Chapter Text
Izuku stepped out from the Archon’s Office, completely dumbfounded. He wasn’t sure what to do, he was just assigned to agree to get kidnapped by Pro Heros. Even though they used to be the coolest people to Izuku just a short year ago, after hanging out in Teyvat. Where only a select few have powers but decide to only help out from the goodness in their heart and not just because it's what a hero would do Izuku couldn’t help but agree with Hu Tao about her stance on heroes. “Hey Broccoli! Finally decided that you couldn’t skip all of weapons class?”
Izuku turned to see Hu Tao lying dramatically on the ground getting glared at by Xiao, who seemed to be her sparring partner. He felt a smirk form on his mouth, “At least I didn’t lose to Xiao in five seconds.” Hu Tao let out a cry of outrage, putting a hand on her forehead, “I cannot believe you Izu! How dare you take his side!” She whined, but Izuku could see the smile she was fighting. “Hu Tao. You really need to focus more on your polearm, and”-Xiao turned to face Izuku, completely deadpan-“she actually lasted three seconds, though I don’t think it's because of the skill difference.” Hu Tao gasped again and picked herself up, “I cannot believe you Xiao! You didn’t need to tell Izuku that.” She stage whispered.
“Besides there’s no real reason for me to learn advanced techniques, I’m just here for the license.” Hu Tao shrugged, her skill level showing by kicking her polearm up into her waiting hand. “I just want to have an option of being able to fight back whenever I get caught up in hero and villain drama whenever I have to work overseas!” Izuku nodded and waved to Childe who gave him a thumbs up before writing something on a clipboard. Izuku turned around to face his two friends, “Okay who do I fight first?”
Izuku heard Hu Tao yell out some excuse as she rushed over to Charlotte, to undoubtedly ask her to take photos of this for the school yearbook. Izuku ignored her and stepped into the ring that was on the field. Weapons class was behind the Geo classroom for reasons unknown, but the class took place either in a shed where Childe would describe movements or in the field that the shielding class also uses for practice. Speaking of shielding… Izuku felt him connect to his vision, and in turn his vision connected to the environment around him. “Are we doing this fair or unfair?” Izuku yelled to Xiao, who had grabbed his polearm from the ground and was in a fighting stance. His frown twitched for a second, Izuku felt himself give a smile in return of Xiao’s. “When is anyone ever going to give you a fair fight?” Was his only response, Izuku felt his smile turn a tad feral. They had no count, no warning.
Xiao sprinted towards Izuku, seemingly vanishing. Izuku took a deep breath and focused on the air around him, using his vision to harness it and surround himself. Xiao’s polearm scraped against the edge of the shield, but it persisted. Izuku tried his best to use his own polearm to attack the fellow anemo user, but he kept disappearing and reappearing in different spots. Trying to make Izuku lower his guard and drop his shield. So Izuku watched and kept his polearm close. Izuku saw Xiao for a second before he vanished again and he readied himself. He tightened his grip on his polearm and quickly sidestepped, Izuku knew that Xiao had trouble redirecting where he was going whenever he dipped into anemo. The only reason he knew this was by noticing the way Xiao seemed to study how Lynette used her vision in a similar way. Izuku moved his polearm and Xiao’s made contact causing Izuku to be moved a couple inches backward. Izuku never let Xiao continue his onslaught of strength and burst his shield, causing wind to hit him in the face. Xiao froze for a second and Izuku took that time to use his polearm to flick Xiao’s away. He was disarmed. Izuku won.
Xiao stared at the younger for a bit before walking up to shake his hand. “Good job, I see you’ve gotten better at harnessing anemo to your advantage.” Izuku’s face warmed up with embarrassment. “I’m not that good, I still can’t do anemo infusion no matter how hard I try,”-he held out his hand and formed a vortex-“ All I can do is this.” Xiao looked at Izuku, seemingly pondering something. “Hu Tao, Izuku doesn’t know that he’s strong. Do you think he should talk to Childe about his skill level?” Izuku looked at his elder, confused. “What?” “I think what the angsty teen is trying to say is, you're strong even without being able to do anemo infusion.” A voice told him from behind. Izuku turned around and looked up to see Child standing behind him.
Childe gave Izuku an encouraging nod and ruffled his hair before squatting down to get to Izuku’s height, “You know despite what I said, did you know it took Xiao four years to learn anemo infusion?” Izuku felt himself laugh as the fatui harbinger had to summon his daggers to deflect Xiao’s polearm. Izuku stood back as the teacher and student fought, though their skills were pretty matched. Hu Tao bound up to Izuku, having seemingly caused enough chaos. “So since your normal sparring partner is preoccupied shall we spar?” Izuku smiled and readily agreed. He normally fights Xiao or sometimes he spars Childe, so this was going to be a learning experience for the both of them.
Izuku took a deep breath and got into a fighting position. Hu Tao smiled at him and also got into position. They both waited two breaths before charging, Izuku tried to get under Hu Tao’s polearm but only ended up with a soft hit in the stomach and having to dodge her follow up attack with her weapon causing him to back up even further. He took a deep breath and focused on the wind around him, smiling when he noticed Hu Tao rushed forward to finish the fight quickly, she put all her weight on one foot and Izuku gave the wind a little shove. Hu Tao quickly righted herself and brought up her polearm to match the one that Izuku was sending her way, he tried to pry it out of her grasp but she had watched him disarm Xiao and quickly ignited her spear causing Izuku to back up. The two smiled at each other as Izuku surrounded himself in a vortex of wind again.
The two readied themselves and the two polearms exclaimed when they met. Izuku’s shield lit with flames, they danced dangerously around him and both of the combatants watched the flames as the two elements collided with each strike. Izuku focused on the feeling of his weapon slicing through the air to create mini shockwaves that Hu Tao stuck though with her own polearm lighting the remaining shockwave with pyro as it swirls behind her. “Okay! That’s the end of class!” The two stood up into normal standing and looked around. The area around them was slightly chard from their battle and a group of students were surrounding them. Hu Tao simply gave their classmates a smile while Izuku looked sheepish. The students dispersed and Izuku gave Hu Tao a simple wave before jogging over to where Xiao was (“definitely not") waiting for him. Xiao gave Izuku a look. “Though Tartagulia is childish,”-Izuku fought back a laugh-“, you need to be aware of your surroundings.” Izuku nodded at the older student and apologized. Xiao simply rolled his eyes and stated, “Also, even though Venti is a free spirit I don’t think he’ll appreciate you being late.” Izuku blanched at the reminder that their class just ended and gave Xiao a quick goodbye before rushing to his next class.