New Challenges

Katsuki and Tenya were waiting in front of their bomb. For the training exercise, they were put on the villain team against Ochako and Midoriya. They'd been given 5 minutes to prep. Ordinarily, the team would use this time to strategize, and to his credit, Iida was. But…young Katsuki was more focused on something that had been gnawing away at him for well over a while now.

"We're all very proud that the both of you got into UA. This is a huge achievement!" The middle school principal congratulated Midoriya and Bakugou, who'd both been called into his office after the results from the UA High entrance exams had been announced.

"O-oh, thank you, sir," Midoriya stuttered, but Bakugou remained silent while entertaining a scowl on his face.

…

SLAM!

"DEKU! HOW"D YOU DO IT, YOU QUIRKLESS BASTARD!? You must have cheated, somehow! There's no way in hell you'd beat me!" Bakugou demanded answers to his questions while pinning the green-haired boy down.

But to his shock, the boy returned his expression of fury with an intense glare of his own. Had Bakugou not been so hot-headed and confident, he would have taken a step back in fear.

"Kacchan…I earned my way into UA! Ever since that day, when you said something so horrible to me…that day, I discovered that I had the potential to be a hero! And even if you're right, even if I'm nothing without it, I'm going to use my power to become the greatest hero, one who can save everyone with a smile! AND NOT EVEN YOU CAN STOP ME!"

"Hey!" Bakugou looked up at Iida. "Do you really think Deku has a quirk?"

Iida was flabbergasted. "Of course he has a quirk! We all saw it during Mr. Aizawa's apprehension test! He outperformed everyone else!"

Bakugou just looked away and scowled. Was that damn nerd just hiding his quirk from me, pretending to be weak!? He thinks just cause he has a flashy and powerful quirk that he's better than me!? No, I'll prove that bastard wrong!

"Hey! You watch after the bomb! I'm going after Deku!"

Iida just held out his hand and said, "Wait!" But Bakugou had already started flying away.

He maneuvered through the halls, thoughts racing back to the time when Deku tried helping him, as if he were a useless child that needed help.

"HRRRGH!" His expression worsened, and all he could think about was taking down that arrogant little-

"DEKU!" They'd found each other, but before the green boy could react, there was a BOOM!

Had Katsuki's quarry not evaded his strike, the next few minutes would've been painless and humbling. At least, that's what the blonde boy thought. Alas, he was gravely mistaken in regards to his own power in comparison to the Sentry…

…

Staring up at his life-long tormentor, Izuku Midoriya felt many things: afraid of confronting this titan of achievement, nervous of what would happen to Uraraka, and terrified of failing himself by not winning this encounter. So he got up, dusted himself off, and stood up to the grenade-wearing fool who was smiling like a maniac.

"Uraraka." She looked up at him and he put his arm out. "You go take care of Iid and the bomb. I'll handle Kacchan."

"Got it!" She ran down one of the intersecting hallways in search of her other adversary.

"HEH!" Katsuki's grin just widened with madness. "You really think you can take me down!? You must have a screw loose! But don't worry, I'll be sure to show you your place here!" He immediately threw a right hook at his victim, only for said boy to use his momentum against him and slam him to the ground.

"Stop this, Kacchan! You've already seen the Sentry's power, and I really don't want to hurt or cripple you!" Izuku shouted with an angry expression on his face. But this just served to enrage his opponent.

"LIKE I'LL LET THAT HAPPEN! YOU DAMN NERD!" Bakugou got back up to his feet and tried hitting Izuku again. Izuku tried catching it, but Bakugou blasted an explosion to create a smokescreen while he flew behind the quirkless boy. Said boy's opponent grinned.

"If you really wanna win against me, you should use your quirk to ram into the building and kill us all! That's the only way you could hope to beat me, you useless f cker!" Katsuki blasted Izuku in the back, causing the young boy to fly face-first straight to the floor. His mask was also damaged, though the rest of his costume was more or less intact.

Watching him slowly get up, Bakugou could see, through Izuku's broken mask, something that shocked him to his core: The quirkless nerd held eyes filled with deep fury and resolve.

"Fine, then!" Izuku growled. Then, a brilliant light overtook the room, blinding Katsuki. When the blonde boy opened his eyes, Deku was replaced with an American man sporting blonde hair, blue eyes, a cheesy costume, and a wide smile.

"Tch! So, you finally decided to grace me with that flashy quirk of yours, huh? WELL I'LL BEAT YOU ANYWAY!"

The Sentry's smile never wavered. "Young Katsuki, why are you so upset? This is merely a training exercise. Are you sure it's worth all this frustration?" The Sentry was genuinely curious.

"SHUT UP! STOP LOOKING DOWN ON ME! YOU THINK JUST BECAUSE YOU WERE HIDING THIS POWER YOU COULD'VE BEATEN ME AT ANY TIME, HUH? WELL EVEN IF YOU CAN THROW A BALL AROUND THE FREAKING WORLD I'LL STILL BEAT YOUR ASS!" The angry boy immediately charged forward, pummeling the Sentry with explosion after explosion, so much so that he couldn't even see his opponent in front of him.

"Hey, don't you think this is too much?" A red-headed boy named Kirishima looked up to All Might, who was watching the screen intently. "Bakugou' s attacks are so unmanly here, and Midoriya can't even see in front of him! He's acting like a total-"

"Villain?" All Might asked, causing the boy to frown. Meanwhile, All Might was monitoring the battle closely.

I know that Bakugou is acting out of line here, even for a villain, but my curiosity is getting the better of me. If Young Midoriya really is connected to All for One, then I must see the power he possesses!

So, the training battle continued on, uninterrupted.

"Pant, pant…" Bakugou was exhausted and sweating severely. Fortunately, his costume was designed to feed off that-

"Have you calmed down now, Young Katsuki?"

The boy froze. No way!.. The smoke cleared…and standing where he was when the attacks first started, his smile unwavering, was the Sentry. And he didn't even look fazed by the barrage of flames he's just been acquainted with.

"H-how…Grk!" Katsuki was speechless; his attacks did nothing to him! Even his costume looked fine!.. Could Deku really be better than h-

NO! I refuse to accept this! His quirk probably just grants him a really strong body, that's all! The poor boy didn't know about Sentry's solar abilities. All I have to do is use my ultimate attack! Then he'll fall!

"Hey, Deku!" Kacchan called out to the man in front of him, but the reply he got wasn't what he intended.

"Ah, before we go any further," The Sentry held out his hand. "I must clarify something: While I am Young Izuku's love for heroism given form, I am technically a separate entity. We both have our own thoughts, we are just connected in mind and body. Carry on, then."

"…Whatever! I don't care if you're freaking All Might possessing him, I'LL BEAT YOU AND SHOW YOU WHERE YOU BELONG-UNDER ME, LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!" He took a moment to breathe. "I'm sure you're real familiar with my quirk, right?" He then gestured to the grenade gauntlets on his hands. "It converts my sweat into an explosive compound that I can ignite, so it gets stronger the more I use it. But these bad boys, they store up the excess."

The Sentry's smile wavered, just for a moment. "Young Katsuki, I'd implore you not to use that in here."

But the boy didn't heed his words, instead choosing to raise a gauntlet at him.

"YOUNG BAKUGOU, STOP THIS AT ONCE!" All Might screamed into the boy's radio, but he was promptly shut down.

"HE'LL BE FINE IF HE CAN USE THAT SUPER-SPEED OF HIS TO DODGE!" Aiming via a pin-shaped scope on the side, Katsuki aimed straight at the Sentry…and pulled the pin.

BOOM! The giant explosion hit the Sentry point-blank. Any normal person should've been incinerated.

"THE VILLAIN TEAM IS DISQUALIFIED!" All Might shouted his verdict before running over to the training area, praying that the boy was still alive.

"…" As soon as Katsuki heard that, he knew he f cked up. What…what did I just do? There was no way for the Sentry to have survived that. No, NO! He's not dead! He can't be! Even if he was useless, there was no reason to kill him! That would make me a…vi-he couldn't have died so easily!

But the young boy knew the truth: he was a murderer. And as soon as he realized that, he broke down and started sobbing.

However, while Kacchan was so enamored in his own grief, he didn't notice the smoke moving. Out walked the Sentry, who immediately went to Kacchan's side.

"Young Katsuki, do not be afraid," he said as he put a hand on the boy's head. "The Sentry is with you."

"…Huh…?" The blonde looked up. Through his tears, he saw the person he thought he'd just killed, smiling at him, as if nothing was wrong. "H-how…?"

"Do not be afraid, for the Sentry will always be with you." His smile never faltered, and his eyes were filled with compassion.

"Ghh…Hk…" The young boy just continued to cry, overwhelmed with shame.

"…" All Might just watched the scene from the side, silently praising the Sentry for his excellent handling of Bakugou's mistake.

If I hadn't given One for All to Young Mirio, I'd definitely give it to you, Young Midoriya.

…

Afterwards, since the villain team was disqualified, the heroes won by default.

"NOW THEN! WHO CAN TELL ME WHO THE MVP FOR THIS MATCH WAS?" All Might had posed this question to his students that had gathered in another room. A girl named Yaoyorozu answered it.

"It was a tie between Iida and Midoriya, sir!" She further elaborated. "They stuck to their roles the best. Bakugou immediately discarded any semblance of cooperation in favor of a personal grudge, blinding him with rage. In addition, Uraraka immediately broke character when she ran into Iida, leading to her discovery." Midoriya hadn't known about that. "Iida, on the other hand, stuck to his assigned role all throughout, while Midoriya stayed behind to face Bakugou, and even committed to a hero's duty of helping people." She omitted the part about why the Sentry needed to help Bakugou, though no one was in the dark, seeing as Ochako and Tenya had heard about it afterward.

"Er, that's correct…" All Might really had nothing to add. "In any case, win or lose, you can always learn something! ON TO THE NEXT MATCH!"

Annnnd that's the fight! Nothing too exciting, sorry. I had originally wanted the Sentry to one-shot Bakugou, but I think this works a bit better. Next chapter is the voting sequence and the arrival to the USJ...and possible more if I feel like it.

P.S. I think I compared the Sentry to a reverse glass cannon, but a better analogy would be a tank with a damaged turret: Really hard to deal damage to, but the medium through which it attacks doesn't allow it's hits to convey there proper force. I'll get into it more after the Nomu fight, but this'll do for now.

BYE!