Colors in the Dark

[20] Exam Final

A/N: Of course, the way things were lined up in the anime, the matches would be that perfect. However, with Ayami's training partner in Shinsou, and Vlad King luckily not being used in canon, our beloved Ayami will have a fair fight. Now, to write all the details of it...

The first round was over in minutes after the two boy's transformation quirks were exhausted, while Cementoss' emitter (whose stamina was incredible; Ayami would have been jealous if she didn't have the jitters for her upcoming battle, the third-to-last,) stayed strong until they lost.

She also had a bit of a fear of the Pro when she first met him, but this was quickly dissolved the more time she had in Modern Literature, where he turned out to be a pleasant and gentle teacher.

She would have liked to stay and see the next fights, including the next between Tsu and Tokoyami versus Ectoplasm, but her nerves over the battle convinced her to seek out Shinsou to come up with a game plan for their own exam against Vlad King.

Remembering the trick she pulled whilst looking for Hawks, Ayami allowed Prometheus to merge with her before looking around at the varying sizes and distances of auras around her, allowing the ones she didn't need to fade as she focused on Shinsou's. Slowly, a glowing light-indigo trail of sparkling mist appeared, leading to wherever he was in the building. And that proved it; he was in the building, so he was definitely set to be her partner.

Prometheus/Ayami followed the trail until she reached him. Shinsou turned around, surprised to see a pale-blue-streaked Ayami with true blue eyes staring right at him. However, he kept his cool and put on a lazy half-smile. "Ayami, hey there. How'd you find me so fast?"

The ginger let the spirit dispel from his active position and returned to normal in seconds. "Neat little trick I learned at my internship when Tokoyami and I couldn't find Hawks. If I concentrate enough on someone's aura, I can form this stardust-mist trail that leads to them if they're nearby. And I figured you were my partner seeing as I'm the odd girl out in 1-A, so I followed your trail and here you are."

"Aizawa didn't even tell you I was here?"

"Nope, but his passive glare said it all," she replied with a coy smirk. "Anyway, we're up against Vlad King, and I take it you know about as much as me?"

The gravity-defying-hair boy rolled his eyes. "If you know a grand total of jack shit about him, then yes. But we've been working together- and against each other- so there's a good chance we'll come up with something."

"You got that right," she replied as the two headed for the briefing room. "Now, if he knows about your Brainwash, you're going to have to rely on force and the capture weapon if we're going to try to capture him. If we're running, you can swing on it to escape."

"And there's no way he memorized each of your sub-quirks," Shinsou figured. "Unlike me, he has no idea which ones are forces to be reckoned with, i.e., Deimos' Nightmare being quite difficult while the spirit himself is a tame fellow. So the element of surprise is something we have on both sides of the table. And, as you said, if it comes to running, that might fall on you. I mean, you can give yourself wings; that's a pretty clear escape route."

Suddenly, a voice rang from over the PA system. "Team Asui and Tokoyami have passed the final."

Ayami lightly clapped her hands together. "Alright, so one loss and one win so far. I was a little nervous after Kirishima and Satou lost so easily in the first round."

"Tokoyami's the bird boy with the sentient shadow, right? And Asui's the frog girl. Both with defined physical prowess and few weaknesses. Even against a teacher who can duplicate themselves, it makes sense that they'd pass."