Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Bakugo Expelled

Chapter twenty: Preparation for the team battle event

One well enough morning at U.A. High School, the Big Three had, at the request of Aizawa, Edgeshot and Hizashi, gathered the students of the 1-A and 1-B classes for a meeting in the large classroom where the join math exam was held a while ago. It took a while for everyone to come, and they came in at a sort-of trickle pace. Bakugo was among the first of the first year hero course students to arrive, waiting patiently for the others to all show up.

The first among those who the explosive teen spotted were most of his crew, which consisted of Sero, Mina and Akuma. The last of Bakugo's squad, Sakaki, came in accompanying her boyfriend Shinso. After that, the rest of the students in 1-A and 1-B started to all gather in, slowly causing the room to fill up more and more. The girls in class 1-B came in as a group, and Bakugo gave a smirk and friendly wave to his girlfriend Pony who, seeing the gesture, smiled and waved back.

The ashy-haired boy also noted with some concern that Pony's classmate Kinoko seemed to be lacking energy to an extent. The mushroom girl had been rather miserable ever since the U.A. held service that mourned five boys who were in class 1-A before they were all killed during a field trip to the United States while Bakugo was still expelled from U.A. But then again, a lot of the students in 1-A and 1-B had been upset since then, although some took what happened a lot harder than some of the others.

An example of this was Kyoka Jiro who, to Bakugo's surprise, actually walked in with some of the other girls in class 1-A. Aside from wearing lime green fuzzy wristbands over her wrists, there was nothing new about Kyoka's overall appearance. Bakugo, wanting to do something for the rock music lover because of how miserable she was, figured he'd try to speak to her, but he was cut off before he got the chance when, due to all of 1-A and 1-B being in the room by that point, the Big Three called for the meeting to begin.

"Alright, everyone!" Nejire called out, clapping her hands together as she spoke, "Now, I suppose some of you are all wondering why you've all been asked to come here. Well, there's a very simple explanation for that."

Raising a hand and waiting to be called on, Yaoyorozu said, "Does this have something to do with what I heard about U.A. hosting some sort of team battle event?"

Nejire pointed to Yaoyorozu in a commending manner as she said, "Right you are, Momo." Lowering her hand that she had used, the sole girl of the Big Three went on, "A party that is representing a regular public high school in the United States is coming here to Japan. The party consists of a group of ten quirked students from the high school, their principal, one extra girl who's a student at the school, and a boy who is fluent in Japanese."

"The group of ten quirked students from the high school is the main topic of discussion here," Tamaki continued, "They are the ones who will represent their school in the team battle event, where U.A. will have a team representing them compete against the Americans."

"Since the Americans will be sending in a team of ten, U.A. will meet them person for person," Nejire went on, "As such, the lot of you were gathered here so that Tamaki, Mirio and I can pick ten from among you to be the U.A. team." After the Big Three had finished the initial run down of what they wanted to get across, a lot of the first year hero course students were talking among one another excitedly; a team battle event where some of them will be facing off against quirked American opponents?

Bakugo felt very eager to get himself onto U.A.'s team of ten, figuring that beating members of a rival team from a foreign country would go a very long way to helping him achieve his goals when it came to being a pro hero. And the foreign country in question is the United States of America; the explosive teen can simply ask his girlfriend, who is half-American and had actually lived in America for a bit, any questions that he might have that would help him do better when he faces off against the visiting high school.

While all of the first year hero course students talked amongst themselves, Yaoyorozu raised her hand again. "Sempais," the wealthy girl began, a hint of confusion in her tone, "You all said that the visiting American high school that will send a team to face off against U.A.'s team is just a regular public high school? It's not actually a hero academy like U.A.?"

Tamaki nodded a few times in the affirmative. "Indeed. The visiting high school, Royal Woods High, is just a regular public high school. From what Mirio, Nejire and I were able to gather on the matter, less than thirty percent of the school's student body has quirks."

"Let me get this straight," Itsuka said as she stood up, "A regular public high school in the United States, with said high school most likely not even having anything specific to help out students that have quirks, is sending a team of ten to face off against a team of ten students from the top hero academy in Japan." The class rep of 1-B crossed her arms over her chest, a look of incredulousness on her face. "…Do they really think that they stand a chance against us?"

"Aizawa-sensei and Edgeshot-sensei understands that some of you may think that the Americans are overestimating themselves, but the two of them still feel that it's better to be safe rather than sorry," Tamaki said, "Which is why, after Mirio, Nejire and I pick ten from the lot of you, the three of us will be working said ten to the bone to get them ready for the team battle event." As he turned around and grabbed a stick of chalk, Tamaki wrote the names of Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, Juzo and Setsuna on the chalk board behind him and his friends.

"I believe that the first four from all of you that should be put on the team are those who got into U.A. on recommendation," Tamaki began, "After all, that's a clear sign that you all have a lot of potential. That will go a long way to helping U.A. cinch the win in the team battle event." After that, Tamaki proceeded to ask if anyone else wanted to try and get onto the team.

There was, to the surprise of the Big Three, not as much enthusiasm as they were expecting. The three of them were honestly expecting all of the first years to clamor to get a spot on the team of ten that would be representing U.A.; sure, there were some who were eager for a chance to fight some foreign opponents, but that eagerness was limited mostly to those who craved chances to prove themselves in a fight anyway, such as Bakugo and to a lesser extent Itsuka.

In the end, the Big Three got their group of ten first years for the team, mostly because there were so few volunteers. In addition to the four students who got in on recommendation, the group of ten who would represent U.A. in the team battle event had Bakugo, Izuku, Itsuka, Akuma, Artemis and Eunice. Seeing that the team only had three from 1-B compared to the seven from 1-A, Nejire was a bit disappointed that the team wasn't more equally representative of both first year classes, but there honestly wasn't all that much interest from 1-B.

Tamaki was a bit concerned due to the fact that the group of ten was geared more towards a pure power build, as there was very little in the ways of support and auxiliary roles. He asked some students who he felt could fit said roles, like Tsuyu and Hagakure, if they would like a shot at being on the team, but both girls turned the sempai's offer down. Kinoko was the same when she was asked if she'd be interested in taking a spot.

Bakugo could tell that most everyone was still a little bummed over what all has happened as of late; the monster attack, the siege on U.A., the loss of so many pro heroes, the deaths of five boys who used to be in class 1-A…everyone was still lacking in enthusiasm because they were all being weighed down by all of the terrible happenings that have taken place which, Bakugo just realized, seemed to have started sometime in the period between when he was expelled from U.A. and when he was reinstated, with more chaos happening after said period.

Everyone seemed rather troubled, and Bakugo worried that things would get worse before they started to get better.

A few days into the Big Three working with the team of ten that U.A. would be sending in to face the visiting American team, everyone was in Gym Gamma, with those in 1-A and 1-B not on the team standing by to watch what all was going on. As the training proceeded, everyone stopped short when they heard the doors to Gym Gamma open. Looking over, everyone saw Aizawa, Hizashi and Edgeshot walk into the gym. The wide-eyed, horrified look of fear mixed with a dash of anger on Aizawa's face was unmistakable.

All of the students looked at the underground hero, with Nejire saying after she called for a break in the training, "Hey Aizawa-sensei, what's wrong?"

"I…" Aizawa began, taking a pause to take a calming breath, "…I was at Ketsubutsu Academy earlier, at Ms. Joke's invitation, to watch an exhibition match in the stadium at Ketsubutsu. As it turned out, the exhibition match saw a team of Ketsubutsu students face off against the team from Royal Woods High."

"The visiting Americans," Tamaki remarked, drawing a confirming nod out of the class 1-A homeroom teacher. Gesturing to the senseis as a whole, Tamaki asked while focusing on Aizawa, "What does all of that have to do with the look on your face, Aizawa-sensei? Did the exhibition match not go as you expected?"

Once more, Aizawa forced himself to take a calming breath. "…The exhibition match was an interesting one in the sense that it saw just one member of the Royal Woods High team face off against one-hundred Ketsubutsu students all at once and on his own." Every last one of the students in Gym Gamma looked surprise at the underground hero's revelation about what the exhibition match over at Ketsubutsu was like. However, what really surprised all of them was what Aizawa said next.

"Not only that, but the lone member of the Royal Woods High team who took part won the exhibition match."

"That's crazy, Aizawa-sensei!" Bakugo practically exclaimed, getting all of the senseis to all look at him, "How can one lone guy face off against one-hundred opponents all at once and on his own and still win? You'd have to be at the level of fucking All Might back when he was still a pro hero in order to pull off a stunt like that!"

Aizawa, as well as Hizashi and Edgeshot, all regarded the explosive teen with simple looks. Calmly, Aizawa pulled out his smartphone. "…I was able to record a video clip of the entire exhibition match over at Ketsubutsu," Aizawa began as he addressed all of the students that were in Gym Gamma, "I want all of you to follow me, Hizashi and Edgeshot to one of the classrooms so that I can hook this up to a computer and play the clip for you on the smartboard in the room."

All of the students, first year and third year alike, were a bit confused, and some were apprehensive, as they all proceeded to follow the trio of senseis out of Gym Gamma. Many of the students were wondering just what all it was about the supposed lone guy from the Royal Woods High team that had the senseis, Aizawa most of all apparently, so spooked. After all, who could possibly be powerful enough to take on and defeat one-hundred Ketsubutsu students all at once and on his own?

Aggro Ace. The Samurai Hero: Sengoku. The one who, during class 1-A's field trip to the United States, had made the first major move that was part of the collective metaphorical dump that had been taken on the 1-A and 1-B students. He was the lone person who single-handedly defeated the team of one-hundred Ketsubutsu students during the exhibition match that Aizawa had seen and gotten a video clip recording of.

Aggro is on the Royal Woods High Team.

All fifty-three students in the classroom watched with shocked fright as the video recording played, showing the Samurai Hero casting massive wildfires of gold, dropping multiple large spheres of golden flames down on hordes of his opponents, and even breathing a stream of golden fire at a few Ketsubutsu students. Yo Shindo was the last to be defeated before Aggro had won, whacking the student upside the head with a gold flame-encased bokken. After that, the underground hero paused the video recording.

Looking to all of the students in the classroom, Aizawa said, "He…he is one of the ten members on the team that Royal woods High is sending to face whatever team U.A. will send in for the team battle event."

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" everyone turned to look where Bakugo had stood up from where he sat, slamming the palms of his hands onto the surface of the desk area he sat at. A few small explosions came from his palms as he slammed his hands onto the table. Bakugo pointed an accusing finger at the smartboard, where the image of the paused video still remained. "That's the fucker who killed five of our classmates! And we're expected to fight him?!"

A number of the other students in the classroom all turned to look at the image on the smartboard, which showed Sengoku simply standing there as he was encased in his cloak of golden flames. In particular, Tsuyu, Kyoka, Hagakure and especially Kinoko all looked at the still image of the guy who took the lives of the guys that they respectively cared deeply about; this was also Kinoko's first time seeing what Aggro looked like.

Gesturing to the still image on the smartboard, Uraraka asked, "Umm, senseis, was he ever reprimanded for what he did back during the field trip?"

Hizashi let out a troubled sigh before gently shaking his head. "…Unfortunately, no. Since the boys that Sengoku killed were all proven to be guilty of a sex crime, and all of that mess took place in the Royal Woods jurisdiction, Sengoku had full legal rights to do what he did."

"Wait a minute," Izuku began, a curious look on his face, "What do you mean 'sex crime'? What did they do?"

"While Sengoku was chasing after someone he caught fondling a teenage girl's rear end," Aizawa began to explain, "The boys got in his way, allowing the person Sengoku was trying to catch to get away. Sengoku tried to get past or around the boys, but they wouldn't let him through. Tenya was even noted to have been deliberately holding Sengoku up." Letting out a sigh, the underground hero said, "What Tenya and the other four boys did is classified as 'aiding a sex criminal' under local laws since actions that they knowingly and willingly took allowed someone guilty of a sex crime to get away from quirked hero pursuit."

The students were all in shock with what had been explained to them. "Wait, did Glasses and the others even know what the guy that samurai bastard was chasing did?" Bakugo asked.

Shrugging, Hizashi replied, "We're not all that sure on the exact details. However, what we do know is that, due to the local culture over in that area, heavily influence by their traditional values, Sengoku's actions were viewed as perfectly excusable. Hell, I got it that he was widely commended for what he did, especially by the family of the girl whose butt was fondled by the guy that Sengoku was initially chasing."

"Thankfully," Edgeshot spoke up, "Sengoku only did enough to the Ketsubutsu students to defeat them. We're confident that he will not aim to kill, especially since the laws here are very much different compared to the laws over where he lives."

"That still doesn't excuse the fact that ten of us are expected to fight a guy who can solo one-hundred opponents in one go," Itsuka remarked, "As well as nine of his classmates, and who knows what kinds of quirks said classmates have?"

Aizawa, letting out a knowing, resigned sigh, nodded in understanding to the class rep for Edgeshot's class. "…It's part of why we all agreed that, rather than just ten of you brats, the team for U.A. will have all fifty-three of you."

"That's barely more than half of the numbers that samurai bastard can solo on a casual run!" Tetsutetsu barked, "Are you telling us that the team battle event is going to go on anyway, even though the opposing team has a guy who can sweep all of us on his own?! Why can't U.A. just surrender the event to the Americans since it's clear that we're going to go down to them anyway?"

"Believe you me, Tetsutetsu," Edgeshot remarked, "Aizawa, Hizashi and I all explained to Nezu, after showing him the clip that we all just showed you and the others, that it would be best if U.A. just simply surrendered the team battle event to Royal Woods." Giving a gentle shake of his head, the top pro continued, "Unfortunately, Nezu is way too confident in the abilities of you all. We are, in fact, going to go on full steam ahead with the team battle event."

Pointing to all of the students, Aizawa went on, "That's why, starting as of this moment, all of you will be excused from all classes until further notice so that you can get in as much training as possible. You'll be aiming to hopefully find some way to overcome Sengoku, which will go a very long way to getting a win for U.A." Crossing his arms over his chest, the underground hero went on, "Additionally, we're going to be calling in a top-ranked pro hero to help out with the training that you all will be doing."

"You all will be doing with the pro that we're bringing in what you all did with Pixie-Bob," Hizashi explained, "But whereas Pixie-Bob used earth, the pro we're bringing in will be using fire, since Sengoku has a fire quirk."

A dawning look of worried realization appeared on Todoroki's face. "…Oh no…"

The first official day of training began for the combined fifty-three students that were all put onto the U.A. team. They were repeating the same exercises that the first years had done under Pixie-Bob, except rather than train under the member of the Wild, Wild Pussycats, they were dodging the crimson flames of Endeavor, the tentative number two pro hero in Japan. The Flame Hero seemed to be in a particularly bad mood, hence why he was going out more than he normally would have.

When the Flame Hero wasn't using the training as an excuse to get away with taking his frustrations out on his son and said son's schoolmates, he was forcing all of them to fight one another until they dropped. Endeavor was especially keen on forcing Todoroki on sparring against Akuma, as he wanted his son to get more and more used to dealing with fire. Even with the fact that a guy who can use golden fire is coming his way, Todoroki was by no means liking how his bastard of a father was getting away with forcing his ways onto everyone.

"You, All Might's brat," Endeavor growled at Izuku, making the green-haired boy flinch a bit out of fright due to the overall air the Flame Hero was giving off. Pointing a finger over to where Reiko, Pony and Kinoko were sparring against one another, Endeavor said, "Go fight that girl I want Shoto to break up with until you take her down."

"Okay, that is it," Todoroki called out, distracting everyone and making them all turn to face him. The two-toned boy walked up to his father, a pissed off look on his face. "What the hell do you think gives you the right to decide who I can and cannot date, father?" Todoroki snapped at the tentative number two, "I'm perfectly happy with dating Reiko, and there is no way that anything that you-"

*FWOOOOOOOM*

Todoroki was cut off when Endeavor blasted him at point-blank range with a powerful stream of fire from his right hand, sending his youngest flying back until he fell down and rolled on the ground for a bit before stopping. Everyone instantly froze out of fright over the horrific scene that they had just witnessed. The look of pure fury on Endeavor's face made it clear that he was at his limits with what he views as 'rebellious disobedience'.

"…How dare you, boy," Endeavor scolded as Shoto barely began to pick himself up from the ground, "You will never speak or otherwise address me with such disrespect ever again. Do I make myself clear?" The tentative number two cast his gaze over the rest of all of the U.A. students on the team set to face Royal Woods. "The same goes for every last one of you brats. You all will be treating me with the respect that I demand out of all of you, or there are going to be consequences. Now get back to training." Everyone was still paralyzed out of sheer fright by what all they had just witnessed.

"NOW!" Endeavor bellowed at the top of his lungs in the most frighteningly angry tone any of the students had ever heard out of anyone ever. The shout of the Flame Hero was enough to get all of the students back to training, albeit only because the shout had scared them all out of their shock-induced paralysis. As the fifty-three students resumed their sparring under Endeavor, the training was being watched secretly by the four female pro heroes who had been hired to the U.A. staff in recent events.

With a look of cringing surprise on her face, Mirko remarked, "Yeesh. I know that I'm hard on anyone that goes under my supervision, but hot fucking damn does that angry bastard make me look like a saint by comparison!"

Mt. Lady, similar to Mirko as well as Pixie-Bob, was also cringing out of repulsed shock by what she and the others were watching. "Holy geez, how did that guy even get as highly ranked on the billboard charts as he did?" Mt. Lady asked rhetorically, "If word of this training that he's putting the students through, especially with that scene involving his own son no less, manages to get out, then his overall approval is going to sink like a large rock thrown into a lake."

"Yeah-huh," Ryukyu remarked as she leaned casually against a handrail near where the four female pro heroes were watching the training Endeavor was having all of the students go through. Out of all four of the ladies, the Dragoon Hero was the only who was not wearing a cringing look of discomfort as she saw what was going on. Instead, Ryukyu had a look of calm on her face that was very clearly masking a brewing storm of pure fucking outrage.

Not that any of the other female pro heroes had noticed it, but Ryukyu also had her smartphone out since they all first came across and began watching the training Endeavor was having the students go through. She was recording a video clip of what all she and the other ladies had seen, which basically covered everything since Endeavor first started up the training with all of the students. The tentative number one hero in Japan was able to record basically the whole training session, saving the recording that she had made.

With the brutal, cringing show that the four female pro heroes came across having ended, they decided to take their leave, having seen (and also in Ryukyu's case recorded) enough.

Bakugo now had a very good appreciation for why IcyHot hated daddy dearest so fucking much. It made the explosive seen appreciate his own father Masaru all the more, especially considering that, personality wise, Masaru is essentially the dad version of Izuku's mother Inko; still firm when need be but never going too far in that department, an overall gentle and loving parent who was there for him every step of the way. That thought also made Bakugo think really hard about the mater when he sat up on his bed in his dorm room at Heights Alliance.

Bakugo remembered distinctly that Endeavor was on the fast track to becoming as much of a goofball parent as most other parents that the ashy-haired boy knew of, Masaru included. Bakugo recalled seeing the Flame Hero hug Todoroki close to his chest while crying out of relief after the monster siege had ended and he saw that his youngest child had survived the assault on the city by the hordes under the late monster warlord Hirajo. Endeavor even shelled out a lot for the reconstruction of the neighborhood he wrecked during a fight with a trio of villains, dud a whole lot to spruce up the home where Reiko's family lived, and eagerly agreed to play a major role in the commercial that was done for Uraraka Construction.

All of that begs the question that was on Bakugo's mind; how did Endeavor go from quickly becoming an overall good person to hang around with, to being a worse asshole than he had ever been up to that point? Endeavor was now more of a bastard than ever, was trying to make Todoroki break up with Reiko in order to start dating Yaoyorozu (a relationship than neither Todoroki nor Yaoyorozu are interested in) and straight up threatening first year high schoolers into respecting him, with the implied threat that he'll blast any of them who says no the same way he had blasted Todoroki during training earlier.

Bakugo wished that he knew what the answer to all of the troubles were, wished that the answer laid with one person so that he and a lot of other pissed-off people had a target to go after. He fell back over onto his bed, allowing his exhaustion and various injuries from training to take him off to the land of sleep. However, he didn't begin to fall asleep before he heard a knock on his dorm room door. Grumbling a bit, Bakugo walked over and answered it.

To his surprise, he was visited by Pony and her classmates Reiko and Kinoko. "I'm surprised that you would come here," Bakugo said, "I mean, you girls are in the other class, and it's a bit late in the evening."

"Reiko, Kinoko and I are very much worried about fight against gold fire guy and team," Pony explained, worry and some mild fright clear in the half-American girl's tone, "He very powerful, powerful enough to beat very many people just by himself. And he coming with nine friends of his to fight us."

The explosive teen let out a resigned, understanding sigh as he addressed his girlfriend and her friends. "…Yeah, I don't blame you in the least for being scared, Pony. That samurai bastard is unbelievably powerful." Crossing his arms over his chest, Bakugo said, "Maybe that's why IcyHot's daddy was being such an ass to us earlier, although that's still no fucking excuse."

"I fucking hate that man," Reiko swore, an upset look on her face as she case her glance at the floor to her right. Bakugo, with a look of piqued interest, turned to look at the ghost girl of class 1-B. "He…he wants Shoto to break up with me and start dating Yaoyorozu. Why, though? Why does Endeavor suddenly disapprove of me and Shoto dating? Why is he trying to get Shoto and Yaoyorozu together?"

Reiko started to tremble a bit, a few tears running down the sides of her face. "Shoto, he…he's someone I know full well is in a league way above me, but he still picked me out of every other girl he's ever seen. He honestly loves and cares about me. I honestly never thought that I would ever get a boyfriend, much less one as awesome as Shoto. But it still happened all the same." She let out a trembling sob as she tried to keep from breaking down fully.

"…Am I just a joke to Endeavor or something?"

Bakugo gently shook his head, unsure of what to say to Todoroki's choice girl; not the one that Todoroki's daddy is picking out for him, but the one that Todoroki picked for himself. Bakugo turned to look at Kinoko, seeing that she was similarly upset like the other 1-B girls that came to see him. Even though the mushroom girl's head hung a bit, the explosive teen could still see the signs of a slight acne problem on her face, a face that was now a bit fuller due to how Kinoko was rather plump as a whole right now due to her recent binge of comfort/stress eating. All signs of how she has stopped caring.

The ashy-haired boy let out a troubled sigh as he addressed Kinoko. "…How does all of what happened today make you feel, Shrooms?"

"That…that guy in the video that Aizawa-sensei showed all of us." Kinoko trembled a bit, as if shaken by a primal fear. She looked up at Bakugo, her bangs parting a bit to reveal just one of her eyes, one that was red from recent crying. "…He's the guy who killed Eijiro, right?" Bakugo nodded once in the affirmative, the air he gave off showing that he was resigned to the fact. Kinoko began to tremble a bit more, but not out of primal fear this time. "He…he killed the guy who I was in love with," she said as she clearly sounded like she was going to cry, "And now he's on his way here with some friends of his to fight all of us. What happened for us to deserve all of what had happened, to deserve some our schoolmates, boys that some of us loved, being killed?"

The mushroom girl was unable to hold the tears back any longer as she began to softly cry, looking back down to the floor as she covered her biceps with her hands. Pony quickly moved to wrap her arms around her crying friend, to give her a comforting hug. Reiko was about to join in, but she was cut off when Bakugo beat her to the punch. The explosive teen helped Pony try to comfort and calm down the upset Kinoko, feeling just as bad about what all had occurred as of late as well. Bakugo was honestly really surprised with what all can happen if a girl loses someone who she loves dearly.

Bakugo silently prayed that none of the other girls ever lose anyone that they cared about.

END, CHAPTER TWENTY

Author's notes;

This chapter covers the events of the exhibition battles mini-arc in Couple. Due to Vulcan High being shut down sometime prior to the Royal Woods High party arriving in Japan, the elite members who soloed exhibition battles ended up facing off against different high schools; it just so happened that Aggro fought against the Ketsubutsu team in that exhibition battle, and set a whole new degree of fear into the hearts of those at U.A. who knows what's coming.

The next chapter will cover a few extra scenes before the actual team battle event between U.A. and Royal Woods High, showing what all the U.A. students will do before they go into the fated team battle event. The setup for said event here will also be slightly different than how it is over in Couple, mostly in regards to where the match takes place. Also, I know that some of you will undoubtedly be very cross with Endeavor now, given what's done up to this point due to specific events here. But don't worry; that will be resolved later on. Don't forget what Ryukyu has in her possession right now.