AN: To 'Harleking31' the 'top tier vs intern' argument isn't a factor here. Best Jeanist stood still and barely fought back against their opponents because they were that much stronger. Bubble Girl, since she was weaker, was allowed to put more effort into the fight. Also, Bubble Girl is a side kick, not an intern.

AN2: And thank you to everyone who offered support over the plagiarism issue.

What Doesn't Kill Me

Chapter 42

-Izuku-

Izuku grimaced as the timer came to an end, Ojiro left panting on the ground and drenched in sweat while his opponent, Fourth Kind, barely looked fazed. It had been a barehanded match against two mutant quirk users with extra limbs.

Except Fourth Kind was bigger than Ojiro. He was stronger than Ojiro. And he was more experienced than Ojiro. The tailed first year had been determined, never once giving in as he kept throwing himself into the fight and trying one form after another, yet nothing got through Fourth Kind who dismantled each and every technique like he'd seen them a thousand times before.

With how practiced Ojiro's motions seemed, they were likely existing martial arts forms so it's quite possible that Fourth Kind had seen them a thousand times before this test.

"Holy shit man." Sero grit his teeth, fist clenched as they saw yet another match come to a close. Five losses to only a single victory. It was disheartening.

"Yuga Aoyama, you're up next." Nezu announced happily as the small principal poured a new cup of tea, Recovery Girl looked exasperated with the rodent's attitude even if she didn't stop him.

"O-Oui." Aoyama gulped but went to the elevator that would take him down to the testing ground. As soon as Aoyama was out of sight, the Pro Hero X-Less stepped out onto the screens. Yet another hero with a better version of their opponent's quirk.

It was something that Aoyama clearly realized if his expression was any indication when he reached the arena.

"This is brutal." Kirishima winced as X-Less fired off a laser first, Aoyama having to run and dodge, his armor not being the best for nimble movement.

"He's not firing nearly as fast as his record shows." Izuku noted, piecing together how X-Less was having to hold back, "He's also telegraphing where he's going to fire his beams."

"So, Aoyama has a chance to counter." Mina looked excited, hoping for another win for 1A. X-Less' beam destroying Aoyama's, leaving the blond Frenchman doubled over, hindered that hope.

"Aoyama's stomach limit is his issue." Izuku realized, "He's always relied on a single shot being all he needed before breaking in the past."

"And that's not enough against a pro." Shoto finished with a frown as Aoyama was forced to throw himself down to avoid another, admittedly weaker, laser from X-Less who still hadn't moved since the fight began. But on the screen, Izuku could see a fire burning in Aoyama's eyes.

"Oh?" Nezu saw it too as Aoyama pushed himself up, letting out a yell as he fired three blasts, his face looking gaunt from the strain even if X-Less was only able to destabilize two with the limits he was being kept under.

Unfortunately for Aoyama, that single shot that made it through wasn't enough to take X-Less down, Aoyama too drained to move after his triple shot barrage, leaving another tally marked for a 1A loss.

-Mina-

"Miss Ashido, you're up next." Nezu's voice broke her from her thoughts on how to console Aoyama when he got back up.

"Yes sir." She nodded, pushing down her nerves as Izuku, Kirishima, and the others all wished her luck, the elevator slowly making its way down as she came face to face with, to her surprise, Ida's internship mentor. The Pro Hero Manual.

"Hey there." The hydrokinetic hero gave her a grin and a thumb's up, "Let's see what you've got Pinky!"

"Right!" Mina grinned, rushing forward the moment the signal to begin was given. Knowing how dangerous her quirk could be, she lobbed a relatively weak glob of acid at Manual who yawned dramatically as a shield of water easily blocked and diluted her acids.

"Gonna have to do better than that Pinky." Manual smirked, giving a 'bring it on' gesture.

"You want better? Then here!" Mina cupped her hands, giving her quirk a funnel to pressurize the acid. The liquid shot forward like a host, hitting Manual's water as Mina began cranking up the strength of her fluids, not wanting to jump too far too fast and risk maiming him. She wasn't sure how 'acid resistant' his costume would be.

Steam rose from where her acid met his constantly swirling shield of water, more water rising out of various flowing pipes around the arena, giving her opponent a constant source of ammunition.

Yet he only blocked, never once going on the offense as Mina felt her hands burn, pushing her quirk to new levels. Whenever the stream began to falter, she had to force its power back up or move closer, having never used her quirk this long continuously before. The strain was unlike anything she'd ever felt, and it wasn't enough.

When the bell rang again, Mina dropped to the ground panting, the acid still on her palms hissing as it met the water on the ground. She never noticed Manual saying something quietly into an earpiece as she climbed forlornly back into the elevator to return to her class.

-Izuku-

Frowning, Izuku looked over his classmates, trying to figure out who they might fight, but knowing even if he figured it out, he wouldn't be able to tell them. Nezu would doubtlessly consider that cheating and mark it against both them and himself.

Glancing at the screen he saw two electric users squaring off, Kaminari set to face Amplivolt, a hero who normally worked out of Deika.

"I don't recognize Kaminari's opponent." Mina frowned, the pink haired girl having thankfully bounced back after her loss, eyes showing a determination to get better and not have to suffer a one-sided defeat like that again.

"He's from Deika." Izuku gave his pink friend a smile, glad she wasn't letting the loss keep her down, "His quirk lets him conduct and amplify electricity within his own body. When he builds up enough, he can let loose a blast of it and he's resistant to harmful electrical effects." As he spoke, the man pulled out a dangerous looking taser and jabbed himself with it, charging up his quirk as blue lightning began to spark and surge around the man.

"Holy shit, and his brain isn't frying." Jiro cursed, "This isn't looking good."

"No…look at Kaminari's face." Izuku's eyes were wide as he looked at the camera facing his classmate, Kaminari's expression being one of pure determination.

"I'm not surprised." Tokoyami huffed with a smirk, "Kaminari may not always show it the best, but he is one who would do anything for his friends. If I were to guess, I would say this Revelry in the Dark is from his sheer determination to inspire the rest of us. To show that we do have a chance at victory." As Tokoyami spoke, Amplivolt let loose a wide ranged net of electricity, being case wide enough that it would mean less damage if it hit Kaminari but also make it harder to avoid.

If Kaminari intended to avoid it at any rate.

Kaminari's hand was thrust skyward, sparking with yellow electricity as all of the blue spread out energy rushed towards their classmate, crashing down around him like the lightning of the gods.

And Kaminari just smirked.

"You see this guys!" Kaminari shouted, "We aren't out of this fight yet!" Kaminari's shout became a roar, more electricity being released down his other hand towards the ground, coming out in yellow crackling arcs.

"Hell yeah!" Jiro shot to her feet with a cheer, the rest of the class not far behind as they roared for Kaminari to keep going, to win.

Kaminari slashed his hand through the air, dispelling the electricity from the stunned Amplivolt before their classmate clenched his legs and moved, shooting forward faster than a lot of Pro Heroes Izuku had seen as he threw a hard punch in the gut of the stunned Amplivolt, knocking him down and rendering him free to be wrapped up with capture tape.

The second win for class 1A's finals.

-Shoto-

Face set in a determined line, Shoto entered a massive empty arena, unsure of who his opponent would be.

"Sup squirt!" as if waiting for his thought question, his opponent spoke up, making him spin around to see his father's primary sidekick Burnin standing there with a grin, her green flame hair sizzling in the air.

"Burnin?" Shoto blinked surprised, "You're my opponent?"

"Damn straight!" Burnin grinned, her battle junky grin showing how excited she was "Your old man hasn't shut up about how much you've improved so I decided to see for myself!" Shoto shifted awkwardly, still deciding how to feel about such a statement, of his father being proud of him. Hearing the buzzer to begin, he reacted on instinct to make a wall of ice, Burnin's thrown green flame melting partway through with ease.

"Up top squirt!" Burnin's voice had him look up, seeing the flying woman preparing to rain down globs of green flaming hair.

Roaring in defiance, not wanting to show Kaminari's determination having been wasted, Shoto felt his vent manifest, a half frozen half flaming mane with the horns of a demon. Rising on a pillar of ice, he charged Burnin, a frozen blade meeting her flaming one as the weapons destroyed each other.

"I WON'T LOSE!" Shoto couldn't hold back, couldn't bother trying to ration his strength, not with the risk of the timer running out on him like it had for so many of his classmates.

"Prove it!" Burnin roared back, using her hair to form a shield of flame to prevent his Hinokami Kagura from hitting her, a following wave of ice putting out the shield as she worked to burn through it.

This wasn't a paced marathon; it was an all-out sprint to the finish line of victory as Burning was being forced to use her own energy just as quickly as he was. They both were intimately familiar with the other's quirk with how long they'd known each other, and their quirks both let them counter and resist the powers of the other.

Letting out a furious roar, his ice and flame roared out in tandem, the two somehow not destroying one another. Burnin had her hair forming weapons and shields, blocking and cutting through his attacks as a field of steam raised, leaving the cloud the only thing he could see till his energy began to wane. As he dropped to his knees, panting and exhausted, he saw Burning in a similar state across from him.

The bell rang as they both dropped. It wasn't a win, but a tie was better than most of what had been done before. Now his class just had to keep up the momentum.