Hello everyone! I know, it has been some time since my last post. I have been struggling to find time to write as of late, but was fortunate enough to finally get this chapter out there for your viewing pleasure.

To those of you who hate his character (due to his timid nature), keep in mind, not every protagonist needs to be strong willed to overcome their weaknesses. Izuku will grow, and with a stable foundation may evolve into becoming a person who doesn't need validation to be successful (unlike some characters).

As for the polling, I will continue to hold out for votes. After some time however, I will be cutting off this poll and narrowing the options so people who want to change their vote will have the opportunity in the future.

Here are the current standings:

Yaoyoruzu: 19 (Leading by only a few)

Asui: 17

Uraraka: 9 (Overtaking Jirou)

Jirou: 8

Ashido: 5

Tokoyami: 4 (Overtaking Hatsume)

Hatsume: 3

Shinsou: 1

Other: 1

I'm quite happy with the number of votes received. The results will play into who ties to what character. Should your pairing not pop up as the winner in the end, I hope you do not stop reading. I will include moments with every character in the pairing list with Izuku, whether it be time spent becoming friends or awkward moments. It helps build the chemistry before any final relationships are made.

With that out of the way, let us dig into the story! Poor Izuku still has to show his skills off in the Hero Class, as well as the secret Assessment from Aizawa later on. Oh, I wonder just what will happen! With that, into the story!

Recap of last chapter!

Yaoyoruzu nodded. Izuku's heart seized. Doku smirked.

'Why did it have to be their team?'

'This will be fun.'

Chapter 7: Prove Your Worth

Yaoyoruzu looked around the interior of the building, noting the best locations to set up defenses. It was similar to a standard office building, with each level being less lockers and intertwining paths, and more rooms to set up base. In her mind, if they set up at the top, their opponents, given who they were, could easily catch them, meaning longer time playing defense, but if they mixed in, possibly setting up on the third floor, there was still enough area to set up guards and barriers to slow them down.

She walked around the bends of the building, following the map to where she believed to be the best place to set up. Yaoyoruzu sent a glance back to her partner, who was pressing his fingers together in a meek fashion as he trailed but a few feet behind her. She internally sighed as she turned forward once more, wondering if this was the world's way of making up for her lack of being in the actual UA Practical Exam. She had a partner whom she knew nothing about, and looked as though he was afraid of his own shadow (though to be fair, his 'shadow' was pretty aggressive).

Midoriya Izuku, the Dark Horse. Came in a day late, did not participate in the assessment, meaning he didn't experience the expulsion, and didn't show his capabilities. He was shorter than herself, not very strong looking, and quite nervous all the time. His quirk hung over him strangely, and seemed as crude as Bakugou Katsuki. On the plus side, he didn't seem perverted in any way, nor did he have undeserved bravado.

'Alright, Momo, let's hold out hope, there's a chance that I'm not going to be on my own in this fight against our 'heroes'. Try to be friendly, just like you were taught.' She rounded a corner, moving up the stairs to get to the third floor of the complex. "Midoriya-san, I'm going to need your help, understood." Yaoyoruzu stated calmly as she continued up the steps.

She heard nothing for several seconds, other than the grip on the rail following behind her. She craned her neck around, giving the green haired boy a raised eyebrow. "Did you not hear me?" She asked, keeping the exasperation out of her voice. This time, Midoriya vigorously shook his head in confirmation. As he did so, the black mass of his quirk came out from his shoulder once more. "You know, when someone asks you shit, you don't just nod. Get over 'house rules' and actually speak." Yaoyoruzu didn't approve of the cursing, but still found the words to have the remarks necessary.

"We're going up to the third floor. There, the bomb will be placed for us by the aid drones and we can begin setup. Does that work with you?"

"U-Uh, Hai!" Yaoyoruzu hung her head. At least it was a verbal response this time. She twisted around, moving to take another step up the stairs. In her action however, the heel end of her combat lost hold on her current standing. She felt her center of mass tilt, along with her vision. Her eyes widened in surprise at the clumsy move. She was falling down the step. Her mind immediately went to possible things to build. 'Pole, adhesive, railing, support plank, maybe a-'

As she willed her quirk to come to life, preparing to build something. She felt a something catch her around her lower waist, stopping her movement. She froze at the contact, her eyes trailing over to the grip on her. Wrapping across her exposed stomach and waist was a pair of sleeved arms. She looked up, her eyes catching the green in her vision, both from the head of hair hanging in her eyesight, as well as the viridian orbs staring back at her. A second passed.

"A-Ano...a-are you okay?" The boy asked. Yaoyoruzu shook her head, pulling her self from the grip of the young man. She felt her cheeks heat up a little bit, but willed away the dusting of pink on her cheeks. She coughed into her hand, pulling her composure back to full. "I am quite fine. Let's get set up."

"A-Ah! Hai!" "Look at you kid. First day at school and already sweeping babes off their feet. I'm almost proud!" Neither students looked at each other as they moved towards their defensive location. Had they done so, they would have seen the embarrassment and red hue on one another's face, one being much redder than the other.

-;-;-;-;-;-;-

"Alright! The Hero Team may now enter the facility! The Timer has started!"

Uraraka and Sero nodded. With a shot from his elbow and the use of Uraraka's quirk, the two easily flew upwards. With a well placed launch, they managed to hit one of the upper windows, which was in fact opened. Sliding in, the black haired tape user looked around before signaling for his ally to follow just behind. "Looks like we landed on the fifth floor. That means we can work our way downwards rather than half to fight our way up." Sero said with a hint of cheer. Uraraka nodded her head, a smile pulling to her face.

The two of them began to make their moves downward, checking any of the rooms on their way to the next floor. Being cautious of the 'top scorer' and her ability to make anything, they didn't want to get fooled into thinking that a wall they passed was actually a door disguised and they missed the bomb. It was to this misfortune that they did not find the bomb on the fifth floor, meaning they would need to make rounds on the fourth floor, possibly splitting up if need be, as it got more dense in winding paths the lower the floor.

Moving to the fourth floor, they made another round, and halfway through, they weren't having much luck. Sero sighed. "I'm hoping that they didn't set up on the floor 1." He said as he round another corner, being met with yet another office space. Uraraka nodded, checking their rear for any activity as she looked into another opened room. "Then again, it wouldn't be the best think if we had decided to just walk in. Half this fight is finding them, right?" She put out, to which her partner in heroism figured was a fair point.

As they continued to check rooms, the sound of echoing steps alerted their ears. They hunched down, skulking as they peered around for the source. Out of the corner of her eye, Uraraka jolted her head in the direction, pointing a finger as a figure passed by a hall before disappearing once more. "There! I saw something." Sero nodded, launching forward with tape to get a view of the target as his partner followed on foot.

With a wrap around the edge of a corner, Sero slid to a halt as he looked down the hall, his eyes immediately spotting the black clothing on the individual only a few meters from himself. He smirked, recognizing the newest member of his class. He launched a line towards Midoriya, intent on catching him. It was unfortunate that the boy dodged, it instead hitting the wall behind him. It was fortunate that it hit the wall though, as Sero used the adhesive to pull himself forward with more speed. "Hey, don't go too far! We should probably stay together." Sero pressed a hand to his ear piece. "I'll try to catch him. If you can, try to find the bomb and we'll meet up there, okay?!" The tape user told his ally, who capitulated with a simple "Hai" in his ear before cutting off the line of contact.

Sero rounded another corner, and as soon as he did, he spotted his target half hanging out a window, the green haired opponent looking quite nervous. Saying a small sorry in his head, he shot a line of tape as his opponent. Midoriya stumbled as the tape shot towards him. Sero froze, watching in horror as his opponent floundered out the window. "Crap! Midoriya!" He called out, his tape flying out the open window, not sticking to his target in order to catch or capture him. He rushed forward, hoping that he wasn't too hurt. The other boy didn't look like he had wanted to go out that window.

-;-

Uraraka ran towards the next hall of stairs, having not spotted any bomb or Yaoyoruzu during her search on the fourth floor while Sero chased Midoriya. She knew that they were not out of time yet, probably only little more than five minutes have passed, but that was still a third of their allotted time. She needed to get the location fast! She knew Sero could find her quick with his tape, then they would be able to work together a- Uraraka ground to a halt as she stopped at the end of the staircase.

Towering over her was a barrier of weird looking lines and webbing, blocking the entirety of the hallway path into the third floor. This wasn't supposed to be here, meaning that Yaoyoruzu probably built it. She pouted at the unfair tactic, pulling her hand up to smack away the disgusting, gunky barrier. She was surprised when her hand smacked against it, it stuck to her. With a pull, several of the gross tendrils held onto her hand. She began swatting at it, shaking her hand vigorously in an attempt to throw it off. It was only after several seconds did it finally release her hand.

Uraraka looked at the gross wall in front of her. She probably wouldn't be able to pull it down without getting tangled in it, and if she tried to go through it, she would be a fly in a web! If Sero were here, then she would be able to get through, as he could use his tape to pull it down. Otherwise, she would have to go to the other stairway that led to the third floor. Her guess however was that it was also covered. "Sero, I need a hand here. I need you to meet me at the third floor west stairway." She called into her headset.

-;-

Sero ran to the edge of the window, hoping not to find his classmate splayed across the cement down below. A part of him hoped that Midoriya grabbed onto a piece of his tape before dropping out, or that he had some means of tethering himself to safety. Even if this was a fight, he never wished ill will upon the other guy. Pulling his head out the opened window, he stared down at the ground, finding nothing of note. No person, let alone a trace of Midoriya. His eyes spotted only one thing of note.

A groove of five spots, which had pierced the wall near one of the windows. Sero raised an eyebrow, now noting that he didn't even know the full capabilities of Midoriya's quirk, only that the slime thing hung over his shoulder alot. Launching a line of tape, he attached it to the spot near the same window with the burrowed grooves. Being careful not to fall, he swung himself down, gripping the edge of the fourth floor before dropping, using his tape to catch most of his weight. As soon as he dropped, his looked into the window of what he assumed was the third floor. It was dark, several of the lights having been knocked out by something. Casting a look from side to side, he nodded to himself. He would need to make sure Midoriya wasn't on this floor before checking the next. Uraraka should also be on this floor by now if she hasn't said anything about the fourth having the bomb.

Unclasping the window, he perched his feet against the side of the wall, using one of his hands to grip his tape while he opened the window. It slid open easily, and he made moved to quietly sneak in.

Only to feel something grab his hand. Sero immediately flinched at the contact, his concentration lost as he felt a pull grip him into the building. He reacted by trying to launch a line of tape, only to despair when the grip on him refused to give him the ability to aim, the tape shooting down the hall. He struggled against the grip, which refused to give on its attempt to keep him restrained around the wrist. "Sero, I need a hand here. I need you to meet me at the third floor west stairway." Sero heard in his ear, and immediately tried to come up with a plan. With a desperate move, he let go of his tape as he swung into the room, knowing that he had a better chance of fighting this thing while he wasn't hanging like a spider on a thread.

Aiming his elbow to the side wall in the third floor hall, he hoped to get traction so h could pull away from the villain. As he flew into the room, he didn't account for the grip swinging his weight. With the rotation force as he entered the building, he found himself making a 180 spin. As he swung, his tape shot out, and instead of hitting a wall, just flew down the hall. Not having any means to slow down immediately, he tensed up as he slammed against the wall adjacent the window. He couldn't hear the slicing of his tape, cutting him off from a possible means of tethering out of the grip of his enemy. Groaning out in pain as the air was knocked from his lungs, Sero tried to look for the figure through pained eyesight. His eyes met black and white, and Sero could only to stare in shock at the figure just to his side.

Standing there was the thin form of the newest student, his green eyes shining in the sunlight through the window. Holding on one of Sero's wrists was not simply that of Midoriya's grip, but rather a strange black, viscous form that looked like claws from a beast, the black color immediately reminding the tape user of the little ebony head that hung over the boy's shoulder.

"S-Sorry Sero-kun!" Said boy's eyes widened when he felt another hand grab around his other arm. His eyes widened when he felt not only the strange hold, but that of material wrapped around both his wrists. "One of the Heroes has been captured! The time remaining is dwindling, so actions must be made on both sides to secure victory!" The voice of All Might called through the speaker system. Sero felt the hold on his wrists release, and he breathed in a desperate need of oxygen that he didn't know he needed.

"I..." His ears picked it up. Sero pulled his vision to the side, where a trembling form hung its head on his shoulders. Sero was startled when he saw tears drop down from Midoriya's face. "I d-didn't want to h-hurt you. You...you were so nice to me, a-and you didn't even know m-me." Midoroya ground out through his stutter. "Y-You and K-Kirishima-kun. Sero-kun, c-can you ever f-forgive me?"

-;-

Uraraka got no reply, and stood there for several moments before giving up on a response. Huffing to herself, she wondered if she could try to reduce the weight of the slimy cords. No good, it was just mean they would float about if she managed to break them, and she had no means of cutting them. She couldn't make herself float, as she would just get tangled in the higher wires. She thought about trying a window, going down to a the third floor through there, but without Sero to act as a bonding agent, she might float away without a way to bring herself down and not hurt herself.

She looked to the slimy substance, shivering at the thought. It was her only choice however. Taking both arms, she dug into the center of the web, trying to make a large enough hole to squeeze through, but she found her luck drown away when the opening was only half her size. "One of the Heroes has been captured! The time remaining is dwindling, so actions must be made on both sides to secure victory!" Uraraka's eyes widened in shock. Sero got captured?! It was no wonder he couldn't respond then. It also meant that maybe he was attacked by both Midoriya and Yaoyoruzu. This could be a chance to get the bomb while they were distracted. Pressing her hands together, she activated her quirk on herself, allowing he to float and reduce the size of hole needed to fit through.

Sliding her way through, she cringed as the sticky gunk stuck to her clothes and body. It clung to her skintight body suit, giving her another reason to hate the design choice of the support designers. One stuck to the head of her helmet, trying to grip tight to the transparent material, but sliding away eventually and leaving a horrible smear. Grossgrossgrossgross! With a last tug, she slid out of the disgusting trap, happy that the worst of it was finally over! Feeling the last few pieces of cord try to hold on, she struggled against the wire with all she could muster. With the last one snapping away, she felt her stomach grow queasy for more than one reason, and pressed her hands together to deactivate her quirk.

Like that, she flopped to the ground. She sighed against the cold cement tiles. She was through! Now she could go after the bomb and win for her team! Moving to pull her hands away, she found herself struggling against the viscous adhesive once more, and huffed as she attempted to pull her hands away. 'Why did Yaoyoruzu make such a horrible trap?! Something so gross and hard to get through like that shouldn't be fair!' Uraraka thought to herself, finding success as she pulled one hand free from the ground.

Only for something to wrap around it as it hung in the air.

Uraraka snapped upwards. Standing above her was the form of the tall, black haired, creation user, Yaoyoruzu Momo. Her eyes widened in shock, wondering when she had gotten there. Had she just been waiting for her?!

Uraraka could not vocalize any of these confusing notions before the same piece of capture tape bound around her other wrist.

-;-

"Sero-kun, c-can you ever f-forgive me?"

Sero stared at the green haired boy with surprise. He had no idea him and Kirishima had that much of an impact on the other boy. All they were doing is greeting him like anyone should. Sero gave an awkward smile to the trembling figure. "H-Hey, it's okay. You don't have to cry over winning. I'm fine." Midoriya pulled his face up to meet Sero, his mouth agape with shock. "R-Really?" Sero wrung his hands in the capture tape, shaking his head at the strangeness of his classmate. Midoriya seemed pretty cool, if a bit shy. "Yeah, man. Don't sweat it, this is a part of class. I'm not going to start hating you because you got me." He smirked at the crying boy. "I'll just have to win the next time, ne?" Midoriya stared at him for a moment before bringing his hands up to wipe his face. Gone was the strange substance that covered his arms, the black sleeve soaking up the tears as the boy nodded.

A black mass formed over the shoulder of the 'villain'. "I told you it would be fine. You just seem to forget that shit like this is normal, so stop crying like a baby!" It growled out.

"H-Hai!" Midoriya nodded frantically.

"The Hero Team has been fully captured! This fight goes to the Villain's Team!"

Sero looked down at the ground, slumping forward as he heaved with exasperation. "Well, I guess that's that, huh."

-;-;-;-;-;-;-

"Congratulations, students!" All Might said with signature smile to the two groups of students. Sero and Uraraka stood side by side, one still using a towel provided by Yaoyoruzu to clean herself of the viscous adhesive. On the other side of the Symbol of Peace stood the Villain's team, one standing confidently in her victory while the other hunched over himself, a black mass hanging on his shoulder with a cocky, jagged tooth filled smile. "The hero team did a great job in trying to retrieve the bomb, but the villains were able to counter them with an impressive display of capture and traps. Now, I feel that the MVP of this fight goes to Midoriya-shounen!" The green haired boy jolted up in surprise, pointing to himself with a shaky hand.

"M-Me!?" He squeaked out, to which the blond hero gave him a solid thumbs up.

"Yes! And would anyone like to explain why?" All Might looked to the class for answers. After a moment, a hand peaked up in the crowd. "Yes, Jirou-shoujo!"

The girl rubbed the back of her head, recounting the fight from her perspective. "Well, Sero and Uraraka made a good move trying to scale the building, but separated due to Sero's speed and trying to catch Midoriya. Midoriya captured Sero when he followed, using the window to narrow his opponents options of combat. Though Yaoyoruzu captured Uraraka with her slimy trap." Jirou shivered at the visual of poor Uraraka climbing through that horrible obstacle.

"Correct, young lady!" Seeing a massive thumbs up sent her way as well, Jirou blushed a bit at the unneeded praise.

"If I may as well." All Might turned to the Villain's team, finding a hand raised up from the form of the young female. All Might weighed the time versus her explaination and gave her an 'okay' to go ahead.

Yaoyoruzu cleared her throat. "Before our fight even began, Midoriya came up with the whole plan."

-Flashback-

"U-Um, Yaoyoruzu-san?"

"Yes Midoriya-san?" Yaoyoruzu asked, placing down another layer of metal defense in front of one of the doorways.

"Do you happen to k-know the q-quirks of our opponents?" Midoriya fidgeted with his hands, not knowing what to do with them for the moment.

Yaoyoruzu nodded. "Sero-san can produce tape from his elbows, launching it forward as a means to grapple or vault around. Uraraka can turn off the gravity for anything she touches, possibly even herself, but that last part is unknown. Why, did you have something in mind?" It was to the creation girl's surprise that the green haired boy in front of her nodded in confirmation.

"I...I think I'll be able to come up with a way to w-win."

-Flashback End-

"Midoriya figured out the best ways to counter our opponents after I told him about their quirks. He figured that Sero and Uraraka would use their quirks right from the beginning, thus prepared himself on a higher floor and waited. He then separated them by understanding that Sero would be able to tether behind him, leaving Uraraka to find another way after he would get down through the window.

"With that in mind, he also asked me to build a spool of wires and liquid rubber-cement adhesive. He set up glue traps at both hall openings to the third floor, knowing that if Sero wasn't with Uraraka, she would have no real way of getting through without making a mess of herself. That gave me a chance to check both traps, finding her just after she escaped, but still covered enough for me to capture her." Yaoyoruzu looked to the awestruck boy beside her. "I had a plan to win, and it had a good possibility of success, but Midoriya made our chances improve by a substantial amount." She smiled at the other boy, who ducked his head away at the overly kind words.

"N-No, it w-wasn't all m-me, I-"

"Wow, Midoriya-kun! You really did all that?!" Uraraka bounced over to the other boy, amazed that he figured all of that out without even knowing how their quirks really worked in person. "You're incredible!" The gravity girl said with excitement. Said boy only became more red at the words.

"Yeah. I figured you were following Yaoyoruzu." Sero brought up. "It's kind of scary how you got us both." He chuckled.

"S-Scary?!" Midoriya yelped out in surprise, the word never having been associated with him before.

"Relax, brat! Try not to faint on me. It'll only mean I have to carry your sorry butt around all day." Midoriya nodded to his quirk.

All Might coughed, getting everyone's attention once more. "Alright! Let's get rolling with the next group of teams!"

"Hai!" Everyone yelled out.

In the back of the group, a pair of red eyes narrowed at the still red faced Midoriya, the black mass hanging on his shoulder as several people praised his ability. Looking away, his hands itched with the need to blow something up. He was getting tired of waiting already, and wanted to prove all these nobodies just how out of their level they really were compared to him.

Deku was nothing, and he would prove it once he got the chance.

-;-;-;-;-

Izuku had been really nervous about fighting anyone. Let alone the person that apparently Doku saved, and the first person to say anything nice to him. Sero and Uraraka were really kind, and had a hard time during the fight trying to justify hurting them in any way. He was still hung up over how hard he had thrown Sero against the wall when he swung in the window. He wasn't all that good with Doku's strength, so it was an accident.

'Oi, don't go blaming me for those other shitheads getting hurt.'

'I-I know. I need to practice more. I need to get stronger too.'

'Clearly. You almost fell out of that window. Had it not been for my strength, you would be paste on the road.' Doku huffed in Izuku's head, as if crossing his arms in irritation. 'I still wish we could have fought someone stronger, like that guys with the multiple arms. He seems like a fun challenge. Instead, I was let down by how easy those two were beaten.'

'It's n-not their fault! We just came up with a g-good way to beat them.'

'Yeah, and you're suppose to do that with every poor sap you face off against.'

Izuku neither confirmed nor denied the statement made by Doku, instead focusing on the screens in front of him. Up right now were Teams F and H, which were Asu- Tsu, and another boy with a head of a bird. They were facing off against the boy in the yellow costume which resembled a luchador, and an angular faced boy with a mouth on his red and yellow uniform.

Izuku continued to watch, wanting to learn more about his class. How they fought, and what they were each like. He was a part of it now, apparently, and he wanted to get to know more about each them. Maybe even make a few friends, something that sung in his heart. A luxury that was not given to him in quite some time, considering how much people made fun of him in the past. But UA was a new start, and it had been so inviting as of today.

It was still incredibly weird, considering that he was in a hospital only a day ago. To think that he not only got accepted, but that he was standing here with his class, having just fought and was getting to watch more of his classmates contest each other was incredible! He pressed a hand to his chest, gripping at the black long sleeve over his heart. He was here, and it made him feel like he was on the top of the world.

"What the fuck! Is this asshat copying me!" Izuku was ripped from his thoughts as a pair of white pupil-less eyes glared at the display screens. Izuku looked to the screens aswell, finding what Doku was talking about. In the upper corner of the screens, hanging out of the chest of the bird headed boy was another bird like figure with massive shadowy claws. He was holding back the yellow spandexed opponent while his teammate was attempting to slip around to reach the bomb. Izuku mouth was agape as he stared at the screens.

'I-Is there really someone like me here?'

'Oh please, he's just a cheap knockoff.'

'Still...maybe we could talk to him about his quirk. Maybe who his quirk is. It w-wouldn't hurt, right?'

'Oh sure, add birdbrain to your brady bunch of idiot pals, why don't cha?!'

'Yeah...maybe I could.'

'Oi, I was joking, brat. Brat. Brat! Are you ignoring me?!'

'N-No, Doku.'

'Yeah, you better not.'

Izuku continued to watch. He stayed silent as both teams moved around one another, the heroes managing to slip around the angular faced student and charging for the door that led to the bomb room. The boy with the bird-like head, released his ally once more, who fought in front of him and guarded his ally from the assault of the yellow student again. Izuku's eyes were glued to him as the shadowy figure threw off the aim of the much stronger boy as Tsu jumped over to the bomb.

"The Hero Team Wins!"

UA really was fantastic.

-;-;-;-;-;-

End Chapter

Wow, what a fight! For those of you who thought I would throw Izuku to the wolves immediately, you are mistaken. However, sometimes fighting your friends is more terrifying them facing past bullies. Izuku struggles in those regards, thinking that facing off or competing with those you care about means they will hate you. Look at his only 'friend', Bakugou, and how he dealt with people trying to compete with him?

Anyhow, I hope you liked this chapter. For the IzuTsu fans out there voting for their pairing, do not worry. I will have plenty of opportunities between both characters, especially with the fact that Mineta was expelled. So please be patient.

I hope the next chapter comes out faster than this one! Take care all, and be safe. See ya!