"I haven't studied AT ALLLL!"

It was the final week of june, one week until our end of term tests, and I hadn't studied at all. Both me and poor Kaminari were completely unprepared. Being bottom of the class kinda sucked.

"With the sports Festival and internships, I didn't have time to study," moaned Kaminari, clutching his head. I could only laugh like crazy and try to hide my jitters as best I could.

"Sucks that there's a practical portion too," sighed Mineta, who had been - 9th out of 20?!

"I thought you were one of us!" I cried out, offended.

"Guys like you are only likable when they're morons!" added Kaminnari. "Who's gonna love you now?"

"The world, I guess," said the little creep.

"Ashido, Kaminari!" piped in Midoriya. "Let's do our best! It'd be great if we could all go to the lodge, right?" Mr. 4th out of 20, how condescending!

"Yes!" added Iida, who was 2nd.

"If you just attend classes, it's hard to fail," added Mr 5th out of 20, Todoroki.

"Words can hurt, you know!" cried Kaminari, and I agreed.

"Hey, you two," came the sweet and lovable voice of miss 1st out of 20, Yaomomo. "I might be able to help you with the classroom stuff."

"Yaomomo!" we both cried; barely audibly she mumbled "the practical, not so much." Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Todoroki eyeing her, confused.

Jirou appeared as well. "I'm not as bad off as either of them, but how about helping me too? I'm having trouble with quadtratic functions."

"Me too?" asked Sero. "I'm struggling with classical lit."

"Me too?" added Ojiro.

"This is wonderful!" cried Yaomomo, jumping to her feet. "Yes, let's do it! We'll hold a study session at my residence over the weekend! I'll call mother and have her prepare the great hall to set up, it'll be the perfect spot! What kind of tea does everyone like, I'll have her make sure we're stocked. In my family, we always drink Harrod's or wedgwood, so if you have any other preference let me know. When we're finished, you'll all be model students!"

It was an overwhelming tirade, but she was so cute and bouncy that ew really didn't care.

We got some extra unexpected help later that day, when Midoriya came to tell us that the practical exam was just going to be another robot battle.

"If it's just robots, then it'll be a walk in the park!" I cheered alongside Kaminari.

"Must be happy because your quirks are hard to adjust against human opponents…"

"Yep! So with robots we can win like that! Easy as pie!" I jumped for joy.

"Now we just need to get someone to help us study," agreed Sero.

"Now we're shoe-ins for the first lodge!" said Kaminari, jumping for joy with me?

"Who cares if it's people or robots, it's all the same when they're blown away. Walk in the park my ass," snapped Bakugou from the corner.

"Who're you calling an idiot?" demanded Kaminari.

"Shut up, you don't need to bother about adjusting idiot!" cried the oh-so-pleasant Mr. Bakugou. Then he turned and as usual snarled at Midoriya, "Hey! Deku! I dunno what's going on with your power, but I've seen how you're using it and I want you to know - it's seriously pissing me off."

"He must be talking about how Deku was jumping around like him the other day," said Uraraka wisely.

"Oh yeah, must be," I murmured, as Bakugou continued to snarl threats at both poor Midoriya and Todoroki before slamming the door.

"Haven't seen him that pissed off in a while," said Eiji sadly.

Our study sessions with YAomomo went well. It was tough work, but with some grueling practice - and some fun times trying to deal with Yaomomo's family - we were able to get through our exams ok. Me and Kaminari both gave Yaomomo a grateful thumbs up.

And then it was finally the day of the test exercise.

"Right, the text exercise will begin shortly," said Sensei, who was standing around with…every one of our sensei? All the teachers?

"Obviously you can fail this test, too, so if you want to head to the first lodge, don't make any mistakes."

"Why are all the teachers here?" Jirou asked, voicing the question on everyone's minds.

"I've no doubt you've all learned what information you could about the test beforehand," said Sensei, "so I think you already hold a vague notion of what you are to do."

"Just like the entrance exam, it will be robots!" cried Kaminari.

"I can just see the fireworks, the curry, truth or dare!" I added, fist-pumping in excitement.

"I'm afraid - nOT!" cried a strange voice from inside of Sensei's scarf. Principal Nezu jumped out. "Due to various reasons, we're changing the test this year."

Me and Kaminari both froze in our tracts.

"What do you mean?" asked Yaomomo.

"Well," the principal explained, climbing down from Mr. Aizawa's scarf…

It seemed they were afraid of a villain revival, so our sensei summarized, "From now on, e'll focus our tests more on person-to-person battles, emphasizing a teaching environment as close as possible to a real battle. Which means, that from here on you will all form pairs and engage in one-on-one combat with one of these teachers!"

"Against a teacher?!" gasped Uraraka.

"Additionally, your partners and opponents have already been chosen. They were chosen at my discretion, baed on a combination of grades, familiarity, and skills. Here are the teacups.

I was paired up with Kaminari, and we were to be fighting the Principal himself.

"The ten teams will be starting in their respective stages simultaneously. The general outline of the test will be explained by teach of the teachers you'll be battling. You're t be transported by the campus bus. Time is precious, so get in them promptly."

We were bussed over to the same training field All Might had shown us during our racing exercise, while the Principal explained the rules.

"The time limit is 30 minutes. Your win condition is either to pin these handcuffs on the teacher. Alternately, for either of you to escape from this stage."

"Like the battle trial," said Kaminari.

"Is it really ok to run?" I asked, relieved.

"Yep!" said the principal. "Think of me as a villain. This test will be for your judgement as well as your skills. We'll be wearing a handicap, but it will still be quite difficult."

With that we were to begin.

"We're gonna win this," said Kaminari, grinning and confident.

The starting bell rang and we took off through the maze.