Enrichment Classes. In the CFD, these are essentially additional classes that someone may choose to take outside their primary course. Just like with a baseline course, these classes are graded, and can be quoted as a part of a personal statement, and even evolve into a qualification of their own right, so lots of students treated them as a second course that they could take. As expected for a school with the facilities and equipment that the CFD had, many options of Enrichment classes existed. From Combat Practice, to Design, to Public Service.
So when Adrien had seen the Combat Practice Enrichment Classroom, he'd immediately signed up. His desire to improve his ability to perform hand-to-hand capabilities had driven him to take the opportunity without hesitation. If his fights with Ree taught him anything, it was that he needed to learn various martial arts from every source he could get them from. He lacked natural flexibility, so he needed a way to be able to keep up with someone like Ree who was able to perform masterful dances while she fought.
Marinette's Hero name had been the final one to be announced, and Adrien had been glad he'd made it back in time for it. The signup process for Combat Practice had been a lot longer than he would have ever imagined, the teachers needing him to sign various forms saying that they weren't responsible if he ended up brutally injured. It raised the question as to just how brutal the training was actually going to be.
What was a surprise however, was the fact that after Marinette's Hero name had been given, their teachers basically told them that that was it for classes that day. Every student had been given a booklet, and within it contained a large selection of external classes, services, Enrichment classes, and the likes. Extra credit classes.
Heroism as an industry looked for the absolute best of the best, meaning that every single student needed to amass a huge variety of skills, and reasons as to why they were the best. Why they were the number one Hero for the job. Without these reasons to hire them, to call upon them whenever there was a crisis, they would be failures as Heroes. They needed to take every single opportunity that they could to improve themselves, to gain power, to extend their powers, and learn to become better with them. As students, it was their responsibility to improve themselves. As educators, it was the teacher's jobs to guide them, to train them.
With this in mind, the rest of the day was going to be dedicated to the students trying to find the best additional classes and extracurricular activities that would suit them, and they would get the most out of. Of course, none of them were compulsory, but extremely recommended.
Chloe of course, arrogant to the very core, opted to do none of them.
"I don't need any of them." She dismissed every suggestion Sabrina made to her blonde friend/master rudely, acting offended at the mere suggestion that she needed any sort of help or improvement when it came to her powers. In a fit of anger, Chloe slapped each booklet out of the Mind Reading girl's hands, causing them to scatter all across the floor and violently told her, "Not a single one of these would even be worth the time it would take to read them!"
"R-Right, of course." Sabrina apologized, and dropped to the floor, picking up each of the leaflets with a small whimper to her voice.
It was something a lot of people in the class couldn't quite comprehend. With the Mind Reading power the orange haired girl had, how was it possible that she was so blind to the venomous personality Chloe possessed? The abusive relationship they shared? How was it that Sabrina was unable to understand how little Chloe truly valued her as a person, never mind how little she considered her to be her genuine friend? But yet, she still followed the blonde girl loyally, despite all the painful setbacks it put her at.
It was cruel. So many of them had tried to convince Sabrina to break away from Chloe, to try and help the poor girl, but it was like she was programmed to blindly obey whatever the cruel girl told her. No one had succeeded yet.
After Chloe had slapped the leaflets and left Sabrina to collect them up again like a servant, she stormed towards the door in a huff.
"You know, being that overconfident and cruel to your friends will probably get you in a lotta trouble someday, 'Queen'."
Alya's off-handed insult towards Chloe caused the girl to stop in her tracks and glare towards her tan skinned classmate, sat upright with a smirk, quite pleased with the reaction Chloe had given her. Using her chosen Hero name against her like a weapon against the egomaniacal Witch was a strategy Alya was more than willing to wield, especially against someone as ruthless as Chloe.
The end result was a locking of sharp dagger scowls between the two of them. Surrounding Alya were her friends, Marinette to her right, and Adrien and Nino on the row below them, whereas Chloe stood alone. The perfect analogy.
Not that the mayor's daughter was going to let that work on her. Pride and self-confidence coursed through her.
"You keep your opinions to yourself!" Chloe snapped right back at Alya harshly, pointing a finger directly at the Broadband Trait user, like she was accusing her of committing sin. "If I want to know what you think, I'll ask you!"
"You won't ever want to know that though, will you? Because you 'Won't need the help.'"
"I don't need any help with my powers!"
"It's weird, actually Chloe." Adrien said, joining the conversation. "I've known you for years, and I still don't have a clue what your Trait even is. I mean, being confidents fine, but a Hero needs to work in teams. How are we supposed to work alongside you if you won't even speak to most of our classmates in a kind manner and won't share your powers with us?"
For a second, Chloe looked like Adrien made a valid point, like she had just a brief moment of doubt. Hearing that from one of her only childhood friends had to hurt, and make her question herself for just a few moments.
"I don't want to share what I can do, simple as that." Chloe explained. When she spoke to Adrien, she was generally more polite, but still had no reserves about mistreating him at times, which he seemed to tolerate for some reason, probably because he was one of the few in the class who actually considered Chloe a friend.
"Why not though?"
Suddenly, the glare Chloe exhibited shifted target, straight to Marinette. The blue haired girl was caught off guard by this, and jumped back slightly in her seat. In a violent and nearly explosive manner of speaking, Chloe spat out the words, "You'll find out when I get the chance to take her on in a real fight."
Marinette's eyes suddenly shot wide open, surprised at the pure level of what looked like downright hatred coming from Chloe. Yes, she was aware that the two of them shared quite possibly the worst relationship out of every single person in their class, but she never imagined it was to this level of outright hate. She didn't hate Chloe to the point of wanting to kill her, but she could tell Chloe hated her that much. "Wh - What did I do?"
"You piss me off." The girl who's Trait remained a mystery to all her classmates declared, before she turned around and stormed right out of the classroom, Sabrina following close behind, desperately grasping onto the leaflets previously scattered around the floor.
That statement had left the room rather silent. It was in this moment that Marinette realized that the entire classroom had been listening to their conversations, because as soon as Chloe left, the room was totally noiseless, and then the groups suddenly went back to chatting, as if they hadn't just been listening in on Chloe's rather loud declaration of hatred towards Marinette.
It came as quite the surprise to Marinette in all honesty. Truth be told, she couldn't think of anything that she'd really done to offend Chloe that much. She remembered that in pre-school, they shared a neutral relationship, neither friends nor enemies, until Marinette's lack of a Trait put her down at the bottom of the social ladder. After her Trait did develop, Chloe's dislike for her seemed to grow, becoming this ugly ball of hate and disgust for her mere existence.
"Well that was... Dramatic." Nino muttered, glancing up at Marinette. "You doin' okay?"
"Yeah... I'm okay."
"I don't get her sometimes." Adrien sighed, leaning back in his seat. "She wasn't like this when we were younger... Well, she was spoiled, sure, but that was a whole new level of bratty. I just don't get why she even wants to be a Hero if that's the way she's going to act." He tapped his finger on the desk, recalling his old memories of his friend, from the days she was sweeter and kinder, and being around her didn't feel like a chore to be endured, but a privilege to be thankful for. "When we were kids, she said she wanted to go to Collège Françoise Dupont, but she wanted to study politics, to become mayor like her dad... Then it turned to wanting to join the Elite course, and then back down to wanting to join the Hero Course."
Alya couldn't help but stifle laughter. "Could you imagine Chloe as a politician?"
"I can actually." Marinette chuckled, the barely contained giggles from her best friend being contagious. The image of Chloe making all the calls on what went down in Paris not helping her keep her composure. Somehow the temperamental girl made a good substitute for the world's politicians. "And that's a scary thought."
At this, Adrien finally stood upright, a small smile on his face, amused by the jokes Alya and Marinette were making. As much as he was enjoying being a part of the current conversation, he wanted to get over to the Combat Practice room to get started on his classes before the clock hit 11:00, which was the standard time for the days Enrichment classes to begin, for this one day of sampling only.
"You going somewhere bro?" The Hydrokinetic boy asked, as Adrien Teleported next to the door to avoid having to squeeze past his best friends seat. A trivial use of Teleportation, but one that no one questioned.
Nodding, the Dual Trait user explained, "Yeah, I wanna get to the Enrichment class I chose before it begins."
"You mentioned you picked one." Alya remembered the explanation he gave their strict teachers before Marinette revealed her Hero name as Alchemist. "Combat Practice, right?"
Adrien responded once again with a firm nod of his head, his blond hair swaying down to cover a bit of his right eye as he did so. "That's right. I want to get better at fighting since I lost my matchup against the Abnormal and Primal group. I thought this might be a good way to improve my skills."
"I'm going to be looking into the Technology class." Explained the dark scarlet haired girl. "I figured it could help with my Broadband Trait if I found some technology that could enhance a Wi-Fi signal." She then nudged her friend with her elbow, jabbing her just underneath her ribcage. "Hey M, which Classes are you thinking of trying?"
Marinette blinked, before going pink. "Uh... I-I haven't actually... Decided yet..."
A Cheshire grin appeared on Alya's face, and she looked back over to the blond model. "Hey, Adrien, why don't you and Marinette try Combat Practice classes together?"
Under a regular circumstance, Marinette would have turned into a blushing mess, trying to find a way to avoid the situation the best she could, since she couldn't stand the prospect of being around her crush on her own for too long. She'd make excuses, find a class that interested her in nothing more than falling asleep, but it would be better than making an idiot out of herself in front of Adrien...
But she too had become concerned about her abilities to fight after her match with the Valour and Elite courses. She had been of no use whatsoever, barely able to attack or defend, and instead, let Markus brutally eradicate anything that got in the way. The truth of the matter was, Combat Practice... Actually sounded like it would be a fairly good thing to involve herself in.
And if she got to spend some time alongside Adrien... All the better.
"I... Actually like the sound of that." She admitted, surprising Alya pleasantly. "I want to be a better fighter too... Maybe I should give it a try."
It was a silent respect that Adrien held when people seeked to improve themselves as fighters and as people, respect he now felt for the blue haired girl he considered to be his friend. He gave her a warm, toothy grin. "Sounds like you and I have similar mind-sets."
Due to being one of the few students who had his Hero costume already made, Adrien was permitted to wear it during the Enrichment session, which he happily accepted. He'd dashed out of the room and Teleported back in, fully dressed in his combat themed dark costume, face mask and all included, covering up a lot of his face. Crosscut, whom was leading the Enrichment class, complimented the costume, saying that it looked cool. Everyone else who lacked one was in their gym clothes, Marinette included.
Excluding Adrien and Marinette, the blue haired girl counted nine there. Markus being one of them surprised her, since there didn't seem to be a thing that he would need practice in. Maybe he just enjoyed breaking things. Brynne was another student there, and she, along with Marinette, kept her distance from the explosive Trait user. Both were able to engage in conversation, and bonded over their mutual lack of ability to do a damn thing on the battlefield. It was about as depressing at it sounded for both of them.
Adrien recognised the Abnormal Rex, but he was sat done of the peers, not really in line with the rest of the students there. His eyes were closed tightly, almost like he was asleep, hiding the cog-shaped Irises that made him unique among his peers. He wondered why that was, why he wasn't up alongside them, but he didn't ask. In truth, he hoped that Combat Practice would translate to sparring matches. He looked forward to a rematch with the Technopath.
Alongside him, was the Primal Fleisch. Upon seeing him again, Adrien shook his hand, complimenting him on his victory over him, since he'd never gotten to officially say it. The two were able to express a mutual respect for one another's abilities on the battlefield, Fleisch especially impressed by the tenacity Adrien had displayed. He didn't reveal Marinette's crush on Adrien to him either, respecting the blue haired Human girl's privacy.
Finally, there were two other students. Specifically, they were a pair of twins that took on draconic like appearances, each sporting sharpened ears, akin to elven creatures from fantasy novels, a long, scaly tail, and large, dragon-like wings, both varying in colour. Both were girls of the age of fourteen, being accepted into the CFD due to certain actions they had taken outside of school that they didn't want to divulge into. Well, the one talking didn't want to explain why they were accepted a year early. One of the two of them was far more quiet and reserved, whereas another one was far more outgoing and talkative.
The social one went by the name Dae Burndhart. She was a very energetic individual, who seemed to be like Adrien in a sense, always itching to get into a fight. She had boundless energy that she wanted to convey in the form of combat. Compared to her sister, her orange, bright wings, along with her tail, were rather bulky, and her build more muscular. Her hair was a bright shade of carmine red, which was cut off just before it hit her shoulders. She also seemed to have a few marks of battle, or 'Badges of courage' as she called them, including a short scar that went underneath her right eye, which were a darker shade of crimson red.
Dae introduced her quiet sister as Syltris Oshanburu, whom politely waved at the group, despite being shy. Contradictory to the claim that they were siblings, they looked like polar opposites. Where Dae looked rugged and like she was expecting an ambush as all times, Syltris looked far more presentable, and to the eye, beautiful. She was shorter than Dae, a stature that she claimed helped her Trait. Long, wavy locks of chocolate brown hair flowed behind her, neatly tied up in a pigtail at the back, and two long braids at either side that reached down to her knees, a dyed aqua blue streak in the right one. Her eyes were also an enchanting deep blue variant. For being a fourteen year old, she could easily be mistaken for being a sixteen year old model, with the charm and beauty to rival Adrien.
The final person there was an Elite course student Marinette had seen during the matches, but had never really acknowledged. The boy crudely introduced himself as Hoshi Chibaku, making his dislike for interacting with people he considered to be weaker than him abundantly clear. At this point, Adrien and Marinette had to wonder as they sweatdropped, was every Elite Course student some sort of violent maniac who hated everyone around them, because there sure seemed to be a lot of students like that. How quirky were they?!
"They sorta make Chloe seem relaxed, huh?" Adrien joked.
Marinette had to laugh, not just at the joke, but at how accurate it was. It was a reminder of the sorts of people that inhabited the CFD. The variety that filled this world that they inhabited, how different, and how similar, everyone was, regardless of the powers that they had. Diversity was the spice of life in this world, whether people liked it or not.
"Alright guys, let's fall in!" Crosscut cheerfully ordered everyone, apparently blissfully unaware of the kinds of people he was working with. The sorts in here were the serious kind, already in position, itching to start training. Crosscut meanwhile, seemed more like a football coach for little league.
The response that he was given was a series of cold glares, all asking with their eyes for him to get on with the formalities so they could start to battling. It seemed that the Enrichment teacher understood the looks he was being given and, after running his hand through his Mohawk, decided to skip the pep talk and get right into it.
"Alright, you bores. You're all here for one reason - You want to become stronger fighters. Every single person here has a reason for wanting to become a member of the peacekeeping forces in society, and you're all here because you feel your progress isn't good enough. The aim of this taster session is to show you the kinds of things you can expect to learn from me."
"When do we get to fight?" Hoshi bluntly asked. "If I'm not going to get any practice, then I'm leaving."
Dae seemed to let loose a few flames from her body, indicating that she too was getting ready to unleash hell itself once it presented itself. "I wanna fight too! Skip the pretence stuff and lemme hit things!"
"Perhaps calm down, Dae." Syltris recommended, trying to calm her sister down from letting anymore flames into the surrounding woodwork. "Maybe if you let Mr. Crosscut explain, we can get to the - "
"Screw that bullshit!" Markus suddenly said, letting an explosion loose in his palms. "If we ain't gonna get to fighting soon, I'm gonna break the freakin' wall down!"
"Lemme at 'em!" Dae yelled, attempting to charge at Crosscut, apparently having decided that he was a target.
Her sister's bulky blue tail extended slightly and tripped up the fire themed dragon girl, and pulled her back next to Syltris, who was simply calmly stood with her arms crossed, and her wings tucked in. "Not yet."
While he was a bit upset he never got to do that motivational talk, Crosscut had to admire the sheer levels of enthusiasm that the students who had chosen his class had to display. Confidence was good, and an eagerness, and a love for fighting were just as good. He ignored to rudeness of the two students and stood upright. "If you insist. But first, let me explain something to you. While this is a Combat Practice Enrichment Group, you will not be fighting one another."
This revelation caused a bit of a stir from the participants, who were now growing a bit concerned about their role in his class. They weren't going to be fighting one another? Logically that would mean that some specialists should be here, showing up to help practice them practice their skills... But the only person here was Rex, and a large hunk of garbage that surrounded him.
"Uh..." Fleisch spoke up, raising his hand. "If we're not gonna be fighting each other, then what are we gonna be fighting?"
Crosscut grinned, then turned his back on his students, and called over to the Abnormal. "Hey, Rex, set it up now!"
The pale skinned Abnormal finally opened his eyes and stood upright. Surrounding him were all sorts of electronics, that began to dance and contort as soon as the red cogs Rex had begun to turn. Metal wiring and casing began to join together, circuitry beginning to intertwine with other devices, forming piles upon piles of almost Humanoid appearing creatures. The key difference was that they towered over the students there by over three times their height, and spouted advanced weaponry and defences, all courtesy of Rex's Abnormality and genius intellect. So far, three of them had been crafted, and more were still on the way.
Each member of the class took a step back in the face of these deadly apparitions, electrically charged robotic moving like a puppet, controlled by Rex. Some members charged up their Traits. Adrien's Destruction Trait ran up his arms, starting with his fingers and eventually reaching his shoulders. Hoshi began to glow, his eyes and the inside of his mouth being replaced with a light blue hue that expelled light from them. Dae prepared a fireball between her palms, and Fleisch tore off some of the meat from his bones. Marinette and Syltris both gaping in awe, while Markus just grinned.
"Because we can't fight one another and use our Traits at the same time for risk of hurting one another, Rex has been kind enough to volunteer his services in creating these punching bags." Crosscut grinned, holding up his palm towards the metallic behemoths. "Your first task with me is simple - Take down a single one of these creations."
"Take down one of those things?!" Marinette questioned loudly. They were three times the size of everyone here, and they hadn't even been taught anything! What sort of practice even was this without any sort of teaching?! "Are you insane?!"
To respond to the accusation, from the open palm, a bolt of sharp, white energy erupted from Crosscut, shooting right at the torso of one of the robots. It tore through the steel exterior, and ripped out the components from the inside without any sort of difficulty. Incredible power, that no one had come to expect from a teacher as carefree as Crosscut, but there it was. Devastating power, and calm execution. Crosscut chuckled. "Nope."
Crosscut - Trait - Air Cutter - Several pipe-like networks run throughout Crosscut's body. When he utilizes these networks, he is able to send huge levels of solid air pressure straight through his body, and expel them in any location, usually his hands, that he desires. This Trait can be used continuously to achieve flight. However, if he received a rebound, he will build up pressure within his own network, causing it to explode due to the build-up. Overuse of his power will cause him to run out of breath, and can cause stalling in the network.
The receiving robot fell down under the very weight of its own inability to support itself, thanks to the strike from Crosscut's Trait, and collapsed in a pile on the ground. Utilizing his tremendously powerful ability, he shot himself over to the side, leaving absolutely nothing between his students and the lumbering robots marching towards them. "They're not indestructible. But they will provide you with a challenge - That's what you're here for, right?"
"Bitchin'!" Markus grinned. He threw his arms to the ground beneath him, and caused two huge explosions in the palms of his hands, allowing the momentum to send him flying into the air, towards his chosen robotic target. Following this, he began to throw threats and profanities at the non-sentient titanic puppets, as if they would respond to him. "You're freakin' scrap metal!"
In launching his assault however, he failed to realize that one of the massive, lumbering arms was lunging for him until it was barely a couple of inches from him. Quickly reacting, Markus twisted his body, and his hands skidded along the metal framework. He caused a huge explosion, knocking the metal into the robot, and propelling him away from it, and getting some distance from it. His surprise that the automation was actually attacking back was evident, but his superior reflexes had saved him from taking heavy damage.
Using the momentum from his explosions to dive up high, Markus quickly rotated his body until he was now falling down head first, his hands in front of him, creating high pressure explosives to push his body and set his trajectory. Falling back down with speed, he suddenly crashed straight through the torso of the machine, ripping out chunks of metal with his explosive powers. His hands were smouldering, and he tossed aside a particularly long cable that he had gripped onto and ripped out of the robots body. "Easy!"
As Markus finished up, the remainder of the students began to move out to attack the encroaching army of mechanical behemoths. Each one of them split off on their own, calling a target, and aiming to take it down.
"Get the hell out of my way!" Hoshi loudly shouted at his target, crouching down and then leaping up as high as the roof. In doing so, his entire body was glowing a blinding light. His irises were no longer visible, blocked out by this blinding light.
As soon as he got close to his target, he threw out a huge right armed reverse-punch. The shockwaves and the impact of the attack echoed throughout the room, and the sheer force of that attack blasted the robot away in a single punch, reducing it to nothing but sheet metal, scrap, and electronic wiring. Hoshi landed on top of the remains of his defeated target, triumphant. "Learn your place!"
Hoshi Chibaku – Trait – Star Energy – Hoshi's body is made up of the same components that make up a star. Within his body, there is a constant nuclear fusion taking place, which is contained by his skin. When he chooses to tap into this power, his muscles absorb the incredible amount of energy, and transfer it into pure strength. This translates to giving him immense strength, speed, reflexes, easily enough for him to destroy a city block in a single attack. When he uses this Trait, his skin, eyes, nostrils, and mouth emit bright white-light, much like a natural star. His Trait has very few negative effects to it. However, if he uses his Trait far too much, he runs to risk of tearing his muscles.
Fleisch was up next, converting his arms into the gooey substance that his Primality allowed him to turn them into, and launched them towards his targets right leg. At the same time, Fleisch used the incredible physical prowess that Primals naturally had, and threw a huge sweeping kick on the left collection of metal that made up a leg of the large robot, knocking the thing off its feet completely. Moving rapidly, he then leaped out of the way as his target fell down above him, and began to encase it within his flesh. He applied a huge amount of pressure, crushing the robot underneath it and wrapping it up in a meaty grave.
Adrien was easily capable to eradicating the target that he chose. It didn't even rally take him much effort. He simply Teleported atop the robot, and activated his Destruction Trait, and eradicated the atoms that made up the monster. From his attack, he ended up riding down the centre of the behemoth as he split it in half.
He stood atop his destroyed foe without even having broken a sweat. With the addition of his costume, he really did look like a Hero. The teenager looked back at the still ongoing battles. 'How's Marinette doing?'
Marinette wasn't able to see the methods everyone else took out their called targets. She saw a few beams of fire, and water that was capable of slicing the steel apart from the robots, but she couldn't see who had fired them, or what the end result wound up being. She had been the last one to call her target, so she had to take on the final one that Rex conjured up.
This particular one looked almost demonic in its appearance, Rex having taken some ques from gothic architecture most likely. Along the arms of this behemoth, Marinette saw a row of spikes that jutted out a good couple of inches from the rest of the contraption. Its face, for want of a better word, seemed to include red eyes and what could only appear to be jagged teeth around the area where a mouth should have been. It also seemed bigger – It wasn't, but to Marinette, this thing appeared to be twice the size of the opponents that her classmates were dealing with.
Quickly formulating a plan of attack, Marinette slammed her now glowing hands into the floor, and unleashed a barrage of atoms in the shape of a fist towards the lumbering mechanism. The floor was made out of wood, but typically wood contained of Carbon and Magnesium. She selected Carbon, knowing it would hold the largest number of atoms within the substance. Her creation charged straight for its target, intending to rip it apart from the very core of its being.
Upon making contact, the robotic creation was pushed back, and dented in its chest. The fist buried itself, and kept pushing and pushing.
But it never knocked out the robot like everyone around her had managed to do theirs. Instead, this creation managed to use one of its arms and sluggishly smacked aside the Carbon fist Marinette had fired.
She froze. What the hell had just happened? She was certain that it would have worked. It worked in combat against –
Those were people that this worked against, not a robot. Not something that couldn't experience pain. Marinette watched the Carbon fist she made shatter as she remembered the most basic rule of atomic composition.
A pure substance was nearly always weaker than an alloy. That was why steel was always a smarter choice to take into a fight than iron was, but this didn't always apply, and not with Carbon. Soft Carbon made lead and Graphite. Pressurized Carbon made diamonds. She could, theoretically, create diamonds with her power if she knew how the conversation aspect of her power worked... But she had no idea how to use it! She was bad at it! Terrible even! She'd managed to set a tree on fire because of it before!
The Abnormal controlled robot began to slowly stampede closer towards. Pure Carbon wasn't going to be enough. Magnesium wasn't going to do a damn thing against this thing, and – What else did wood contain? Calcium, Sulphur, Hydrogen, Oxygen? Whatever it held – nothing else in wood was going to help her. To make matters worse, the walls were way too far away for her to get in close enough before her target trampled her.
'Gotta go with the Conversion aspect, or I'm definitely screwed!' Marinette thought to herself. She powered up her Trait again, and began to duplicate Carbon.
She had duplicated diamonds before, many times. Her mother had the ability to turn herself into inorganic diamond, so she was never hurting for a source of the stuff. Additionally, she had some of it installed in her yo-yo weapon as Ladybug, and had used her 'Diamond Defence' technique to defend her and Chat Noir in the battle against Sunstreak. She understood what a diamond was. Just highly pressurised Carbon.
Her Trait basically made her an atom master, in theory of what it could do... But she'd always struggled when it came to altering and moving the atoms of an object to turn it into something else. It was an insanely difficult thing to get used to being able to do, felt Marinette, and she'd never gotten the gist of it.
How she wanted to learn, though. If she could only add such a veritably useful skill to her roster, she could become near unstoppable with her powers. If she could one day master it, she'd have an infinite access to all the elements of the human body, and use it to create basically anything that she could ever want or need.
"A diamond is just pressurized Carbon." She told herself quietly, duplicating at a high rate. "Push the atoms together. Create more in less space..." To get the heat needed to form diamonds, she had to cause every atom to vibrate within the space she was duplicating, and pressurize it all in such a shot amount of time. Naturally, this would take between billions of years, and she was doing it over the course of a few seconds!
Hearing another thud come from the targets direction, Marinette's eyes shot wide open, and she fired.
"Raaaargh!" From her hands, came a sharp, sleek, diamond blade, its width as thick as an arm was, angled at a solid fifty degrees that lunged straight towards the robot. She'd done it!
It never made it further than two meters. As soon as it reached the end of its ropes, Marinette's Trait simply refused to duplicate the atoms anymore.
"What?..." That made no sense! Her Trait allowed her to duplicate atoms, and to change them! Pressurizing one should have been a challenge, but one it was done, then her Trait should be letting her duplicate it! What the hell was going on?! She'd created diamonds, so why wasn't her power letting her duplicate the substance she'd made?!
Was she just... Not good enough to do so? Was it something that she'd never be able to do with her Trait for as long as she lived? Something that she just wouldn't be able to accomplish because of a lack of raw talent?
Did she just not have the capacity to learn how to use her Trait to its fullest?
A mechanical whirring sound suddenly appeared overhead, and Marinette's attention suddenly shifted back to the mechanical behemoth she was supposed to be fighting! But without the use of the diamonds she had created, what could she do other than –
"Hold it, Rex." Crosscut's voice suddenly filled the room, signalling for the automated contraption to cease its movements.
The orders received, the Abnormal stopped his final puppet from attacking, bringing it back to a neutral standing position. It was the only one that was not yet destroyed, and not that she knew it, but Marinette had lost her chance to do so.
"Marinette, right?" Crosscut asked, having hovered his way over to Marinette's location, where she was kneeling next to the semi-transparent substance she had created. The Air Cutter Trait user inspected the rocky diamonds, thinking to himself that he hadn't seen this sort of thing from the blue haired girls Trait before. "I thought your Trait let you duplicate atoms."
Sighing in disappointment and what she would go as far as to call shame, Marinette explained, "It does... But I can change atoms too... I can pressurize them as well... Atoms are just something I can control... But..."
"Not too well, by the looks of things." Her teacher said, finishing her sentence for her as lightly kicking the diamond with his foot. "It looks like your Trait still requires some practice. Or, a lot of practice."
"That's why I came here today... To practice my Trait." A failure of an attempt at improving her superpower laid right in front of Marinette. She had managed to turn the carbon in the woods into diamonds, but if she couldn't duplicate it further than that, then what the hell was even the point of it? It was a step forward, yes, but now it just led to a huge problem in on itself.
That failure marked the end of the taster sessions combat practice, and Crosscut then went over to explain how in the Enrichment Sessions, he would be going over various methods of improving their combat abilities, hand to hand combat, Traitless combat, reaction time and physical fitness. He would help them develop their own fighting styles, and teach them all manner of fighting related things. While a lot of the students didn't get nearly as much combat practice as they would have liked, this was the manner of an Enrichment Class taster session. It was just a small sample, to allow for more time for them to investigate other Enrichment classes that they may like to also take.
Marinette signed up for the classes, hoping that perhaps, she'd get to learn a few more things about her powers. She also took one in Design, for no other reason than she still had the passion for it.
Although, none of that mattered too much in the grand scheme of things, she considered. Without full use of her powers, becoming a Hero was going to become a lot more of a difficult task... She'd try though. She'd persevere. And she'd keep trying, and she'd learn.
"Word of advice."
Hoshi stood in front of Marinette as they begun to filter out of the room, all to leave to try new sessions or go home. The Star Energy Trait user has stopped just in front of Marinette, the boy's spiky, white hair covering just the top of his light blue eyes.
From what she had seen of him, Marinette knew that he had an insanely strong superpower. His power gave him the literal strength of the stars, making him someone who she would want to avoid a fight with at whatever costs she could afford. If that weren't enough, his tall stature, muscular arms, and cold disposition all blended together to create an individual who Marinette felt that angering would result in a one-way trip to her being thrown halfway across the continent.
She gulped, but looked him straight in the face. "Yes?"
"You're the girl with the atom powers, right?"
"Yes... My name's Marinette."
"I don't give two shits what your name is." Hoshi bluntly stated, his arms folded, seeming to scan over her, like he was assessing the girl based on what he could see. Evidently, he was not impressed. "A Trait like yours you can't even fully control. What a waste."
"What – How – "
"Yes, yes, how dare I." He mocked, not breaking the ruthless voice he was using. He spoke condescendingly, and rather quietly, but with a clear sense that he wouldn't tolerate being interrupted. "Girl like you with a Trait as powerful as atom duplication and rearrangement should have eradicated that robot. And you somehow screwed it up. How is beyond me. Absolutely beyond me. So let me give you some advice."
With him leaning in, the blue haired girl saw the light powder blue irises Hoshi had disappear, his eyes, sclera, pupil and all, fade into nothing but a slightly glowing light blue. The action was intentional, as the rest of his skin wasn't glowing at all. Rather, he was focusing the power of his Star-like physiology into his eyes, to intimidate and remind her of the sort of power he had.
"Learn your place on the food chain. It'll make it a lot easier to accept when you find yourself at the bottom."
"Who... Who do you think you even are?!" Marinette shot at Hoshi, who now leaned back from her, not looking in the least bit guilty, and even a little pleased with himself. What was the deal with this guy? What was his problem with her?! No, she wasn't the best fighter around, but she was trying her very best, damn it! Where did he get off on shooting her down like that?!
It wasn't as if she didn't know how bad a warrior she was. She knew, and she felt ashamed that she wasn't able to do better, like Adrien, like Markus, like anyone else in the room was able to do. She knew! She wanted to get better, so why? What reason did Hoshi even have for speaking to her like this?
"Who do I think I am?" Hoshi grinned, before turning around. "I think... I'm going to be someone who is going to bring a huge change to this planet. Not only this planet, but to the Luna Kingdom as well."
That day, Marinette found herself in her room, with a pile of diamonds to her side. Hours she had spent trying to turn diamonds that she had copied from her mother's Trait into coal, to practice conversion. Hours and hours of trying, of painful rejection, of awful tendon pains flaring out at her for overworking herself.
Many strategies were tried. She tried everything she could think of from an atomic standpoint. She couldn't figure out how to convert the item to its carbon based form without duplicating the atoms it held into a chunk of pure carbon.
And every time she tried, she would just duplicate more diamonds, cluttering her room.
Nothing worked.
But she would keep trying.
Fun fact - Hoshi was one of the first characters I ever came up with when the concept of Traits and a Hero school. His original name was Bakuhou, but at that point, he basically became My Hero Academia's Bakugou, so I changed his name and made him coldly more threatening. His name literally translates to "Star." He also went to school in Japan with Shinuya.
We'll be seeing more of him, for certain ^_^