"Remind me why we're standing out here in the rain freezing our dicks off?" Bakugou growled.
"HA HA HA!" All Might bellowed. "SIMPLE, YOUNG BAKUGOU!"
A shockwave went off as All Might gestured at the faux cityscape of Ground Beta. A few birds flew off in the background at the sound.
"TODAY WE WILL TEST YOUR STRENGTH! YOUR WILLPOWER! AND YOUR INTERPERSONAL SKILLS!" He grinned widely, gesturing with his other hand to form a symmetrical pose. Another shockwave. In the distance, sirens.
"Yeah." Bakugou grumbled. "I know. But why are we doing it?"
All Might blanched.
"TO SHOW HOW MUCH BETTER YOU'VE GOTTEN?" He ventured, bemused.
Bakugou stared at him for a few moments, a sneer on his face.
"That'll do." He bared his teeth, creating a small explosion in his hand.
"ALL RIGHT THEN..." All Might mumbled. "YOUR OBJECTIVE TODAY IS SIMPLE! IN THE CENTER OF GROUND BETA IS A SINGLE RED FLAG! YOU SIMPLY HAVE TO FIND IT AND RETRIEVE IT! POINTS WILL BE DEDUCTED FOR DAMAGE TO THE CITY!"
Fasttrack then. Izuku thought, half paying attention to All Might's posturing. I can cover the most ground that way. On the other hand, Stinkfly could likely see the flag from the sky. If only it wasn't raining!
"BE WARY THOUGH!" All Might cautioned. "JUST LIKE IN A REAL SITUATION, THERE COULD BE UNEXPECTED COMPLICATIONS IN THE WAY!"
Okay… not Fasttrack then… Izuku frowned. Factoring in unknown complications is difficult, but not impossible. Being UA they're likely testing us in a combat situation. Perhaps the villain robots again? They really seem to like using those. Better choose an alien that can capture the objective, but is also useful in a combat situation.
"And he just… does that?" Kendo asked Tokoyami, staring in concern at the muttering Izuku.
"Indeed." Tokoyami confirmed.
"Not having a stroke or something?" She tried.
Tokoyami considered her question.
"Not as far as I'm aware." He admitted.
For a moment they stared at the muttering child in companionable silence. Kendo enlarged one of her hands.
"Should I smack him?" She ventured.
Tokoyami put a hand to his chin thoughtfully considering the request.
"Maybe." He concluded.
"...AND THAT CONCLUDES THE BRIEFING!" All Might announced. "MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE ENTRANCE NOW! WHEN YOU HEAR THE HORNS BLOW, YOU MAY ENTER GROND BETA!"
A smack sounded from behind All Might.
"Hey!" Izuku cried. "What was that for?"
"All right, you damn nerds, listen up." Bakugou called as they walked down to entrance B. "Knowing this shitty school, All Might could have just said that to try and scare us."
"YES, CLASS REP!" Most of 1-A answered to the surprise of both Izuku and Kendo.
"We need to bring a flag back to All Might." He continued. "Anything could be in our way here. The flag could be the size of a bus, meaning we all need to carry it. But I think the most likely situation could be that the teachers are going to interfere and make our lives difficult. We could even be fighting them head on."
Izuku was slack jawed seeing Bakugou take point and competently analyse the situation.
"YES, CLASS REP!" Izuku wondered for a moment if he accidentally woke up in an alternate dimension.
"That means, Deku, Bird-head and I will be on defense." Bakugou continued. "Pink-cheeks, you watch from the sky. Rest of you extras fan out in pairs. Glasses, run ahead, you know what to do when you find the flag."
"YES, CLASS REP!"
The class reached the door, all readied. Izuku scrolled quickly through his alien forms, before deactivating the faceplate.
"Deku," Bakugou growled. "Why aren't you a freaky shape yet?"
"I can only stay transformed for ten minutes at a time." He explained. "Then I have to wait ten minutes to transform again."
"Fine." Bakugou barked. "Just keep your trigger finger ready."
Two horns sounded. The doors opened. As soon as there was a gap wide enough to fit through, Iida blasted through.
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, YOU DAMN NERDS?!" Bakugou roared as he exploded into Ground Beta, followed by Tokoyami.
Class 1-A rushed off into the arena, Todoroki skating past on an ice float.
"Man," Kendo said, launching herself past Izuku with her enlarged hands. "This class is intense, huh?"
Izuku dashed into Ground Beta, choosing a random direction and taking off. After a few minutes of running, he was already sweating.
"Screw… This…" He panted, activating the Omnitrix. Since this alien was always the first to pop up when the Omnitrix activated, he didn't bother checking and slapped the dial down.
His head shrunk into his chest, his hair faded and his skin turned white-green. Large, green domes formed on his shoulders and arms, arms that were now wide and tubular. In a flash of green light, Canonbolt curled up into a bright, green ball and rolled off. He skidded around corners and blasted around the fake city, looking for the flag.
"INCOMING!" Bakugou cried, readying an explosion to deflect the unknown projectile. Todoroki skated around in an arc, creating a wall to stop it, if Bakugou's attempt at deflection failed.
"Wait! Wait!" Canonbolt uncurled, skidding to a halt and holding his massive arms in the air. "It's me, guys!"
"Damn it Deku!" Bakugou exclaimed. "I thought you weren't going to go monster!"
"I can cover more ground this way," Izuku blatantly lied. "And then we find the flag within my time limit!"
"Fine!" Bakugou allowed. "But if Glasses finds the flag before you, you're doing extra reps!"
Extra what? Canonbolt thought as he barreled away. Man, when did Bakugou get so… that?
After turning a corner, Izuku spotted the flag, though he was obviously not the first to find it. It was tied to a metal pole, locked into a metal tripod with a complicated puzzle lock. Crouching next to it was a boy with pale purple hair.
"Shinso?" Canonbolt asked as he unfurled. "What are you doing here?"
"Midoriya!" He exclaimed. "I could ask you the same thing."
"Nice try, pal." Izuku narrowed his eyes as he felt the familiar tingling sensation slip over him. "You know your quirk doesn't work on me."
"Worth a shot." Shinso shrugged, getting to his feet. "I'm not failing my class by letting you take this flag, Midoriya."
Think! Canonbolt assessed the situation. I could alert my classmates, but that would alert Shinso's allies too! The tripod is bolted to the ground, so I can't just grab it… unless…
Canonbolt curled back into ball form and blasted down the street.
"He just… gave up?" Shinso narrowed his eyes. "No. I know MIdoriya better than that. He's got a plan."
"Hey, is that the flag?" Jurota Shishida growled behind him. "Good work, new guy! Hey guys, over here!"
"No, you idiot!" Shinso cried. "Class 1-A is here too!"
"Guys!" Canonbolt called as he flew into the air from using a building as a ramp. "It's over here! The flag is over here!"
Shinso dropped to a crouch, working on unlocking the flag from the tripod.
"Finally!" Bakugou called, blasting forward. "Some action! Icyhot! Smokescreen!"
Todoroki skidded to a halt, sending shards of fine ice flying forwards, increasing in size as they went thanks to his quirk. Bakugou twisted in the air, a black tube of smoke forming around him. He blasted forwards, instantly filling the area with fog.
"What just happened!?" Tsuburaba called out.
Bakugou rolled when he landed, righting himself into a crouch and sending an explosion forward, ending just short of the assembled 1-B. The force of the explosion cracked the asphalt and sent most of the other students flying, but also cleared a big chunk of the rapidly dissipating fog.
Todoroki landed a moment later, creating a barrier of Ice to separate the members of 1-B from the flag. Tokoyami took the right flank, filling in for Kendo until she could arrive.
"Where's Pink-face?" Bakugou barked. "We don't have time to unlock this thing! Icyhot! Protect the thing until Pinkface gets here! Deku and Glasses better be here soon! As soon as it's free, they cart it! Bird-head, Drooly, help me keep these extras off our objective!"
As soon as Kaibara managed to drill through Todoroki's ice, Dark Shadow was on him, throwing the boy into the nearest wall. Bakugou leapt forward, sending Shishida flying with a well placed explosion.
Canonbolt arrived just as the pandemonium broke out.
"What can I do?" He asked Todoroki.
"Wait for Mina, then run the flag back to All Might!" Todoroki summarised.
"Iida should take it!" Canonbolt argued. "I haven't got much time left!"
"Iida isn't here!" Todoroki exclaimed, reinforcing the Ice wall around the flag.
"Fine!" Canonbolt grumbled. "In that case!"
He plunged a clawed hand into the cracked asphalt, breaking the flag, the tripod, and a chunk of concrete out of the road. He curled himself and the flag into a ball and blasted down the street to where he remembered the exit being.
After a creating a sizable distance between himself and the fight, Izuku timed out, tumbling onto the street. He groaned, getting onto his hands and elbows and tried to pick up the flag. Between the heavy metal pipe and the concrete, it was impossible for him to lift.
So he started dragging the flag to base.
"Over there!" Tetsutetsu called, running towards Izuku.
"It's the flag!" The green haired Kamakiri called. "Come on, we can take him!"
"Midoriya!" Kirishima called, landing between the 1-B students and his classmate. "Why aren't you transformed!?"
"Time out!" Izuku replied, still dragging the flag, though his arms started to strain.
"We'll cover you!" Mineta shouted, hurtling a stream of purple balls to keep Tetsutetsu in place.
Kirishima hardened his fist and shattered the concrete on the bottom of the tripod. He spun around, knocking Kamakiri out with a single hardened punch, just in time for Hiryu Rin and Juzo Honenuki to arrive, carried by the green tendril hair of Ibara Shiozaki.
"Go!" Kirishima called, running with Mineta to face the new enemies head on.
Izuku hoisted the flag, running as fast as he could with the extra weight. His lungs burned with exertion, and his legs felt like jelly, but he kept on, spurred by the will to prove himself to his classmates.
Soon enough, he rounded a corner and saw the exit to where All Might waited. Unfortunately…
"Well.. well.. well…" Neito Monoma slow-clapped like the prick he is. "If it isn't a lone 1-A asshole with the very thing we came to find."
He stalked forwards, hands in his pockets. Shihai Kuroiro and Kojiro Bondo leaned against the wall of a nearby building. Menacingly.
"See, I knew you'd manage to get the flag at first." He explained, still walking. Despicably. "So I got my good friends here to help me find your gate. And now, I'll prove once and for all that 1-B is better than 1-A in every way!"
Monoma cackled in hysterical laughter like an honest to goodness supervillain.
"Don't come any closer!" Izuku called confidently. He held the, still recharging, Omnitrix out, his hand hovering over the faceplate. Threateningly.
Kuroiro and Bondo fell into ready stances, though Monoma simply kept walking.
"Last warning!" Izuku called.
"Oh go ahead." Monoma said, eyes glinting madly. "I'll just duplicate your powers with my quirk!"
Izuku's eyes widened as Monoma placed his hands on the Omnitrix's faceplate. The faceplate flashed green and sent Monoma flying with a burst of green energy. He rolled over the ground, his classmates rushing to his side.
"I told you that idea was idiotic!" Kuroiro shouted.
"What do you mean?" Monoma's voice rumbled as fire sprouted from half his face, red/black stone covering his left arm and part of his torso. Monoma hurtled a fireball to the ground where the tar sizzled. "It worked perfectly!"
"Heatblast! How!?" Izuku's eyes widened.
"I told you." Monoma walked forward, his sneer turning malicious. "I can replicate powers with my quirk!"
"I knew it!" Kendo landed between Izuku and the advancing Monoma. "When I didn't see you at the battle, I knew this would be your plan! You're such a cliche, Monoma!"
"Do not speak to me, traitor!" He roared. "You threw your lot in with 1-A! And you'll die with them!"
Kendo grabbed Izuku and plucked him out of the way of Monoma's fireball.
"What's gotten into you!?" Kendo cried out.
"It's Heatblast!" Izuku shouted. "Transforming into him drives my temper up to eleven! I guess it happened to him too!"
"Well, transform and help me fight!" She called, readying her enlarged fists.
"I'm still on-" Izuku noticed the faceplate had turned green.
It's never recharged that fast before! Izuku thought.
"What are their quirks?" Izuku called out.
"Copy! Glue! Dark!" Kendo shouted, batting a fireball out of the way.
"Got it! Better use Four Arms! Way Big will cause too much damage!" Izuku twisted the dial and slapped it down. In a flash of light he was transformed into the multicoloured form of- "Bloxx!? Not now! What is with this thing!?"
He shifted his body, holding the flag on to his black. A fireball blasted his left arm to pieces, only for it to regrow a moment later.
"Fine!" He shifted again, turning into a wall to block a glue stream. He shifted again, hurtling the glued pieces at Kuroiro who dodged too late, he was thrown to the ground, stuck there by Kojiro's glue. He shifted back into a wall, blocking kendo from Monoma's fire.
"Ow!" He cried as part of him melted. He extended an arm towards Kendo, holding the flag out for her to take. "Take this! Run! I'll keep them off you!"
"Right!" Kendo nodded. "Give me a boost?"
"You got it!" Bloxx shifted into the same catapult form he used in the festival, hurtling Kendo over their opponent's heads, towards the gate. Bondo turned to give chase, only for Bloxx to shift over and around the 1-B students, turning his body into a dome. "Who said you could leave?"
Monoma shouted in frustration, blasting a massive hole in Bloxx, causing him to collapse, dragging his partially molten body back together.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" Monoma cried, blasting fire from his hands in a continuous stream. Bloxx created a shield, only for it to be blasted apart.
"Hey!" Bondo called. "Monoma! Flag is that way!"
"I DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THE FLAG!" He shouted, backhanding Bondo to the ground.
"Stop!" Bloxx called, his body too slick and gooey to change shape. "Please!"
"I WON'T STOP TILL YOU STOP BREATHING!" Monoma cried out.
"Deku!" Bakugou called from behind Bloxx.
"Ka-chan!" Bloxx bubbled.
"Leave him alone, you piece of shit!" Bakugou screamed, unleashing an explosive stream towards Monoma, causing the fire creature to stagger. "Icyhot! Cool this guy down!"
Todoroki blasted the area with ice, briefly extinguishing the Heatblast-empowered Monoma's fire.
The horns sounded in the distance.
"That's it!" Bakugou sneered. "We win!"
"I WON'T LET YOU!" Monoma yelled, deliriously. His flames were growing weaker, and the hard rock on his body started to shrink and fall to the ground in clumps. "I- I- won't…"
He finally collapsed, the rocks on his torso crumpling to the ground like a sandcastle under a pressure washer.
"Great job Icyhot!" Bakugou called.
"That wasn't my doing." Todoroki admitted, pointing to the gate where Aizawa stood, glaring.
AN:
Little bit of a cliffy there. :)
Just pre-emptively answering a question here:
Why does turning into Heatblast apply the Rage debuff? There's a reason. You'll see.
Before I address reviews, I just wanted to say GOOD GRIEF you guys blew me away! 53 Followers! 38 Favorites! You guys are the absolute best!
I will admit, I hadn't planned on writing again so fast, but seeing the demand, I just couldn't help it! xD
Review Review!
Crywolfseven
Hello again, mate! Quite the essay here!
Yeah, Same. I hate it when a story is inconsistent with its established physics, so I put in the effort to make sure everything fits.
All Might is not going to be hostile. It's not his character to be. He's wary, to an awkward degree even, but he's not going to just hate on Izuku for no reason. I hate when fics do that.
Yeah, Vlad is a good sport deep down, but he is competitive.
XxGargantuaxX
I can't completely answer this question without revealing a pretty big spoiler. Suffice to say… bit of both.
guest
Ben has a really big role to play in my story. However, I didn't just jump in and show my hand right off the bat, I want to get the story settled in this universe before I upend it.
Still, i get it if that's not your taste. I heard My Alien Academia is really good, and Ben is in there from the get go, so consider checking that out? :)
Guest
Thanks, I wanted the tension to seem earned, and be a real consequence for his performance in the festival. Pairing wise, I'm still considering what I'm gonna do. Keeping my options open for now.
Laitou
Thanks, mate!
I'm stoked you like the name! I wanted it to reflect the tone of my story, and not just rip off canon.
For now I'm thinking strictly canon aliens… at least for a while. Though who knows? I do like a few aliens from 5yl a lot, in fact, Slingshot was originally in the playlist for this story. xD
berrus-sama
There is actually a character from Ben 10 who will be THE main villain for this story later on. ;)
AN: I hate that I have to put this here. Monoma is addressed in the Review Review section at the end of the next chapter.