Their Friend, the Nerd's Determination

You can do this Midoriya, thought Clay as he watched the scene unfold on the monitors. As expected, Bakugo attacked head on again, this time with a kick which Midoriya was able to block with both arms raised, using the capture tape All Might had given each participant to ensnare Bakugo's leg. "You didn't show him that move did you," whispered Slade, noting how Midoriya seemed to be imitating Eraser Head.

"Nope," replied Clay with a knowing, unseen smirk, "He figured it out on his own." As they watched, Bakugo blasted the wall in another attempt to hit Midoriya, as the green-haired boy dodged out of the way. After waiting for Bakugo's next move, Midoriya broke into a run down one of the many hallways.

He's trying to avoid fighting him in close range now, Clay observed as Bakugo chased after Midoriya, completely forgetting about Uraraka, but he's also led that explosive douche away from his partner. As Bakugo lost sight of his prey, he stood in the hallway yelling at the top of his lungs as small explosions erupted from his hand. "He's got serious anger issues," said Kaminari as they watched Bakugo seethe with rage on the monitors, "It's a bit scary to be honest."

"He's always had a massive ego," Clay said while still watching the monitors, "People have told him he's special his entire life and he's just now finding out that he's not as big of a hot shot as he once thought." "Oh yeah I forgot to ask," said Mina, "What is your history with that guy?"

A frown crossed Clay's face and could be heard in his voice as he spoke. "We met the guy shortly after we became friends with Midoriya, they went to the same middle school so it was bound to happen," explained Clay, "For obvious reasons me and Slade's views about quirks not being the only measure of a person clashed with Bakugo's arrogant belief that having a flashy quirk was everything."

"That and he was just an ##," said Slade, "Why someone didn't try stamping his guts out before us is a mystery to me."

"That seems a little over the top," said Hakagure, whose hero outfit was only comprised of a pair of blue gloves for some reason. "We never were able to get into a full on fight with the guy," said Slade, "Always a teacher around or someone else breaking up the fight, and as much as we wanted to fight, Midoriya didn't want us getting into trouble."

"But if you think our view of him is harsh, you may want to keep watching before you make up your mind," said Clay as Bakugo finally managed to corner Midoriya, "You might change your perspective."

Bakugou wasted no time in proving Clay and Slade's point as he activated a pin in his gauntlet which would allow him to fire a much larger scale explosion, and at range. "Young Bakugo stop!" exclaimed All Might over his microphone, "That could kill him!" Bakugo wasn't listening, obviously, and pulled the pin on his grenade-style gauntlet, sending out a large blast which blew a wide whole through the side of the building.

"Wo this is crazy!" Exclaimed Kirishima. "Midoriya," called All Might, "Midoriya come in!" That # #head, thought Clay as they watched the smoke clear on the monitors, revealing Midoriya to be relatively okay, with only the rest of his mask and the right sleeve to his costume missing.

"Okay that's it!" Slade exclaimed angrily as he turned and headed for the door. "Young Mason," said All Might as he put a hand on Slade's shoulder to stop him, "Where exactly are you going?" "It should be obvious," Said Slade, an aggravated tone grating his voice, "I'm going down there to stop this!"

"I'm afraid I can't allow that," stated All Might. "If someone doesn't stop this now," Slade nearly yelled as he grabbed All Might's massive hand with both of his, "Midoriya might get killed and since you clearly aren't gonna do it." Slade quickly increased his density, causing the ground to crack more and more beneath his feet, forcing All Might to greatly tighten his grip, not only to keep Slade from breaking his hold on his shoulder, but also to keep him from collapsing the floor.

"He may be posturing quite a bit," said All Might, with a trace of actual strain in his voice, "But he has no intention of actually killing Midoriya." "Have you not been watching!" Exclaimed Slade, casting a furious glare at their teacher, "If that prick is allowed to continue using zero restraint in this fight, he'll kill Midoriya whether he intends to or not!"

"I hadn't planned on allowing it in the first place," said All Might as he held up the mike and spoke into it, "Bakugo, if you use that attack again I will stop this fight and your team will lose!" That seemed to get the explosion quirk user's attention as he looked up towards the monitor.

"Using such a large scale attack inside risks destroying the fortress you're trying to protect," explained All Might, "A poor strategy for a hero or a villain and in this case the penalty would be a massive loss of points."

Bakugo was clearly not happy about the declaration, but to a degree he seemed to understand. "That should be the end of any other problems," said All Might, still having to keep his grip on Slade tight, "Now will you stand down young Mason?" Instead of answering right away, Slade glanced at Clay, who'd been staring intently at the monitors the whole time, his arms crossed in an incredibly rigid posture.

"If he's gonna be a hero someday," said Clay, "You and I can't keep protecting him all the time." Slade didn't look thrilled with the answer, but he let his density drop just the same, allowing All Might to finally release his grip on him as he went over and stood next to Clay. "I still don't like it," said Slade as he noticed some small clouds gathered around Clay's feet.

"I don't like it either," said Clay, clenching his fist causing the clouds at his feet to compress into spiky, deformed shapes, "But if I know Midoriya, he wouldn't want us to interfere, not when he finally has a chance to prove himself against Bakugou." Slade simply grunted at this statement as the fight between Midoriya and Bakugou resumed.

But, unlike before, Bakugou was ready and used his quirk to maneuver around any attack Midoriya attempted. "Surprising," said a student whose hair was white on one side and red on the other, Todoroki, Momo had called him at one point, "He doesn't seem like one for strategy but using his quirk like that is actually quite intelligent?"

"It requires a good understanding of physics and precision with one's quirk to pull it off," Added Momo as they watched Bakugou flip over Midoriya using small explosions to change his direction and blast him in the back. "It's more like trained or instinctual movement than actual intelligence if you ask me," said Clay, "He's likely using moves he's practiced before, much like a soldier training for combat."

"Great he's super talented," said Kaminari, "Man do I hate that." Clay and Slade were inclined to agree as they watched Bakugou continue to pummel Midoriya before grabbing him and using his quirk to slam him on the ground.

"Can't he just wrap tape around him," Said Mina, "I feel like I'm watching someone slowly get killed!" "Midoriya was doing amazing at the start of this thing," said Kaminari, "But he's completely outmatched in fighting power."

"It explains why he's gotta run," said Kirishima as Midoriya scrambled to the other end of the room, "Not exactly manly, but he's outclassed unless he can come up with a plan of some sort."

More like a last resort, thought Clay as he recalled the footage from the entrance exam, and the broken state his friend had been in after using it. As they continued to watch, Midoriya shouted out his determination at Bakugou before charging straight at him. I don't know what he said, thought Clay, but I've seen that determined look only a couple of times before, when he was putting everything he had into something.

Clay glanced at All Might, noting the teacher's hand was shaking as he seemed to be struggling to keep his expression neutral and not call off the match. "Sir you have to stop this," Said Kirishima, a note of panic in his voice, "They're fixing to kill each other!" All Might hesitated for another few moments, enough time for Bakugou and Midoriya to get within arm's length of each other as Midoriya's arm crackled with energy and Bakugou's hand glowed orange, ready to blow.

"Both of you STOP!" Ordered All Might over the microphone. "Now Uraraka!" yelled Midoriya as he directed his right fist, the one crackling with power upwards toward the ceiling, releasing a shockwave which blasted a hole through not only the ceiling above them, but through every floor until it shot out of the roof of the training area. So you managed a plan after all, thought Clay as he released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

With a quick look at one of the other monitors, he could see Uraraka using the debris as an improvised attack by floating it with her quirk and knocking it towards Iida to with a pillar she had decreased the gravity on. Iida was too confused by the turn of events to stop her as she then floated over his head and grabbed a hold of the weapon, or rather snuggled it, Clay couldn't tell if she was intentionally trying to be cute.

Turning his attention back to the other monitor, the clearing smoke revealed Midoriya, with a broken and bruised right arm and a left arm with a serious burn on it from Bakugou's explosion. But the look in his eyes said it all as Midoriya collapsed to the floor. "The Hero team WINS!" declared All Might as the rest of the hero class stared in stunned silence. A smile crossed Clay's face beneath his mask, until he caught Slade slipping from the room and followed after him.

"I know what you're gonna do," said Clay as he caught up to Slade and fell into step beside him. "So you come to stop me?" Questioned Slade, keeping his eyes forward as they reached the floor Midoriya and Bakugou was on. "Not at all," said Clay, "I actually have an idea." Slade cracked an evil grin at the sound of that.

It was an even more impressive sight in person as the two friends slipped into the destroyed room unnoticed, or they would've been noticed if Midoriya wasn't unconscious and Bakugou wasn't staring at his hand in shock. "Just one should be all that's needed right now," Whispered Clay as clouds began drifting from his feet along the floor. Slade nodded as he circled around.

"Bakugou," called Clay, surprising the explosion quirk user more than he expected. "Wha-," Bakugou was about to say when the clouds from the floor shot up, obscuring his vision and causing him to instinctively raise his left arm. Slade rushed in in the next instant, slamming his fist through Bakugou's gauntlet and nailing him in the side of the face, sending him flying to the ground.

"W-what the heck was that for you B # ## s," A stunned Bakugou yelled back. "What do ya think," said Slade, "You've had it coming the whole match, do you have any idea how close you came to killing him?" "I-I wasn't gonna kill him," Bakugou shot back, "Just pound him into the weak pulp that he's supposed to be!"

"And that involved irresponsibly using stored up power that blew out part of the building," Questioned Clay, a serious tone in his voice, "You clearly don't understand self-restraint, I'm more than a little tempted to break your remaining gauntlet just to make sure you can't use it again." "Did you come all the way down here to pick a fight!" Exclaimed Bakugou.

"What for," asked Slade as he turned away from Bakugou and headed towards Midoriya to check on him. "I think what he means to say is it wouldn't change anything at this point," said Clay, "You lost, no matter how you slice it, Midoriya beat you." The same panicked look which Bakugou had had when they walked in the room returned to his face.

"That's enough!" Bellowed All Might as he walked in the room with a pair of robots carrying a stretcher, "I'll take it from here you two, we still have a class in session so head back up to the control room." "Sure thing sir," said Clay as the robots went over and put Midoriya on the stretcher, "Just take care of Midoriya."

"Remember who you're talking to young man!" Said All Might with a thumbs up, "He's in good hands." "Thank you sir," said Clay as he and Slade exited the room.

"Ah now that felt good," said Slade as he rubbed his knuckles, "I had hoped we'd be able to get through the first week without an incident, but # # he had that coming." "No kidding," said Clay, "I think I'm gonna put a word in with Uncle Aizawa and see if he can't get the hero support department to run into a couple of 'delays' repairing his gauntlet."

"Nah," said Slade, "That priceless look on his face was more than enough, and now I'm more pumped than ever for this hero course, when do you think our turn is gonna be?" "Not soon enough," answered Clay, "Not soon enough."

Not soon enough indeed, after seeing that match, what will Clay and Slade pull out in their fight? All that aside, hello everyone, first allow me to apologize for such a short chapter after such a long wait, but life's kept me busy lately and my writing time has been limited. It's also possible my next chapters for my stories may have some slight delays as well, but don't worry, I am still working on them. So I'd like to say thank you all for having such patience my reviewers, followers, and viewers and for continuing to send me comments with ideas for how to improve my stories or just plain encouragement, it's more helpful than you know. Stop in next chapter as Clay and Slade finally show the hero class their own brand of teamwork. 'Til next time.