"TEAM J, BEGIN!"

Sero and Sato entered the building, covering each other's backs as they made their way up to the top floor.

Sato produced a sugar capsule from his belt and swallowed it as he walked towards the closest window.

Grabbing the frame, Sato pulled the window clean from the wall, setting it down on the floor.

"Sero, you're up."

"Right."

Climbing through the hole in the wall, Sero jumped out into the open air as he fired his tape, latching onto the outside wall and swinging.

Starting from the top floor, Sero checked each window as he swung around the building.

"Found them, third floor, room at the north-east of the building."

A reply came via the micro-transceiver in Sero's ear. "Understood, meet me back on the top floor."

Sero angled his arm and fired, his swing giving him the height to slip in through the hole where the window used to be.

"Are they both with the bomb?"

Sero nodded. "Yeah, Aoyama's hiding to the side of the door, ready to ambush."

"Then we'll have to make our own door. Where's the bomb?"

"Corner of the building, Koda's directly in front of it."

Sato paused, thinking. "I'll smash in via the ceiling, away from the bomb so it doesn't get damaged, you swing in through a window at the same time."

"I'll wrap up Aoyama, you should take Koda, you're about the same size."

"Good idea, you wait here and I'll let you know when I'm in position."

Sero nodded in agreement. "Got it."

Sato made his way down to the fourth floor and found the correct room, moving to stand at the opposite corner from where the bomb sat in the room below.

Sato activated his micro-transceiver. "I'm in position."

"I'll head out now, give me twenty seconds, then go in."

Sato made a grunt of agreement, taking another sugar capsule and steeling himself.

"GO!"

Sato slammed his fists down on the floor below him, landing in shower of rubble and dust.

Grabbing a smashed section of floor, Sato held it up, blocking a shot from Aoyama's Naval Laser.

Using his enhanced strength, Sato hurled the concrete block at Aoyama, forcing him to dodge, and stopping him from firing again.

Sero smashed through the window, firing off three strands of tape, sticking Aoyama to the wall.

" Zut !"

Sero skidded to a halt next to Sato as the two turned to face Koda, only to be met by the sight of two bears protecting him and the bomb.

"Bears?" Sero took a step back.

Sato nodded. "Bears."

Sero sighed. "That's not good."

The bear on the left charged at Sero, forcing him to swing out of the way, while Sato met the other bear head on, entering a battle of strength.

Sticking to the wall, Sero aimed at the left bear.

Koda spoke.

Lefty, dodge the tape.

The newly named Lefty avoided Sero's tape.

"FIVE MINUTES REMAINING!"

The sound of All Might's rattled the room, drowning out Koda's next set of orders.

Sero landed back on the floor and fired again at Lefty twice, each strand was dodged, but the bear didn't attack.

Why didn't it attack?

It couldn't, because it couldn't hear Koda.

"That's it! Sato, open the doors."

Sato punched the other bear, forcing it back, before glancing at his partner. "Really?"

"I've got a plan."

Sato paused for a second before nodding. "On it."

Aiming an arm at each bear, Sero prepared to fire as Sato heaved the doors open.

Lefty, Righty, dodge the tape.

Sero suddenly changed target with his left arm, aiming at Koda and firing.

The strand of tape wrapped around Koda's mouth, silencing the already very quiet boy.

Turning his focus back to the bears, Sero fired a short burst of tape either side of Lefty and Righty, watching as they both dodged away from it, as Koda tried in vain to remove the tape over his mouth.

Continuing to fire, Sero pushed the two bears further and further back as they dodged his tape, until they moved all the way back into the corridor.

"Now!"

Sato slammed the doors shut, holding them there as Sero taped it securely.

Turning back to Koda, Sero fired two final strands of tape, binding the mock villain's hands and feet.

"VILLAIN TEAM IS CAPTURED! BOMB SECURED! HEROES WIN!"

Izuku watched on as the MVP of the match was debated among the class, while Teams J and F stood at the front of the surveillance room.

"Koda should be MVP, it's impressive where he got those bears from."

"Yeah, I'm kind of worried that U.A. has bears so nearby."

"Nah, Sato was better, he's so strong."

"How about moi ? Was I the MVP?"

No one answered.

"Sero should be the MVP."

The class turned to look at Izuku.

Feeling fear seeping into his bones at suddenly having the entire class' attention, Izuku called on Quirkspace, feeling Tokusei's confidence in his analytical ability wash it away.

"Sero was the most able to adapt, the plan he and Sato had went to pieces, but he deduced Koda's weakness and exploited it."

Yaoyorozu spoke up. "But isn't it the same as Match 1? Sero was just lucky that it worked."

"Match 1 was totally different, there Team C's plan relied on being underestimated, something no Pro Hero should do." Izuku paused. "But Sero's plan wasn't luck, in a real battle there's always going to be plenty of loud noises."

"Well said, Young Midoriya." All Might flashed a toothy smile. "Young Sero, you are the MVP of Match 3!"

With the focus of the class shifting back to All Might, Izuku released his hold on Quirkspace, breathing a sigh of relief.

"The next match will be Team H versus Team E!"

Izuku crossed his fingers, hoping that Bakugo was on one of those two teams. The last thing he wanted to do on his first proper day at U.A. was to fight his former friend.

"Fumikage Tokoyami and Tsuyu Asui will be the heroes! The villains shall be Ochako Uraraka and Mina Ashido!"

Izuku cursed whatever power had decided to have him fight Bakugo.

"HEROES, YOU MAY COMMENCE!"

Tsuyu tilted her head. "He's so loud."

Tokoyami nodded in agreement as Dark Shadow carried him up to the third floor. "Think how Jiro must feel."

Clambering up the wall of the building, Tsuyu made a sound of agreement.

"Try this window, kero."

As Dark Shadow kept him in place, Tokoyami pulled on the window, opening it.

The two heroes-in-training slipped in through the window, careful not to make any loud noises.

"Let's split up and search this floor first." Dark Shadow returned to its resting place inside Tokoyami. "Radio if you find them."

With that, Team H went their separate ways.

Tsuyu strained her ears as she made her way down the same corridor for what felt like the fourth time.

She was lost.

A shout sounded from behind, prompting Tsuyu to turn.

Ashido was sliding towards her on acid at high speed.

Tsuyu dodged Ashido as she flew past, the pink girl's hand brushing her ear.

Ashido continued to slide on and around the corner.

"Need to get back to Ochako."

Hearing Ashido's statement to herself, Tsuyu bounded after her.

"Tokoyami, I'm following Ashido, she's on her way back to the bomb room."

No reply.

Reaching up to touch her micro-transceiver, Tsuyu found it missing.

Ashido must have knocked it out on her way past. Tsuyu didn't have time to go back and look for it, she'd have to do without.

At the other side of the building Tokoyami was repeatedly attempting to contact his teammate. With no success.

He had found the bomb room pretty quickly, Uraraka and Ashido had made it so obvious Tokoyami was surprised there wasn't a sign on the wall outside.

Asui wasn't replying, Tokoyami could only think of two reasons why.

She was fighting either Uraraka or Ashido, or she had already lost.

Making his decision, Tokoyami summoned Dark Shadow and smashed through the wall of the bomb room.

Uraraka was standing at the opposite side of the room, the papier-mache bomb floating behind her. Between them, rubble from a broken pillar hung in the air.

Pressing her finger to her ear, Uraraka spoke. "Mina, Tokoyami is in the bomb room."

Tokoyami sighed.

It was a trap.

Uraraka agreed with Ashido's reply and turned her attention to Tokoyami.

Dark Shadow rushed at Uraraka, who struck a floating section of rubble, right at Tokoyami, returning its gravity at the last section.

Tokoyami called Dark Shadow back to him, using it to shield himself.

Two more concrete projectiles fired at Tokoyami, forcing him to dodge one and block the other.

He was stuck on the defensive, every time he got any ground, Uraraka would force him back again.

All Tokoyami could do was wait for her to make a mistake.

Five minutes later, it came.

One of Uraraka's projectiles went wide, hitting the outside wall, allowing Tokoyami to charge at Uraraka, using Dark Shadow as a shield.

The outside wall where the projectile hit crumbled, allowing light to flood into the room.

The sudden change in light level startled Dark Shadow, forcing him back inside Tokoyami, leaving the hero-in-training open to a projectile.

Tokoyami grunted as the rubble struck him in the chest, driving the air from his lungs and knocking him to the ground.

Capture tape wrapped around Tokoyami, binding his arms and legs.

"Sorry, Tokoyami!"

Gravity left Tokoyami, before Uraraka threw him out of the hole in the wall, leaving him floating in the blinding sunlight.

He had lost.

"TIME'S UP! THE VILLAINS HAVE DEFENDED THE BOMB! TEAM E WINS!"

Tokoyami was still floating in the air five minutes later when Uraraka returned with Sero in tow.

A strand of tape attached to Tokoyami before being pulled back, taking the teen with it.

"Sorry about that, Tokoyami!"

Capture tape removed, Tokoyami landed back on solid ground as Uraraka returned his gravity.

Tokoyami bowed his head. "There is no need to apologise, Uraraka. You bested me. But I do have the question."

Tokoyami, Uraraka and Sero set off for the surveillance room.

"Shoot!"

"The wall, why did it collapse then, Dark Shadow deflected a number of your projectiles into the walls before that?"

Uraraka beamed, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "I asked Mina to weaken it with her acid during our setup time."

Tokoyami nodded as he processed the information.

"Uraraka, you should be the MVP, you figured out my weakness and exploited it."

Uraraka was flustered. "No, n-not at all, it was Mina's idea to split the two of you up like that."

In the end, Tokoyami was proven right.

Uraraka was declared the MVP of the match, in time for the final battle to begin.

Izuku was standing outside the training building, next to Yaoyorozu, trying to keep himself calm.

"You do not need to be so worried." Yaoyorozu placed a hand on Izuku's shoulder. "All Might is a far less demanding teacher compared to Mr. Aizawa."

"It's not that." Izuku paused. "It's facing Kacchan, I mean Bakugo. All my life every time I've stood up to him I've ended up losing."

"Then change that, beat him. Today, right here, right now."

Izuku clenched his fists, calling on the confidence Explosion provided. "You're right. I can't live in his shadow any longer."

Yaoyorozu raised an eyebrow, taken aback by the fire that had suddenly burst into existence within Izuku. "We need a plan."

Izuku slipped straight into analysis mode.

"Bakugo will come straight for me, he wants to prove he's stronger than me."

"He knows you have super-strength, right?"

Izuku chuckled, breaking the tension he was feeling.

Yaoyorozu smiled.

"Not literally stronger, he wants to prove his quirk is stronger than mine. Besides super-strength isn't that impressive these days, who doesn't know someone with super-strength."

"Like Sato?"

"Not quite, most strength quirks only provide a passive boost, double or triple the holder's base strength, Sato has to consume sugar to activate his strength, but what he was doing earlier was more like six times, or five times boost if I'm underestimating Sato's base stre-"

Izuku looked up at the sound of giggling.

It was Yaoyorozu, with her hand over her mouth.

"You were distracting me from worrying about Ka-Bakugo."

Yaoyorozu nodded. "Of course, there was no way you'd be able to focus while stressing like that. You seem to enjoy analysing quirks, beside I find what you say quite insightful."

Izuku felt his cheeks heat up. "Normally I just get told to stop muttering."

"I'm going to need your muttering if we're going to come up with a plan to beat Bakugo and Kirishima."

Izuku nodded.

"Right, so Bakugo will come for me straight away, that's your chance to slip away."

Yaoyorozu nodded. "Bakugo will leave Kirishima to guard the bomb. He is pretty straightforward, I doubt he will make any attempt at setting traps."

"I don't think he'd consider traps very manly."

Yaoyorozu laughed again, making Izuku smile.

He wasn't used to laughter not being at his expense.

"I was watching Kirishima at the test yesterday, his hardening doesn't apply to his whole body."

Yaoyorozu nodded. "Then I need to overwhelm his defences. A flurry of rapid strikes could be faster than Kirishima could adapt to."

Izuku nodded in agreement. "You have weapons training?"

"Of course, I am trained in Bojutsu mainly, but I am proficient with many other weapons as well."

Izuku suddenly felt very small, his combat skills were pretty much limited to aim and punch, as well as a few basic throws.

"What is your plan for fighting Bakugo?"

Izuku shrugged slightly. "I'm not really sure, not without breaking my bones again."

Yaoyorozu looked confused. "You copied his quirk, you can at least match his power."

"Not really, when I copy someone's quirk it manifests as it did when they first received it. My copy of Bakugo's quirk is little more than spark right now, I've still got a lot of training to do to improve it."

"But yesterday, the explosion you used when you threw the ball, that wasn't too different from Bakugo's."

Izuku was panicking internally, searching for something to say that wouldn't reveal the existence of One For All. "R-Right, I did, my quirk is kind of hard to explain."

"We still have five minutes before the match starts."

Rubbing the back of his head, Izuku nodded, covering his internal screaming. "T-The first quirk I copied, it's less power amplification, and more like a stockpile of power. I can use it to enhance my body, it can also enhance my quirks for a few seconds, but I've not really explored that yet. Oh, and I can only use one active quirk at a time, passive quirks don't count, Stockpile is the only passive quirk I have."

Yaoyorozu nodded. "You were right, your quirk is complex."

"I know, I'm still working trying to understand it."

"You said yesterday you used to think you were quirkless, when did your quirk manifest?"

Izuku blushed again. "It was, er, i-it was the day of the entrance exam."

"The entrance exam?" Yaoyorozu questioned in disbelief. "So you were trying to get in without a quirk?"

"Y-Yeah, they removed the rule disallowing quirkless applicants a few years ago..."

Yaoyorozu smiled at Izuku. "You know, I thought you were pretty shy, but to go into the U.A. Entrance Exam without a quirk is pretty courageous."

For the third time in as many minutes, Izuku's cheek lit up like he had a furnace in his mouth. "T-Thanks."

"And reckless."

Izuku stammered. "I-I-I, w-well-"

"TEAM A, YOU MAY BEGIN!"

Yaoyorozu watched as Izuku's entire manner suddenly changed, the green-haired pulling his mask over his face and putting his mouthguard in place.

Izuku looked to Yaoyorozu. "Let's go."

Ignoring the main door, Izuku and Yaoyorozu moved to the side of the building.

"Can you use Uraraka's quirk to float me up to a window?"

Izuku shook his head, making the ears of his mask flop around. "Uraraka gave me some tips, but I haven't managed to increase my weight limit beyond 15kg yet."

Frowning, Izuku looked over to see Yaoyorozu repressing laughter.

"What's wrong?"

Yaoyorozu shook her head. "Nothing."

"Right, I have an idea, but I need some rope."

"Then you'll have some rope." Yaoyorozu held her palm out to Izuku, creating 10 meters of rope in seconds.

Izuku coiled the rope around his shoulder and nodded. "Thanks."

Activating Attraction, Izuku pulled on the building, his comparatively much smaller mass sending him flying up, allowing him to catch himself on a windowsill.

Opening the window, Izuku slipped inside and threw the rope back down to Yaoyorozu. Izuku kept watch as his partner climbed the rope, helping her through the window when she reached the top.

Pulling the rope up, Izuku coiled it diagonally around his torso in case it was useful later. "This place has lots of blind corners, we need to watch out."

Yaoyorozu created two heavy, ornate mirrors, clearly made of some kind of metal, handing one to Izuku and keeping the other for herself.

Team A set off down the corridor, working together to check around each corner before making a turn.

Izuku clenched the mirror in his hand. There was no way he could use One For All, he still couldn't regulate its power, 100% would kill anyone who didn't have some kind of physical resistance.

So, all he had was Explosion, Zero Gravity and Attraction.

It would have to be enough.

Izuku heard it before he saw it, Bakugo leaping out from a corridor, an explosion already blossoming from his palm.

Pulling on the wall behind himself, Izuku shot back to where his partner stood, leaving Bakugo's attack to disperse in empty air. Like Izuku had predicted, Bakugo had completely ignored Yaoyorozu, gunning for his former friend instead.

"Yaoyorozu, go now."

Pausing for a few seconds before nodding, Yaoyorozu turned and ran, away from Bakugo and Izuku.

"Nice dodge, Deku."

Izuku watched carefully, ready to go on the defensive as Bakugo stood and turned towards him.

"That was Auntie's quirk, right." Bakugo's eyes bored into Izuku. "I guess it's just like you then, not as weak as it looks."

Izuku was confused.

Was Bakugo complimenting him?

"It'll make me look that much stronger when I crush you! I'm going to mess you up, but not just enough for you to be disqualified!"

There was the Kacchan that Izuku knew and tolerated.

Bakugo charged at Izuku, right hand aimed right at his head.

Twisting, Izuku grabbed Bakugo's outstretched arm, negating 15kg of the boy's weight and flipped him over, smashing him into the floor hard enough to crack the tiles.

Izuku raised his guard. "You always lead with your right."

"Deku, you read my fucking moves?" Bakugo pushed himself into a crouch, glaring at Izuku.

"I never had a quirk, so I analysed the quirks of the Pro Heroes I looked up to." Izuku was vibrating with tension, at some point half his mask had been ripped away. "You were in that notebook, the one you blew up. I looked up to you, we were friends once!"

"Fuck you, Deku!"

Bakugo launched himself at Izuku again, kicking off the wall to flip over his opponent.

Calling on Attraction again, Izuku pulled on Bakugo's gauntlets, slamming him down into the floor.

Bakugo growled as he pushed himself back to his feet.

"What the fuck was that?"

"I negated part of your weight earlier, that makes you lighter than me."

"Still relying on Auntie's and Round Face's quirks? Use mine! So I can prove I'm better than you, Deku!"

A hot feeling in Izuku's chest rose to a crescendo before the dam burst.

"Stop calling me that!"

Izuku charged One For All into his left arm and released the weak explosion, barely more than a few sparks, supercharged by All Might's power to larger than one of Bakugo's regular explosions.

The large fireball nailed Bakugo in the chest before the other boy could react, sending him tumbling away.

Wincing, Izuku flexed his arm experimentally, he hadn't broken it since he hadn't hit anything and had only used a weak explosion, but he'd definitely given it a rattling. He could probably only do that again once or twice before he broke his arm.

"I'm not Deku!"

Launching himself at Bakugo, Izuku suddenly pulled himself to the ceiling, kicking off it and pulling himself back down behind Bakugo, kicking him in the back.

"Not anymore!"

Sparks danced around Izuku's palms as he glared at Bakugo.

"I'm Deku no more!"

Releasing Zero Gravity's hold over Bakugo, Izuku rushed at the other boy as he was caught off-balance by his weight suddenly increasing.

"What I said about not trying to compete."

Izuku placed his palms against Bakugo's chest, before releasing two weak explosions, sending Bakugo flying onto his back.

"I take it back! I'm going to crush you!"

Bakugo growled in frustration, igniting his palms to propel him backwards and give himself some space.

He had underestimated Deku.

As the dust cleared, Bakugo prepared himself to launch at Izuku, but found the corridor empty instead.

The coward had run away.

Releasing a roar of rage, Bakugo sprinted away in the direction he assumed Izuku had gone.

After a few seconds had passed, the window slid open, allowing Izuku to climb back into the building.

Taking a few deep breaths, Izuku re-centered himself. He had let Bakugo get under his skin, the other boy wouldn't make the mistake of underestimating him again.

Pulling his ruined hood off, Izuku let his mouth guard fall to rest on his collarbones.

Careful not to make too much noise, Izuku set off after Bakugo. He had to keep him distracted, to give Yaoyorozu the time to beat Kirishima and secure the bomb.

Momo moved her mirror out, using it to survey the bomb room.

Kirishima was pacing in front of the bomb, clearly on edge. No doubt Bakugo wasn't communicating, too focused on Midoriya to think critically.

Lowering the mirror, Momo created a metal staff, hardened steel to match Kirishima's quirk. She cursed the fact she had not mastered the tear gas and smokescreen grenades yet, they were still liable to go off the second she created them.

A hand suddenly smashed through the wall, grabbing for Momo. Acting on instinct, she twisted her body and brought her staff down, the force great enough that anyone without a quirk like Kirishima's would now have a broken wrist.

A pained grunt sounded, before the hand retracted.

Falling back, Momo moved into a defensive position, waiting for Kirishima to make his new move. The wall burst into a spray of rubble as Kirishima smashed through it, his arms hardened.

Creating a circular shield to protect herself from the rubble, Momo charged at Kirishima, bashing him with it.

The shape of Kirishima's hardened face appeared in the shield, the metal buckled and bent. Planting her foot, Momo spun on it, slamming the edge of the shield into Kirishima's chest.

The red-haired boy wheezed as the air was knocked out of him, his hardening failing under the amount of damage he had taken. Capitalising on Kirishima's broken guard, Momo drove one end of her staff into the same spot on the red-haired boy's chest, sending him stumbling back through the hole in the wall.

Pressing her advantage, Momo delivered a flurry of strikes with her staff, each one targeting a different part of Kirishima's body, forcing him to constantly switch where he hardened. With one final strike, Momo smashed the end of her weapon into Kirishima's knee.

Momo was winded from the effort. "You can switch your hardening faster than I can hit you."

Kirishima dropped to one knee, before cheering.

Momo paused, of everything she was expecting her opponent to do, this was not on the list.

Standing, Kirishima hardened both his forearms and charged at Momo.

Swinging her staff, Momo barely managed to block Kirishima's forearms.

"I thought I would only be able to go all out on Midoriya since you don't have a physical quirk." Kirishima hardened his fingers, holding his hand with a flat palm, before chopping clean through Momo's staff. "But you're way stronger than I was expecting."

The dark-haired teen blocked a hardened punch with one half of her staff, now reduced to a baton in each hand.

Momo took a step back, swinging her batons. "I would not want it any other way."

Izuku was starting to regret including sneakers in his hero costume.

He had been following Bakugo, waiting for an opening to launch a sneak attack.

And then his sneaker had decided to squeak, alerting Bakugo to his presence.

All this had led Izuku to where he was now, standing with a blown out wall behind him, a three-storey drop waiting for him to make one wrong move.

"You've been laughing at me behind my back this whole time!"

Bakugo fired an explosion, Izuku dodged, more of the wall was blown away.

"Hiding that broken-ass quirk of yours!"

Izuku used Attraction to pull himself out of the way of another explosion.

"Do you really think I would hide a quirk?" Izuku snapped back at Bakugo. "I wanted a quirk more than anything else, to not be mocked and derided for something I couldn't control!"

"You're lying! Stop looking down at me!"

Izuku sighed, Bakugo was beyond reason.

The next explosion came faster than Izuku could fully dodge, clipping him and nearly sending him out into the void, if not for a well-placed pull from Attraction.

"The sweat glands of my palm secrete some sort of nitroglycerin, that's how my explosions work, although I'm sure you know all about that, quirk-thief."

Bakugo raised one of his gauntlets at Izuku, pulling the handle backwards, arming it.

"If the support idiots honored my request, then this has been storing up sweat since this started."

All Might's voice boomed through the speakers. "Bakugo, don't do it! You could kill him!"

"Only if he doesn't move!"

Bakugo pulled the pin, a massive explosion surged at Izuku, ready to consume him.

"YOUNG MIDORIYA!"