could potentially use to try and figure out the location of Shizuka and her partner, that wasn't going to be a guarantee and using that technique over such a large range would be extremely risky. So, taking into account what little she knew about Shizuka based on their interactions, Chizue came up with a plan.

Using the same method she used to test the durability of the walls, Chizue began to put gashes in the walls of longer hallways, broadcasting her location loud and clear. Mostly loud. There were a few times she nearly slammed into the wall herself doing this, and one time she actually did, but for the most part her methods were fairly clean. She was cutting down her travel time like this, marking where she'd already been, and after each gash she took a moment to listen for the sound of Shizuka panicking. Along shorter halls, she made smaller gashes in the walls that caused nowhere near as much noise but still might be enough to get a reaction. Whether it was the threat of Chizue's approach or the potential of the building collapsing, Chizue was sure this was going to work. The minor concussion totally had nothing to do with that thought process.

Keiji made it the top of the hill with plenty of energy. As he rose to the front of the fortress, he saw a small glimpse of his partner   as she disappeared into the darkness of the fort. Keiji figured that sticking together was the safest option, but by the time he had entered she was nowhere to be seen. He noted a few stairwells going down. A huge grating and smashing sound resonated from downstairs.

"KRRRRRRSH BMMM!"

The enemy wouldn’t give their location away, so it was certainly Chizue and her quirk. “Hmm, intimidation factor I guess?” Keiji considered his options. “Sticking together is still safe, but now that she’s making a racket, the enemy will know her general location. They might be able to evade us both if I follow her.”

He quickly removed the boots from his costume as more smashing sounds came from below. With a steady and silent pace, Keiji headed down the staircase furthest away from the sounds of destruction. He made little sound as he walked. He refrained from charging up any fireworks as well, concluding that his opponents would be able to see any light given off by them as he approached. Keiji’s face was that of determination as the destructive sounds still echoed through the halls. “I’ll let her know their location even if I go down. We can do this!“

As Shizuka and Izumi tip-toed through the complex maze of secret passages in their fort, Shizuka suddenly heard a loud noise echo through the halls, accompanied by the walls briefly shaking and dust falling from the ceiling. The sudden noise piercing the near-silence they had been in for the past few minutes, combined with the shaking walls, was a shock to Shizuka's system, causing her to reach for Izumi's hand, and suddenly let out an involuntary yelp, just for an instant. The noise reverberated through the empty tunnels, completely unobstructed by anything except the tight walls. In a panic, she slammed her mouth shut, and stopped in her tracks for a few seconds. When she recovered, she whispered, "S-sorry. I got scared," she looked behind herself to see if anybody was closing in. No sign of anyone yet. "You don't think anyone heard me, do you?" More loud noises and shaking walls followed, but Shizuka just barely managed to keep her cool. Her friend was here with her, after all. And panicking any more than she already had would only make things worse. So she kept her mouth shut, and tried not to make herself any bigger of a target than she already was.

-----------------------------

Jun Sujiyama placed a potato chip to her mouth, and bit down with a resounding crunch. The exam on-going in stadium one should be an interesting one, for sure, but for now, it was boring. She should have figured as much. After all, the exam had been designed to reward those girls, Ueno and Ema, for playing on the defense. Hiding, as it were. 'What a bore,' Jun thought. The only reason she'd volunteered to help keep watch over the exam was because of the girl on the other side. "Chizue Kanemoto..." she had been particularly impressive during the entrance exam. Not first place, but she had gotten three emeralds, which more than made up for that fact in Jun's mind. Jun was eager to see the girl in action. As the girl begin zipping around the fort, making a ruckus, trying to fish her opponents out, Jun smirked. "Clever girl..." she muttered, sudden interest gleaming in her eyes, "Go on then, Kanemoto-san. Give me a show worth watching." With this little lady, a fight was surely inevitable. And that was something Jun wouldn't miss for the world.

A sudden noise took Izumi's attention as they were slowly moving about the halls. Immediately she took to checking every direction she could for enemies and hardly noticed as Shizuka took a hold of her hand. Her partner's audible cry snapped her back from the shock of things. The noises continued after the girl's pondering if the opposing team heard them. It made sense to the green-haired girl that this strategy could possibly elicit auditory responses from them and save the others effort on looking. But at the same time she had to wonder how trustworthy any sound was with the way these tunnels echoed and twisted together. Regardless, no one had found them yet. But the longer they stayed here the less likely that was going to remain true.

"Let's keep moving. A bit faster, though not loudly if we can help it." Izumi whispered in response. The sounds continued sounding and changed volume periodically. At least one was on the move. But what about the other? Maybe the two were staying together but it seemed unlikely given the noises. In fact Izumi was willing to bet one of their two opponents was moving under cover of the other's noise. They couldn't trust any direction entirely. "We need to get away from whoever's causing that racket. Keeps your eyes peeled, one of them could come from anywhere." she finished as she began leading Shizuka along at a faster pace than they'd started. The more she moved and the more sounds that sounded through the chambers, the more a fight seemed inevitable.

After going down the short set of stairs, Keiji made it into a short hallway. It was dark, but not too dark. The boy walked slowly down the hall and let his eyes just to the darkness. He came across an intersection with a path to his left and right. He listened between Chizue’s echoes of destruction for any signals of distress. None. There could have been a sound from the initial shock, but the enemies were good about keeping themselves quiet now at least. “Well, I’ll guess then.” Not wanting to wait around for too long, he went right. He kept up a brisk walking speed. His bare feet made little sound, and his partner was bestowing a constant source of noise to cover his tracks, so there was no need to go at a crawling pace.

The place was like a maze. Paths upon paths laid before the boy. He’d have to determine his opponent’s location at least a couple of seconds before they saw him, due to the fact that his quirk takes that long to charge. He wanted every second he could get to charge before his assault. He paced down the halls at a steady rate, and would wait at the end of each for just a moment. He would listen closely for footsteps. A few minutes passed with nothing out of the ordinary.

Keiji steadily approached a corner with a hallway coming from the left. As per his routine, he stopped just before the end of the hall. He listened closely.

SCCRAAAATCH BMMMM…Tap tap… tap tap… SCCRAAAATCH BMMMM

His eyes widened and his heart trembled for just a moment. Between the sounds of his partner he was able to hear light footsteps. He heard them in pairs, so he concluded that his opponents were either together, or it was just one person using some sort of trick. It didn’t matter either way, as the enemy was approaching regardless.

His stance was like a statue. He stood totally still in the darkness and he controlled his breathing. Sweat dripped down his brow as the footsteps grew closer. They were a mere few feet away now. It was time. He took a deep gulp and outstretched both arms. Purple light began materializing between both hands as his fireworks formed. His opponents would have just a few seconds or so between the initial light flash and the attack. It couldn’t be helped, he wasn’t very strong without his quirk, so he had to use it. Not much to do about it, so he hoped that they wouldn’t process it in time to dodge. He leaped forward and torqued his body to the left, letting loose two roman candles straight down the hall. Whether or not his attack was successful, he let out a battlecry as he attacked. “OVER HERE!”

Shizuka nodded silently with Izumi, and picked up the pace as they continued through the dark tunnels. The constant noises echoing through the halls only continued to make Shizuka more and more nervous, and she wanted nothing more than to escape from the sound. Her eyes frantically darted around, looking over her shoulder, checking for the absolute slightest notion that anything at all could be out of place. It was only Izumi's company that was keeping her from locking up and panicking in the middle of the cramped tunnels. Were Shizuka alone, she knew she wouldn't be able to manage right now.

Against all odds, her nervous state actually served to benefit her. While walking through the passageways, she suddenly noticed something out of place around a corner: a slight purple light illuminating the darkness, appearing out of nowhere. A person in a rational state of mind may have overlooked it, or had a calm, if cautious, reaction to such a phenomenon, but Shizuka went into full panic mode. "Watch out!" She had already grabbed Izumi's arm and was starting to pull her when a boy leapt out from the corridor and shouted at them, releasing two bolts of crackling purple sparks from his finger tips. Shizuka forced Izumi to one side of the tunnel, causing the fireworks to sail past her. Unfortunately, they instead found their home in Shizuka, one slamming into her shoulder, the other in the center of her chest, eliciting a cry of pain from her. Briefly ignoring the pain, Shizuka tightened her grip on Izumi and began running down the hall, the way they had come. Her mind was in a panic, and when faced with fight or flight, it defaulted to flight.

She immediately pulled Izumi through a corner in the halls, then another, trying to move as erratically and randomly as possible to try and lose their pursuer. Shizuka had fled too quickly to tell if he was alone, but it looked like he was, which meant his partner was still out there. The noise they had made with all the shouting and running would certainly attract their attention, if they didn't already know where they were, so it seemed stealth was out completely. In Shizuka's mind, she wanted to keep running for the remainder of the exam, but she wasn't sure that was possible. Besides that, the attacks to her shoulder and chest were beginning to seriously hurt. Rounding one more corner, she suddenly slowed to a stop, and made a concentrated effort to remain standing. "Sorry, Izumi-chan. I panicked, I didn't know what to do," she said, casting a glance behind them to see if anybody had caught up yet, "that boy got me," she gestured to the places where the fireworks had impacted her, "it really hurts. Can you fix me up before we keep going?"

It seemed Shizuka had a better grip on her emotions than Chizue had anticipated.  That, or Chizue had just not been in the right place at the right time.  There were no sounds of panic as Chizue tore up the walls on the inside of the fort that she could heard.  It went on for several minutes, until Chizue heard a different sound.  From below, she heard what sounded like a guy, probably her partner but she didn't pay enough attention to be positive, shout "OVER HERE!" and Shizuka respond with "Watch out!"  That one she was much more certain of.  Her partner had encountered the targets before her, but they were probably gonna run and it sure didn't seem like that guy had anyway to keep up with those two.  So, Chizue made a decision.  She ran in the opposite direction.  The layout of the floors was probably going to be drastically different so it'd be down to luck whether or not this plan worked.  

"Secret Technique Number Thirty-three!"


From the openings in the palm of her gauntlets, she reshaped the metal of the chains she had been using to dart around into long reinforced chainsaws.  With them, she slashed an X into the floor that breached the ceiling of the hallway below.  Soon after, Chizue smashed through the weakened cement with her gauntlets to descend on the hallway below.  About 10 meters or 30 feet down the hall from where Shizuka and Izumi had stopped to catch their breath, debris rained down with a figure amidst it.  "This exam is over now."  A voice rang out from the debris.  "Why?"  As the dust settled, Chizue stepped forward.

"Because I...  am here."

It almost sounded reminiscent of something one of the Great heroes of old would say, truly fitting for a student of the greatest Hero Sch---

"To crush you."

Nevermind.

Keiji’s feet hit the ground, but he couldn’t totally stop his momentum. He slid and stopped against the wall, thankfully with only minor damage to his shoulder. His eyes focused straight ahead to his foes: Two girls, one with long white hair, and the other with green hair. The green-haired girl was against the wall, seemingly pushed out of the way by her partner. The other girl was met by the full force of Keiji’s projectiles. She let out a cry of pain as she got hit. Keiji snapped out of his almost zen like state and took a step back. The girl ran off with her partner with just about as much speed as she could muster.

He stood still for a moment before running after his foes. He knew that it would come to this, sure, but he knew that the person he hit was innocent and just looking to be a hero like him. “S-sorry!” He shouted down the halls. Keiji assured himself that he wouldn’t overdo it and only use as much force as needed. He managed to collect himself as he gave pursuit.

But the pursuit was cut short by a few diverging paths. With his stealthy approach done, he decided that he had to find them as quickly as possible. He stretched his left arm forward as a small yellow orb formed. Within seconds it erupted into a small shower of sparks. With a small light source, he trekked onward, not entirely sure where his foes were. “Darn, where did th-“

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

A thunderous noise echoed through the halls, far louder than the smashing sounds from before. The underground halls buckled and shook. “It must be Chizue!” The sound came from fairly far away, opposite the way he was heading. He determined that his best option was to meet back up with his partner. He burst down the hall with a sprint, but he was no superhuman in terms of speed. Fortunately, he had familiarized the location of the sound, but it would still take him a moment or two to get there.

The uneasy calm that had pervaded the first few minutes of the exam was now dissolving entirely around the girls as Shizuka covered Izumi from the first attack. The two took off running together, holding hands all the while. They still had the flag which was good but Izumi had wanted several times to stop her partner and heal her. Eventually the chance came as their run slowed to a stop. Izumi herself was breathing heavier now but that was mainly from the stress of the situation and not the actual running itself. She'd trained for running but she hadn't trained for running from quirks bent on hurting her in an underground labyrinth. Shizuka began apologizing but more importantly Izumi was going to take the chance to heal her even before she asked for it.

"Don't worry, you did fine." she said, trying to calm the girl some. More than anything they needed to stay composed. They were inherently at a disadvantage in combat so they had to be cool and collected. "I'll get you fixed up right away." she said as her right foot began softly glowing with green energy. "This is gonna hurt a bit before it takes effect." she warned but before she could explain much more a crashing sound came from further down the hallway. Their other opponent had found them and entered with an oddly questionable one-liner. Given the near panic of the girls' flight from the first opponent Izumi had to wonder if this girl was for real. Like did she honestly mean the things she said or was she just trying to get into a mock villain role for some reason? Under normal circumstances she would have questioned her but there was no time for that.

"As soon as you get up, charge her. We need to push through before we get caught on both sides." she said quietly to her partner after turning from the newcomer. In a move that would make no sense to her opponents, Izumi delivered a decisive kick to Shizuka's chest which sent the girl back a foot or two and into the wall of the tunnels. While it would hurt until the impact, Shizuka would find her injuries healed and herself energized some as Izumi had delivered more energy than needed. Now she could say she was actually tiring physically but not nearly enough to impair her movement yet. She could heal several major injuries in a day but minor injuries even if overcompensated were a lot easier.

Without delay the green-haired girl turned about to Chizue again whom she intended to charge through with Shizuka's help. The girl seemed strong but Izumi was confident they could push through so long as she was the only one here. She began running toward her opponent, looking for any gap they could take or create with a well placed blow. The gauntlets protected the arms, so a sweep to the legs seemed the best bet.

Shizuka yelped in surprise at the sudden entry of their second opponent. When she saw who it was, her blood ran cold in her veins, and her heart nearly stopped. The white-haired girl with the chains. She'd never caught her name, but she had never once thought that she would be the other person Shizuka would be forced to face in this exam. Despite Shizuka's best efforts, she was well aware that Chizue was still upset with her for what happened during the entrance exam, and the idea that she might be ready to take out her frustrations did not elude Shizuka. And after seeing that she had the power to burst through the ceiling like that, she could only imagine how strong Chizue must be. Put simply, Shizuka was scared.

But there was no time to be scared. Shizuka tightened her grip on the flag as Izumi kicked her in the chest, sending her back into a wall. It hurt like crazy for a moment, and Shizuka took a moment to realize how strong Izumi's kicks actually were, before she slammed into the wall and found the marks where Keiji's fireworks had hit healed, and the pain from her injuries dissipated. She forced herself to be steady and not collapse after the impact, and when she had fully recovered, followed Izumi's instruction and immediately began running down the hall after her. 'It's now or never!' Shizuka thought. They needed to break through Chizue at all costs before Keiji caught up with them, and catching her off guard before she could react could prove vital.

"Don't hold back!" came Shizuka's battle cry, as they charged down the hall at Chizue. Izumi would suddenly feel a surge of adrenaline pumping through her veins, overriding any fatigue she may have been starting to feel already, and pushing her beyond her limits. As the pumped-up Izumi made a sweep towards their foe's legs, Shizuka leapt over her head, bearing down on Chizue and aiming to slam the base of the flag into her chest. Even with Shizuka's limited upper body strength, the force of gravity, combined with Izumi's attack, gave Shizuka hope that her attack could drive Chizue off her balance, at least enough for the pair to get past her.

Shizuka's partner kicking her into a wall was not the response Chizue had been expecting. However, she quickly clued in on the reasoning. Shizuka was injured when Chizue had arrived, and after the kick, it seemed her movements were no longer that of an injured person. A healing Quirk teamed up with a buffing Quirk. This almost seemed too easy. If Shizuka was forced to use her Adrenaline Rush, Chizue already knew the drawbacks of it. There were still about 20 to 25 minutes left in the exam, so Izumi would likely crash before it was over while Shizuka, clearly the lesser and more fragile of these two opponents, was the one that would have to tank the brunt of the damage. They might have a chance if they were able to escape repeatedly, but as long as Chizue took the flag here they'd be forced into a disadvantageous position: Fighting Chizue head-on.

The team of two charged with Shizuka activating her Quirk. In a show of arrogance, Chizue didn't even take a fighting stance. They had to close 30 feet, and even with the adrenaline pumping through Izumi's veins from Shizuka's Quirk, Chizue had just barely enough time to put her response into action. From her middle finger, a single large chain shot up into the ceiling above. Using it to support her maneuvers, Chizue did a flip to evade the sweep at her legs before yanking herself further up and over Shizuka to evade the other strike. Now that she was above the two of them, Chizue grabbed towards the tip of the flag before Shizuka could land in order to throw the girl off of the flag and into the ground. Regardless of success, Chizue retracted the chain to bring herself up to the ceiling before kicking herself off to bring down a heavy blow from her massive gauntlets straight onto Shizuka once again, shouting out, "THIS IS PAYBACK!" However, ignoring Izumi like this in her rage against Shizuka left herself wide open to a counterattack from the Infinite Dumbness' partner.

Keiji kept running down the halls with his light guiding him. His heart was racing, both from excitement and from all the running of course. When he came upon a branching path, he took a moment to catch his breath.

“Don’t hold back!”

He heard a voice echo down the hallways. He already knew the general area where he was going, but this helped him pinpoint his target even better. He took a deep breath and continued his sprint down the halls. “Why would she call out like that?” He realized that it would be disadvantageous to cause any unnecessary noise while a second assailant was lurking around. He figured it must be related to her quirk, but that’s about all he could gather. He made a turn to glimpse a long stretch of hall with nothing down it. But he could hear the sounds of breaking stone echoing down this hall, so he concluded that everyone must be around the next corner.

He ran down the hall at a breakneck pace, waiting until the very end to start charging his fireworks. He ran down, coming closer and closer to the corner. He held out both arms at around chest height and when he came within about 2 meters of the corner he started charging his purple lights. He decided that it would be a terrible idea to just fire off his candles as soon as he made the corner like last time considering that his partner was going to be in his firing range. So he would run into the next hall and wait for just a couple of seconds to get a grasp on who was where first.

With a twist and a step, Keiji made his way into the other hallway. He had not been as stealthy in his new approach, so he was wary of an attack on him while he took in his surroundings. Fortunately, the hall was fairly long, so he hoped his opponents wouldn’t have enough time to run down and deal with him as well as Chizue. A couple of seconds passed. His partner and his foes were in the midst of combat, jumping and striking with great resolve. It seemed that Chizue was going full force in an attack. She seemed angry, almost enraged even.

“THIS IS PAYBACK!”

Yes, definitely enraged. Chizue was definitely not someone whose bad side you'd want to be on, and from the sound of that shout, it seems like someone was. Keiji was visibly worried after seeing this, worried about the safety of his opponent. These attacks seemed much more deadly than his candles. Whether or not Chizue's assault was successful or not, Keiji's focus waned for a second.

BOOM!

Both of his candles simultaneously went off in his hands without his concentration, knocking him back against the corner wall. While the impact against the wall didn't do much, Keiji's hands weren't in great shape. Coated with black ash and minor burns, they started twitching in pain. This wasn't very good. Not only had he hurt himself, he was now short two candles. He was visibly red and sweating. He probably had another two or three candles in him before he'd collapse from exhaustion. "I can't believe I did that... crap!" His teeth chattered for a moment before stepping forward and taking a defensive pose at the end of the hall.  "Come on, get a hold of yourself!" After a few seconds, he managed to muster another candle in his right hand.

"Huh?" Shizuka gasped as her attack caught only the air, while Chizue rocketed up towards the ceiling on her chains. It was a maneuver she'd seen her use during the entrance exam, when she sped away after Shizuka helped her. She should have been prepared for it, but in her panic, she could only think to try the most straightforward approach. When Chizue reached for the flag, Shizuka held onto it for dear life. Just barely, she managed to not surrender her hold of the flag, but she swore she could feel her arms popping out of their sockets. It hurt. But that wasn't the worst of it. Immediately after, Chizue descended down upon her with a vicious battlecry. Chizue's fist crashed into Shizuka, bearing down on her and sending her straight into the ground. The impact of the blow elicited a cry of shock and pain from Shizuka, much worse than the fireworks Keiji had hit her with just a minute ago. As she fell to the ground, Shizuka's grip on the flag was lost, and the flag went scattering across the floor, the sound of metal striking stone echoing through the halls.

From her position on the floor, Shizuka could barely take stock of what was happening. The impact had left her dizzy, and she was in no position to get up in such short notice. The flag was on the ground. If Chizue grabbed it, that could be the end of it. And things just kept getting worse. From down the hall, an explosion sounded. At one end of the dark tunnel, a familiar purple light began to glow. Keiji had caught up with them. If they didn't escape now, they'd be trapped on both sides. Shizuka cast her eyes to her partner, "Izumi-chan-" she tried to call, but she couldn't even finish her sentence. She just hoped her friend would be on the same page as her. She wanted Izumi to grab the flag and run while Chizue was distracted with her. Lose Chizue, and keep running for the next twenty minutes. Even as she feared for what Chizue might do to her in her rage, she just wanted Izumi to get out of there as fast as she could.

Shizuka's adrenaline rush kicked in as the two girls launched their joint attack on the very angry about something Chizue. The rush of focus and intensity took Izumi by surprise which only continued as their target avoided the sweep to her legs and maneuvered about with chains to attack her partner. The enemy's focus seemed to be entirely on Shizuka, which made enough sense as she was the flag holder. But the ferocity of the blows made it seem like there was something much more personal going on there. With the surge of adrenaline, Izumi's thought process was no where near so drawn out as it might have normally been. There were only two responses to the situation: attack Chizue or run away with the flag. And explosion sounded as the other enemy had arrived and Shizuka seemed to indicate that her partner should take the latter of her two options. But Izumi had already decided.

The girl was so hellbent on harming Shizuka that she left herself completely open to others. Izumi's eyes narrowed in on her target as she planted her left leg firmly and wound her right leg back some. The entirety of her body twisted as the leg swung through the air in an arc, connecting her foot squarely with Chizue's back and neck. But the green-haired twister wasn't done and as she'd been trained she followed through with the kick, forcing her opponent out of the way. She'd delivered about as strong a kick as she could have in the circumstances. A side effect of the adrenaline fueled fight response being she wasn't going to be able to control herself in that regard very well. Immediately her response changed however. She knew if this fight continued here they'd lose hands down. As soon as her foot was planted she turned to scoop Shizuka up off of the floor and onto her back. She took off, only lowering herself again briefly to retrieve the flag which had fallen to the ground before darting down the nearest turn off to get out of the immediate confrontation.

The girl was running at about her average sprint pacing but due to her partner's quirk she was sustaining it much longer. There were so many things to think of and yet Izumi's mind was simply set on running. She had to keep going. Shizuka needed her to keep going. They had to get as far from the others as they could. No looking back, just keep running.

The fight raged on across the hall. After Chizue’s brutal blow on the white-haired girl, the other enemy leaped into action. A counterattack in the form of a devastating spinning kick was delivered to Chizue’s back and neck. As the attack landed, Keiji grit his teeth in frustration. He was concerned about his partner, but he had to quell his emotions and stay focused during these moments. He waited until he could see a clear shot. A moment after the girl's assault was over, Keiji launched his firework down the hall towards his foes, but it was too late. The green-haired girl had formidable speed and made the turn fast enough to avoid the attack, and the firework instead sailed and exploded in the wall just behind her. She had also grabbed her partner and the flag on her way. He was doubtful that he could catch up to them in a reasonable amount of time, and besides, he had to check on his teammate.

He clumsily ran down the hall. His body looked shaky and he was short of breath, but he was still able to keep himself upright. The boy’s internal temperature was sweltering, and the likelihood that his next attack would be his last was all but certain. It would be best if this ended soon. Chizue had also taken a huge blow to her back, and he didn’t know how well she took it. He tried to talk to her between taking breaths. “Chizue… ha… ha… are you alright?!” He stopped his forward motion and leaned against the wall with one arm. He wiped the ash off of his left hand and stretched it out to help his partner up.

"Hinjaku, hinjaku."  Chizue looked down at her prey, seeing that Shizuka had managed to hang on to her consciousness through the heavy blows that had been dealt.  She rared one of her gauntlets to strike a final blow to take Shizuka out of the exam definitively, but before she could bring it down a heavy impact struck her in the back.  Chizue was knocked forward and the wind blown out of her for a moment as she tumbled against the floor.  Before she could recover, Izumi was able to grab both Shizuka and the flag and disappear behind the corner.  If Chizue wasn't angry enough already, she was in a complete rage now.  There was no way she was going to lose like this.  She was going to crush both of her opponents in an instant with no room for mercy before the girl with the healing quirk would have time to get Shizuka back in the fight.

When Keiji reached out his hand to help Chizue, he was met with a giant metal gauntlet knocking not just his hand but his entire body backwards and away from Chizue.  Her eyes were filled with a burning anger, focused on what was right in front of her.  There was no time for her to worry about what was behind her.  As soon as she recovered, she unleashed one chain and shot herself towards the corner her target had vanished behind, then used a second chain to swing herself around the corner while maintaining her momentum.  Eight chains erupted down the hallway, four going passed each side of Izumi and sticking into the far wall.  Chizue started retracting the chains and was heading down the hallway at top-speed towards Izumi, raising her legs to plant her legs straight into Izumi's backside.  Or at least, that's what it looked like her plan was.  

"Secret Technique Number Twenty-seven!  Hissatsu!"  

Once she was close enough that her own velocity would carry her passed her targets, the chains detached from the wall one side at a time, throwing Chizue, and the chains, into a deadly whirlwind of metal.  The second set of chains to detach would swing towards Izumi before smashing against the wall, shattering some of the links and splattering blood against the hallway before Chizue retracted them enough for the narrow hallway.  An impact from her chains would be painful enough, but taking a head-on blow from her gauntlets like this would probably be the end of the exam, and a very harsh punishment for Chizue.

Once clearing Izumi, the chains would extend again, tearing into the walls on either side of Chizue to slow her down enough to land safely.  And once she did...



In her mind, she imagined an explosion behind her as her targets were defeated in a single blow before turning to see the results of her technique.

Izumi had yet to stop or even really check on her partner. Whatever Shizuka's condition the two needed to get away and that was the singular thought on her mind. The hope to run away for the remainder of the exam as misguided at best. But the green-haired hopeful had anticipated a little more time than she going to get. The incredibly violent girl was already hot on their trail and was literally propelling herself through the air to come after them. The girl's chains were flailing about the corridor and preceded the arrival of the violent ball of rage proper. There was little the girl could do to shield herself or her partner but she did what little maneuvering she could to at least minimize Shizuka's further injury. The bigger issue was Chizue herself, the large metal attachments to her hands primed to knock the duo out cold. With the adrenaline surge as strong as ever Izumi reacted with her first thought, perhaps even before she thought it. The girl was in the air so they needed to duck below her. The girl fell forward and slammed her own face into the rough ground below. With the girls this low, Chizue's momentum carried her over and past them.

Already Izumi was getting ready to stand. Their opponent landed after slowing herself with the chains clinging to the tunnel walls. She then declared some ridiculously over the top attack name. As she did so Izumi grabbed Shizuka from off her back. This wasn't going to be fun for anyone but she wasn't busy thinking about it. A bright green light surged from her foot as she quite literally dropped and kicked her partner in the gut, launching the small injured girl towards Chizue who would find the human projectile in her face as she turned around to see the outcome of her attack. Everything about this process was going to hurt Shizuka but at the least when she hit their foe the healing would kick in and get her on her feet again. Ignoring what injuries she'd sustained from the chains and fall, Izumi readied herself with the flag now in both hands and began charging her opponent. The pole was held out in front of her, ready to ram the angry girl as she got Shizuka off of her.