All Class 1-A students: please report to the entry gate immediately!

Half asleep, Midoriya Izuku groggily rolled over. Had he imagined his homeroom teacher's deadpan voice just then? He grumbled and rolled back into his sleeping position.

All Class 1-A students: please report to the entry gate immediately!

No, the voice was real. Midoriya rubbed his eyes and checked his watch. 1:01 AM. What was Aizawa up to now?

He felt peeved at being woken up in the middle of the night, but Midoriya also felt a little bit of excitement at the unexpected turn of events. He quickly dressed in a weather-appropriate hoodie and jacket and put on his signature red sneakers before walking downstairs and out the door.

At the UA gate, Midoriya recognized five of his classmates: Tenya Iida, Shouto Todoroki, Tokoyami Fumikage, Momo Yaoyorozu, and Mina Ashido. All of them looked just as confused as he felt (with the exception of Todoroki, who just looked bored, as usual, and Mina, who looked perky, as usual).

"Do you guys have any idea why we're here?" asked Midoriya. Todoroki shrugged.

"I hope it's quick, said Mina, shivering in the winter air. "I didn't think to get dressed like you guys did." Midoriya noticed that his pink-skinned classmate was wearing flannel pajamas and slippers.

"I can create a jacket, if you want," said Yaoyorozu to Mina. Mina nodded in gratitude as the class vice-president pulled a puffy purple jacket from her bare arm like a magician's handkerchief. But Midoriya knew that unlike the handkerchief in the common illusion, Mina's new jacket was actually created from thin air.

Tokoyami quietly looked off into the sky.

"No moon tonight," the bird-like boy mused. "Maximum darkness."

Iida was the one to finally answer Midoriya's question.

"My apologies, Midoriya. I unfortunately do not know why we've been called down" said Iida, formal as ever. "If anyone were to discern the reason for our impromptu awakening, it would be you."

"Hmm," Midoriya mumbled. "If it were an emergency, like a fire, Aizawa-sensei should have said so in his announcement. He loves to keep us on our toes when it comes to our heroics curriculum, so we're probably going to be some sort of training exercise. But our final exams are only two weeks away. Speaking of finals-"

"Quit mumbling, BASTARD!" Midoriya was cut off by a sharp blow to the back of his head. He recognised the harsh voice immediately. He turned around to face his unofficial rival, Katsuki Bakugou. Eijiro Kirishima, their mutual friend, trailed closely behind Midoriya's assailant. The redheaded boy gave an apologetic wave and smiled at Midoriya.

"Oh… um, hi, Kacchan!" said Midoriya, weakly. Bakugou sneered at his affectionate nickname.

"Hello… DEKU!" Bakugou's words were filled with even more malice than usual. "Which one of you fuckfaces started this!?" He turned to Todoroki. "Don't tell me your stupid fire half got out of control!"

Midoriya quickly intervened. "Actually, none of us know why we're here. We were just discussing why Aizawa-sensei would call us outside like he did."

"Fucking annoying," Bakugou growled.

"Hey, Sero!" Kirishima called out to his friend. Slowly, more of Class 1-A began to file out of their shared living space expressing varying degrees of exhaustion.

"Deku!" a bubbly voice called out. Midoriya turned to face his brown-haired friend, who he knew used his demeaning nickname with good intentions. "What's going on?"

Midoriya shrugged. "I think it's some sort of surprise heroics test." Since the culture festival, Ochako Uraraka had grown out her bob-like hairstyle to resemble the hair of her upperclassman idol, Nejire. It suited her well, he thought. Not that it mattered. While she seemed nice and innocent on the surface, Midoriya knew his friend could kick his ass if he voiced his personal thoughts about her appearance.

Not that she would, necessarily, but it was better to play it safe, he reasoned.

"Mon brrrr." They all turned. The speaker, Yuga Aoyama, had also forgotten to get dressed, and he was shivering in nothing but pajamas and his utility belt. Bakugou snickered, but Midoriya remained silent, remembering that his friend needed the belt to control the volatile lasers that shot out of his navel. "Might it be too late to run inside and get my jacket?"

"Yes." The group turned, startled by the voice behind them. It was the hero-turned-teacher, Shota Aizawa, otherwise known as Eraserhead. "A real hero must always be prepared, lest they suffer the consequences."

Discreetly, Yaoyorozu began to pull another jacket like Mina's out of her sleeve for her shivering classmate.

Iida's hand shot up into the air: "SIR! May I ask why you called us all down here at such a late hour?"

The teacher ignored him. "If this is everyone, I guess I should tell you why you're here."

"WAIT!" It was Kyoka Jiro, a girl with earlobes shaped like AUX cords. "Where's Bolts-for-Brains?" She was referring to their classmate Denki Kaminari, who was notably absent.

"Oh, shoot, he's probably sleeping through the alarm," said Kirishima, sheepishly. "I'll go wake him."

Aizawa grumbled. "Hurry. Your classmates can fill you both in."

"Yes sir!" Kirishima gave a thumbs-up before turning and sprinting back towards their dormitories.

"Okay. Welcome to the practical portion of your final exam."

"WHAT!?" the whole class shouted in unison.

"But, teacher!" wailed Mina." I forgot to study!"

"Idiot." The teacher sighed. "It was meant as a surprise. Before now, none of you knew this would happen."

"Oh," Mina said, shamefaced, remembering Iida and Midoriya's conversation. "Right."

Bakugou eyed his classmates hungrily. "This time, I will kick all your puny asses and win!" While he was practically a genius, the boy's aggressiveness always blocked out his redeeming qualities when it came to competitions. And to Bakugou, everything was a competition.

Aizawa continued: "For the next few days, you and your classmates will be working together as one team." Bakugou deflated; the boy would rather work alone.

"More often than not, to stop high-profile villain groups, professional heroes need to collaborate with other agencies to investigate said villains and determine their weaknesses before striking. Some of you already have experience with this process."

Midoriya saw Ochako exchange glances with Tsuyu Asui, their classmate whom Ochako had interned with. Midoriya recalled how Sir Nighteye used this team-up strategy to take down the Yakuza boss Overhaul. He deeply missed his internship with the pro-hero.

Aizawa ignored his panicking class. "While your grade will be heavily influenced by your class's success or failure in this activity, I will also assess your individual performances. You will be graded based on your teamwork, the appropriate usage of your respective quirks, and the effectiveness of your strategies."

Iida raised his hand again before blurting out: "But teacher, if I may ask, why are we out here at 1:22 in the morning? Wouldn't this exam be executed more efficiently in one of UA's designated training areas?"

Aizawa pretended to ignore the boy again. "I woke you up to give you a much-needed edge." He stepped aside and gestured to a UA coach bus parked behind him. "We will be taking this bus for a short ride to our exam's location. Get on."

Aizawa boarded the bus and took his place in the driver's seat. As if on cue, Kirishima emerged from their dormitory pulling a blond-haired boy by the arm.

"Hey, man, why are you doing this?" Kaminari protested.

"Didn't you hear the announcement? On the intercom?" Kirishima answered. "Sensei wants us outside for some reason. He gestured toward the bus. "And now we're late."

The two boys arrived to see their class in varying states of excitement, nervousness, and tiredness. Iida was stiffly motioning for the students to form two orderly lines as the rest of the class ignored their president and crowded onto the bus. Kirishima tapped Midoriya's shoulder.

"What did we miss?"

"Not much," answered the green-haired teen. "Aizawa was pretty vague." As they boarded the bus, Midoriya filled the duo in on what was happening.

"So it's some sort of group strategy game, huh?" asked Kaminari.

"Yeah." Midoriya looked out the window. They were heading west, towards the port. Earlier that day, the entire coastal area had been evacuated due to an impending tsunami.

He started mumbling. "We will have to stop sometime before we reach the coast, so that means we'll be in the Shimizu-ku ward. But won't the ward be empty? And dangerous? As far as I know, UA doesn't have any facilities here, so is it a location unknown to us? Why is this whole excursion shrouded in mystery?"

After fifteen minutes of driving, Aizawa parked the bus next to a plain-looking office complex. Even if it wasn't pitch black, the four-story building would have been easily missable in this urban area filled with similar buildings.

Their teacher stood up. "I guess it's time for me to explain the details of this exam." He pointed to a red banner, illuminated by the dim interior lights of the bus. "You are Red Team. This is your flag. Protect it. At the same time, try to find Blue Team's flag and take it back to this building, your base."

Tsuyu Asui perked up. "I'm starting to get it. Our exam will be a game of Capture the Flag."

Aizawa smiled. "Exactly. Except instead of a field, you have the entire ward to navigate. Thanks to a certain UA teacher, Shimizu-ku ward is empty, so you can use your quirks as if you are pro heroes. The area is roughly ten square kilometers. If you can restrain an opponent with 'capture tape' you can bring them to the 'jail' portion of your base." He held a spool of white electrical tape. "The opposing team's flag will be stored in their base, which will be a normal building hidden in plain sight, just as yours is."

"So if Class 1-A is Team Red then…" Yaoyorozu's voice trailed off.

"Your opponents will be Class 1-B."

Midoriya grimaced. Although they never got as much media attention as Class A had, Class B were every bit as capable as Class A, and they bore a grudge against the more popular class.

This will be tough, he thought.

"This will be easy!" Bakugou pounded and explosive fist into his hand. "We can beat those losers, no problem."

Aizawa ignored the boy as Bakugou's classmates sent him irritated looks for his outburst. "Aside from the location of their base, everything about their exam is identical to yours. Above all, this will be a test of strategy. I can't tell you any more."

"Wait! Sensei!" Midoriya shouted. He had a question nagging at his mind.

His teacher sighed. "What is it, Midoriya?"

"How will we make sure villains won't attack us like they did at the training camp?"

Aizawa shifted uneasily of his feet. "There are no guarantees, but you all have your cell phones, right?"

Everyone nodded.

"You can use them to make emergency calls. Your phones will be sending data to back to UA. They will track your location, as well as the contents of your messages. We will be keeping tabs on you, so we'll know if you get kidnapped. And don't even think about calling anyone for outside help, or you'll fail."

Midoriya felt uneasy, but he nodded. He felt like there was more to the story that his teacher wasn't telling him.

Aizawa looked to the class. "If that's all, than get off the bus and take your flag with you. As a class, you're alone on this, so stick together and listen to each other." He looked at Bakugou, who scowled. Then he looked back at the class, who were murmuring to each other as they started to file out of the bus. "The game starts at 8:00 today."

"Hold up," Kaminari said as he walked by. "If it starts at 8:00, then couldn't we have waited for a normal time to wake up? Don't tell me Class B is still sleeping soundly right now…"

Aizawa grinned. "They are, but I figured you could use the extra six hours for strategizing. Or you could sleep. I don't care."

Before his classmate could cuss at his teacher, Midoriya grabbed Kaminari by the arm and pulled him off the bus. Midoriya, personally, would not sleep at all that night. A plan was already forming in his head…

Back at UA...

Principal Nezu stared at the holographic monitor in the middle of the conference room. The screen showed a map of the entire Shizuoka Prefecture. Twenty blue dots were clustered around UA, which was located about 20 kilometers inland from the Pacific Ocean. Class A's base was closer to the water, northwest of the city's bay. Class B's base would be on the peninsula on the south side of the port.

Class B's base was surrounded by water on three sides, so it was naturally more defensible, but it was also stood out more on the narrow strip of land. Nezu chuckled, subconsciously running through strategies in his head. The biggest advantage would go to the team who found the other team's base first. The question was: how to find it?

As Nezu was running through mental simulations, Aizawa walked into the conference room.

"Up late, I see," mused the rodent-like principal. "Or should I say early, considering it's 2:30 AM?"

"I wanted to keep my class on its toes, and I wasn't tired, anyway," said the Erasure Hero. "I got some sleep yesterday afternoon."

"Weren't you supposed to give a lecture to the Senior class?"

"No," the teacher answered quickly. He decided to change the subject: "Is this really a good idea?"

"Is what a good idea?"

"Using the students as bait."

The principal shifted in his seat uncomfortably. "It's not entirely like that. This exam's main purpose is to serve as a teamwork exercise and a way for us to evaluate our students' practical skills. If, by chance, a League of Villains member finds them, we'll have a pro hero ready to take them in. With me, you, Vlad King, and two other teachers on duty, the Shimizu-ku Ward is the second safest place in Japan, after UA, of course."

"Additionally, the students know about the trackers on their phones, but the nano-devices we injected into their blood are unknown to everybody but the UA teachers. We won't lose them."

Aizawa lightened. "I guess so." His train of thought shifted to the game. "Have you come up with a winning strategy yet?"

Nezu beamed. "Twelve of them." He tapped his head with his paw. "You just have to think of life like a game of chess. One move will lead to another, which will lead to another, and so on, until somebody wins! Now, I'll tell you all the details if you'd like to stay for some tea…."

Without saying a word, Aizawa turned and left the room, leaving his boss bewildered. But the principal once again focused on the red dots clustered on the screen.

"Now, will Class A come up with one of my strategies? Or will they come up with something completely new?" Nezu's nose twitched in jittery excitement. "I just can't wait to see!"

Thus ends the first chapter of my first story. Expect another chapter soon! There will be more action from all of Class A in the future, so stay tuned!

If you want help visualizing the city, look up "Shimzu-ku Ward Japan"

Thanks for reading, and thanks for any positive/constructive feedback you might have! I'm always looking for ways to improve my writing, so leave a review if you have anything to say!