Here's another one! In less than a week and a half, we've now hit eight chapters (and 60000 words)! A double update here, but mostly because next chapter is a sample/work-in-progress. See my note at the end/start of next chapter.

Hopefully it's what you expected. Otherwise... oops, once again.

A little bit of a question on the end.


Chapter 8: Two Sides of Heroism

Once again, Midoriya Izuku found himself back in the stadium alongside the other students who had qualified for advancement to the next round. Beside him were Uraraka, Jirou, Shoji and their newfound friend from the support course, Hatsume Mei.

The girl had been a strange one, having initially attempted to earn points by capturing villains but finding it too much of a hassle. She made her way to Training Ground Beta, where her support equipment had made their task considerably easier. On her person she had jetpacks, hydraulic systems, even a plasma cutter and an air-gun that had been put into good use during the first event.

The only odd thing about her was how she took every opportunity to advertise her inventions, turning to the cameras sited around the Training Ground as she made use of them. Even now, she was still rambling on about the merits of her devices.

"So! The Hover Soles enable free movement of the wearer in mid-air, a vital resource for all sorts of hero-work! Be sure to place an order after the Festival!" She shouted at the crowd, even though Izuku couldn't see anyone that was actually paying any attention.

No, they were focused on Todoroki and Kacchan. As the two powerhouses of class 1-A, they were ranked in the first and second places respectively, with a sizeable gap between them and Iida in the third position.

"ALRIGHT! NOW THAT WE'RE ALL BACK, WE'LL BEGIN THE BRIEFING FOR THE SECOND EVENT!" Present Mic's voice rang out around the stadium.

Izuku instantly went on the alert. By his side, his friends were doing the same, Hatsume finally keeping quiet for the first time since he'd met her. His current ranking wasn't great, being placed in nineteenth position, a few ranks lower than Jirou at eleventh. It made sense, he didn't locate as many civilians or directly rescue them. Most of his points were earned by organising the other students around. With the event being over, most of them had already left. Some of them that had made the cut-off had also voluntarily disqualified themselves, offering their positions up to other students.

Aizawa spoke. "The premise for the second task follows the events of the first. It is now a few days after the simultaneous villain attacks, and Ground Beta has been completely destroyed, with all civilians evacuated. Accordingly, the playing field for the second event will be shrunken down, which also accommodates for the smaller number of competitors."

Present Mic continued from there. "Despite the best effort of you young heroes in destroying the villainous robots and capturing those in charge of the attack, the villains have begun their own counterattack! The evil mastermind orchestrating the attacks turns out to be Nezu, the Mad Genius! With his first plan foiled, he now rides personally into battle, destroying all in his path! Take a look at the screens!"

What. The. Heck?

All around him, Izuku could hear similar shouts of surprise and outrage. Displayed on the screen was a robot that dwarfed even the zero-pointers from the exam, probably well-over forty-metres in height. It had four legs, each at one of its corners, contributing to its overall stability. Four arms emerged from its sides, exhaust pipes and weapons ports of all sorts coming out from its arms and body. Its joints were all well-protected, with no obvious openings and weaknesses seen. Red optical targeting and visual systems were labelled all around the robot in strategic locations, with a cockpit in the chest from which Nezu's face peered out, caught in a malicious smile.

"This is the Nezu-bot!" A recording of Principal Nezu's voice rang out from the stadium's speakers. "An indestructible robot with unstoppable force! As you can see, it possesses immense firepower and weaponry. For this task, being caught by any one of its attacks will be considered as having been 'killed' and removed from the event! During the event, you will have to discover for yourself just what the Nezu-bot can do. And if you're even thinking of trying to attack me head-on…"

A recording played on the screen. Was that a rocket launcher? The projectile flew, hitting the robot directly, creating a titanic explosion larger than even Kacchan's strongest use of his quirk. Clouds of black smoke emerged from the impact site, and when it cleared...

Not a dent. Not even a scratch. Heck, it was barely even singed. Izuku felt a chill run down his spine.

"I'd love to see you try," Nezu finished.

"That's so unfair!" A girl from class 1-B shouted, her sentiments echoed by many others. Wasn't that one of Taylor's favourite students?

"Oh, my God," Hatsume stared unblinking at the image. Was she scared? She wasn't on the Hero Course like them, after all.

"I want that baby."

Nevermind. Izuku had forgotten how crazy she was.

"Continuing on," Aizawa said with authority, cutting off further conversation. "Many of the rules and methods of scoring points will be changed from the first event. As mentioned, Ground Beta is gone, and with it rescue points. There will be no more capture points. There will be much fewer robots roaming the area except in designated invasion locations. Defence points will still be awarded, but will be heavily influenced by our next change."

Taylor spoke next. "The first event was a chance for you to showcase your talents in your chosen setting, in most cases without having to compete with others. Now, the rules have changed. You can choose to give your points to other candidates through issuing a command with your armband. Similarly, you can attack other candidates, and we will discretionarily decide on how many points are stolen from the attacked party depending on the damage dealt by your attack. Taking another competitor's armband will be counted as stealing all of their points, but not elimination. You are free to decide how you want to proceed – team up with others, go solo, or team up and then betray your teammates? There are no rules governing this. The choice is yours."

Betray? That didn't sound very heroic.

"Your points will be carried over from the first event," she continued. "The top sixteen will move on to the tournament. You will be given ten minutes to decide now how you want to start initially, whether as individuals or groups. After that, you will be led by officials to different starting locations to prevent immediately having to fight with other groups. Principal Nezu will begin from an unnamed random location. Remember – taking a hit from any of Nezu's attacks will result in immediate elimination and removal from the event. You will be given an a smaller, second tag to keep on your person for us to keep track of your position in case your armband gets taken away. Upon elimination of a competitor, all armbands will sound an alert and give coordinates to warn you of the Nezu-bot's location. Like the first task, this will run for forty-five minutes, or until only sixteen students are left, whichever comes first. Are there any questions?"

"Me! Me!" Izuku turned. It was that same girl from class 1-B.

"Yes, Setsuna?"

"Is this supposed to be like a Battle Royale-Horror Survival-King of the Hill hybrid?"

Present Mic burst into laughter.

"YES! Yes, Tokage-san from class 1-B! That's exactly what this is!" he answered amidst sounds of gasping and choking.

"Iida?"

"Taylor-san! Will points still be awarded for defeating robots if we don't finish defending an area?"

"Yes. Again, if done in groups, points will be equally split between team members. Any more questions?"

People still looked confused, but no more hands were raised.

"Alright. If there are no more questions, your ten minute planning time begins now."

Immediately, Izuku turned to look at his friends. "Uraraka-san, Shoji-san, Jirou-san, Hatsume-san. Will we still be working together?"

Shoji looked contemplatively at Izuku, then nodded. "It has been fruitful working together with you, Midoriya-san. We will strive to make it into the top sixteen together."

Jirou shrugged. "Works for me. I can call out where other teams are if we're going to take them down or to avoid them."

Likewise, Uraraka nodded. "We'll keep working together, Deku!"

Hatsume didn't even bother replying. Now that the briefing was over, she was alternating between staring wide-eyed at the image of the Nezu-bot, and talking to random people in the crowd about her inventions.

"Right!" Izuku cheered. "We'll make it to the finals together!"

With the agreement settled, it was time to discuss about their plan of action.

"We're not yet in the top sixteen. Will we be trying to get more points by taking the students' points, defending an area or hoping that Nezu takes the rest out?" He asked.

"My quirk gives us a good idea of whether other teams may be nearby," Jirou considered. "I'd say we have a good shot at taking single students out and avoiding people we can't beat."

Izuku nodded. That sounded like a good plan. He felt really useless, not being able to make use of One for All in any way that mattered. Crippling himself during the event would leave him helpless.

"We've got some good ways of taking out isolated students," Uraraka noted. "If Jirou can locate them and let us strike when they're alone, Shoji will be able to take down most people in a one-to-one close quarter fight. If I can touch them, I'll be able to eliminate them as well."

No mention of what he could do. Again, he felt like a dead-weight.

No. He had to press on. All Might said that this was his chance to announce himself to the world. He had tried his best in the first event to demonstrate how he worked in rescue operations, but could he do more here?

He continued thinking all the way until the timer ran out.

-o-o-o-

"Any thoughts on people to look out for?" Hizashi asked while waiting for the students to be brought to their assigned locations. They'd left about five minutes ago, but it would still take awhile considering how large the playing field was even after shrinking it down.

Just like before, my six students had chosen to remain together. Currently, they were tied in the twelfth to seventeenth position, insufficient for all of them to advance to the next round. How would they handle that dilemma? I was worried that that conundrum might have fractured their group, but they had elected to continue as they were. Similarly, Izuku and those who'd went with him stuck together.

"Besides Todoroki and Bakugou? I'd say Shinsou Hitoshi might have a good chance, seeing as no one actually knows about his quirk. Iida can keep his distance from Nezu, and with his current rank of third place he could probably stay in hiding and take opportunistic strikes and make it very comfortably into the tournament. Some of the lower-ranked students working on their own will probably not be able to make the cut; I don't see Mineta or Toru being able to keep up with the rest."

"I notice you didn't mention anything about your students?" Hizashi said. "I can see why you hang out with Tokage-san, that girl has such a sense of humour! You're going to make me jealous, Taylor-san!"

"Bugs in your lunch. Second warning."

"I didn't even mention the zombies!" He protested.

"Ignoring Hizashi, what do you think of those six?" Aizawa questioned. "Will they make it to the finals?"

I thought through the question. "They're good students, don't get me wrong, but I don't see them all making it through. Right now, they'll already have to lose one member based on their rankings alone. In my training sessions I've not yet put them up to a proper fight with their quirks against other students, so they won't find it as easy trying to earn points here. Besides, if Nezu manages to find them, they won't really have a good chance of escaping. I'd say it's fifty-fifty."

I took another look at the information Nezu had prepared. Seriously, how had he gotten someone to build this Nezu-bot? It didn't have any of the weaknesses I'd exploited with the weaker robots, its joints safely sequestered away behind layers of steel. The only direct method of entry I noted were its exhaust systems, but I doubted he would leave that unprotected.

Sure, he was toning down the firepower to keep it at a safe level for students, but still. Knockout gas? Flamethrowers? Tranquiliser darts? What seemed to be a weak version of containment foam? A plasma cutter? Rockets?

Ignoring the financial aspects, how did this even get past school board approval?

"I've learned that it's best not to question the how behind some of Nezu's antics, Taylor-san," Hizashi advised sagely. "He simply does what he wants."

"He's like the love-child of a Tinker and a Thinker," I said.

"None of us really get that reference, but sure," Hizashi replied.

The communicator on the desk that was linked to the armbands used in the tasks gave a single ring.

"They're ready," Aizawa informed us.

Right. Time to see how this would go. Hopefully, Nezu would begin far away from my students.

"ALRIGHT! EVERYONE IS IN PLACE! WITH THAT, THE COMPETITION BEGINS! AND NOW, TO KICK IT ALL OFF, LET'S SEE WHERE PRINCIPAL NEZU HAS CHOSEN TO START!"

"…IT'S THE AREA EAST OF TRAINING GROUND GAMMA!"

-o-o-o-

Bakugou Katsuki was feeling very confident about all of this. Sure, he'd lost to Two-Face during the first round, but so what? Now that he was actually allowed to attack other students, this event would be a cake-walk.

Sure, Principal Mouse-man's robot looked strong, but he wasn't really that afraid of it. He hadn't ever come across any robot that could withstand the full force of his explosions, even without the equipment he used to collect his sweat. That demonstration was probably just to scare them off.

He had been brought over to one of the open areas where he had previously been hunting robots. The official had left after warning him not to start moving until given permission by Present Mic, so he resorted to taking a look around.

There were a few other students he could see, although quite some distance away. Maybe seventy to a hundred metres? He recognised Kirishima, the frog, the electric idiot, and the preppy engine guy. Which one should he go for first?

It appeared they were evaluating along the same lines. The nosy class-representative was in third place, but he packed some serious speed. It wouldn't do good for Bakugou to exhaust himself trying to catch up right away. The frog would be equally hard to pin down. Maybe the idiot or Kirishima? He could always catch up with the frog after taking them out.

Electrical idiot first, then. How to approach him? A direct approach with from the air with his blasts? Or should he try to trap him between himself and Kirishima, then take both their points once he was done?

While in the midst of thinking, his armband rang. No more time for thinking. "ALRIGHT! EVERYONE IS IN PLACE! WITH THAT, THE COMPETITION BEGINS!"

Boom.

He exploded into motion, leaping off the ground and sending a blast to propel him up into the air. A few more explosions, and he was rapidly bridging the gap between himself and his blonde classmate.

"Oh shiiii –"

Bakugou didn't let him finish that sentence, already squeezing out another few drops of sweat and combusting them in mid-air. The classmate was sent flying back, bouncing on the ground several times before rising to stand. Bakugou dropped into a roll, riding the momentum of his blast, then smoothly propelled himself forward again.

"Oh no you don't!" Bakugou heard him shout, as he released electricity all around his body.

Quickly, Bakugou brought his arms in front of him, sending yet another blast to halt his forward momentum, his hands starting to turn numb from the rapid use of his quirk. Damn it, the event had only just begun. What was that idiot thinking? Wouldn't his quirk leave him stupid for a long time?

"You idiot!" he shouted at the fool, just beginning to stop the electricity around himself. He collected a few more drops of sweat, charging up for a large explosion.

Then, he released it, sending his classmate flying back once more. He fell over, bounced once, twice, and didn't immediately rise again, feebly attempting to push himself up.

"You're giving me your armband. Now," he threatened.

His classmate coughed. Slowly, he took it off. Bakugou was about to grab it, when suddenly he noted that something wasn't quite right.

He was out in the open. Why was there a shade?

He turned toward his right. Oh, crap.

"I see I've found my first victims!" Principal Mouse-man cackled. "What a pity, Bakugou Katsuki! You had such potential to go far!"

One of the robot's arms raised, firing a large number of projectiles. Bakugou could just barely put his arm out to the side, sending another explosion and forcing himself into a roll to dodge.

What the hell was that? He looked at where the attack had landed.

Darts?

"Not bad! Let's see how you like this!"

A port opened out from the robot's chest. Bakugou tensed, ready to dodge once more.

It shot a stream of some kind of liquid, and he forced himself airborne once again, out of the path of its attack. As it hit the ground where he and the electric idiot were fighting, it solidified, trapping his classmate.

His armband rang out. "Kaminari Denki has been eliminated. Coordinates CE-3."

Right, that was his name. He didn't have time to think about that though, there were larger issues at hand.

"You're good at dodging, Bakugou-kun! But you can't run from me forever!" Once again, Principal Mouse-man laughed maniacally. Just what was his problem?!

You know what? Screw this. Kirishima wasn't even here anymore, and the rest had likewise dispersed. He couldn't even get Kaminari's armband anymore since he'd been eliminated. The substance was just beginning to turn to liquid again, allowing him to crawl off to one side while waiting to be brought out of the playing field.

Yeah. There wasn't anything worth staying here for anymore. Time to leave.

Of course, he flashed the middle finger to Principal Mouse-man, before launching himself into the air and getting the hell out of there.

Behind him, he could still hear the principal cackling.

-o-o-o-

"Kaminari Denki has been eliminated. Coordinates CE-3."

"Where the hell are we now?" Setsuna asked, rapidly checking her armband. The dot representing her position was on the grid-square AB-4. The map ran on a simple grid of six letters by six letters, with nine smaller subdivisions in each square. That meant that Nezu was still quite some distance away, right?

"What's the plan?" Monoma asked. "We've got an invasion here in forty seconds."

"We should be able to take it, right? CE-3 isn't that close to us," Itsuka said.

The invasion point was set right in the middle of a four-way road intersection. Could they afford to do this? They needed the points, if they all wanted to make it to the tournament. Damn it. What should they do?

Taylor said to play to their strengths. They needed to adapt. But just what the hell did that mean in an event like this?

Thirty seconds. No time to think.

"We're defending this area. Kinoko-chan, Ibara-chan, we need more defences than previously in case other students sneak up to ambush us. Monoma-san, you're assisting. Stick together. Itsuka-chan, we're counting on you to protect us if things get tough."

"Right! Your faith in me won't be misplaced!" Ibara declared, sending her vines covering across the ruined intersection. It wasn't an ideal battle location, far too open compared to the streets of Ground Gamma, but at least there was some clutter they could make use of. Some large blocks and towers made by Cementoss' quirk, even a few of the large stacked hands that she recognised as Taylor's power.

Already, mushrooms were growing and stacking on top of each other to form a wall that blocked out two entrances. She separated out one of her eyes, carefully moving it to the top of the mushroom wall. That way, she could at least spot incoming students if they tried to engage them while they were up against the invading robots.

"Ten seconds. I see them, get ready!"

No sense waiting for the robots to get to them. She sent her arms and legs flying out, Pony's horns alongside her floating limbs. The first charge knocked over the tier one robots leading them, but with the loss of momentum things were going to get harder.

"Koda Koji has been eliminated. Coordinates BE-4."

Damn it. Nezu was moving in their general direction. Continue or run?

Monoma was using Ibara's quirk, opting to focus all of the vines to trip a single tier two robot rather than spreading it out over a wide area as Ibara had done. Good, they would have both area control and some decent ability to take out single targets.

"Kaibara Sen has been eliminated. Coordinates BE-5."

Another one already? That was too fast! It had only been, what, three minutes since the event started?

"Kamakiri Togaru has been eliminated. Coordinates BE-5. Kodai Yui has been eliminated. Coordinates BE-5. Awase Yosetsu has been eliminated. Cooordinates BE-5."

Oh, God. This was a nightmare.

"What the hell?" Monoma shouted, as vines twisted around the tier two robot. He dragged it toward Itsuka where it was taken out by a single punch. "Are you serious?"

"Should we run and hide?" Pony asked worriedly.

"We can still stick here for a while. We'll need to be careful once he moves to the grid square next to us, though. Stay alert, everyone," Setsuna took charge.

"Hey!" Kinoko called out, pointing in a direction. Setsuna took the moment to look with the eye she placed on the mushroom wall, while her head continued watching the incoming robots. "That's someone from 1-A, right?"

It was the boy with the really thick lips, making their way towards them. Satou, was that his name? What was his quirk again?

"I'll keep an eye on him. Team, get ready to engage if needed."

He was about eighty metres away, looking at his armband. Damn, he was probably after defence points as well. Setsuna couldn't quite remember what his ranking was, but he definitely wasn't in the top sixteen. Was he trying to earn more points as well?

He was making his way toward them. Damn, they had to prepare for a fight. He took a closer look, now seeing the tide of robots. She stared threateningly at him with the eye that remained in her head, tracking his movements with both eyes. He started, paused in mid-step as he considered their team.

Then he ran.

"Um. What?" Kinoko asked, hands outstretched as she prepared to grow some mushrooms from spores that she had distributed.

"He's afraid of us," Monoma reasoned. "He's alone, we're a team, and he doesn't really know our quirks."

"Should we go after him?" Pony asked. "If we use my horns, we can catch him quickly enough."

"We don't know his quirk either," Ibara pointed out.

"Ibara-chan is right. It's going to be risky going after him, especially since we can just defend this area to make up the points. I say that we stay here for now, run if Nezu advances to the adjacent square, or if a powerhouse like Todoroki or Bakugou spots us," Setsuna offered.

"Makes sense. Okay," Pony agreed, not even looking at her horns as two of them drilled into a tier one robot, sending it send into another tier one.

"Shoda Nirengeki has been eliminated. Coordinates AD-4."

"He's moving closer," Monoma warned.

"Armband, how much longer for this invasion?" she questioned.

"Current time: five minutes, forty-seven seconds. Current attack will last for another two minutes, thirty-two seconds."

Not even halfway done. What would Taylor do?

Avoid a direct fight. Cheat. Exploit the system. Don't play fair. How did that translate into any of this?

"Setsuna?" Kinoko questioned.

"Damn it. Okay. We run. We can't just stay here for another two minutes. Stick together, move in formation to spot out other students. We'll move up heading toward coordinates BA, then loop around to CA. If Nezu changes direction, we change movements again from there."

They nodded. Finishing off the final robots that had already been damaged, they took off along the one other intersection that they hadn't sealed off with mushrooms, abandoning the invasion point.

-o-o-o-

So far, so good. Shinsou Hitoshi had opted to lay low at first, seeing how other candidates were doing. At eighteenth position, there was a good chance that he could get into the finals by virtue of people higher ranked than him being eliminated.

Still, it astounded him just how fast Principal Nezu had taken out the students. How many were eliminated already? Eight? Nine? Ten? Most of them were from the Hero Course, but a few of the students from other classes that had barely made it into the second event were also brought down.

Movement. He tensed. What to do? Engage or not? Run? Hide?

Wait… was someone crying?

He paused, listening more carefully. Sure enough, there was someone sniffling. Very carefully, he peeked out from behind the hiding spot he'd chosen. A tree, with a dense overgrowth of foliage adjacent to it, with sight from far-off blocked by more trees and some cement formations that looked to have been grown by Cementoss' quirk.

It was one of the students from 1-A, the boy with grapes on his head, hiding like him just on the other side of the foliage. Shinsou sensed opportunity. It may seem wrong and unjust to take advantage of him like that, but Shinsou was desperate to get into the Hero Course. Besides, that teacher's assistant had said that there were no rules, with even betrayal being permitted.

He needed to get him to respond. How best to do that? He considered his potential victim's psyche. Scared. On edge. Fearful, tired? Hiding away from Nezu? Perhaps also some guilt over not having earned enough points to make it to the top sixteen?

It was something he could abuse. Frightened people always responded best to his quirk.

He got ready. The boy was still shattered, sniffling uncontrollably.

Now.

He pounced out through the grass, grabbing at the boy. "Hey!" Message.

"HOLY!" He jumped at Shinsou's unexpected entry, stumbling over backwards. "What the –" Reply.

That was simple. "Quiet. Hand me your armband. Then, you go and find the Nezu-bot over in that direction. Let yourself get eliminated."

Wordlessly, the boy complied, eyes glazed over. Shinsou strapped on the additional armband, then watched from behind the foliage as the boy continued walking off into the distance where he'd been directed. There hadn't been a call-out from the armbands in some time. Hopefully he would be able to find where the Principal was moving.

Once more, he waited. Just slightly more than a minute later, the armband rang out again.

"Mineta Minoru has been eliminated. Coordinates AC-1."

So that was his name, then. Mineta Minoru.

Shinsou knew he should have felt bad for using him like that, but there were no rules in this exercise. He had to do everything to win.

-o-o-o-

Nezu was having the time of his life.

Since the moment that the exercise started, he had been able to blow off all the worries and stress that had accumulated throughout the year. All those endless hours of administrative work, meetings and plans had been taking its toll on him. Even Taylor Hebert's sudden arrival had been a major source of stress while initially trying to sort out everything, but it had paid so many dividends. So many indeed. The armbands used in this event was one such excellent idea.

The idea of a Nezu-bot wasn't something entirely new, having been used in the past during the end of term exams for first years and other exams for the older students. He had added many new additions, and set up rules for this event based around Taylor's description of the Endbringers during their first meeting. What was he called again? Behemoth?

He laughed each time he watched students run away from him in terror. He had seen Iida three times now, and the last was just as humourous as the first. He had frozen up, stared for a second, then turned around and ran as fast as he could. He was considering going after him once more, but it wouldn't be exactly fair.

Of course, the whole thing was rigged in his favour. He had access to their coordinates through their armbands, after all. They had thought that they were simply running away each time, but in actual fact he was rewarding those who remained cautious and kept track of his movements. He would go after them later, but for now he wanted to teach a lesson to those foolish students that thought to not even bother running.

There were even students that had been so busy caught up in a fight that they hadn't noticed his approach, allowing him to take them all out with his dart cannon. Seriously, what were their teachers even teaching them? He would need a good talk with Aizawa and Kan.

It wasn't fair to the first few students he'd encountered, of course. Kaminari Denki had simply been caught at a bad time, having been crippled by Bakugou Katsuki's initial attack. He had run away after realising just how pointless staying around would be, and Nezu rewarded him for that, allowing him to get away. He would go after him at a later point.

It had been interesting when he had first come across Mineta Minoru simply walking toward him. Nezu had wondered whether it was some sort of ploy; Aizawa had said that he had a degree of craftiness and intelligence overlooked by most. It was only after looking at his eyes that he realised just what had happened. Taking a look at the display of where all the armbands were in the field only confirmed his suspicions.

Shinsou Hitoshi, that smart little boy. A little ruthless, but still fair play in this event. Nezu hadn't hesitated to mow the boy down with his foam cannon.

He did enjoy the look of extreme confusion when that broke the control that Shinsou had over the boy. He had blinked uncomprehendingly, trying to move, then turned to face the Nezu-bot, before shrieking uncontrollably.

Nezu had only let that continue for a few seconds before electing to hit him with a tranquiliser dart. The event had to go on, after all. Someone would collect the boy later.

Since then, he had taken down several more students. A few he recognised from the support course, Tsuyu Asui and Yuga Aoyama from 1-A, Fukidashi Manga and Bondo Kojiro from 1-B.

Hmmm… who should he go for next…

Quite some time had passed. While the initial few minutes had proved very fruitful for him, the number of students he caught out had fallen rapidly once they realised just how quickly he had been able to eliminate their competitors. Just a little less than thirty students remained now, although from the positions of the armbands it seemed that some of them had lost theirs to other students. Perhaps Satou Rikido? He had noticed how the boy ran away from the group that Taylor had been training.

Or should he test Taylor's group? They had reacted well to his first pass through the play field, but he did want to see just what they were capable of. They weren't too far away.

Oh? It seemed like Midoriya Izuku's little group was also about to meet with them soon. Interesting. How should he do this?

Plans came to his mind, powered by his quirk. What would best strike a balance between teaching, testing, and personal fun?

He looked at the map again.

Satou was right in the path he would have to take to get to the two groups. That sounded like a plan. Take out one student, get the others in the mood and see how they reacted.

He laughed, steering the robot forty-five degrees to the right, and began moving. Not at full speed, that would make things to easy; just enough to make it challenging.

-o-o-o-

Izuku's group was now nearing the edge of the playing field, just at the corner of Ground Beta. While the main part of it was closed off, the buildings at the very outskirts remained within the playing field. He reasoned that here, there were at least some walls that they could take cover behind, both to avoid other teams and Nezu.

Jirou's quirk had been the most valuable part of their group so far. She called out positions of isolated students, allowing them to set up ambushes to take their armbands away before dividing the points equally between themselves. Most of them weren't high up in points, mostly in the twentieth position and beyond, but they were welcome nonetheless. He hadn't had to use his quirk at all, which was excellent.

He was still worried, though. He wasn't in the top sixteen. Of their team, only Jirou was. What could they do?

"Wait!" Jirou said suddenly, holding out a hand. They stopped, bodies tensing up cautiously. "There's a team ahead. About two hundred metres, coming toward us. A big one. At least five, probably more."

"Should we run?" Uraraka asked.

"We can always fight! I need the chance to show off my toys; these babies won't work themselves!" Hatsume suggested.

"Let's take a look at who they are. Jirou-san, can you point them out to Hatsume-san? With her quirk, she can take a good look at them," Izuku reasoned.

"Yeah. Good plan. Here," Jirou waved her over, then pointed in a direction.

Hatsume focused, probably using her quirk to zoom in on the distance. "Six members. One boy, five girls; lucky him. Vine-hair, one with horns, one with a mushroom head, not sure how to describe the other three. Ring any bells?"

Oh no…

"That's Taylor-san's team?" Shoji questioned.

"Yeah. We know their quirks a little from the videos going around. Shiozaki-san grows her vine hair, Komori-san grows mushrooms, Tokage-san can split her body, Kendou-san can enlarge her fists, Pony-san shoots out her horns and Monoma-san seems to be able to copy quirks," Izuku recited from memory. Hero Analysis for UA Students, Book 2.

How could he take them down? Their weakness was a close-range battle, but they would get spotted very quickly if they charged at them. Taylor-san's sessions had taught them how to keep targets away under those sort of conditions. What could they do?

"Deku? Any ideas?" Uraraka asked worriedly.

"They're coming closer. Just over a hundred metres now," Jirou warned.

They needed to force an ambush at close range. Okay. They could do this.

"Their team is weak at fighting up close. We'll hide behind this corner, and attack the moment that they come past the corner. Shoji-san, Uraraka-san, you two take the front. Our priority target is Shiozaki-san."

"Right!" Uraraka said, moving closer to the corner.

"Sixty metres," Jirou called out.

"Get ready," he said.

Of course, it was at that moment that a floating eyeball peered past the corner, staring right at them.

Uraraka screamed.

Right. It wouldn't make a sound. Jirou couldn't hear it coming. Stupid, he should have known!

"Hey! There's a team over here!"

The eyeball moved further out, keeping watch over them but staying out of their range.

"What now, Midoriya-san?" Jirou asked, backing away from the corner.

What should they do?

-o-o-o-

Setsuna was obviously surprised when they encountered a full team hiding just beyond the corner where she'd scouted ahead, but she reined it in quickly.

"Hey! There's a team over here!" she announced to her teammates.

If only she had sent an ear ahead too. That would have been very useful.

"Who?" Monoma asked.

"Four of those from 1-A, and one I don't recognise."

"Finally! We get to take down some 1-A students!" Monama cheered.

"Be careful, they're planning something," she warned. They hadn't engaged her floating eyeball just yet, but the green-haired one was organising them. What was his name? Midoriya?

"What's our plan?" Pony asked.

It wasn't a very good location for them to fight in. Not a nice open area, the only way available to attack being round the corner of a building. The enemy team could also cut into smaller alleyways, or simply run down and hide across the other corner, and they wouldn't be able to attack.

"Not an ideal battle location. For now, advance far off the side of the building. Don't let them get close, we don't know their quirks. Kinoko-chan, prepare some spores, but don't grow them up just yet."

Cautiously, they advanced. She still didn't know what their plan was, but Midoriya's team was positioned where they had several options available to them. If her team broke the corner, they could force a close range battle; if she tried to take the long route out the side they could retreat around the building or enter the narrow alleys. Not a bad plan, it allowed Midoriya's team to adapt.

What was Midoriya doing? He was moving closer, facing part of the wall. Jirou was pointing in that direction as well. Why?

Wait. That direction…

"DODGE LEFT!" she shouted.

Midoriya flicked one of his fingers. A shockwave of force flew out, hitting the wall, causing it to shatter.

Several chunks of rubble were flying right at them.

Itsuka enlarged her hands, given just enough warning to knock one of them aside. Pony had sent out her horns to intercept a few of them, not quite stopping them but slowing them just enough for the rest to get out of the way.

She focused on Midoriya. What the hell was his quirk?

Then she noted the state of his finger. It was turning purple, a trickle of blood streaming down the side. Broken?

She could abuse that fact.

"Watch out for Midoriya-san. His quirk did that, but it does some serious damage to himself."

With the element of surprise gone, Midoriya's team advanced head on. Immediately, Kinoko began growing mushrooms, slowing down the advance of the first two frontline fighters. The guy with tentacle arms tried to reach them, forcing mushrooms aside, but Kinoko had a lot of experience through Taylor's exercises. Likewise, the girl of the pair was struggling heavily.

"Uraraka-san! Shoji-san!" The purple-haired girl plugged her earphones into the ground, sending a shockwave that dispersed the mushrooms.

"She's a Shaker!" Monoma shouted.

Immediately, Pony and Setsuna sent their horns and body parts flying at her. It was almost funny how that response was so ingrained into her head now after all those hours of dealing with Taylor's Shaker minions.

The tentacle-arm quirk-user dashed back toward the Shaker, pushing her aside while grappling with the many body parts.

That left the other front-liner free to close the gap. Monoma switched over to Itsuka's quirk, meeting the girl head-on. Both their strikes collided. The girl was sent flying back, sprawling onto the ground by the force of Itsuka's copied quirk, while Monoma –

Monoma was flying?

"Striker quirk!" Setsuna warned.

She sent one of her detached arms toward Monoma, trying to drag him down toward the ground. The last remaining member of Midoriya's group chose that moment to engage, hovering in the air with her shoes, tackling Monoma, trying to rip his armband off.

Damned support department.

Midoriya was preparing his quirk again, opposing his fingers to his thumb in another flick.

"Watch out, Midoriya's fingers!" she called out, wasting no time trying to form a proper sentence.

He hesitated. Good, she could abuse that as well.

"Midoriya-san! Any ideas?" The girl with the long earlobes questioned, as she blasted away at another field of mushrooms.

He was up close now, trying to take on Monoma and Kendou at close range. Would he use his quirk? That would cause some huge damage to her team, but Midoriya's team would be crippled if he did so. A bad position for his team.

Then things got worse.

"Satou Rikido eliminated. Coordinates EA-5."

"TIME-OUT!" she shouted. They all paused, giving the situation the weight it deserved.

She looked at her armband, then froze. Nearby, the rest were reacting very similarly. Monoma had been released from the Striker's quirk, stumbling shakily to his feet.

"We need to go!" Pony urged.

"Damn it, I was too distracted! He's coming close, three hundred metres, he's loud. Too fast, we can't run!" Jirou shouted.

"How fast?" Setsuna put the fight on the backseat. This was something a lot more important than the fight.

"Two hundred seventy metres! That fast!"

"Damn it!" Monoma swore. "Run, think of something while do we that!"

Together, the group ran, all animosity forgotten. Funny how the idea of a giant Nezu-bot could turn enemies into allies.

-o-o-o-

Nezu took Satou Rikido out of the event with remarkable ease. It might have been a little unfair for the boy, forcing him to take on the Nezu-bot considering what his quirk was, but he should probably have chosen to work together with a team. His quirk did have some huge limitations in a prolonged event like this, after all.

The sounds of battle just a few hundred metres in the distance stopped as the armbands announced his newest takedown. No doubt they were going to run away from him soon. He began to move once again, sending the robot's four legs moving at a comfortable speed. Not fast enough to immediately cut them off, but still sufficiently rapid to prevent any form of escape in a direct chase. What would they do, he wondered?

The tracking system on the armbands indicated they were running as a group. Not bad; at least they could cooperate and work together to stop the bigger threat. Kudos to them, the large group he'd taken out earlier in the event hadn't done that. No, one of that group actually actively tried to drag the rest down with him when it became clear that he couldn't escape.

It was funny, of course, but not great sportsmanship. Then again, they didn't specify rules against that.

-o-o-o-

"He's still coming. We can't outrun him!" Jirou shouted.

"Damn it. Okay. I have a plan," Monoma said, turning his head around while running to look at his team.

"You do?" Pony asked, eyes hopeful, but still running forward.

"Yeah. A stupid one, but a plan."

"Your last one worked. What is it?" Setsuna asked impatiently.

"Armband: Transfer points evenly to my teammates."

For a moment, Monoma enjoyed the silence of both his and the other team. Then -

"What the hell, Monoma? What are you doing?" Setsuna whirled on him.

"Yeah, Monoma-san! W-What are you thinking?" Midoriya followed up. For someone from 1-A, maybe he wasn't all that bad.

"We can't run," he reasoned. Still running, of course. "We can't hide. We aren't all going to make it to top sixteen like this. I'll buy time and annoy him. You guys get away."

"We're a team," Kendou growled. "We're not leaving you behind!"

"Look. Taylor said that I'm a Trump. I'm not good in a fight, but I react and adapt on the fly. I pick up where my team needs me. I'd say this giant deathbot qualifies."

Again, he basked in the stunned silence.

"Ah, you know what? Armband: Transfer points evenly to my teammates," Kinoko said calmly.

What the hell?

"Why?" he asked.

"There's no point in me moving on to the tournament. I don't do well in close-quarters, as cute as my mushrooms are. My quirk will be helpful here. This way, everyone else gets to go onto the tournament."

"You guys…" Setsuna trailed off, voice thick with emotion. Hah, Monoma couldn't wait to rub it in her face once it was all over.

"Monoma-san, Kinoko-chan…" Pony sniffed.

"Damn it," Jirou swore. "We can't let 1-B have all the glory! Armband: Transfer points to my teammates!"

"Jirou-san, why?" Midoriya asked. "If anyone, it should be me! I haven't been useful this whole event! Armband: Transfer –"

The tentacle-arm quirk-user whose name Monoma couldn't quite remember interrupted. "Don't do it, Midoriya-san. You're not using your quirk here because of the damage it deals, but you're the best one in our group for the tournament. Don't waste your chance. Armband: Transfer points to my teammates."

"Shoji-san…" Shoji, huh? Monoma would remember his name.

"I'll… I'll stay and fight too! Armband –"

"Your quirk isn't going to help here, Uraraka-san. He's too heavy to lift. Move on!"

"Armband: Transfer points," the one from the support department echoed them.

Damn, that was a lot of people sacrificing themselves.

"Why, Hatsume-san?" Midoriya sounded helpless.

"Why? Why not? This is the perfect chance to show off my babies! Look out, audience! Give us the moment in the spotlight! Let me show you what my babies can do!"

Oh, right. They were being recorded as well. Monoma had forgotten all about that.

"We need to think of something soon! He's coming, and fast!" Jirou shouted.

"Pony-san, Shiozaki-san, Tokage-san, I'm borrowing your quirks!" he said, moving to touch each one of them at any bit of exposed skin, the group slowing down just fractionally.

Right. Time to do this. He focused on Pony's quirk, feeling a horn grow just on his head. It had been odd the first time, but after all of Taylor's exercises moving it around wasn't hard anymore.

"Okay. Here's the plan. I'll ride one horn. Komori-san, you take another. I'll move you around the Nezu-bot, and you grow mushrooms to slow it down. If you go down, I'll switch to Tokage-san's, buy more time. I'm not sure what you 1-A students can do, but I need my third horn to attack. Can you operate on your own?"

"Will do," Shoji said. "You're rather loyal to your team, you know. I might have misjudged you for antagonising our class."

Now was no time for sentiment. He generated two horns, sending one out to Kinoko. "Okay. Komori-san, grab hold of the horn. We make our stand here. You guys move on!"

With that, it was just him, Kinoko, Jirou, Shoji and Hatsume left in the open field; five students standing in the way of the Nezu-bot as it headed for their teams.

It would have been a dramatic moment, but Monoma couldn't focus on that right now. All he heard was the thumping of his own heart.

-o-o-o-

I stared at the screen as one by one, Neito's team and Midoriya's team distributed their points between their teammates. The crowd was silent, listening to the words being picked up by the microphones recording the entire event.

"Did you expect any of this?" Aizawa asked, a look of pride in his eyes as he continued watching the events unfold.

"Not at all," I replied honestly. "They're full of surprises."

Neito's decision had caught me off-guard. He had been caught in a terrible position, and saw no way out of the situation. Maybe if they'd reacted a bit earlier they could have made it out safely, or tried cutting across the narrow alleys and streets, but the opportunity for that was past. Logically speaking, the decision he made was the best one.

Yet, I knew just how hard it could be to make those choices. I had done the same thing so many times over. Choosing to remain a villain for Dinah's sake, choosing to turn over to the heroes' side, choosing to fight Endbringer battles despite the fear it inspired each time. And at the end, choosing to do just what I had done.

I felt a sense of pride mixed with sorrow in equal measure. It felt strangely disconnected. My own, or Administration's? Did it matter?

This moment was Neito's and his makeshift band of five. This was his time to shine. All of the spectators were watching the screen.

Of course, Hatsume's opportunistic advertisement had brought chuckles to the crowd. It served only to highlight the sacrifice that the students were making.

"AND THE FIVE STUDENTS HAVE CHOSEN TO BUY TIME FOR THEIR TEAMMATES TO ESCAPE! What a moment! What a heroic spirit! Please, don't blink as we witness what they will do for their teams!" Present Mic shouted, his voice reverberating around the stadium.

The students organised themselves. Kinoko prepared the field, like a Shaker should, transported by Neito's horns. Jirou was calling out distances and approach vectors, while Shoji took the vanguard. Hatsume was flying in the air, staring at the approaching Nezu-bot.

It was already thirty minutes into the event. If they held Nezu off long enough for the rest to flee, they were almost definitely making it to the final round.

Come on, guys. Show me what you can do.

Anticipation.

Passenger?

-o-o-o-

Spores were deployed, a huge number of them stacked on top of one another. Monoma knew that Kinoko would be able to grow a stacked wall of mushrooms from that. He recalled the horn back, leaving her floating in the air, separated from him. It wouldn't do good for both of them to be caught out by Nezu.

He was about seventy metres away now. According to Jirou, his speed had slowed down for some reason. Did he know that they were there? Did he know what they had done, what they were about to do?

He didn't attack even after coming into view through the trees and foliage. Monoma tensed. He had no idea what attacks the robot could do, but he knew it was dangerous. He would need to react quickly. His team depended on him.

"Oh, what's this?" Nezu's voice boomed out from the robot's speakers. "You're approaching me? Instead of running away, you're coming right to me?"

Wasn't that some ancient meme? Monoma could entertain him. Anything to buy a few moments for his friends.

"YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" he shouted.

Nezu's laughter rang from the robot. Good, good. Even a few seconds was worth it.

"Well done, Monoma-san! Well done to all of you! Today, at this moment, you aren't students. Come, young heroes! Show me what you've got!"

Another few seconds. His team had to be making their way out by now.

An arm moved from the robot, sending out a wave of some kind of projectile. He sent the horns flying away in opposite directions, carrying him and Kinoko away from its path. The fired projectiles continued their trajectory towards the others, but Jirou blew them away with a sonic burst.

Darts?

"Good! More!"

"Komori-san!" he shouted, not bothering to give a full order. The less Nezu knew, the better.

He sent the horn he was riding on circling by Nezu's right, while Kinoko's flew by the left. His third horn came from the front, striking at the cockpit. It didn't even leave a scratch.

Mushrooms sprouted to life at the robot's feet, prepared by the scattering of spores while they had retreated. From her airborne position, she released more spores to cover the entire left side of the robot, growing them out as fast as she could.

"Slowing me down? Good plan!"

One of the arms on his right side crossed over to the left. Monoma quickly sent Komori flying away from the robot, moving over to its back.

A gush of flame flew out from the arm. A flamethrower? Seriously? Monoma took a moment to evaluate the situation.

A Trump adapts to the fight.

When the flames stopped coming, the mushrooms that had been grown were completely incinerated, but the robot was only just ever so slightly singed. The arm shifted, moving to burn at the wall of mushrooms by its feet.

Hatsume was carrying Shoji in the air, using her support equipment to avoid the stream of darts still flying toward them. On the ground, Jirou was sending her shockwaves into the ground, causing cracks to appear that impeded the robot's movements.

"As you can see! The Hover Boots can provide rapid momentum shifts in mid-air, allowing the user to…" Monoma zoned out on Hatsume's monologue. There simply wasn't time for that.

"Kinoko! On the back!" He ordered, sending his horn closer for her to release more spores. Surely the flamethrower couldn't reach there?

So caught up in the moment was he that he only belatedly realised he had called her by her first name. It didn't matter; there were more serious matters.

Again, mushrooms sprouted from the back, but the robot barely budged. It was far more stable than the previous ones they'd fought, with its four legs providing a very stable base. What could he do?

Quickly, he reviewed the information he had on hand. Darts. Flamethrower. The briefing mentioned visual systems and the cockpit.

Idea.

"Kinoko, blind it!"

He sent her in for a second round from the front. This time, she aimed her spores more carefully, releasing them over where the red lights glowed and over the cockpit. Good, surely that had to stop him?

"Hahaha! A good plan! Pity that I have the flamethrower!"

Oh, God. Nezu was a monster.

The arm moved again, releasing a jet of flame. He'd only just moved Kinoko out in the nick of time.

"Monoma-san, what now?" she panted, voice just barely heard over the fight.

He evaluated again. Hatsume and Shoji were a pair. Jirou was disrupting its movements while shielding herself from the darts. He was moving Kinoko with his horn while attacking with another.

At that point, Nezu released a wave of liquid from a cannon at the front of the robot's chest. It surged right into Jirou, barely even being slowed by her hasty sonic wave.

"Jirou Kyoka eliminated. Coordinates EB-2."

Damn it! Liquid attacks as well?

They couldn't do any damage to him. He wasn't even being physically slowed down; the only reason he had stopped moving as quickly was because they were engaging in combat with him. Were the rest far away enough?

Ideas…

He looked around. Maybe there was potential there.

"Hatsume-san! Can you take Kinoko-san?"

"Hohoho, not to worry! With my jetpack and Hover Boots, I have prepared for every eventuality! Feast your eyes on –"

"HURRY!" Monoma shouted.

She flew Shoji down to the ground, letting him slip on the boots, then flew using her jetpack to grab Kinoko. Good.

With that, he dropped Pony's quirk, switching over to Setsuna's.

He split himself up, sending body parts all over the robot. His head was floating in the air away from everyone else.

"What are you doing?" Shoji asked as his head flew past Shoji on his new hover boots.

"Blocking his vision."

He had approximated just how large of a segment of his body he could spare to block out all of the glowing red lights on the robot's body. With that, Nezu had to be blinded from the front, right? There was also no way he would just scorch his body with the flamethrower, surely?

"Not bad, not bad! But watch this!"

Clouds of gas emerged from ports around the robot. It was expanding rapidly. He sent his head flying off as fast as he could away, but it wasn't fast enough –

Then Shoji appeared from the side, grabbed his head with six arms and threw him upwards.

"Shoji Mezo eliminated. Coordinates EB-2."

This was such bullshit. Seriously? Gas?

He looked down from up high. Hatsume was flying backwards, Kinoko held with one hand while a device was held in the other. The cloud advanced no further.

"… you see, with my Air Gun, I can fire a jet of air at high speeds! It excels in situations such as this where noxious gas is in play –"

How could she even still think of advertising at this time?

The robot's arms bent over backwards, releasing jets of flame at mushrooms coating its back surface. Of course it didn't have joints like normal people. Why was he even surprised at this point?

Then they rotated over to the front again. Surely he wouldn't –

The flames rushed at his body parts. Quickly, he moved them off the robot's visual systems.

"Well done, well done! You've exceeded my expectations, all of you! Unfortunately, the time for play has passed."

The robot turned, facing toward Hatsume and Kinoko. Quickly, Monoma sent out his hands flying toward them, trying to get them out of the way. Nezu combined attacks, sending both a wave of the gas that had taken out Shoji and a volley of darts. Hatsume tried her best to dodge, going close to the ground, but in the end her aerial manoeuvrability and feeble air-gun defence was insufficient. Darts struck both girls, and Monoma just barely caught them before they hit the ground.

"Hatsume Mei eliminated. Coordinates EB-2. Komori Kinoko eliminated. Coordinates EB-2."

Just him now. One man with a teammate's borrowed quirk against a giant robot that had already taken out four of his hurriedly arranged teammates.

Monoma laughed.

"Oh?" Nezu questioned. "What else do you have?"

There was nothing else he could do. He'd tried to adapt, he'd tried everything he could. It wasn't enough. He landed some distance behind the robot, joining his scattered parts together. Then he switched over to Ibara's quirk, sending vines wrapping around the robot's leg and pulled.

If it even bought a few seconds, it would be worth it.

"Screw you, shitty Principal! You're not getting my team!" he shouted, running his voice hoarse.

The robot continued moving forward even as its hands rotated round to its back. He was dragged along the ground, as he quickly sent more vines behind him around anything he could find. Trees, pillars, lamp-posts; anything to gain some traction.

"For what it's worth, you've demonstrated what it means to be a hero today, Monoma-kun."

He saw the darts coming toward him. He didn't make any move to dodge. He just kept pulling.

Just before darkness took over him, he heard his armband call out.

"Monoma Neito eliminated. Coordinates EB-2."

-o-o-o-

The boy – no, the hero – fell over backward, as vines retracted from around the Nezu-bot. He landed on the ground. Jirou, as the sole member of the group that hadn't been taken out by tranquiliser darts or knockout gas, quickly moved to check on the downed members.

That had been a very pleasant surprise. For a moment, Nezu had considered letting them go.

Of course, he couldn't show any favouritism. It had to be done.

He had laughed, of course, when Monoma Neito had began by quoting that old set of fantasy books, matching his own quote of that popular manga series. That laughed had changed throughout the fight into one of pride and joy in his students. When he'd finally been forced to put the students down, there had been no laughter at all. The sacrifice they had elected to make deserved that.

He could ignore how the hero-in-the-making insulted him at the end. He fought for his team, after all.

For their efforts, he decided that he wouldn't hunt down the remains of their teams for the rest of the event. He looked at the screen once more. Where should he go next?

-o-o-o-

The crowd laughed as Neito quoted The Lord of the Rings. They cheered as the first wave of mushrooms grew. They gasped when the flamethrowers came into play.

Laughs mixed with cheers at Hatsume's relentless exploitation of screen-time. Gasps and cheers intermingled as Neito moved Kinoko out of the flame's way, the girl trusting completely in her teammate.

One by one, they fell. One by one, the crowd grew silent, watching as each member fell to the Nezu-bot. When it was just Neito and Nezu, when he'd resorted to using his teammate's quirk to buy every last second he could, no one spoke. They only watched and listened as the darts flew toward the boy, still struggling with all that he had.

Of course, some had laughed when he insulted the principal right in his face.

"Monoma Neito eliminated. Coordinates EB-2," the final announcement came.

Present Mic didn't know quite what to say for a moment. Then he moved toward the microphone.

"A daring attempt by Monoma-san, Komori-san, Jirou-san, Hatsume-san and Shoji-san! Thanks to their efforts, the Nezu-bot remained in position for over four minutes, allowing their teammates to escape! Please, everyone, a round of applause for our brave heroes-to-be!"

The applause was deafening. Hell, some in the crowd were standing.

By my side, Present Mic and Aizawa rose.

Was Neito's struggling a small fraction of how it might have looked to a third party every time we had fought against an Endbringer? I remembered all our desperate attempts to force Behemoth back, giving up ground block by block. Even when we'd combined our powers to cut his advance for Phir Se's weapon, it had only been a temporary measure. I remembered how Leviathan had cut through entire groups of capes, armbands announcing their deaths by the dozen.

I remembered Scion, feeling so powerless up until the end. Even as Khepri, we were barely damaging him until we'd played at his emotions.

I had to give Neito credit where he was due. He never gave up, not one bit.

Even if he didn't make it to the tournament, I didn't doubt that he and the others would have caught the eye of more than one Pro Hero; possibly more than those who actually made it into the final event.

"That was intense," Hizashi commented, the microphone feed turned off. After what had just happened, there really wasn't much action going on.

"Yeah. They lasted way longer than every other team that went up against Nezu," I said. "He was going easy on them, but still."

"You've found excellent friends. You're a good influence on them, Taylor-san," Aizawa commented.

"That was all them. I'm proud," I corrected.

"Those six are probably going into the finals now, then?" Hizashi noted, taking a look at the scoreboards. With the re-distribution of points, the remnants of both teams were now very comfortably placed in the top sixteen. There wasn't much time left for the event, and I was confident that they would make it to the tournament.

"Yeah."

"Think anything can top what we'd just seen?"

"I doubt it," I said.

I looked back at the screen. Both teams had now decided to band together, enforcing a truce. No doubt their teammates sacrifices had something to do with that. Speaking of those teams…

"Aizawa, I've been meaning to ask you. Just what is Izuku's quirk?"

He sighed. "Honestly? I'm trying to figure that out myself. It's too destructive for his body to be used effectively."

"Isn't there any way to train him?" I thought back to my world. Some capes did have problems with the Manton Limit, being affected by their own power. Mostly Case Fifty-Three's and Cauldron capes, given how their powers were acquired. As far as I knew, most either died early on or simply endured and learned how to work with their powers.

"It's not so simple. You need to know how the quirk works, and Midoriya-san needs the experience to improve it. I'm looking into experts with similar quirks that might be able to work with him."

Hmm. Something to consider for another time. I looked back at the stadium.

There really wasn't much going on. Most groups were in hiding at this point. Even those below the top sixteen were scared of venturing out, given how frequent the armband notifications rang out. Bakugou and Todoroki remained in the top two positions, somehow managing to procure armbands from other competitors on top of what they already had.

It seemed like that was going to be the case for the rest of the second event. The students would wait out the timer, hiding and running away from Nezu's rampage.

I wondered how the tournament would play out. I didn't foresee any of my favoured students getting high up in the tournament, but would they pass the first round? The second?

Before I knew it, the second event came to a close. Nothing else came close to the desperate last stand of the five students.


Going to write the tournament proper soon, but I'm feeling really uncertain about it. I don't want to force a canon rehash (i.e. the triad of Shinsou vs Izuku, Izuku vs Todoroki, Todoroki vs Bakugou while everyone else's matchups don't factor in at all), so I'm planning to just use a random generator and write what could happen based on that. Of course, it might be a massive flop once again. I must admit, the tournament bit isn't something that really interests me greatly. One-on-one fights aren't my favourite area to read, especially in the context of Shonen powers.

Anyone in opposition to me basically foregoing the canon triad and the whole echoes of OfA/Izuku-Todoroki itsyourpower pep-talk/some other things I might have forgotten?

If you're adamantly against it... well, I've written up what the beginning of it could look like as the next chapter. Take a look, if you want.

Hopefully it's at least somewhat readable. Otherwise, it goes into the trash bin where everything else goes to die. (cough cough Chapter 3 when I finally get back to it cough cough)