The Shadows I Hide

Chapter 10: Awakening

It was a warm Friday morning at UA yet the entirety of class 3A was silent. Today was the big practical assessment they had all been expecting and preparing anxiously for, and now after so much preparation and practice, it was finally upon them.

"Now," began Mr. Aizawa. "I'd like to begin by saying that although there will be a winner and a loser for each round of the exercise, the loser can still get good grades on the practical. I'll be assessing your strategies as well as how well you can apply your quirks to attempt to achieve victory. With that in mind, remember that each of you will have a teammate so make sure that your plans include both of you."

A few minutes later everyone had been divided into 10 groups of 2. Everyone had been paired up with the classmate they were expected to be able to cooperate with the most so Izuku had been paired up with Uraraka. Once everyone had been assigned their partners the class waited eagerly for the matches to be called out. One by one matches were being made and executed. No one was allowed to watch the matches as the teachers wanted each student to apply their own knowledge to the practical without the other matches influencing their decisions. Each minute dragged by painfully slowly for Izuku as he was forced to wait for his turn. The anxiety was eating him up from the inside and he was full of nervous energy. His feet wouldn't stop bouncing up and down no matter how much he tried to sit still.

"Hey Deku, are you okay?" asked Uraraka taking notice of his restless behavior.

"Yeah, totally fine" he lied. She gave him a quizzical look.

"Relax Deku, I'll be by your side every step of the way. I won't let you down, we're going to win this!"

Immediately Izuku's head began filling with thoughts and doubts. It wasn't that he doubted her abilities. In fact, he had full confidence in her ability to strategize and hold up in a fight. The problem he saw was in himself and his abilities. No matter which way he looked at the situation he and Uraraka would be at a disadvantage. So what if he knew how to fight. When pinned up against someone with good enough quirk knowing how to find would be useless. Someone with a quirk would always have the advantage over someone who didn't that was just how it was. Before he could reply, though he heard Mr. Aizawa call out.

"Midoriya, Uraraka, you're up. You'll be competing against Bakugo and Kirishima." It was hardly ten minutes later that Izuku found himself in training ground beta pinned up to the most impossible challenge he could imagine.

'How am I ever going to beat Kacchan?! This is impossible!' He was freaking out. Before he could contemplate it further however he was interrupted by Uraraka.

"You got a plan Deku?" The question caught him off guard, but he did his best to steer his attention back to the task at hand. This assessment was basically a large game of capture the flag. Each team had its flag which they could place anywhere within a section of the practice city given to them. Once they placed their flag all they had to do was try and get their opponents to flag back to their base while simultaneously protecting their own flag.

"I should probably take defense," said Izuku. "If I were to engage in combat while trying to find their flag, I wouldn't stand a chance against either of their quirks. You, on the other hand, could do some damage with your fighting skills, and your zero gravity would make searching for your flag a lot easier."

Reassured by this Deku remained vigilant over their base maintaining a close eye on their flag as well as anyone who may be on their way to take it. One can't exactly call it a flag though he supposed as he observed their prize. Although ideally, that was what it was supposed to represent, it was more of just a brightly colored rod; red in his case. The next twenty minutes went by incredibly slowly for Deku. Each breath he took made him feel more and more like the air was trying to suffocate him. His rising heartbeat was a constant reminder of the threat he faced. No doubt Kacchan was going to be going on the offensive, it wouldn't be like him to avoid a fight. Deku's eyes darted back and forth as he observed the nearby streets from his vantage point in their building. He was so focused on his task he nearly jumped when a voice suddenly spoke from his earpiece.