"Man, that was fun!" Niwa chuckled as the door to the monitor room opened.
"Only you would think being shot would be fun." Shoji sighed. Niwa felt pretty good about their victory after such an enthralling fight. Guns, they sucked big time if an opponent had one, but damn they got her blood pumping. She wanted to be better. She wanted to completely overcome the difficulties they presented. Her mind was whirling with things she wanted to try.
What if she could be faster than a bullet? Unlikely, but cool! What if she could catch one! Damn that would be awesome.
"Congrats on the win! Niwa, Shoji!" Uraraka bounced over. "How are your wounds?"
Niwa smiled at the fluffy-friendly aura the girl radiated. "Nothing major, just some ripped skin."
A pair of lips suddenly stretched out and planted on Niwa's cheek. The energy sapped from her body but the stinging pain almost instantly faded. Niwa looked over to the old nurse sitting in her chair.
"If it were a normal person, I'd have to pick the bullets out of your arm and leg." Recovery Girl said.
"Eh?" Niwa's voice leaked with surprise.
"We wouldn't use real bullets against a student, of course. But if it had been your teammate there who had been shot, the bullet would still be stuck in his skin. It wouldn't have pierced through or sunk in very deep at all, but it wouldn't have just ricocheted off his muscles as they did with yours." The nurse explained, watching the cameras as the final fight was being set up.
"Holy crap, I tanked that?" Niwa's mind stopped functioning.
"Reckless as always." Momo smiled.
Niwa shrugged and smirked, "It's Resolute, thank you."
If her muscles were even stronger, could she stop a real bullet? Niwa decided to ask Aizawa-Sensei or maybe even Snipe later.
But right now, was probably going to be the most intense fight of the exam so far.
Bakugou and Midoriya stood at the entrance gate of the small mock city, their starting point. The moment the announcement declared the exam had begun, Bakugou started stomping off down the main street with Midoriya following a short distance behind. After a minute of them just walking along the road, Midoriya ran up beside Bakugou.
"I wish we could hear what they're saying," Uraraka sighed.
"Midoriya is likely attempting to strategize with Bakugou," Momo guessed.
"Probably, but that guy…" Niwa didn't even need to finish her sentence. Everyone understood that Bakugou wouldn't listen to Midoriya.
"Those two are a bad match for each other." Iida frowned.
Niwa watched Midoriya struggle only to be bashed away in a harsh swing of the explosive boy's right bracer.
"How horrible," Tsuyu said quietly.
Niwa agreed. There was no justifiable reason why Bakugou should act like this in the middle of an exam.
She sighed, "Damn idiot."
The six students in the monitor room watched, tense with worry for the pair out on the field.
"Their teamwork is nonexistent…" Recovery Girl observed, "Do they realize who they're up against?"
While the pair of boys were busy arguing in the middle of an open street, the other camera fixed to the finish line showed All Might himself tensing his arms and bringing one up like he would punch the air.
That was exactly what the Number One Hero did. The shockwave ripped down the straight road, tearing up glass, cars and poles before reaching the boys and completely sweeping them back down the road.
It was like a scar had carved its way through the area and somewhere in all of that destruction, were two students. All Might as a villain was pure terror unleashed.
Niwa hoped that attack would force Bakugou to wake the hell up and realize his situation properly.
The dust debris obscured the cameras for an annoying few moments. It cleared in an instant and the students in the monitor room watched in pure shock as All Might stood in front of the boys.
All Might rushed at them. Midoriya was quick to take count of the situation and turned to flee but Bakugou set off that ultra-bright explosion of his and charged in for an attack. The camera went white for a moment, but when the stun's light faded Bakugou's face was held in All Might's massive grip.
"This is…" Momo tried to speak but for once, her friend couldn't find the words.
"It's hard to watch." Niwa cringed but despite her words, she couldn't look away.
Bakugou set off a series of small, continuous explosions in All Might's face. Niwa and Uraraka flinched. They both knew how it felt to take one of Bakugou's attacks that close.
All Might pushed the explosive hand away and shoved the boy into the ground, with force. The next instant, All Might was stood behind a shocked Midoriya. Midoriya took to the air to flee and crashed right into Bakugou who had gotten up for another attack. They crashed into the ground while All Might simply stood by watching.
Bakugou was the first to stand up. The blonde's strides towards All Might were full of unrelenting determination and blind persistence.
"One of them needs to change."
"Bakugou wants to fight while Midoriya wants to try and escape," Iida added.
"They need to align their goals and work together," said Tsuyu.
All Might picked up a piece of detached sidewalk railing and jumped into the air, the boys were arguing again so they didn't notice until All Might was already in the air. The Pro hero yelled something which caught the boys attention, but by then it was too late as All Might shoved the metal into the ground and pinned Midoriya against the ground with the bars. All Might took three massive steps and sunk a weighted fist into Bakugou's stomach.
The entire room recoiled from how painful that attack looked and the boy was sent crashing to the ground.
"Oh no…" Momo stared wide eyes at the monitor. Uraraka and Tsuyu both had their hands covering their mouth in a silent gasp and the rest stared wide-eyed.
"Midoriya's pinned, Bakugou's probably seriously winded after something like that…" How the hell were they supposed to get their shit together? It already looked like this test gonna be a crushing defeat for the boys.
All Might slowly approached the blonde who struggled to push himself up from the dirt. All Might clenched his fist in what looked to be the final blow before, out of absolutely nowhere, springs Midoriya instead.
Midoriya's punch landed painfully perfectly on Bakugou's face, throwing the blond beyond All Might's immediate range. Midoriya chased after Bakugou's body tumbling from the force of that strike, picked up the blonde and disappeared down the dark alleys of the city.
The monitor room sounded with five simultaneous sighs of relief.
"These two are gonna give me a heart attack one day." Niwa clenched the fabric at her chest where her heart pounded loudly.
"Me too…" Came Uraraka's breathless voice as she fanned the oxygen toward her face.
"It looks like they've lost All Might…" Iida said nervously, returning Niwa's attention to the monitors.
While the boys had disappeared into the alley, All Might moved back to the escape gate. The weights must have been seriously heavy since All Might was moving at what looked to be a slow run, though he was covering a lot of distance at that speed.
Each second passed with nervous tension. It was like Niwa forgot how to breathe when Bakugou suddenly shot out from one of the alleys. Bakugou popped off several mid-sized, smoky explosions directly at All Might. The Pro turned to face Bakugou and from the well-planned smokescreen appeared Midoriya from behind.
"They're working together!" Uraraka celebrated.
Bakugou blasted himself into the air right as Midoriya lined All Might up with one of Bakugou's grenade bracers. All Might turned to Midoriya, and the pin was pulled.
The streamlined explosive fire was as destructively impressive as Niwa remembered and more beautiful than any deadly attack she had ever seen.
"Midoriya got blown away too!" Iida said with panicked worry.
"The sheer recoil behind something like that must be insane." Niwa thought out loud blankly, almost entranced in the light of the flames.
They book it. The moment the attack went off, Bakugou and Midoriya headed straight for the escape gate while All Might picked himself off of the ground. The Pro stood there for a moment and looked around at the buildings he had already damaged, the next moment he was gone.
Niwa looked over to the camera focusing on the boys running down the street. It was like she blinked and a whole minute had passed or something. Both of Bakugou's gauntlets shattered in two swift strikes to each of the boys. Bakugou was sent flying into a building by a second attack and Midoriya was grabbed like a doll.
Bakugou exploded from the building, ready to go on the attack again but All Might used Midoriya like a whip and sent the pair of them into the ground once again.
They were so close! Niwa clenched her jaw in frustration as they waited for the dust to settle again and she wasn't happy when it did. Midoriya dangled limply, held by All Might's grip on his wrist and Bakugou was pinned on his knees underfoot.
All Might threw Midoriya across the ground while speaking words the monitor room couldn't hear. It was frustrating. So. Fucking. Frustrating.
She wanted to help. Niwa was sure that all the students watching the fight wanted to help as well, but they couldn't. They were stuck here watching and hoping for the best. It was maddening.
All Might exploded.
Having someone that was a fucking bomb pinned under your foot was just asking to become a landmine victim. Niwa's heart surged with pride. Bakugou must be in an insane amount of pain, but he was still willing to put himself through even more.
That's it, keep going. Don't you fucken dare give up till you're unconscious.
Another explosion erupted from the plume of smoke and Midoriya came flying out of the grey cloud like a missile. If she had thought Midoriya was like a missile, All Might was a damn rocket. The pro blitzed through the air and crashed against the airborne Midoriya sending them off-course from the escape gate. Midoriya crashed against a bus and was less than ten meters away from the finish line, All Might landed smoothly but his attention was captured by Bakugou who was fast approaching.
A second massive blast shot from the blonde's hand and even thought the camera was a fair distance away, Niwa could see the sheer amount of pain those blasts had caused to the blonde's arm.
All Might grabbed Bakugou by the face again, kicking away another explosive hand and shoved the boy into the dirt.
Midoriya leaped in an instant, fist pulled back and eyes focused on All Might.
Niwa watched with absolute pride in her classmate as Midoriya's fist landed against All Might's face. Greeny picked up Bakugou from the ground and ran for it.
They celebrated loudly and obnoxiously in the monitor room when the boys passed through the gate. Niwa grabbed a bouncing Uraraka's shoulder to keep herself standing as the relief sapped her remaining energy from her limbs.