Chapter 8

The Avatar has been lost for millennia after the death of Korra, with the art of bending forgotten to ancient scrolls. In an age of quirks, watch as Izuku becomes the new Avatar and brings back the art of bending in his hero academia.

It's been a long time since I posted and I'm sorry for that. I couldn't do any writing during my exam period because I was worried about the exams. Therefore, I had to write the chapter in the last week. And because I lack the productivity and creativity to write much more than 1k words a day, it literally took the whole week. Anyway, it's here now!

*POLL: Obviously the poll is now closed given that we are going into the battle trials. I was surprised by how even it was, but the option for randomised pairings won by 2 votes. One thing I will say is that the Izuku Ochako team was not random. This was too good an opportunity not to develop their relationship.*

Reviews. Thank you to the three people that left a review. However, a few points were raised that I wanted tot discuss:

SpectacularSpidey: I do like Denki's character and he is one of the characters that will be buffed in my story compared to canon, partly due to having an elemental quirk and partly due to me liking him. For this reason, I kind of made him weaker than he might have initially been so the improvement is more drastic. However, I do also feel like he probably wouldn't be that fit compared to others of class 1-A because he simply focused on using and developing his quirk. Toru managed to get into U.A. even though she had no offensive style quirk. For this reason, I made it so that she was quite fit and in the Quirk Test, where both their quirks were useless, she would thus do better.

TheLazyWarrior: In terms of what powers he will get, I don't want to reveal anything. You'll have to stick it out. Thanks for telling me about the mistake of the Tokoyami clan; I have corrected it. Some parts of canon will need to be rehashed, especially at the beginning of the story. It is the small changes at the start the allows people to be familiar with the story which allows for deviation later on.

xxblakexx27: My first angry rant review! To be honest, I didn't expect it to be about Izuku getting One for All. I think you may have missed some of the clues I left about One for All and the Avatar. Izuku getting One for All is integral to the MHA universe and I have adapted it to suit the combined world of MHA and Avatar. Hopefully, this chapter can satiate some of your anger and answer some questions people may have about the changes that One for All has made. Of course, that's if you actually come back to read the latest chapter on this 'dumpster fire of a story.'

Disclaimer: I don't own MHA or ATLA or LOK. Neither do I own these abbreviations.

"Hello, Shiroh-sensei!" Izuku, having entered the dojo, waved nervously at the back of the blind master.

"Do you realise how long it has been?" A creepy aura surrounded Shiroh causing Izuku to gulp nervously. "It's been one and a half hours!" She twirled around and launched herself straight at Izuku and started whacking him with her cane.

"Ow, ow, ow. Please stop!" Izuku cried out while trying to cover his head with his hands. Underneath his palms, he blushed slightly as he thought about why he had been late.

After the quirk assessment test, Izuku and the remaining students had changed and returned to the classroom. After just half an hour, Katsuki, Minoru and Fumikage returned from wherever they had gone to. However, Aizawa hadn't returned with them and Fumikage had helpfully conveyed that Aizawa said he had something important to do. Izuku had only met the Eraser Head hero a few hours ago but he was sure that this 'important thing' was probably just sleeping.

As soon as noon came, everyone started leaving in different packs. Izuku kept to himself and tried to slink away without Katsuki noticing. So, when a hand was placed on his shoulder, he understandably jumped in fright.

"Hey Deku!" Ochako's bubbly voice sounded from behind him, calming him slightly. He turned around to see not only Ochako but also Tenya.

"Deku? Is that a nickname?" Tenya robotically chopped his arm at Izuku, who nodded, slightly flustered.

"Hey Deku, do you want to walk to the station together with us?" Ochako asked with Tenya nodding eagerly behind her.

Izuku grew flustered, not just because a girl was asking him to walk together, but also because two people who hardly knew him were being so friendly. "Ok!" Izuku nodded nervously and the two smiled.

When they reached the train station, Tenya took a different train, leaving Izuku and Ochako together. Izuku finally had the opportunity to ask her who her favourite hero was which sparked a spirited discussion of Thirteen and rescue heroes in general. Izuku had quickly forgotten that he was talking to a girl and so lost his nervousness, becoming caught up in the conversation.

So lost in the discussion was he, that he forgot to leave the train at the right stop, instead only realising when Ochako said this was her stop. He then had to make his way back to his stop which wasn't easy as two trains were completely full. It had taken a long time to get back and he was dreading Shiroh-sensei's reaction.

After 18 whacks and a sizeable lump on Izuku's head, Shiroh finally relented, leaving Izuku to nurse the sore region of his head.

"Are you ready to train?" Having calmed down, Shiroh sensei now stood at the opposite side of the room in front of the door leading to the back garden. Izuku nodded and followed her outside, but not before changing into his U.A. gym clothes and removing his shoes and socks.

Once he walked out, she was already in her ready position. She nodded to the ground. "Wear the blindfold. Today we will be going faster."

Izuku gulped slightly at that as they had been going quite slow recently. Maybe because it was their last session before he went to U.A.

He scrambled to put on the blindfold and quickly extended his senses through the earth only to realise that Shiroh-sensei had already leapt towards him. He placed an arm up to block the kick directed to him from above. However, she used his arm as a platform to leap over him and aim a kick at his back. Izuku knew he couldn't turn around to block it in time and so stepped forward while she kicked him thus lessening the impact.

He rolled forward with the kick and tried to create some distance, but she didn't let him, chasing him down. Izuku settled into his horse stance, his arms up, bent at the elbows. He strained his ears and focused his seismic sense. She was approaching from the left when suddenly Izuku sensed something hitting the ground on his right side. That caused his attention to shift to the right only to realise it was her cane. She snapped a fist towards him which Izuku barely knocked off course using his wrist.

She didn't relent as she continued throwing punches aimed at his face and midsection. Izuku tried to predict the movements but she kept throwing him off by using unpredictable patterns and not simply alternating her punches. This resulted in a few punches sneaking in. Izuku winced at the force behind the attacks. Izuku quickly realised that she wasn't holding much of her strength back, even if she was being simplistic in her attacks.

Izuku knew he needed to break the exchange and let in a punch in order to hit her in the chest with his wrist. He then followed up with a palm strike that pushed her away. As soon as he struck her with the palm fist, he jumped back but misjudged the force compared to where he was planning to land and tripped as he landed. As he was falling back, Shiroh-sensei came and hooked her leg behind his leg while holding him up by his shirt.

Izuku breathed deeply before yelping when she let go and he fell to the ground. He took off the blindfold and stood up slowly, wincing slightly in pain as he felt some bruises on his chest. While their spar hadn't been as fast as they had done when Izuku could see, it was still quite rapid and seemed shockingly quick to the blind Izuku.

Luckily none of the punches she landed had hit her face which Izuku was thankful for. He didn't want his classmates asking questions tomorrow of why he had a bruise on his face. Maybe she had some sympathy and avoided his face.

"Not bad brat!" Shiroh-sensei grinned savagely.

Probably not.

"You managed to keep up to speed decently at the beginning but when did you go wrong?" She asked while picking up her cane.

Izuku thought briefly before responding. "When I turned towards the cane, you got too close to block effectively and I had to keep defending."

Shiroh-sensei hmphed a bit in mild disappointment. "Come on brat! You know what my quirk is. There was one mistake you made within the first minute."

Izuku thought hard. In their first exchange, he had blocked, and his sensei had used that to get behind him. But how did her quirk factor into it? "When you got behind me?" Izuku answered nervously.

Shiroh-sensei sighed. "That's the right moment but not for the reason you are probably thinking. By going behind you, the wind was coming into my face instead of my back. This allowed me to use my quirk Feedback to amplify the smells in the air so I could track you."

Izuku nodded in understanding. It was the same way predators stayed downwind of prey so they could track prey and prevent their own scent from alerting prey of their presence.

"You have progressed far with your quirk. However, don't forget to use your other senses. Just because your eyesight is lost, you still have your other 4 senses." Shiroh-sensei's gaze caused Izuku's skin to flush slightly in embarrassment.

When she had thrown her cane, if he had listened more carefully, he would've been able to realise that the sound on the right was the cane. But because he concentrated on his seismic sense, it took longer for him to realise that the vibrations weren't that of feet running but of his master's cane.

It would take some time before he could use seismic sense to its fullest potential in combat but Izuku would keep training till he got there.

"Thank you, sensei." Izuku bowed to the blind woman who smiled a genuine smile at the gesture before bowing back.

Izuku grumbled and shifted uncomfortably as he felt the pins and needles attack his dead leg. He straightened his right leg out and tried to rub some feeling into it.

Meditation was not yielding the results he desired. After being accepted into U.A., Toshinori-sensei had suggested looking into meditation, both in order to calm down in general and to try to find out more about One for All by getting back to that room he had seen in his dream when he had first received his quirk.

However, he had also been quick to say that this would be Izuku's venture as he didn't know anything about the subject. Izuku had even asked Gran Torino and Shiroh-sensei, both of whom had said they knew nothing about meditation. That left Izuku to explore the vast subject of meditation by himself.

He had initially been quite pleased with the hobby, finding it calming to just relax and forget about the world around him and the tensions involved. In fact, even now he appreciated that aspect of meditation. The problem was the lack of progress with the second objective. Ever since the day he received One for All, he had yet to revisit that chamber with the spectres and light, and Izuku didn't know what was missing.

However, unlike how he had acted in the past like with his quirk, Izuku refused to give up. After all, it had only been two months since he had started.

Another problem was that he wasn't sure what position to assume. He had quickly realised that he preferred meditating while sitting cross-legged but placing his hands on his knees didn't feel right.

Izuku sighed and opened his eyes and lay down on the floor staring at the ceiling. Perhaps… perhaps he was simply focusing too much on getting to that room instead of just letting go.

Instead of just trying to clear his mind, Izuku brought out his rock seals and used his quirk to lift them into the air. After they were lazily circling his head, Izuku closed his eyes and simply focused on their circular movement.

Round… round… round.

His hands naturally clenched into fists which he held joined at the knuckles just below his chest. His breathing evened out and he saw the surroundings suddenly got darker through his eyelids.

Suddenly he no longer felt the seals floating around him and startled, he opened his eyes.

Izuku took a second to check his surroundings and had to restrain himself from shouting in joy. He had made it! It didn't look exactly as it had 6 months prior but the simple fact that he was in some darkened hallway and that the location in no way resembled his bedroom meant that Izuku had found his way back.

While it was dark, the hall was not pitch black like it had been and the source of light could be seen when Izuku looked ahead. It was the creature that had appeared at the end of the last encounter. However, while she did emit light, unlike last time, she was not surrounded by a blinding ball of light allowing Izuku to properly take in her appearance. Well, Izuku assumed it was a she given the voice he had heard.

She was quite large, being roughly 15 feet tall. And that was while she stood on what appeared to be a ribbon where the main portion of her body seemed to end. From end to end she was likely double that length. Blue markings covered the upper half of her body with the focus being the diamond-like shape that seemed like an eye. She was all white and appeared to have an ethereal glow around her. She almost looked like some sort of spirit!

Izuku walked towards her in awe. While he was facing something new, Izuku couldn't bring himself to be wary of the creature. Somehow, he instinctively knew that she would not harm him. And even more weird to Izuku was the nagging feeling in the back of his mind that the two of them had met before and had been with each other for years.

Suddenly, Izuku ran into something. Izuku took a few steps back while rubbing his nose before gasping in surprise. Izuku was sure that the hallway had been empty except for the two of them. However, now there were a series of 7 gates separating the two. Their design reminded Izuku of torii which were traditional Japanese gates commonly found at the entrances of Shinto shrines. However, what was slightly worrying was that Izuku had not walked into one of the fence posts but seemingly had hit his nose on thin air.

Izuku cautiously walked forward to the first gate and placed his hand forward. Except, instead of passing through, his hand stopped at some invisible barrier. He glanced past the gates to see the creature had come towards him. However, it seemed that like him, she was blocked by the gate. One of her protrusions came up and touched the barrier on the seventh gate and Izuku had to stop himself from stumbling back in shock.

"My name… Raava. You… Avatar." Izuku could hear her voice echoing from within his head. It was as if she were speaking to him telepathically. However, the connection seemed to be choppy. The voice was soft and even seemed to cut out at times like a radio does when going into a tunnel.

Izuku placed both hands on the barrier hoping that whatever connection allowing her to speak with him would become stronger. Furthermore, Izuku was confused as to who she was. He now remembered that when he last was here, the man that had disappeared had called her Raava. But who or what was Raava? He opened his mouth, about to voice his question but she interrupted him.

"We don't have much time to speak. The human world has lost most of its spiritual energy and you are not spiritually strong enough to sustain this conversation for long. It has taken me 6 months to gather enough energy to converse here with you."

Luckily the connection had grown stronger as her voice was louder and even seemed to have a regal tone but Izuku had so many questions. The way Raava spoke, it was as if she had been here for many centuries. But if she did come from One for All like Izuku theorised then she could only be around 200 years old. But what was spiritual energy? And what does Raava have to do with the Avatar?

As if reading his thoughts, she continued. "I am the spirit of light and it has been more than 9000 years since I have fused with a human capable of channelling my power. In a world that has forgotten bending, it will be very difficult for you. Unfortunately, there are less than 3 years till Harmonic Convergence by which time you must master the four elements."

This was getting a bit much. For some reason, Izuku did not doubt the validity of what Raava spoke of but he was stressed about the implications. While his Earthbending had improved dramatically after receiving One for All, Izuku did not consider himself anywhere near being a master with it. Furthermore, he had had no success with Waterbending and hadn't tried Airbending. And he had no desire to attempt Firebending.

And what was Harmonic Convergence?

"While I may have removed the taint of Vaatu that was your 'quirk', his main body exists elsewhere. We must be… defeat him at… Convergence."

'No! The connection is breaking again. We must be close to the time limit.' Izuku thought. "Wait! Before you go, how do I speak with you again?"

"Look within… true self…" Her voice started to fade and Izuku's surroundings started to blur and dull slightly. He pressed his ear against the barrier hoping to hear things more clearly.

"Trust… yourself." Her voice was barely above a whisper.

Izuku gasped and opened his eyes. He was back in his bedroom. Unfortunately, the return had broken his concentration and he just barely managed to stop the seals from hitting him. He slowly lowered them to the ground before laying on his back himself.

He felt a headache come from the information overload. He massaged his temple before picking himself up to get a notebook. He wanted to sleep but was worried he would forget important details from the dream he had. He would need to discuss this with Yagi-sensei. After spending ten minutes to recount the experience, he promptly crashed onto the bed.

After all, tomorrow was the first proper day of school and he didn't want to be groggy for it.

Day two – or rather the first full day – started a lot less hectically than the previous day. Though it did have its own difficulties.

"Sit down." Aizawa's disgruntled voice sounded from beyond the door which slammed open a second later. Aizawa's tired eyes flitted over the classroom only to see everyone already sitting down.

Well, sitting was a slight overestimate. Bakugo was practically lounging considering his feet were on the desk. Mineta looked like he was sleeping considering his head was on the table and the amount of drool leaving his mouth and Iida looked like he was practically nailed to the chair. "Hmm. There might be some hope for you yet. Anyway, introduce yourself to each other. Name, quirk and something about yourself. I don't really care what, just be done by the end of homeroom."

Tenya immediately raised his hand and spoke. "Which order should we proceed in? Should we go in order of the class number system?"

Aizawa just stood still with his blank expression staring at Tenya which was returned by Tenya's serious look.

A minute passed.

It became abundantly clear that Tenya would keep waiting till Aizawa responded and after another thirty seconds Aizawa simply responded with, "I don't care," before zipping up his sleeping bags so that only his face showed.

Tenya simply stood up and turned to the class. "We'll go in order of the class numerical system. When your turn comes, simply go to the front and tell us about yourself." He then proceeded to gesture towards a blond-haired boy who was already flauntingly getting out of his seat.

"Je m'appelle Yuga Aoyama. My quirk is the brilliant 'Navel Laser' which allows me to shoot a beam of sparkling energy from by belly button!" As he talked about his quirk, he posed with his hands behind his head. To say everyone was slightly weirded out was an understatement.

"What a weirdo," said Katsuki. "What the fuck was with that pose?"

"Oh, and I can speak French." And with that, he sat back down.

A pink girl skipped to the front of the class before talking excitedly "Whatever. My name is Mina Ashido!" Izuku noticed the small yellow horns nestled in her pink hair as well as the golden eyes that stood out against the black sclera. "My quirk is Acid which allows me to secrete corrosive acid. I especially like breakdancing and incorporate a very weak acid to slide around."

Izuku furiously wrote his findings in his brand new notebook. He did have some pages left in his previous book but he wanted to start a new one about the quirks from his class and school. Plus he didn't want to accidentally lose All Might's signature. While Toshinori was his sensei now and he could ask for another one, that one was still precious.

Meanwhile, Ochako had noticed Izuku's frantic movements and turned to see him writing in a notebook which was weird since he hadn't seen him open his bag to get it. So where did he keep it? Her attention was drawn away when she realised that it was her turn. She could ask him later.

Several minutes passed as the students got up and introduced themselves. Most were pretty simple introductions though Koji Koda's had been interesting as instead of speaking he had brought a whiteboard with him and simply wrote on it. Izuku kind of wished he had thought of that before shaking his head to clear his doubts.

Then the boy with the bird head stood up. His introduction was concise and he clearly had the dark personality down. However, the most unnerving thing was the way he unblinkingly stared at Izuku. To his knowledge, he had never met or even seen Tokoyami. Izuku avoided direct eye contact and proceeded to instead stare at his notebook as he wrote.

Soon it was Katsuki's turn. "My name is Katsuki Bakugo and I'm gonna be the number 1 Hero. I'll blow up any damn extras that try to stand in my way using my quirk: Explosion. I'm looking at you Half-and-half!" Todoroki narrowed his eyes at the challenge. He would not lose to Bakugo. Katuski then proceeded to simply slouch back to his seat and ignore the protests that inevitably followed such an introduction.

Izuku sighed. Honestly, he should not and in fact, did not expect anything else from the brash blonde. If anything, that introduction simply made Izuku's life easier. After all, any introduction would look better than that. Still, it didn't really reassure Izuku much.

He nervously walked up to the front. "Ummmm. My name is… Izuku Midoriya." Izuku refused to make eye contact with anyone else and instead just focused on a point on the back wall. "My quirk is umm… Gaia which lets me manipulate earth." Izuku scratched his head as he thought about a fact about him. "My favourite hero is All Might." He then proceeded to scamper back to his seat. At least he didn't stutter or have a voice break.

Then the shortest boy in the class walked up. "I'm Minoru Mineta. Hello ladies." He spoke the last part in what he probably thought was a sexy voice. However, the act would've probably been more convincing if the people in the back row didn't have to look around the people in front of them to see the purple-haired boy.

"My quirk is Pop Off. I can take these balls from my head which are stick to any surface except me. Something about me… I love the hero course! The girls are super-hot, especially in the hero costumes!" He actually started to salivate slightly and everyone recoiled slightly. Katsuki started to growl and even the expressionless Todoroki grimaced in disgust at the boy.

Well, it turns out there was a worse introduction than Kacchan's

The first few lessons of the day were rather uneventful. After finally joining his dream school and getting into the hero course, it was quite easy to forget that they still had to do all the normal lessons like Maths and English. It was weird to be taught such mundane things by pro-heroes. At least Present-Mic made English more interesting than the teachers at Aldera Junior High.

But now was the lesson that everyone had in class 1-A had been waiting for. Foundational Hero Studies!

"I AM…"

The door dramatically opened as all the students turned to see the owner of the voice outside. "…COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!"

Excited gasps and conversations started from around the classroom.

"It's All Might!"

"Yeah! I know he said he was part of the faculty in the acceptance letter but I guess seeing is believing!"

"Isn't that the Silver Age costume?"

"Oh yeah! He hasn't worn that costume in ages. It's a bit weird to see him in that now. I'm so used to the new Golden Age costume."

"Ok, quiet down?" All Might raised one of his hands to calm the class and everyone very quickly became quiet. No one wanted to miss the details of their first Foundational Hero Studies lesson with the Number 1 Hero. "Now, before I tell you the details of today's exercise, please turn your attention to this." All Might pointed some device to the wall and clicked. A section of the wall extended out to reveal "Your costumes!"

The class cheered in excitement. The fact that they had real Hero costumes instead of the fake rip-offs like when they were younger indicated that they were on the path to becoming heroes of tomorrow.

"Change into your costumes and meet me out on Ground Beta. It's time for your first lesson!"

Izuku smiled softly as he held the green costume. His mother had lovingly crafted it for him after he had been accepted into U.A. And while they had enough money to get a costume made by the Support department, Izuku had no desire to disregard the beautiful gift.

It was simplistic in design. It consisted of a green jumpsuit with white strips to accent the design. The jumpsuit came with a mask with two appendages sticking out the top like All Might's hair and a bar of white to resemble his Hero smile. A simple utility belt encircled his waist and contained his seals. It had been specially reinforced with suspenders on the inside of the costume to prevent the belt from slipping off due to the weight of the seals. He also kept bracelets of earth on his ankle and wrists for some extra ammunition. They weren't as heavy as the seals but would be useful in a pinch.

He also wore no shoes so to properly use his quirk. Or rather, power. Izuku wasn't completely sure of what all Raava was talking about but if he was correctly interpreting what she said, he no longer had a quirk but still had some sort of power. Perhaps this was the evolution Yagi-sensei's sensei was talking about. It would explain why Aizawa-sensei was unable to remove his power when he used his quirk the previous day. Nevertheless, this would be something he would need to discuss with Yagi-sensei as soon as possible.

Because of the simplistic nature of his costume, Izuku was one of the first students to be ready and he waited outside the changing rooms. Besides, he wanted to analyse everyone's costume and see how it suited their quirks.

He quickly sensed that there was someone there but a cursory glance revealed nothing. He sensed the vibrations were now behind him and quickly whirled around to see a pair of gloves just floating in the air causing him to yelp slightly in surprise.

Toru also yelped, surprised that Izuku had seemingly noticed her. "How did you notice me?"

Realising it was only the invisible Hagakure, Izuku calmed himself before realising that her clothes did not become invisible so… she was naked except for the gloves. Izuku quickly turned around and his face grew red in embarrassment. However, he quickly realised the impracticality of the costume. With no clothes, she was vulnerable to the climate around her.

He turned back around to ask her about it but was interrupted by Mashirao and Eijiro. "Hey dude, why are you so red?" asked Mashirao.

"Yeah! You're almost as red as my hair." Eijiro commented.

Izuku frantically shook his hands. "No, no, no! It's nothing!"

"Woah dude, calm down," said Eijiro. Izuku took a breath and looked over their costumes. Both the boys' costume were simplistic, designed to look good rather than aid their quirks. The most functional part of the costumes was the hole cut in Mashirao's gi for his tail.

Eijiro certainly looked more intimidating in his hero costume. The red hair and spiky teeth combined with the practically uncovered top half revealing his impressive physique painted a heroic image of the boy.

And even while Mashirao's costume was slightly plain, Izuku could already tell that he was likely a master of different martial arts. Izuku did wonder which martial arts Mashirao preferred and how the boy would've had to adapt the fighting styles so as to make proper use of his prehensile tail. He would certainly keep an eye on Mashirao as analysing his fighting style may give him some ideas.

Slowly, the other students trickled out of the changing rooms and the variety of costumes made Izuku bounce slightly in excitement. Kyoka's costume gave her a punk rock vibe but had functionality that Izuku had almost missed. It seemed that there were mini stereos on her boots that would allow her to direct the vibrations of her heartbeat in a certain direction. However, the larger distance for her jacks to travel may waste precious seconds in intense situations. Izuku made a note about maybe adding amplifiers on the hands.

Shoto's and Mezo's costumes seemed to be designed to simply be comfortable though Izuku did wonder why the left half of Shoto's white costume was covered in a material that looked like ice. He didn't think the material was actually ice because it didn't appear to be melting and Shoto wasn't shivering. Maybe the left side of his body was quite hot, so the material helped cool it down.

Fumikage's costume had to be the most simplistic out of all the students but it was honestly quite ingenious. He wore an all-black costume consisting of a dark cloak, and black pants and boots. And while he couldn't see below the cloak, Izuku assumed that he was wearing a black t-shirt. Izuku assumed, given the name of his quirk, that the darker environment under the cloak probably made it easier to use his quirk.

The next pair to come out of the boy's changing room certainly competed for the coolest design. Izuku didn't know which one he preferred. Yuga looked like a shiny knight complete with a purple cape. Although the red glasses were a bit weird, he did look extravagant. Meanwhile, Tenya looked like a futuristic robot-samurai. In fact, Izuku felt he had seen that costume before. He racked his brain for the answer and was frustrated when the answer didn't come to him.

Then Minoru came out. Was that…

Never mind.

The girls' costume were certainly quite provocative. Momo's costume showed the most skin. Izuku was sure that if Midnight had not come before Momo, then Momo would've been the pro-Hero to lead to the development of the laws regarding costume design. Regardless, considering her quirk, it did make sense. However, Izuku wasn't so sure that many perverts would care. He scowled slightly as he saw Minoru basically ogling her.

Mina's costume had a wide colour palette with a tan waistcoat and a purple and turquoise bodysuit. One would think that the colours would clash, especially against her pink skin, but somehow it suited what little of her wild personality he had seen.

"Hey Deku!" Izuku turned around towards Ochako's bubbly voice only to instantly turn away to hide the blush blossoming on his cheeks. They had talked about hero costumes and she had mentioned that she had asked for things in the costume that stimulate pressure points to help reduce any nausea she felt when she used the quirk on herself. He just didn't think that would relate to a skintight bodysuit.

And neither did she if the way she was picking slightly uncomfortably at her costume was any indication. "It seems like I wasn't specific enough. I didn't think they would give me a costume that clung to me this much." She chuckled nervously and Izuku could only nod along, not trusting himself to speak.

Thankfully, they were interrupted by Tenya robotically chopping his arm and saying, "everyone is here so let us meet with All Might on Ground Beta."

All Might inspected the students and their costumes as they walked out the tunnel. He let his smile grow wider. "Yes! You all look like real Heroes! Now, for today's challenge." At this point, he pulled out a series of cards.

Izuku, like some of the other students, looked at each other in confusion. However, Izuku figured it out. Yagi-sensei had told him that he was his first student, so Yagi-sensei was probably just a bit unfamiliar with teaching many students. Maybe he was just more comfortable with quirk training rather than battle simulations.

"For your first lesson, we will be conducting an indoor battle simulation. You will be split into ten pairs. One pair will be the villains and will guard a rocket indoors. The heroes have ten minutes before the rocket explodes and the villain wins. In order to win, the heroes must either touch the rocket or incapacitate the villains by wrapping this capture tape around them." All Might held a roll of tape up without even lifting his eyes off the page.

"But why are we doing indoor battles for the first lesson. Isn't that too complicated?" asked Minoru.

Izuku opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted causing him to pout slightly. "Keep up you damn extras! All the best fights with the strongest villains happen indoors!" Katsuki yelled. Several of the other students frowned at his callousness.

"Bakugo, mind your language!" Tenya chopped his hand repeatedly at the blonde teen who just scoffed and ignored the Engine quirk user.

"Calm down. Save the energy for the battle Bakugo, Tenya."

"Wait, sir! I have a question. How will the pairs be decided?" All Might sighed discreetly at Tenya's enthusiasm. He scanned the card before finding the appropriate section.

"The pairs will be decided by…" All Might pulled out two boxes. One was labelled with H and the other V. "…Drawing lots!"

"Is that really the best way to choose pairs?" No surprise who the question was from.

All Might didn't let his smile falter on the outside. Luckily, he was prevented from answering by one Izuku. "Think about it. Heroes are often paired randomly in the field, so they have to be able to adapt and think on their feet." All Might smiled inwardly at the sound logic. Meanwhile, the rest of the class nodded in understanding.

"Without further ado…" All Might proceeded to pull pairs of names from the two separate boxes. "Now these are the battles. The first pair I call out are the heroes, and the second pair are the villains."

Kirishima and Kyoka vs Izuku and Ochako

Mineta and Toru vs Katsuki and Momo

Shouta and Shoji vs Denki and Rikido

Koda and Fumikage vs Sero and Tsuyu

Yuga and Tenya vs Mina and Ojiro

"What are the odds we're on the same team? This is going to be awesome!" Ochako pumped her fist into the air and Izuku smiled at her enthusiasm.

However… 'She's so close!' Ochako did not notice their proximity or the crimson blossoming on Izuku's cheeks leaving him to simply weather her excitement. Luckily Izuku was saved by All Might.

"Let's get started with the first battle."

"So, this seems to be the building we will fight in," Izuku muttered. The building, like the rest of the buildings in Ground Beta, was made of cement. Cementoss was truly a boon to the U.A. faculty as he was able to construct large structures by using his quirk to manipulate concrete that contained cement.

"Let's have a manly fight bro!" Izuku turned to Eijiro who held a fist up. Izuku nervously bumped his own fist against Eijiro's whose grin grew slightly more savage. Then, Eijiro and Kyoka – who had rolled her eyes at the interaction – both left for their starting area.

The building had 10 floors and from the outside, it looked monotonous. Just a series of windows in an orderly fashion. There was no colour other than grey. The most obvious place to keep the rocket would be on the tenth floor but the hero team would likely expect this.

Given what he had seen of Kirishima's and Jiro's personality, Kirishima would likely take point and engage in a fist fight while Jiro would assist from behind. Izuku would need to test whether he could utilise the concrete in the building otherwise the battle with Kirishima would be difficult for the two of them.

"So, what's the plan, Deku?" Izuku thought for a moment before turning to Ochako and grinning.

"Ok, so here's what we're going to do."

"Start!"

All Might's voice blared through the headsets, signifying the end of the 10-minute planning time. Eijiro and Kyoka had spent the majority of the time explaining their quirks in more detail before developing a rudimentary plan.

Given that Kyoka's quirk would allow them to locate the villain pair, they would easily be able to identify which floor the rocket was located on as the villains would guard the rocket.

Then they would rush the pair of villains. Given the indoor setting and the lack of facilities in the building, Ochako wouldn't be very dangerous. They mainly had to watch out for Midoriya's Gaia quirk though, given the lack of earth in the building, he would be weaker.

The plan was simple. Once located, Kyoka would disorient the pair by blasting her heartbeat through her stereo boots. Then Eijiro would engage Midoriya while Kyoka made a beeline for the rocket if it was in the room or would use the extendable jacks to tie up Uraraka.

Simple.

Upon entering the building, Eijiro nodded to Kyoka who plugged her jacks into the walls of the building. She listened carefully and heard some movement on the second-highest floor as they had thought. Eijiro and Kyoka realised that the villain pair didn't know she could locate them using her quirk. Therefore, they would likely place the rocket on one of the highest floors so to force the heroes to waste more of their time simply searching for the location of the villains.

However, just as she was about to pull away, she caught more sounds coming from the seventh floor of the building. The sounds were quieter which probably meant that one of the villains was sneaking and would try to ambush them. "One of the villains is on the seventh floor and the other on the ninth."

"Can you tell which is which?" Eijiro asked. Kyoka shook her head.

"So, we'll go to the seventh floor and defeat the villain in a 2 vs 1. Then we can go to the ninth floor and defeat the villain there." Kyoka moved to walk away but was stopped by Eijiro's hand on her shoulder.

"But wait! That's not manly! There would be more of us than them. The fights should be one on one." Kyoka sighed in irritation. After the small interaction between him and Midoriya, she had hoped that they wouldn't have this problem.

"We don't have time to fight fair matches! The Hero team is already at a disadvantage. We only have nine minutes left. Come on." And with that, Kyoka turned and headed towards the stairs at the centre of the building. Eijiro relented, though not completely willingly. He didn't really want to win unfairly but he wasn't so naïve to think that all battles should be fought fairly. Heroes often found themselves in difficult situations and to win they should take every advantage they can get.

However, after climbing seven flights of stairs, Eijiro was itching for a battle. Kyoka was panting slightly after the climb. They had initially gone up the stairs quickly to save time, but as they approached the seventh floor, they slowed down and walked more quietly to avoid alerting whichever one of the pair of villains that they were near.

Kyoka once again plugged her jack into the wall but what she heard confused her. Or rather what she didn't hear. Because she couldn't hear anyone else on the seventh floor or even in the building. "Where are they?"

"What's wrong?" Eijiro was confused.

"I can't hear them." Kyoka twirled the free jack. It was a nervous tick she had developed over the years and now, she didn't really realise when she did it.

"Ok so maybe the villain moved back up to the ninth floor." Kyoka shook her head.

"No, you don't get it. Aside from us two, I don't hear anyone else in the building." Eijiro's eyebrows furrowed in thought and confusion.

"So… what should we do?"

Kyoka thought furiously. In the back of her mind, she was hyperaware of the countdown. "Wait!"

"Shhhh!" Eijiro put a finger to his lips and Kyoka blushed slightly at her outburst.

"They must be using Uraraka's quirk to make them float." Kyoka started to pace back and forth. "And since they aren't touching the ground anymore, I can't tell where they are."

"We should split up and search the floors for the rocket. If one of us finds the rocket, we can let the other know through the comms." Kyoka was surprised. That was actually a sound decision. The two nodded to each other and Eijiro stormed up the stairs.

Kyoka sneakily jogged through the different rooms of the seventh floor. She had to do it in a systematic manner because the rooms all looked the same. As she entered one of the last rooms, she absentmindedly noticed that the room was different somehow. However, looking carefully, it seemed the same as the other rooms.

A loud crash broke her from her musings. "What's going on, Kirishima?" She yelled into her earpiece.

"They're both on the ninth floor. Hurry up here! Midoriya erected some sort of barrier which I just broke." Eijiro yelled. Kyoka instantly took off and quickly bounded up the stairs. As soon as she reached the ninth floor, she noticed pieces of concrete littering the floor and Eijiro standing there.

"When I came to this floor, I noticed Midoriya standing in the hallway. However, before I could get anywhere, he somehow moved the concrete to make a barrier. By the time I broke it, he was gone and that hallway was closed." Eijiro pointed to a wall that presumably covered a hallway.

"Ok, they must be in the room at the end of that hallway. This floor should be the same as the others so there's another entrance. Come on." Kyoka beckoned to Eijiro, who followed the girl through the corridors.

Once they were outside the room, Kyoka was able to quickly confirm that they were in there by using his quirk. She nodded to Eijiro who grinned widely and smashed into the room. Kyoka smacked her head at the brash approach before quickly following in. However, she quickly had to leap back to avoid the brawl between the two boys.

The plan had been simple and complicated at the same time. During the preparation time, he had easily managed to take a chunk of concrete from the wall using his earthbending. Izuku had been a bit surprised that it had worked so easily. However, given how similar concrete felt to stone, it was easy to understand why it had worked so well compared to sand. The small, loose granules of sand had been much harder to bend into the shapes he had desired. He had been worried that there might not be enough earth to bend the concrete, but simply stepping into the building had dissuaded him of those fears.

He had taken the rocket and had gone to the seventh floor while he told Uraraka to go the ninth floor and pace around in a room. He was unsure if Jiro would be able to detect where they were, so he had devised this plan to test that idea. He would make some noise on the seventh floor and if the hero team ignored the lower floors and came straight to the seventh floor, then it was clear they could find their location.

Izuku had hidden the rocket by placing it next to a wall and erecting a wall on its other side so that it was hidden. It did make the room look smaller but Izuku didn't think they would notice.

The most difficult part of the plan was the timing. For the first minute, they would simply stay in their rooms. Then once the minute was up, Izuku would quickly make his way to Ochako's location at which point she would use her quirk on both of them to make them float. If Jiro's quirk worked the way he thought, she would probably not be able to detect them when they were floating and would panic. They would be forced to split up due to the time limit.

Ochako would then engage Kyoka while Izuku fought with Kirishima. The goal was to either capture or waste the remaining 5 minutes.

Ochako had been a bit reluctant. After all, no one wanted to vomit. Nevertheless, she had agreed to the plan.

The first phase of the plan went well. It would seem that luck was on their side as Izuku managed to make it back up to Ochako without the hero team noticing. However, that was when they had hit a snag. While Ochako had managed to make the two of them float till the halftime mark, Izuku had underestimated how quickly her nausea built. She hadn't vomited, but she was in no condition to float down to the seventh floor from outside the building.

Of course, that was when Kirishima showed up and Izuku quickly created a weak barrier in the hall before creating a much thicker barrier in front of the door. "They're here." Ochako nodded slightly. She was getting better but if she nodded too much, she would just feel worse.

"I've blocked off this door, so they'll have to come from that entrance." Izuku pointed to the door to the side. "Kirishima will probably come in first and I'll engage him. I trust you to take care of Jiro." Ochako's eyes sparkled a bit in surprise. Izuku was normally such a shy guy, but when it came time to fight, he knew how to take charge. Plus he trusted her to deal with Jiro. A determined expression was set on her face. She wouldn't let him down.

All too quickly, Izuku nodded to Ochako to indicate that the villain team was outside the door. However, they weren't completely prepared for Kirishima to just smash through the door. Izuku had just managed to sense it in time to block his fist with a concrete covered palm. He was notably surprised at the force behind the punch.

Kirishima responded by throwing another hardened fist at the green-haired teen. However, this time, Izuku was ready. He used his other wrist to deflect the punch over his shoulder before stamping on the ground. Concrete rose to trap the red-haired boy's feet to the ground. This, combined with the momentum of his punch caused him to topple forward and crash to his knees.

Izuku rushed to tie the boy up but Kirishima smashed a fist onto the shackles, breaking them and Izuku had to leap back to avoid the wild, hardened swing. Kirishima once again charged the earthbender who simply responded with a roundhouse kick that sent a chunk of concrete careening into Kirishima's side.

"Ooof!" The redhead had been unprepared for an assault from the side and had taken the full brunt of the attack. The wind was knocked from his lungs and he clutched his side in pain while wincing. When Izuku completely trapped him in concrete till the neck, he conceded like a man. He had lost fair and square in a one-on-one brawl.

Meanwhile, after Kirishima had charged in, Ochako had stayed on the side to avoid the boys' fight and waited for Jiro. She didn't have to wait long as Kyoka soon crept into the room, trying to avoid notice. Kyoka scanned the room for the rocket but was surprised when she didn't see it. 'Where is it?! We're running out of time!'

"We meet again, Blastbeat!" Ochako shouted in a grand voice. Kyoka turned to the other girl, a look of confusion etched on her face. 'She's stalling for time!'

"I don't have time for this, villain. Where's the rocket?" Kyoka asked, getting into the roles Ochako had set out.

"Like I'll tell a hero. Especially you. You'll never find the rocket in time. It'll explode and destroy the entire city! Ha ha ha!" Ochako cackled madly, really getting into the villainous role. Kyoka was slightly disturbed and turned to the exit. If the rocket wasn't on this floor, then it was likely on the seventh floor. However, she made a mistake and turned her back on the Zero Gravity wielder.

"Don't ignore me, hero!" Ochako rushed forwards and before Kyoka could move to avoid the girl, she had touched her with all fingertips, activating her quirk. Kyoka could feel a certain weightlessness come over her. Luckily she managed to smack both her jacks into Ochako's stomach, sending both girls away from each other.

Kyoka recovered quickly and plugged both jacks into her stereo boots before blasting her heartbeat towards Ochako. Ochako screeched in pain and crumpled to the ground, desperately trying to block out the noise by covering her ears with her hands. Unfortunately, for Kyoka, the force of her attack pushed her back, due to the lack of gravity, and she tripped to the ground. While she did break her fall with her hands, she still hit her head and cried out in pain at the impact.

This was how Izuku found the pair of girls. He quickly moved to secure Kyoka.

"Both heroes are captured. The Villain Team wins!" All Might's voice blared through the comms and Izuku repressed a sigh of relief before smiling.

After the battle was over, Izuku retrieved the rocket from the seventh floor. Kyoka was very unhappy to realise that it had been in the slightly smaller room on the seventh floor that she had investigated.

Eijiro was the most injured out of all of them and had been sent to Recovery Girl to heal what was very likely a broken rib. This fact had Izuku apologising endlessly to the redhead who had simply responded by grinning and saying, "let's spar together again!" Kyoka shook her head at the response.

Boys.

While Eijiro was sent to recover, the other three participants entered the control room where All Might and the rest of Class 1-A had been waiting. Upon entering the room, they were quickly approached by some of the class members.

"That was a great fight at the end! I was worried that the villains would win without a tussle." Sero pumped his fist into the air in excitement before realising his words may have hurt the punk rock girl. "Uhh, no offence."

Kyoka grimaced a bit at the reminder before acquiescing. "None taken. Midoriya played a better game." Izuku blushed a bit but took the praise well.

Mina bounced to the front of the group. "Yeah, I know right! I thought Midoriya was just some shy, quiet nerd but he really took command in the battle."

"Yeah, that took me by surprise too. But it was all thanks to him that we won." Ochako chimed in.

Izuku's face had steadily been growing redder and he frantically waved his hands after Ochako spoke. "No, no! Without you, the plan would've failed!"

"He's right Uraraka. Without your support, the villain team would not be able to fool the heroes for so long. It was your valiant effort that prevented the fighting from occurring for so long." Izuku nodded enthusiastically to Tenya's assessment and this time, it was Ochako's turn to blush slightly.

"Well said young Iida!" All Might interjected. He had been pleased by the performance of both teams. "Now before moving onto the next fight, let's analyse this bout. First of all, who was the MVP of the battle." Momo immediately raised her hand. "Young Yaoyorozu?"

"The MVP was definitely Midoriya. He had developed a precise plan designed to confuse the heroes and hide their movements. Even when the plan was forced to change, he was quick to adapt and managed to defeat one of the heroes. He fought pretty much the whole battle on his terms. However, I would say that parts of his plan were unnecessarily risky. For one, hiding the rocket was a good idea, but to do so on a lower floor to their position was a gamble. Furthermore, the villains got lucky that Jiro did not use her quirk at any point while climbing the stairs." Momo said this all calmly.

Izuku blinked at the well-reasoned analysis. Truthfully, he didn't think it was that likely that Jiro would've used her quirk while climbing the stairs as the heroes would be rushing to get to them as soon as possible but he did concede the point about the rocket's location. He could've easily hidden the rocket on the top floor. While an altercation between the two teams would've been inevitable, there would be no risk of the heroes simply discovering the rocket while the villains were elsewhere.

"Plus, I don't understand why they left one of the entrances to the room open. It would've been simpler to block both entrances and let the heroes waste time trying to hammer their way in." Momo continued.

This he had an answer to. "I wanted to initiate the battle at the end. Uraraka wasn't feeling well and if I blocked both entrances, we would be trapped in the room allowing one of the heroes to explore and search the remaining floors. Plus, I was scared that if I moved too much concrete, the upper floor would start to collapse." Momo nodded, surprised at how much he had thought out. After all, destroying one's own hideout, whether you were a hero or a villain was a bad idea.

All Might was surprised by his student, to say the least. He had known that Izuku was smart given the analysis in the hero book he had seen. However, he hadn't realised that Izuku would be able to strategically think on the spot and develop a great plan to counter the hero team. Hearing how he justified his decision and plans reminded him of his old sidekick. Izuku would make a great hero, and All Might was proud of him.

16/5/21

I have nothing really to add today. Oh yh, LARGEST CHAPTER YET!

The next chapter will be the other battles plus some stuff.

Thanks for reading :)