After my fight, I watched the rest with a close eye. Everyone seemed just as fired up as I’d felt. Nobody got injured the way Izuku, Mineta, or Shoji had.
And with the new mixture of students, I got to see some interactions I hadn’t expected.
------
Hero Team H Tokoyami and Mina vs VillainTeam C Momo and Toru
Once the bell rang, Mina and Tokoyami began strategizing. So did Momo and Toru.
Well, honestly, it felt more like just Tokoyami and Momo were strategizing. Mina and Toru weren’t dumb, but they weren’t on the level of their fellow students. So the second the fight began, it felt like the two of them took the role of leader in terms of tactics.
Momo began creating things while requesting Toru prepare the first part of her plan, handing her a bevy of tools. I could figure out her plan immediately. Use an invisible scout to set up traps, spy on her enemies, all while she played Rainbow Six Siege by setting up defenses around the bomb room.
Tokoyami predicted that and prepared for it by asking Mina to do something. She balked at the idea at first, but after some addendums, agreed to the changes with excited aplomb.
At some point, Toru must have seen the sight of Mina gently spraying a liquid in front of her as they entered a hallway. A bit of liquid hit her in the thigh, showing the alert duo of Tokoyami and Mina they were being watched. They immediately ran forward, the invisible girl smacking her thigh to try and get the liquid off of her.
“Spraying random acid!?” Toru was invisible, but we could still hear her voice as she frantically rubbed it off. “Mou, that’s too far!”
“Don’t worry, I can make it non-corrosive so it won’t hurt anyone!” Mina said proudly.
Huh. That explained how she could skate across the ground without melting it. So she could just choose how acidic her powers were? That made her a lot more powerful than I’d thought she was.
“Ashido-san, focus,” Tokoyami’s bird Stand thing rushed for Toru, who squeaked and ducked away from the shadow monster. “The ground, now!”
“Sure thing, Birdy-san!” Mina flipped through the air, releasing a spray of liquid across the floor. Toru slipped across the liquid, sending waves of water that highlighted her invisible body. She quickly got up and ran for it, Mina and Tokoyami in hot pursuit.
“All Might-sensei, is it really okay for Mina-chan to use acid like that?” Aoyama asked.
“As long as she isn’t causing undue damage to herself or others,” All Might said seriously. “As a hero, we must understand that our quirks are dangerous tools, dangerous weapons. Knowing their limits allows us to not only defeat our enemies but do so non-lethally. Young Ashido is using her powers well.”
“She would,” Kirishima said, a fond smile on his face. “She’s always been a born hero.”
Wait, always? Kirishima and Mina knew each other? When has that been a thing?
As I thought about that, Toru had led Tokoyami and Mina to a hallway leading up a set of stairs. Mina went running upstairs, only for Tokoyami to block her.
“Eh! What’s wrong?”
He frowned, staring up the stairs. “This doesn’t feel right… Get down!”
A grey canister was tossed down the stairs. Dark Shadow moved to intercept it, catching the grenade while Mina and Tokoyami ducked. A bright burst of light and crack of noise was followed by Mina and Tokoyami shouting in pain, Dark Shadow recoiling from the light.
Then a taser held by an invisible hand fired into Mina.
“Yaaaaaa!” Mina screamed. Tokoyami rushed upwards, but Toru was already running, dropping another canister behind her to force him to dodge back.
“Yare, yare,” Sero, the tape kid, sighed, rubbing the back of his head. “Momo’s quirk is strong…”
“She basically has every quirk,” I mumbled to myself, though Sato nodded in agreement. She was basically a DnD Wizard/Artificer. Or Meme Batman. Give her prep-time and, well, she’d be able to wreak havoc.
Momo had been setting up the room around the bomb the whole time. On one camera, we saw a radio in an empty room rise up. Momo stiffened, nodded, and talked back, moving faster. Her setup was intensive. She placed metal plates on the two doors, made herself some tear gas and a gas mask. Soon enough, she looked intensely exhausted, but also pleased, with her final set up being to give herself a shield and staff.
“Overkill,” some of the students said, sweatdropping in unison.
Ain’t no kill like it, right?
From there, Tokoyami and Mina were fighting a losing battle. Toru played things a lot more safely now, only throwing bombs and shooting tasers when it was safe. She tried using capture tape on Mina once, but the pinkette melted through it.
Eventually, Tokoyami’s persistence paid off along with Mina’s quirk. She laid down a layer of slippery liquid in front of a hallway. Tokoyami carefully guided her there, and the second Toru stepped on it, she fell on her butt, Dark Shadow snatching her up and Mina wrapping her wrist in capture tape.
But by then, they might as well had lost. Because when they got to the room at the top, it took them forever to get through the layers of metal. Mina tried to melt through it, managing to make a small hole in the metal about the size of her hand, only to find out that Momo was waiting on the other side with tear gas. It wasn’t too powerful, whether due to her own limitations or her trying not to hurt anyone, but it did drive them back with the streams of smoke.
Tokoyami tried to circle around to one of the other doors, smashing into it with Dark Shadow over and over to try and rip through the metal plates. Momo raised her shield and staff, her gas mask tight on her head. She looked tired, but also ready.
But eventually, time was up. Dark Shadow was strong, but it took him time to rip through the metal, while Mina had bad luck trying to melt the doors when Momo was letting her tear gas pour through any openings she made. As the buzzer rang, Mina sighed, rubbing her eyes as she teared up a bit. Light tear gas was still tear gas after all.
“YAAAAA! Momo-chan, that was too mean!”
“Ah,” Momo said apologetically. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to hurt you too badly, but I needed a way to keep you both from getting through the doors.”
“Don’t be. It was well-strategized,” Tokoyami said, though he seemed disappointed.
All Might went and got them. When they came back, Tokoyami seemed more determined.
“Next time, I’ll have to avoid allowing you so much time to prepare. Toru did well to slow us down.”
“Mouuuu. I got caught though,” the invisible girl mumbled.
“No, you did great!” Mina hugged Toru boisterously. “And Momo-chan was so smart! I want to fight you again!”
The tall brunette girl smiled proudly. “Thank you. I hope to be a worthy match.”
“I’m sure you will,” Tokoyami said with a hint of rivalry to his voice.
All in all, an interesting match to watch.
------
Hero Team G Jiro & Sero vs Villain Team F Sato & Aoyama
The next fight was an odd one. Mostly because they didn’t strike me as appropriate for the roles. Jiro and Sero as heroes. Jiro, whose powers allowed her to hear with Daredevil-esque precision, and Sero, with tape that allowed him immense mobility and the ability to trap people or set up hazards. Fighting Sato and Aoyama as villains. Sato, who was basically a sugar-powered Hulk, and Aoyama, who fired lasers. It felt like defense and offense should have been switched somehow.
But they didn’t seem to mind that. They went all in.
Jiro first used her Earphone Jack to figure out where Sato and Aoyama would be. Then she began to plan. I don’t mean to be mean to the others, but she was likely the smartest of the group. Sero didn’t strike me as a quick thinker, Sato may have been smart but his powers would negate that, and Aoyama was more the flamboyant knight rather than a tactical genius.
She came up with a pretty simple idea. First, she and Sero snuck through the halls, listening carefully at regular intervals. Sato waited outside the door, ready to act as a wall, with Aoyoma behind him in case they got past.
Jiro’s powers gave her the edge. She knew where they were and how to get to them. So while Sato was guarding the doorway, she suddenly spun around the corner and faced him. Her jacks were in the stereos in her boots. The echoing sound of a heartbeat could be heard even from where we were, smashing into Sato with physical force. He screamed, grabbing at his ears before reaching for his sugar and shoving it into his mouth. Before he got more than a gram down, a piece of tape shot out with some very impressive accuracy to wrap around Sato’s sugar, pulling it out of his hand, before another tape wrapped around him, Sero pulling as hard as he could to reel Sato towards him.
Sato’s eyes widened, rage in his eyes as his muscles pulsed outwards. He roared, rushing after Jiro and Sero. The pair ran back around the corner. Sato spun after them.
And ran into walls of tape.
“GRUUUUUGH!” Sato roared again, trying to rush through the tape, the adhesive attaching to him and wrapping around his body. He approached a more open area of the place, near a set of stairs. Jiro spun around. “Sero, now!”
Sero dropped down from the stairs and went in with his helmet down. He attached a line to Sato’s right forearm and slid under him, getting behind him before leaping up and swinging around Sato as he punched the concrete behind him. Sero attached another line to the ceiling, pulling himself up before Sato could spin and grab him. He attached more lines to the walls and Sato, letting the big man swing at him wildly as he dodged.
Then he got overconfident. He came too close to Sato, who grabbed him by the shirt. While the dude was having trouble moving with all the tape turning him into a mummy, he still managed to pull Sero close and glare into his eyes.
“Eep!” Sero said weakly.
Then Jiro hit them both. Waves of sound erupted from her legs, hitting the pair. Sato let go of Sero, trying to grab his ears. The second he let go of Sero, Jiro ran over and wrapped his wrist in capture tape.
As in the tape that disqualified people, not the ones Sero had been shooting.
Sato stared at her, still disorientated. Jiro swallowed nervously. Then he calmed down, slumping in the tape surrounding him. He mumbled under his breath, exhausted.
Sero and Jiro rose to their feet, the tape guy shaken but not dead, and ran together to the bomb room.
And a laser blast shot at them. Jiro ducked with a yelp as the laser shot just over her head. The laser impacted the wall behind her, cracking the concrete.
“Vous ne pouvez pas passer!” Aoyama shouted with pride, his hips thrust forward as the light of his laser faded. He pointed a finger. “Sorry, mademoiselle, but this shall be my win!”
“This is your fault,” I told Iida jokingly. “You turned a battle simulation into drama class.”
Before Iida could say anything, Mina cut in. “Actually, I get the feeling he would have acted like that no matter what.”
...Yeah, fair enough.
Aoyama released another blast. I could see Jiro duck back, biting her lip. I could guess what she was thinking. With the world's most fabulous laser firing at her, how could she get to the bomb?
Sero said something to her we couldn’t hear. She seemed to think before raising her head to look over at Sato, the big man wrapped up enough tape that he looked like an Egyptian mummy. Something seemed to shine in her eyes. She shouted to Sero. The tape shooter seemed aghast at the idea, but finally nodded.
I tried to figure out her plan. A long hallway played to Aoyoma’s strengths in a big way. His laser might hurt him after some time, but he could still let out small bursts. And that laser really was no joke. In a small space like that hallway, he had the advantage.
If they could get past that hallway though, then things would open up for them. I couldn’t see any other entrances though, not even a window. So what could Sero and Jiro do?
Her plan was actually way more interesting than I expected.
Aoyama had been ready to fire again. So when a ball of tape came flying towards him, he hit with a blast. Then another came at him. And another.
Aoyama's face paled when he realized what was happening. Jiro and Sero had bundled up dozens of balls of tape wrapped around concrete pieces from when his laser blast had cracked the wall. They ran out of cover, rushing forward the second they heard Aoyoma fire his blasts.
The blonde adjusted quickly, forgoing his quick and accurate blasts for a powerful long stream of sparkling blasts, setting his feet as he aimed the laser at Jiro. She jumped into the air, dodging the blast. Aoyama adjusted his aim, screaming in pain but still letting loose, trying to get Jiro in the air.
A line of tape wrapped around her waist. Another attached to the wall behind the bomb. Aoyama's eyes widened as Sero pulled at the wall and Jiro at the same time, sending her out of the way of the laser and shooting her forward. The grinning punk star flew like a bullet.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Aoyama tried to adjust again, but one of the tossed balls of tape tapped him in the face, distracting him long enough for Jiro to fly past. She landed against the bomb with a wide grin.
“GOT IT!”
Aoyama shouted out in despair, then clenched his stomach in pain, Sero rushing over to pat his stomach as Jiro’s smile got a little awkward. Well, the kid had put in a hell of a lot of effort!
But Jiro had forced his attention to waver between the tape balls about to hit him and the two students rushing for him, and a laser doesn’t do well with AOE attacks. One moment of indecision had been enough.
Hero Team G, wins.
Give Sato and Aoyoma credit though. While Jiro got her MVP status, both of them looked more determined than disheartened.
------
Which left one last battle.
Hero Team E, Kirishima and Koda vs Villain Team J, Tsuyu and Kaminari.
Now that was interesting to me. Of the team-ups, I couldn’t think of one less suited for the role of villain than Tsuyu and Kamanari. Tsuyu was a mobile attacker, with high speed, agility, and long-range attacks in her repertoire. Kamanari was a mobile lightning storm. Not exactly abilities that screamed defensive wall to me.
But Kirishima and Koda had a different problem. Which was that Kirishima was a loud boisterous, over-the-top kinda dude. And Koda… well, was the opposite of all of that.
So when the bell rang to start the match, it didn’t surprise me to see that Kirishima turning and yelling happily at Koda ended in the poor big guy getting spooked. But Kirishima was a nice guy. So after that initial surprise, he calmed down and spoke more calmly to Koda.
Tsuyu, on the other side of things, seemed to realize that her team wasn’t optimized for defense.
(Which gave me an idea for the afterschool thing, but I saved that to run by smarter/more battle-focused people later.)
So she made a suggestion to Kaminari. The lightning boy loved the idea entirely.
That was when a bird flew into the room. Then three rats. Kaminari screamed like a little girl, while Tsuyu simply glared at them suspiciously. The animals looked at them, then ran out of the room, the bird briefly harassing Kaminari before flying out. Thankfully he didn’t panic enough to let loose, but the slight buzz around his skin told us he’d come close.
Tsuyu seemed to guess what was going on though. Koda hadn’t really used his powers during the Quirk apprehension test, but I guessed Tsuyu had seen him when he talked to animals during lunch, or maybe even took the physical test with him.
True to her suspicions, the animals, along with a couple of extra birds and rats that must have gone to other rooms, rushed back to Kirishima and Koda (lots of K-names in this match…). Kirishima watched as Koda kneeled down to talk to the small group of animals. After a moment, he spoke to Kirishima.
The redhead gave a grin that wouldn’t have looked out of place on my own face. He raised a fist that hardened like stone, Koda gulping at the eager look on his face. He rushed forward, Koda following with a small group of animals.
As they went in, I frowned. Animal control is an insanely useful power. Granted, I wasn’t sure on the limits of his power. Was it actual control, as in the animals couldn’t refuse an order? It seemed like it was based on his voice, so it wasn’t quite as powerful as Ma-Ti’s overpowered ass, but still impressive. Come to think of it, it was probably good that Koda had those powers. A guy with an army of animals under his command spying across the city could become very dangerous… Very dangerous.
Ohhhhh.
As I came upon that little epiphany, Kirishima was rushing forwards, his sharp teeth flashing. Koda was trying to slow him down, but the kid’s nervousness was keeping him from really getting his voice out. So they rushed into the room that Koda had indicated!
And nothing was inside except Kaminari, grinning like a madman in the pipe filled room.
He ran forwards towards Koda and Kirishima, lightning surrounding him. Kirishima ran right back at him, his body hardening as he roared.
“Shonen moment, they’re having a shonen moment!” Mina yelled, jumping up and down.
Koda let out a little squeal as the pair of boys met in the center of the room.
Lightning crackled around the boys the second they met in the center. Kaminari grinned as he held onto Kirishima by the fists, the stone kid yelling in pain.
Oh yeah, he’d accidentally done something like that during the USJ arc. His powers only instantly cooked his brain when he projected his power in a massive AOE attack. Not when he was just releasing it into something he was touching.
Still, Kirishima wasn’t the kind of guy to let a little electrocution stop him. He grit his teeth, the sharpened fangs flashing in the light, and reared his head back, before bringing it forward to hit Kaminari in the face. The kid yelped, stepping back while gripping his face. Kirishima stepped forward. Kaminari yelped at the sight of a fist coming towards him and unleashed his full power.
The room lit up like the sun. Kirishima screamed. Koda was out of the room, crouched down with his hands over his ears. Kaminari’s face slowly began to slack. The electricity bounced across the metal pipes in the ceiling above them.
Kirishima’s eyes flashed. He stepped forward, his body spasming. And with a single powerful blow, hit Kaminari in the stomach.
“Ohhhhh!” I said in unison with some of the others, wincing. Damn, that looked painful.
Kaminari folded over Kirishima’s fist, eyes rolling into the back of his head before Kirishima, still spasming a bit, struggled to pull out some capture tape from his waist pouch.
That was when Tsuyu struck. She must have come from carrying the bomb elsewhere in the building. She came hopping around a corner towards Koda. To his credit, the kid immediately noticed her. His eyes widened in surprise, before he pointed at her, saying something we couldn’t hear. The birds and rats that had followed him attacked Tsuyu, flying/skittering towards her in a feathered and furred swarm.
The frog girl didn’t hesitate. She jumped to a wall, across to the next wall, the floor, the ceiling, then back to the floor at high speed, avoiding the animals by bouncing like a damn pinball before lashing out with her tongue, wrapping it around Koda’s ankles and pulling with all her strength. He fell to the ground in a panic, hitting his back on the ground, before Tsuyu pulled again while jumping forward, her swift hands wrapping Koda’s hand up in capture tape as the big guy was still staggered.
The birds and rats went to attack her anyways, but Koda quickly hissed, freezing them in their tracks. Good thing the kid wasn’t a sore loser.
Damn it, I’m so mad at myself for not even thinking of capture tape. Then again, Shoto likely would have frozen it apart, so that was fine.
Kirishima was wrapping up Kamanari in tape as well, still spasming, and turned in shock when he saw that Tsuyu had taken out Koda. The frog girl and rock boy eyed each other. I could see both calculating things out. And Tsuyu surprised me. The smart decision, in my mind, was to run. She’d taken down Kirishima’s best way of tracking the bomb and she was down a man. If she could run, take advantage of her speed, she’d stand a good chance at winning.
Instead, she bounced into the room with Kirishima and struck with her tongue. He raised a clawed hand, only to realize she was aiming for a pipe above his head. She pulled herself forward and kicked Kirishima in the chest, bouncing back from him. He took the blow without a hint of pain but ended up tripping over Kaminari behind him, falling on his ass. By the time he got up, Tsuyu had disappeared.
Oh. That was way better. Now she’d disappeared from his vision. And Kirishima was a tough tank, but he was no Sherlock Holmes. He got up and to his credit, went running through the hallways. He ran from room to room, trying to find Tsuyu, getting more and more frustrated.
Tsuyu waited until he was deep into the search. Then she took the bomb and brought it right back to the original room.
Damn. That was devious. And pretty damn ballsy.
Kirishima roamed through the halls, smashing down doors, getting more and more frustrated, while Tsuyu waited patiently with Koda and Kaminari, the two boys aghast at the fact that not only was this her plan, but it was working!
But she got the last laugh when the timer rang and Kirishima was left on an upper floor wondering what the heck happened. She looked up at the sound of the bell, then smiled cutely, head cocking to the side.
“Kero!”
Adorable.
“Okay, I want Tsuyu on my team from now on,” I said to Sato. “Girls got balls of steel.”
He stared at me, apparently not knowing how to take that little statement.
Villain Team J, win.
------
“Well done, zygotes!” All Might said after the class, grinning at us proudly. “You all were great! And we only had three injured as well!”
Ah. My bad.
“A fantastic first training session!”
Tsuyu raised a hand. “To have such a proper class after Aizawa-sensei’s class,” she hesitated to rub her cheek. “It’s kind of anticlimactic,” she ended weakly, some of the others nodding.
“Somehow I think that grumpy old man would just take that as a compliment,” I mumbled to Mina.
“He would, wouldn’t he!?” the pinkette said, chuckling just a bit.
All Might be coughed, though he apparently heard us because I think he was also hiding a laugh. “Yes, well! I will head out and review the results with Young Midoriya, Mineta, and Shoji! Change and return to class! BYE BYEEE!!!!”
Saying the last in accented English, he rushed off in a blur, sending gusts of winds outwards.
“Huh. I thought there was no running in the hallways,” I chuckled.
“All Might is amazing!” Kaminari said in awe.
I looked at the kids. At the awe on their faces. Except for Bakugo, who looked like someone had killed his puppy. But all of them had this sense of… wonder. All Might really meant so much to this world.
I faced where he’d left. That man was dying. I was one of maybe less than, what, 8 people who knew about it? He was slowly dying. And yet, he was still fighting. Still protecting people. Despite all that pain, he… yeah.
“He really is amazing,” I mumbled.
I shook it off, turning to the class. “So, I’m gonna put up that sign-up sheet in the class for that after-school thing once I get a chance, then I’ll talk to Aizawa-sensei to figure out how official we can make this. My friend from Class-B is going to help.”
“I can’t make it today after school,” Jiro said sadly. “I promised my parents I’d help them out with something. But I’d still like to come tomorrow.”
“Hey, you know I’m in,” Sato said, raising a thumb. “Should be fun, practicing with everyone!”
“Same for me,” Tsuyu said. “As long as we have permission, kero!”
“We’ll get it, I promise! Right after class.”
“May I come along when you meet the teachers?” Momo asked, the studious student raising a hand. “I would like to know what the official process is for such things in case we need to do it again.”
“I would like to join you as well!” Iida said proudly, waving his hands proudly as Ochaco giggled at his antics.
“Oh, oh! I wanna come-” Mina was about to say before I quickly raised my one hand.
“Whoa, calm down! How about we just stick with Ida, Momo, and I? Me, because it was my fucking idea,” I said with a grin, getting some looks of disapproval at my language. “Momo because she’s smarter than all of us put together and teachers love that. And Iida because he has glasses.”
“W-What is that supposed to mean!?” Iida said in shock through his dope helmet.
“He’s right, it does make him look super responsible when he wears them,” Sero joked.
“It’s because they're boxy. If they were slanted he’d look like a dark supervillain about to rule the world,” Kaminari chimed in.
“Oh, that’s why he was so good at it before!” Ochaco teased, poking an irate Iida in the side.
“You guys…” Iida grumbled.
I patted him on the back. “Seriously, it’s because you’ve been an earnest and studious dude from the second I met you.”
He seemed touched.
“Then it’s decided,” Momo said firmly, cocking her hip and smiling. “We’ll go to Aizawa-sensei after class and ask him what we need to do to make a regular training club for hero students.”
“Let us know how it goes!” Toru chimed in from… somewhere.
We headed back to class, ready for the next part of the day. And the whole time, Bakugo and Shoto simply ignored us, in their own little world.