A Waterbending Quirk

A whale of a Fight

Notes: wow, this was a hard one to write. I really didn't like the license exam arc, but here we are. Enjoy!

"Phew! I feel great now!" Uraraka giggled to herself as she walked down the path to the waiting room. "It just feels like all the pressure of this test is off my shoulders now that we made it!"

"Yeah... all stress gone." Sero quietly muttered as he and Izuku followed behind her, both of them still slightly terrified of what just happened. While they did qualify to the next round, the two of them were a little afraid of possible attempted murder charges placed on them after Uraraka led the charge. He leaned over to whisper into Izuku's ear. "Dude, I didn't know she would drop a whole freakin' mountain on people..."

"I mean... zero gravity and..." Izuku gulped as he looked ahead to his skipping friend, remembering her twitching eye and forced smile as she blew off her steam earlier. "Okay, maybe she took it a little far."

"I almost wanted to help those guys, man." Sero grumbled as he rubbed his head. "Surprised they didn't fail us for not helping those in danger."

Izuku frowned at the sarcastic joke, sighing and stretching his arm as they came in sight of the waiting room. Knowing they at least made it through the first stage brought him some relief, and now he was hoping to run into Momo and the others now. 'Hopefully none of them were eliminated in that attack.'. He thought in worry.

"Hey, what's up!"

"Huh?" Izuku turned around to the sudden call, smiling when he saw Kirishima and Kaminari running down the path toward him. "Oh hey! You guys made it through too!"

"Yeah! We nearly got our asses caught in a mess, but sparky here actually got us through that!" Kirishima laughed out and nudged Kaminari. "Glad to see you got through this, also."

"Yeah. I was hoping we would run into more of our class inside the waiting room." Izuku added.

"Don't worry, man. I bet half of the class is already inside." Kaminari grinned and crossed his arms. "No wonder they all went after us. They knew how tough we all were."

"You got that right!" Sero cheered out as he gave a fist bump to Kirishima, the guys walking by Izuku as they laughed in success. Smiling, Izuku felt happy knowing a few more of his classmates had passed as well. He heard another set of footsteps approaching, turning back and seeing Bakugo slowly walking down the path as well.

"Oh, hey Kachaan. Glad to see you made it through, too!" He quickly said, chuckling and rubbing his head. "I should've figured if Kirishima was here, then you passed with him as well."

Gritting his teeth, Bakugo scoffed and looked past Izuku to the building. "Didn't expect to see you here, Deku. I was wondering if you'd gotten your ass kicked by some nobody out there."

Frowning at his former friend's attitude, Izuku just brushed it off and smiled. "W-well, the old me maybe. B-but I've changed all that and won't be held back anymore."

Normally, hearing those words from Deku would have made Bakugo's skin crawl, ready to blow that stupid smirk off his face. But now... he just took a breath and kept his gaze forward. "I would hope so. You've gotten a hell of a lot stronger than the weakling back in middle school."

Izuku felt his heart skip a beat in shock from what he had just heard, almost frozen in place as Bakugo walked by him. "Wh-what...?" he stuttered out, unsure if he actually heard a compliment coming from the explosion user. "Kachaan... did... did you just...?"

Bakugo glanced to the ground as he clenched his fist. "It seems you finally made that borrowed power your own."

The warm air was the only thing Izuku could hear after that, his body seeming to block out all other senses as he took in what he just heard. He didn't even know what to say in response, only able to turn and stare at Bakugo walking down the pathway ahead of him. He didn't need to ask what Bakugo meant by that, or to pretend to be confused, for it was obvious what was being said.