It had been 2 months since the Hosu incident. Trace had been one of the happiest people in existence. He had been helping Mina study for the finals for 2 hours a day, though mind numbing, it was clearly working as Trace scored perfectly on every practice test, and Mina was easily getting an A on the practice tests. They would spend any spare time they had with each other, They were Batman and Robin, Spider-Man and Mary Jane, Superman and Lois, and… well you get the point. They were really close.
Once the finals came around, both students became nervous. Trace especially, yet he hasn't had to use his inhibitors to calm himself for a couple weeks. He has been more confident, he was actually able to control his emotions pretty well.
Trace and Mina stepped into the classroom and buckled in for what would be a gruelling 2 hours. They took a glance at each other before their papers were given to them. They were told to begin. Trace went through the paper in about an hour, easily getting every question right. Mina struggled a tiny bit but ultimately, she only needed an hour and a half to finish.
"Now that the written part is over, I will quickly go through and grade these, stay here until you receive your paper". Aizawa began going through everyone's papers, efficiently grading each and every one. Within a half hour, Aizawa had passed everyone their papers.
Trace and Mina were both sweating bullets, but for different reasons. Trace was nervous for Mina, he had already seen he got a perfect score, but he didn't catch Mina's. Eventually, Mina worked up the courage to look at her paper. Slowly making her way up the paper, she began to think maybe she had failed. She didn't see any red but she was paranoid. Eventually she had made it to the top right of the paper, seeing a red 100 with an exclamation point.
Everyone was muttering to themselves about their scores, but Mina covered her mouth before dropping them to their sides, a grin from ear to ear covering her face. Trace exhaled, relieved she at least got a good grade.
"Alright class, now that that's done, make your way to the Training Yard, there we'll talk about your practical exam", Aizawa opened the door to the hall and stepped out, motioning for the students to follow him.
Trace had got his stuff, and went to Mina's table, "Hey Mina, how'd you do".
Trace's question was answered with a bear hug. "I GOT A PERFECT SCORE TRACE, I DID IT".
Trace began to chuckle at her excitement. "Great job Mina, I told you we got this", Trace pulled his exam papers from his bag to show a perfect score as well.
Without another word, the two put an arm around each other and made their way to the training yard. Once they got there, they were greeted by all the teachers.
"Hello students", Nezu began, a smile on his face. "I'm sure a lot of you have heard that you would be facing robots, but we have decided to change this", everyone went silent, surprised at the revelation. "Since times are more grueling for heroes, we want to ensure you're ready for the real world so instead, you will be facing us, the teachers and me".
Everyone went wide-eyed at this except for bakugo. "We have selected your pairings for you for various reasons we will not disclose". And with that Aizawa began reading off the match ups.
Kirishima and Sato vs Cementoss
Tsuyu and Fumikage vs Ectoplasm
Ojiro and Iida vs Power Loader
Momo and Todoroki vs Aizawa
Aoyama and Ururaka vs Thirteen
Ashido and Kaminari vs Nezu
Jiro and Koda vs Present Mic
Shoji and Toru vs Snipe
Mineta and Sero vs Midnight
Trace and Bakugo vs All Might
Trace froze up instantly. Body stiff as a board. He was facing All Might, and with Bakugo of all people. He turned to look at bakugo who looked away the instant he saw him. Trace looked to the Ground before shaking his head. "This is gonna be a long day".
Trace simply headed for the spectators booth to watch his other classmates matches. He was anxious but he needed to calm himself.
"When's the last time you used your inhibitors to calm yourself", Recovery Girl said to Trace.
Trace simply smiled before proudly saying, "I haven't had to use them since last month".
Recovery girl smiled before saying, "It's nice to know you found your confidence, Trace.
"Oh yeah, did you happen to see Bakugo anywhere? '', Trace asked Recovery Girl.
She simply shook her head before saying, "haven't seen him all day".
Trace looked to the ground before a hand on his shoulder snapped him out of it. He turned to see Kirishima standing there, sorrow in his eyes but something else as well.
Kirishima pointed to the screen before saying, "Mina's up now".
Trace immediately glued his eyes to the screen, silently cheering for his girlfriend. He was nervous as he didn't know what Nezu's quirk was. His thoughts were soon answered when Recovery Girl said, "His quirk is super intelligence in case you don't know Trace, I saw you thinking and figured that was the question". Trace was caught off guard before regaining his composure. He returned to the screen to a sight that scared him.
Mina and Kaminari were buried in concrete, pipes,and other construction items that were around. By the time they dug themselves out, the time had run out and they failed the combat portion of the test. Trace felt himself begin to tear up but he quickly pushed his sorrow out, he needed to be strong for her. He ran to the door and waited for her, watching for any sign of the door opening. One battle passed, then another, as the third battle raged on the door opened to reveal Mina and Kaminari, tears running down their faces.
Trace immediately wrapped Mina in his arms whispering reassurances, trying to calm her as much as he could. "I know baby, I know, and I'm so sorry, I should have tried to help with combat, but I was afraid of harming you, I'm as much to blame as you if not more".
Mina surprisedly looked at his face, a big cheerful grin on his face, his eyes glowed a pink color, but also a tint of blue. She snuggled further into him. "Thank you so much Trace, but you should get ready for your battle", Mina said, pointing to the screen.
Trace turned to see a message. "BAKUGO AND TRACE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE BATTLEFIELD".
Trace broke the contact before saying, "I'm sorry Mina, but I need to go". He ran out and quickly made his way to the bus to take him to the Grounds.
Once there, he ran to the gate, making it through just as a speaker turned on, "LET THE MATCH BEGIN".
Trace immediately screamed, "Release inhibitors". He heard a click and began jogging to catch up to Bakugo. "Bakugo, I know you don't like me but for the sake of passing, can we please work together for once?".
Bakugo immediately turned, back handing Trace to the ground.
Trace stood up quickly. "Bakugo, what the hell".
"Shut up you damn nerd", Bakugo said angered, "I don't need your help to win this, I can do this by myself".
"Maybe so but the test requires us to work as a team bakugo, so please for pete sake, let's work together so we can get a good grade on this thing".
Bakugo quickly turned to Trace with a snarl before activating an explosion right in Trace's face, sending him flying into a nearby wall. "I DON'T WANT YOUR HELP DUMBASS, I SAID I CAN DO THIS MYSELF".
Trace pulled himself out of the whole in the wall, dusting himself off before facing Bakugo, "AND WHAT HAPPENS OF HE SOMEHOW BEATS YOU HUH" Bakugo was taken aback by his rage, "THAN WE FAIL IF I'M AS WEAK AS YOU SAY SO FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, HELP ME BEAT HIM SO WE DON'T FAIL BAKUGO, FOR FUCK SAKE, WE AREN'T FIGHTING JUST ALL MIGHT EITHER, WE HAVE A HOUR TO EITHER MAKE IT THROUGH THE GATES OR HANDCUFF ALL MIGHT, SO HELP ME SO WE CAN WIN".
Bakugo raised his gauntlets and fired two more bursts into Trace, burying him into rubble. "I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP, I DON'T WANT YOUR HELP SO STAY OUT OF MY WAY KILLER".
Trace froze at that. Sparks began flying off of his body, anger seething from Trace's skin. "BAKUGO, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, IF YOU WANT TO FAIL THAN FIGHT ALL MIGHT ON YOUR OWN, I'LL FIND THE EXIT GATE AND DRAG YOUR ASS THROUGH IT". Trace's eyes were pitch black. He began walking away from Bakugo, angering the latter.
"GET BACK HERE TRACE", Bakugo said, seething with rage.
"WHY SO YOU CAN BERATE ME NON-STOP, NO THANKS, I'M GONNA GO PASS THIS THING WITH OR WITHOUT YOU BAKUGO", with that Trace began walking away again, only to be blasted in the back by Bakugo.
"DON'T TURN YOUR BACK TO ME BITCH", Bakugo was standing atop Trace, pinning him down with his foot.
Trace was about to fight back when an intense gust of wind blew them back slightly, forcing them to cover their faces.
"It's clear you don't get along well, but if you don't then you will fail". All Might came out of the smoke, Eyes glowing a bright blue, "I'm a villain now heroes, don't forget".
Trace and Bakugo stood there awestruck. They had just witnessed a shard of All Might's strength. Trace immediately turned before saying, "we need to run Bakugo".
"Don't tell me what to do you damn nerd", Bakugo turned to All Might, "HOW ABOUT A STUN GRENADE", Bakugo pulled the pin on his gauntlet, firing off a barrage of small blasts.
All Might immediately grabbed Bakugo by the face, lifting him into the air.
Without hesitation, Bakugo continued firing, aiming straight for All Might's face.
All Might instinctively lifted his arm to block before throwing Bakugo to the ground, head first.
Once Bakugo was down, All Might turned to Trace who was standing there awestruck. All Might appeared behind him, standing there menacingly. "Where are you going young Wilqs". Trace turned quickly, firing off a flurry of punches, which were easily blocked, before using his negative buff to jump away.
"WATCH OUT", Bakugo screamed, causing Trace to turn. They collided in the air, falling to the ground in pain. "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING DUMBASS".
Trace slowly tried to get up, only to be pinned down by a fence. Trace struggled as hard as he could but could barely make the fence budge. He was forced to sit tight and watch as Bakugo got kicked around by All Might. He couldn't stand it. He started activating his quirk but he didn't have enough negative emotion flowing through him. He started to panic at being trapped. That's when he heard it.
"If I have to depend on someone else to win, than i'd rather lose, I don't want his help, he shouldn't even be here". Bakugo was on his knees, head low.
Trace was LIVID. He shot the fence straight up in the air, and reeled back for a punch at pretty high strength. He fired the punch straight into Bakugo, getting him out of the way of All Might's attack. "DON'T YOU DARE SAY YOU WOULD RATHER LOSE BAKUGO, LET'S PASS THIS TEST AND WIN". Trace picked Bakugo up and ran into an alleyway to evade All Might.
He had run for about 3 minutes when Bakugo spoke up.
"Put me down right now".
"Not yet", Trace said, determined to put more distance between them and All Might.
An elbow finds its way to the back of Trace's head, causing him to fall to the ground, Bakugo right behind him. Trace and Bakugo slowly rose to their feet, both deep in thought. "Look Bakugo, Frankly, I don't like you, and you don't like me, but we saw how that fight went down, so how about we plan a coordinated attack, We hit him with as much firepower as we got and Make tracks for the exit gate", Trace's eyes were glowing yellow and blue.
Bakugo went silent before sighing. "Fine, take one of my gauntlets, It's filled to the brim with my sweat so it will fire at max power, I'll distract him so you can get close, then you hit him with everything in that gauntlet before running" bakugo was furious but calm.
All Might was running down the street searching for the students. "Where did they get to". He was thrust out of his thoughts with bakugo hitting him in the back.
"YOU'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY". Bakugo was firing multiple blasts at All Might, aiming for places to disorient him. All Might quickly raised his hands to defend, completely ignoring the student sneaking up behind him in the smoke. "TRACE, SHOOT NOW".
Trace jumped out of the smoke, pulling the pin on his gauntlet holding the device point blank in All Might's chest before an explosion erupted from the Gauntlet, sending Trace back slightly. Once the blast ended, Trace turned and ran as fast as he possibly could. As they were running, Trace took the gauntlet off and looked to Bakugo, "BAKUGO".
Bakugo slowed a little as he turned to Trace who threw the Gauntlet to Bakugo. "Let's confuse him", Trace said with a determined expression.
Bakugo sighed. "We both know he's gonna catch up, THEN IT WILL BE MY TURN TO HIT HIM WITH A GAUNTLET".
"Interesting", a voice said behind them, "and then what will you do".
Bakugo and Trace both turned to see All Might in between them. With immense speed, All Might broke the gauntlet on Bakugo's left hand, and slammed Trace into a wall with 2 swings, Pinning Bakugo to the ground.
"You both did pretty well, even cooperating to get here, but cooperation wasn't optional, it was a requisite, it's not that any of you did bad, I just outclass you". All Might stood above them, basking in his strength.
"Shut.. up". A burst came from Bakugo's hands, sending All Might backwards. Without hesitation, Bakugo grabbed Trace saying, "GET READY TO FLY".
"WAIT WHAT", Trace was more confused than anything.
"I DON'T LIKE THIS OPTION, BUT WITH THE CRAPFEST WE'RE IN, THIS IS ALL I CAN THINK OF, NOW DIE". Bakugo threw Trace over his shoulder, slinging him toward the exit.
"Wait, All Might's flying the opposite direction", Trace put his arms together moving more like a bullet than a flailing kid, "We can win this".
With one swift blow, All Might struck the air, sending him flying directly toward Trace.
Trace barely had time to turn to see All Might flying at him. He tried to raise a barrier but wasn't fast enough. All Might collided with Trace, sending them both into the ground. Trace tried to get up but found his legs were broken.
"Ohhh… that's bad", Trace said internally.
"Trace, let me take the wheel for a minute", Djinn said.
Trace closed his eyes, "Alright", Trace reopened his eyes to reveal purple eyes, "Let's do this". He let Djinn take control, with every passing second, he could feel his bones moving back into place and healing.
Djinn stood to his feet before screaming, "ALL MIGHT".
All Might turned from his dealing with Bakugo to see the same shadow that nearly killed him. Fear began to set in.
"I will do whatever I can to ensure you are captured or we get through that gate". Djinn lunged at All Might with blazing speed.
All Might barely had time to react, raising his fist to combat the creature, When one hit collided, another one began. Both combatants were moving at supersonic speeds, throwing hundreds of punches a second. Neither side would give any ground, they stood, feet planted, eyes filled with determination. Djinn began moving backwards slightly. All Might put on a smile before saying, "I thought you would defeat me hero".
Djinn, thinking quickly, clapped his hands together to form his shadow bubble to encase them both in. but that was the moment All Might wanted. He lunged at Djinn, Punching him square in the face, sending the darkness back into Trace and sending Trace through a building.
Trace very shakily stood to his feet, legs covered with bad gashes on them, blood running down his entire body from various cuts and gashes. He turned to see All Might right on top of him. Trace realized pretty quick that Bakugo must be down. Trace's eyes began to glow golden. "What… did you do... To Bakugo… villain".
All Might began laughing, "Let's just say he won't be assisting you for the duration of this test".
Forget sparks, entire LIGHTNING BOLTS of energy were flying from Trace. With one mighty blow, he knocked All Might high into the air, He then jumped with immense power to reach All Might. He put everything he had into a single punch screaming out, "THE LIGHT CANNOT EXIST WITHOUT DARKNESS, BUT DARKNESS CANNOT EXIST WITHOUT LIGHT, BUT I WILL USE BOTH". He punched with so much strength that he created a laser of black and white, spouting out a thousand feet in every direction, he kept firing his punch for a solid minute before running out of energy. He began falling to the ground, unconscious from the power he outputted.
Everyone spectating watched in horror, as Trace began falling to the ground like a meteor, if he hit the ground, he wouldn't survive in his current state. No one was more terrified however than Mina, she was practically about to run out the door until a hand found its way to her shoulder. She turned to see Kirishima looking at her with a smile, "Trace will be okay, He literally fought with every bone in his body broken and still fought at full power, He can take a small fall. Mina smiled before turning to the screen again. "Trace".
All Might was the first to land, creating a ten foot crater, All Might lay there unconscious. Trace kept falling, every second closer to the ground. He just made it past the buildings when a figure skyrocketed toward him, catching Trace in his arms.
"You used up too much power dammit", Bakugo said softly. He turned to the gate and began walking before remembering the handcuffs. He set Trace down before saying, "I'll be right back". He walked over to the unconscious All Might, and slapped the cuffs onto his wrist. "TEAM TRACE WILQS AND BAKUGO KATSUKI WIN". he turned to Trace, "you gave us that opportunity Trace, You were right, I couldn't win alone, so thank you for saving my ass". He scooped Trace into his arms, carrying him to the exit gate, heading to a bus that housed Recovery Girl.
"Are you boys alright", She asked quickly.
Bakugo simply smirked, "Of course they sent you as soon as we got out".
Recovery Girl simply stated, "Trace and All Might are unconscious, and you're not too far behind them, so of course they sent me".
"Apologies", Trace said, beginning to stir, causing Bakugo to lay him on the ground, allowing him to get up slowly. "But we didn't really have a choice, we either gave our all in this test or we risked failing. We beat All Might, we expended so much energy to do so, but we did it". Trace raised a thumb in the air smiling, "Me and Bakugo are a great freaking team".
"I had to carry you out of the battlefield", Bakugo said, chuckling beneath his breath.
Trace tried to chuckle but instead coughed up a little blood, "maybe so, but we still managed to incapacitate All Might".
Recovery Girl cleared her throat, getting the two boys' attention. "As much as I enjoy seeing you two get along, we need to get to the bus".
The two students stumbled their way to the bus, the adrenaline finally wearing off.
(1 hour later)
Both students lay motionless, aside from the occasional rising and falling of the chest.
"ALL MIGHT", Recovery Girl began, whacking All Might with her cane, "I SWEAR, YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO HOLD BACK, I WAS BARELY ABLE TO FIX TRACE AND BAKUGO UP''. Finally releasing her anger, Recovery Girl calmly said, "they probably won't awaken until tomorrow, so for now, all we can do is wait''. Recovery Girl left the room to inform Nezu of their condition.
All Might turned to look at the two unconscious students. "Young Bakugo, did you know you were smiling in even the worst of situations, you truly were able to stay positive in the face of defeat", All Might then turned to Trace. "And you Trace, You fought me to a stand still, even expending all your energy to incapacitate me, giving Bakugo everything he needed to finish the job, you both worked admirably together, and I look forward to seeing how you both grow in the future". And with that, All Might left the room, to ask Nezu about the plan for next week.
Once the door shut, both Bakugo and Trace opened their eyes and looked to one another.
Trace was the first person to speak, "so, Bakugo's got a soft side, thanks by the way", Trace extended a hand to Bakugo, a faint smile on his face.
Bakugo took the hand in his own hand and shook it, saying, "No problem, but between you and me, I don't want you telling anyone else about what I said or did on the field".
Trace simply replied calmly, "I won't tell a soul, but I stand by what I said, we make an excellent team, I ain't gonna ruin that so I can keep a secret if it means gaining a new friend, and a powerful ally", Trace said, taking his hand back.
Bakugo Lightly chuckled, "oh, that trips gonna be a blast isn't it".
With that, they both began to laugh, only calming down when fatigue caught up to them. They both fell asleep, none the wiser of the presence of Mina and Kirishima.
"So", Mina said with a sly smirk, "Bakugo's got a soft side and became friends with Trace".
Kirishima quietly laughed, wiping a tear from his eye. "Let the joking begin", Kirishima and Mina walked away, leaving the boys to rest. This will be fun indeed.
