I LIVE! My children, I come back to you now, as spring fades into the blistering summer, my will to live has ignited again, and brought me back to you!

I'm so sorry I've been away for a while. The whole pandemic hit me hard, and I focused on keeping myself alive and funded for a while, and now college is going to start in earnest, but with what time I have, know that it is yours. (I also had to catch up with the manga to make sure I knew how the powers worked more fully).

The day after their evaluation, Izuku was in constant anticipation. He hadn't seen All Might since the entrance exam, and he wasn't really sure how his mentor felt about his new quirk. What if he'd heard about how Aisawa's test had gone and wasn't impressed with his student's failure? Izuku didn't know how to feel about it himself.

He tensed unconsciously when Uraraka and Iida tapped his shoulder at lunch, and said almost nothing both in and out of class. He was excited as anything to learn under pro heroes like Mic and even the lesser-known Lunch Rush, but with his worry hanging over him, it felt a little sullied.

His anxiety grew when All Might came in with his usual flare, like nothing was wrong. He barely registered that they'd be performing a mock-battle until the uniforms began to emerge from the wall. That's when his embarrassment kicked in.

His costume had been created by his mother, and while he loved her to bits, she'd done two things he really wished she hadn't. She'd added a pair of fairly thick "bunny ears" which were obvious homages to All Might's hair; additions he'd been planning to make more subtle and a little less effective as handholds for enemies. She'd also installed a parachute on the back, which was amazing, but he had no idea how to use or re-pack after using it.

Compared to the other costumes his classmates had, he felt significantly underprepared. Uraraka and Iida had amazing arrays of armor and cushion, which would make them all kinds of deadly. Even Bakugo had a deadly-looking pair of gauntlets. All Might's surreptitious cough was enough to measure his opinion on his outfit. It made Izuku feel very small.

"Ahem," coughed All Might, adjusting his stance, "The cleverest villains out there lurk indoors! You'll now be split into teams of two for our Two-onTwo indoor battles!"

The frog girl raised her hand and leaned forward, evidently with a question.

"So, no basic training?"

"Practical experience teaches you creativity and ingenuity!" All Might explained, "The major difference today is that rather than destroying robots, you'll be fighting one another."

A flurry of questions immediately arose in response to his announcements, and All Might was oddly slow to answer, pleading that his quirk was not super quickly did his best to summarize the test.

"The White Team will be the Invaders, and the Black Team the Defenders. Oftentimes, Heroes have to defend various objects or people from Villains on the hunt. This will be the task of the defenders. However, oftentimes Villains will play the quiet game, keeping their deadly weapons and personnel under lock and key, forcing the Heroes to go in after them. This will be the task of the invaders."

The students grew even more excited as All Might presented them with their lottery balls and explained the rules. Izuku accepted his white A-ball silently, barely noticing he'd been paired with Uraraka. That was, until she poked his shoulder and he jumped in abject terror.

"O-oh, sorry. What?"

Uraraka smiled, and his blush came back anyways.

"It looks like the gravity pair are together again!" she cheered, gesturing for him to follow her, "Come on, we're against team D, and we need to plan."

Leaning over her shoulder, she smiled at Iida and Bakugo, giving them a thumbs up alongside sticking her tongue at them. Iida returned the thumbs up, and Kacchan did the same for her insult. Izuku just looked at his shoes.

"So, what's our plan Mr. Mastermind?" she asked, sitting down outside the building as they prepared to assault it.

Izuku pulled out his notepad and considered. He looked back and forth between the blueprints and his datasheet on Bakugo. Uraraka evidently noticed his expression, and moved to kneel into the edge of his vision.

"Hey, you alive in there?"

Izuku sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, I just… I'm not sure how we're gonna win this one. I think I can beat Kacchan, maybe, but Iida's too powerful. Not to mention… I'm not really helpful in combat yet."

Uraraka pumped her fists in excitement.

"Of course you're helpful! You know all this cool stuff, and they don't know any of our secret moves!"

"Secret moves?" he asked, a bit confused.

"Yeah! You're gonna make us one!"

Izuku considered, before smiling and attaching his mask.

"Yeah. I think I've got just the thing."

Edging along the wall, Izuku felt the air change and dived forward, covering Uraraka as Bakugo launched around the corner: blasting the wall where they'd just been standing. Grinning grimly, Izuku stood and stared down his old friend. He trusted Uraraka to stick to the plan, and kept his back to her and his front to Kacchan.

"You always favored a strong opener!" he screamed, grabbing the gauntleted arm the next time it extended towards him.

He pulled and twisted, throwing his opponent over and down to the floor.

"But you were always predictable!"

Stepping back, he straightened and spoke as calmly as he could, but keeping the conviction in his voice.

"Opener right hook, quick burst to close the distance if they evade, and then you get desperate and start to panic. Heavy blasts, improvisation, and sometimes you'll even risk your own health. You're a berserker at heart, and berserkers always miss against faster opponents."

Bakugo took the bait, leaping and firing two blasts to get behind Izuku. The capture tape wasn't much, but it was enough to get his attention, nearly around his leg. The insults and the rules of the test overrid Bakugo's bloodlust, and he retreated, completely missing Uraraka and Izuku's separate retreats. He ran for the nearest window outlet, using stealth when he could; not to lose Bakugo, but to make him think he was trying to lose him.

Nearing the way to the open air, Izuku paused, waiting for his rival to catch up. He had to buy Uraraka time, but he also needed to pull off a quick escape. It was time to really piss him off, and that was never a safe option.

"There you are, you useless Deku!"

"You've called me that name for a long time," he whispered, counting down his estimated time in his head, "It's always meant I was your useless punching bag. But someone heard that name, and they didn't think it meant that. They said it meant "you can do it!" That's what my Deku means now."

Rounding on him, Deku placed his hand over his heart.

"My Deku means someone who does his best! No matter how strong you get, you'll never take that from me!"

The gambit worked, and Kacchan leveled his arm. But he didn't unleash his top blast. Instead, he pulled a pin hidden in his gauntlet's top. Deku sized up the device in an instant, and realized his plan would work even better this way, even if it meant he wouldn't do so with very much of himself left.

"Dodge right!" he screamed into his earpiece to Uraraka.

Deku leapt at his opponent, a sudden gust of wind propelling him as he tapped into something more than just adrenaline. He grabbed the arm, the hand directly in his face, and pushed it straight up. Kacchan's other arm swung to impact his now exposed form, only to catch fabric.

Pulling the string as he leapt, Deku had managed to extend the whole of his parachute without it having the air pressure to open, swinging the limp bundle into Kacchan's face in time to dodge. The blast which emerged from his gauntlet shook the entire building, ripping the parachute up through the now cratered center of the building, and yanking Deku along with it. The force bruised his body, and he let out a scream of pain as both the pull of the item and the heat of the explosion ravaged his body.

Grabbing his harness, Deku ripped it open and felt himself become weightless. He activated his quirk instinctively, praying to just stay in place. For a single instant, he stood in midair, a figure of demonic form shrouded in smoke, glaring at Iida. The armored warrior was frozen in shock for an instant too long, and by the time he managed to twist his body around to run: Uraraka had bounced off the safety of the far wall and impacted the mock-bomb.

Iida's over-acted "Noooo!" was lost as Deku plummeted, his control too weak to keep him suspended. His parachute was expended, and his ability failing him, he reached out for an exposed piece of rebar. He managed to catch the piece, but quickly released it as his weight and the heated metal sent a shock of new pain across his arm. However, the motion did manage to send him tumbling into other floors more slowly.

By the time he reached the floor above Kacchan, he'd slown enough to avoid killing himself, and stared down at the pissed and disbelieving face of his bully.

"I-I didn't think you could blast that hard…" he gasped out, catching the other's attention.

"I just… I just wanted to get to the floor above you and tangle you up for a second. But you got me all the way up. You really are amazing Kacchan."

The Bully seemed to become even more confused and infuriated at that."

"But I knew I had to try anyway. I can't control my quirk. I've never had the powers you do. That's why I'm here. That's why… why I had to beat you. I had to prove I'm worth it."

He didn't have any more words, or any longer before the blunt force took away his consciousness.

Deku managed to wake up and prove he was alive enough to receive grading, though All Might insisted he go directly to the Nurse afterwards. Uraraka and Iida were fawning over him, wondering how he was alive and praising his maneuver, but he simply smiled and shook his head.

"It was a move of desperation. It really wouldn't have worked if I didn't know how he thinks so well," he explained.

"Indeed!" All Might agreed, "In any other scenario, this plan would have ended in failure. In fact, the VIP of this scenario was, in fact: Iida here."

A few questions were raised about why, but the clever student who'd stood up for Izuku in the other exam jumped in.

"While everyone was watching Midoriya outwit Bakugo's brutish attacks, Iida was preparing as a good hero should. He carefully removed all possible methods for Uraraka to defeat him, and never left his target unguarded. While Midoriya manipulated his opponent at every turn, that was no feat. Uraraka relied almost entirely on his guidance, and had Bakugo not destroyed the entire path to the top: she would have been defeated long before Izuku could have joined her."

The entire class stood stunned. All Might coughed and continued on, praising her momentarily before moving on. However, while the rest of the class watched the next group begin, Izuku considered her words. He could have come up with a better plan, if he'd been less focused on proving himself to All Might and Kacchan.

Uraraka meanwhile seemed even more defeated. She thought back, and realized she was little more than a pawn. Anyone could have done what she did. Even one of the medical robots.

Without thinking, she followed Izuku in the stretcher, half-listening to the mobile television mounted for Izuku to continue watching as he healed up. By the time they reached Recovery Girl's office, they'd already reached the third match.

Sitting outside while he was treated, Uraraka wondered how she truly measured up to the others. Did she even belong at U.A.?

"Uraraka?" came a soft voice.

She looked up, noticing Izuku stumble out of the room, a series of bandages along the arms where he'd blocked the outer edge of the explosion. He sat next to her, wincing a little.

"You all better?" she asked, trying to sound casual.

"Yeah. A little tired though."

She smiled and prepared to leave.

"You know Yaoyorozu was wrong, right?'

"Huh?"

"You weren't just a puppet or anything dumb like that," he explained, "You held off Iida by yourself, despite him being ready for you. Bakugo couldn't do that, and he won the entrance exam. Sometimes the best skill is being able to rely on someone who has a better skill than you. I knew you could get in when I needed you and stay in the game long enough to win, and that let me focus on my part. You're really awesome. Thanks."

He bowed a little, and Uraraka blushed.

"Th-thank you, Deku. You're pretty great yourself."

The two headed back towards the main class, when Izuku paused in their discussion of how she'd fended off Iida.

"Wait a minute, did you need to get healed too?!"

"No, why?"

"W-well, why were you at Recovery girl's office then?"

Uraraka looked away and whistled casually.