Ground Alpha

All Might waited for his students as they emerged from their changing room. Today was his first-class, and he really wanted to give his students a good lesson. But if he was going to be honest, he had only applied for a teaching position at U.A. to simply scout for a worthy successor. Teaching was never his forte, but he wasn't going to slack off either.

One by one, his student proudly wore their costumes as they huddled together in front of him. He had to say, he was getting nostalgic from back in his days when he received his first costume.

The last to come out was Midoriya, who was putting on his gloves. He wore a full-body white and green jumpsuit with a black belt and a gold buckle, with red utility pockets attached. He sported knee-high versions of his red shoes and a white cape flowed behind his back, with large metal buttons keeping it in place.

"Pretty cool, right Kacchan?" Midoriya showed off.

Bakugou grinned. "Gonna be honest, it's kinda tacky," He jabbed at his friend. The green-haired boy pouted. "Well my mom made it so I think it looks cool. And you're the one to talk with the weird mask."

The ash-blonde adjusted it. "I think it looks badass, dunno what you're talking about."

"Hey guys! Nice costumes!" Uraraka approached them. "Man, I wish they made mine a little more loose-fitting," she self-consciously commented on her costume.

The two stared at it and both of them were able to agree through mere eye contact that she looked good in skin tight. "It looks great," they said at the same time.

From afar, Iida observed Midoriya, staring at him with weary and insecure eyes. As much as he wanted to brand himself as a speed hero as his family had, it appeared he had a competitor. The green-haired boy in no way instigated a rivalry between them, but it didn't stop Tenya's interests.

Todoroki noticed his classmate's intense look. "Midoriya intrigues you too huh?" He asked

Iida snapped out of his deep thought and turned his attention to his acquaintance. "Oh, Todoroki. I guess you caught me staring. Please know there's nothing to worry about."

The heterochromatic nodded. "He's strange, isn't he? He states he has no quirk yet ranks an S in power. The only other person besides me who is on that level. Sounds fishy doesn't it."

The blue-haired classmate agreed. "Yes, his stats have outranked the whole class physically yet he still has the audacity to make us believe he's quirkless."

Todoroki crossed his arms. "Tell me about it. I think he's keeping his quirk a secret, and I have a theory as to why. But I'll tell you when I have more evidence to back it up. I need to know just how strong he is."

Iida put his hands on his waist. "I'm sure we'll find out sooner or later as the year goes by. It appears we both want to fight him and find out his true power."

"Yes. I'll admit I am not comfortable with the idea of being surpassed in raw power by him," Shoto revealed.

"As well as I in terms of speed. But if we do go against him, we'll show him our full potential correct?" Tenya said with determination.

Todoroki struggled to fully agree, reminded of the rejected half of his power. "Sure," he said with a strained toned, slightly guilty for lying. But in his case, there was just no way he would use his left side.

"Alright, nice outfits young heroes! Can everyone's attention focus on me now?" All Might called to his students. The two ended their conversation and turned their attention back to their teacher.

"Today's battle exercise is rather simple!" All Might then took out a notecard from his back pocket.

"How this will go down is each round will have two teams, one playing as heroes and the other as villains. The objective for the heroes is to recover the bomb the villains are hiding in their secret hideout within 5 minutes. All the heroes need to do is touch the weapon. All the villains need to do is to keep the weapon away from the heroes till the time ends or capture the heroes. Now let's get started!

Teams were assigned, and Bakugou and Midoriya smiled as they were partnered together as team A. Uraraka on the other hand was disappointed she couldn't be partnered with the ash-blonde but felt pretty confident since she was partnered with Todoroki as team C. Iida walked over to Kirishima, greeting him for the first time as they had been partnered as team D.

After everyone was divided, All Might sifted through two bins that had each team's letter on it. "And the first round's teams are…" he plucked to balls out. "A as heroes, D as villains!"

Iida grew a wide smile on his face from hearing that he would be facing Midoriya for the first time. Todoroki patted the tall kid on his shoulder. "I guess your time came sooner than expected. Good luck," he simply said.

The blue-hair boy bowed to his first friend upon enrolling in Class 1A. "Thank you Todoroki. Just watch me," he said with enthusiasm.

Bakugou and Midoriya walked down the street and toward the building they were assigned to. "Man, where do they get the funding for these buildings?" Midoriya wondered.

"Dunno, but that doesn't matter. We got fish to fry," Bakugou slammed his fist into his palm while grinning. "You got any nerd knowledge or something that'll be helpful?" The ash-blonde asked.

Midoriya put a finger to his chin as he tried to remember. "I heard Kirishima can harden his skin while Iida one time told me he can run fast thanks to his quirk."

Bakugou nodded. "Red-Head is gonna be trouble for me if his hardening his strong enough to tank my blasts. And Four-Eyes has some speed I can't even match yet. So we need to catch them off guard if we can even think about winning cause I might be at a disadvantage against either of them," he analyzed critically and carefully as his hands began to spark, priming them. "I bet they're at the top floor. We'll catch them by surprise there when we burst through. You go run and grab the weapon while I'll do what I can to hold the two off."

Midoriya shrugged. "I mean, I think we could probably just run in and grab it but we can go with your way too since it's less boring."

Their timer beeped, the countdown beginning. Wasting no time, Bakugou propelled himself on the roof while Midoriya simply jumped onto it in a single bound. The greenette with a light punch busted a hole through the ceiling and the two jumped down, entering the rather dark building.

"Um, freeze. We are the heroes that have come to arrest you," Midoriya said in a bland voice, attempting to get into his part.

Bakugou slammed his face in his palm in cringe at his friend's awful performance. "Your acting is ass," he insulted.

"Haha, foolish heroes! You have fallen for our trap! As you can see, we knew that you knew that we would be on the very top floor so we knew to move the weapon somewhere else that you wouldn't know while you still thought you knew the weapon was here!" Iida villainously laughed in the dark.

Kirishima stood next to him, covering his face in embarrassment from his partner's act. "Sorry about him guys."

The hero team gave no reaction to what they had just witnessed. "You know what Deku, I take back what I said. You deserve an Oscar compared to Four-Eyes," Bakugou chimed.

"Looks they were able to predict the villain's location," Sero was impressed. "Must've saved themselves a lot of time for searching huh?"

"But the villains hid the bomb somewhere. And depending on how long the villains put up a fight, the heroes might not have enough time to find it," Shoji noted.

All Might nodded. "Good observations, it appears the villains were looking for a direct confrontation. After all, the villains just need to stall or defeat the heroes."

Mineta squinted at the top hero. "Are we forgetting the fact that the villains are up against the two freaks that took down the zero pointers? I'm sorry, but my money is on the heroes."

"Well let's not underestimate our villains now Young Mineta. I believe the villains still have some tricks up their sleeves that could turn the tables," the blonde hero ensured. 'Though I will admit, I am completely on your side,' he silently agreed with the grape haired student.

In the back, Uraraka stood tense and on edge from watching the battle that was about to erupt displayed on several monitors. Her was crossing her finger, silently cheering her two friends on. 'C'mon you two, I know you guys are super strong. Win this!' She rooted in her head

Bakugou's palms crackled violently. "Tell us where the damn weapon is or I'll eliminate you Glasses."

Iida only laughed obnoxiously more. "Oh but you see hero Bakugou, you've already fallen for our second trap! As you can see, the floor you're standing on is rather interesting. Right Kirishima?"

The red-head grinned as his body turned into a rocky texture. "Yeah, let's do this!"

The ash-blonde's eyes grew wide as he quickly looked down to observe the ground under him, immediately noticing it was extremely unstable, being extremely weak, cracked and brittle compared to the more secure ground that Deku was on. But before he could even step away, Shitty Hair rammed his fist into the ground.

SLAM

The floor they were standing on shook violently as a shockwave traveled through it, with the weak ground under Bakugou instantly collapsing underneath him. But before he could propel himself from falling, Kirishima had already closed the distance between them and tackled him down the story below.

Midoriya didn't even flinch and spectated the events unfolding before with little reaction, not providing much effort in the exercise due to boredom. He walked over to look at the large hole made by Kirishima that his friend had fallen through. "Um, do you need my help?" Midoriya called from the floor above. He heard his friend's angry screaming as explosions echoed throughout the building, engaging Kirishima.

"JUST BEAT THE OTHER GUYS ASS AND FIND THE BOMB!" He heard him order.

"Alright. Good luck," he responded.

Midoriya turned his attention back to Iida who was now at the exit, waiting for him. "Now that it is just the two of us, I can finally settle my score with you Midoriya. You may think you are the fastest student here. But you see, you just simply haven't witnessed my true abilities yet,"

His engine began to roar to life as Iida chuckled in his over the top villainous laugh. "I hope you're ready…"

. . .

"Incinerate!" Bakugou screamed as he blasted another explosion at Kirishima, who tanked the brunt of the hit and got in close, attempting to grab and pull him in.

But the ash-blonde narrowly dodged as he let loose another explosion at the hardened student who pulled back to avoid having to risk taking another full attack. The two stood in the hallway, staring each other down as they caught their breaths.

"Not bad. But how many hits can you take before your hardening runs out?" Bakugou glared as he prepared to engage his opponent again.

Kirishima smiled as well as he had to give Bakugou credit for his tenacity and battle genius. "Yeah, you figured me out. You're pushing my limits. Usually I wouldn't do this cause it's pretty unmanly, but..." Kirishima preemptively apologized. Bakugou gave a confused look as to what he was talking about, getting ready for what the redhead was about to do.

He saw his classmate pull the fire alarm next to him, and emergency sprinklers went off. Bakugou realized he was now in deep shit as he was now soaking wet and his hands began to cool down and wash off.

"I'm kind of a villain now, so I guess this is okay." Kirishima finished. Bakugou growled as Shitty-Hair rushed toward him with his body harden again.

The ash-blonde felt himself get rammed by the rock-like body and slammed onto the ground, to which Ejiro began punching the daylights out of him. The hammer-like punches were taking a toll on his consciousness, to which he desperately tried to defend himself behind his big gauntlets. 'Shit shit shit, I'm getting my ass handed to me and Deku still hasn't found the bomb yet. And I can't even fight back cause my explosions have no power behind them.'

Kirishima kept his assault not giving his opponent a chance to recover. As he let his battle instincts take control, he threw a punch strong enough to shatter one of Bakugou's grenade gauntlets. The gear began flaking apart as pieces flew off left to right as the ash-blonde continued to desperately try to protect himself.

The red-head threw a downward straight jab that broke between Katsuki's arm and colliding with his face. The boy felt his head get slammed into the floor under him, his vision going blurry as he could feel himself beginning to blackout. His head fell to the side, with Bakugou finding himself at the brink of defeat. He didn't want to give up, however, he had no fucking clue to win in this predicament.

. . .

Midoriya was able to immediately discern the situation and grinned to himself. "Ah, I see what's going on. You just wanna show off your special moves, don't you? I bet you smiling all innocently through that helmet of yours."

Behind Iida's helmet hid a sadistic smile that stretched ear to ear. "Hehe…" He laughed.

His engines shot to life as he pranced all around the room, becoming mere blurs. "I've been training with my quirk since I was a child, perfecting my movements and footwork the I could. If you thought your friend Bakugou was the only one with prepared super moves then you are sorely mistaken for underestimating me. For you shall see…"

FWOOSH

"SPEED 'O' SOUND DRIVE!" Iida yelled, who began to rapidly accelerate, practically disappearing as the normal human eye couldn't possibly track him at such speed.

Midoriya could only form an unimpressed look.

"With this move, I will begin rapidly accelerating, eventually producing a shockwave that will shake this whole area and cause you to temporarily go deaf. I'll then be able to strike you down effortlessly with just a mere single blow as you!" Iida showed off, continuing to bounce around the room at super speed.

"And the best advantage of this move is that you'll never be able to see me coming!" He pounced at the seemingly helpless classmate. But he did not expect what would happen next.

"Can I go now?" Midoriya turned his head to face Iida.

The blue-haired student felt his heart drop as somehow, his classmate was able to read his movements. 'He was able to see me at such speed?!' Quickly turning his body and changing his trajectory, Iida managed to steer clear from Midoriya before the green-haired boy could have possibly countered.

"H-How were you able to do that? No person would have been able to react to my move like you just did now."

Izuku shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I mean, you weren't that fast for me to track."

Iida felt a vein nearly burst from the pure anguish, rage, and sadness induced all at the same time from hearing the greenatte's response. "What…"

"Man, the heroes look like they're having it rough. How're they gonna bounce back from this?" Jirou said with concern.

"I was thinking the same, Bakugou is getting mauled while Midoriya can't escape," Mina agreed.

"Ribbit. I have to hand it to the villains, they're pretty sharp. Especially Kirishima with that sprinkler trick," Tsuyu added

"Excellent observations young ladies. It appears the villains do have the upper hand. But it's too early to decide a victor yet with two and a half minutes left. We'll keep watching," All Might spoke up once again.

Uraraka looked at the other girls as she sadly looked at her friend being beaten. She wanted to be there and help him so badly but was forced to watch behind a screen of Bakugou helplessly get battered to submission. Her head hung low as she could watch anymore.

Meanwhile, Todoroki had stayed quiet but was marveled by Iida's impressive speed and his current capability. Compared to Midoriya, he had to say they were almost equal, though granted, his judgment wasn't based on much. But due to the monitors not having audio, he wondered why Iida had stopped all of a sudden.

'He was just displaying his full power, why didn't he end the fight when he had the chance?' Todoroki wondered. 'What's wrong Iida?'

Tenya was in a state of depression and simply stood still in shock. Doubt was washing over him as he was just now coming to terms that he was indeed the slower of two. He didn't even need a race to realize the truth. The simple reaction he got was enough proof to establish the fact that Midoriya was indeed faster, with his pride now damaged.

"Aw man, sorry if I came off as rude. I mean you were fast, just not that fast for me," Midoriya apologized, attempting to remedy his offended opponent. He then paused to think about what he just said and why it didn't come off right. "Wait, hold on."

Tenya's glared through his helmet at him for the remark.

The green hero nervously rubbed his shoulders as he realized he made him even more upset. "Uhh, if it makes you feel any better, I think your whole villain act is pretty convincing if you ask me," Midoriya complimented.

Still, he could feel Iida staring daggers at him. Giving up, he began walking toward the exit of the floor they were on. "Look, sorry if I offended you but I should really get going now," Izuku said while he went toward the exit to search for the hidden weapon.

The blue-haired boy balled his fist. He wasn't finished, his blood still boiling. "No… I cannot let you leave," Iida said in low, commanding, and threatening voice.

Izuku turned to face him. "Uh, are you gonna be okay dude?"

Tenya got into a track runner's position as the mufflers on his calves began to glow again. Less than a second passed and his quirk ripped into high gear again, bouncing around the room again like before. His engine was roaring even louder as he felt himself approaching his max speed, increasing his movements even more than before.

"The debate of whether you are faster or not has no importance to me anymore at the moment. All I can do now is fight you with all I have. As villain and your opponent, I must do everything I can to keep you from obtaining that weapon," Iida said with bitterness but also resolve.

"I shall now commit my ultimate attack!" The blue-haired boy announced, taking a deep breath as he prepared himself. Jumping off the wall, Iida rapidly began rolling midair at Izuku, using his rapid speed to propel himself at a high velocity and with extra momentum from flipping himself midair multiple times. With his target locked on, Iida front flipped and struck at the green-haired boy with an axe kick.

"BLITZ BLADE KICK!"

Simply shifting to the right, Midoriya easily dodged the kick. But Tenya didn't seem to mind.

'Even if it doesn't land, the sheer range and destruction this move will cause to the anything surrounding it shall take severe damage, thus ensuring victory,' he concluded as his kick inched past the green-haired boy's face and toward the ground

However, his eyes widened his blood run cold as he saw Izuku raise his fist. "Checkmate," Midoriya plainly said.

As if the world shifted into slow motion, Tenya saw himself falling right onto the fist of the hero. Now this wouldn't have been as big of a problem if it weren't for the fact his crown jewels were headed straight for the-

BAM

"Oh whoops."

. . .

Kirishima froze for a second as he swore he had heard the painful screams of his teammate from the floor above, making him very concerned. 'Did Iida get captured? I gotta finish this quick then if I want to help him!' He worried. Pausing his assault, the red-head stood up and clicked on his communicator. "Iida, come in!" He called through the speaker, only to be met with silent static from the other end.

While Eijiro tried to get back in contact with Tenya, Katsuki lied nearly unconscious on the wet floor, his eyes beginning to close on him as reality started to fade.

'Not now, think damn it. Think about how to beat this asshole,' He cursed to himself, trying his hardest to not blackout while he was still brainstorming a plan to win. The ash-blonde struggled to regain his strength but he felt himself unable to move. He wasn't done yet though, his heart was still raging and his fighting spirit wasn't going to accept defeat.

Directing his eyes back to the preoccupied Shitty-Hair, he then spotted something on the floor. He noticed nitroglycerin was leaking onto the flooded tile, spouting from his damaged gauntlet that Red-Head broke. Looking at his other glove, Katsuki realized he still had one last trick up his sleeve after seeing it was still intact

The red-haired villain walked over and kneeled next to Bakugou, raising his fist back as he was prepared to finish the job. "I'm sorry about this dude but my friend needs me!" Shitty-Hair apologized as he wasn't going to hold back with this last punch.

But suddenly Bakugou mustered all that was left inside of him as quickly countered the punch, pounding the barrel of his gauntlet at Kirishima's chest before the final blow landed.

"I'm not," Bakugou grunted as he pulled the pin on the side of the bracer aimed point-blank at his opponent.

"GAUNTLET INCINERATION CANNON!" he screamed as a massive explosion consumed the surprised and startled Kirishima in a violent burst of flame.

. . .

The building shook as if an earthquake had occurred. Midoriya was in the middle of wrapping Iida up in capture tape, who the aforementioned was too busy holding his injured privates to resist. "Can you tell me where the weapon is?" Midoriya asked as he bound him.

"N-Never you hero. You can't make me talk," Iida hissed, still trying to stay in his villainous act.

"Alright, I'll find it myself then" Midoriya sighed as he finished tying the blue-haired villain up.

Through his helmet, Iida stared straight into Midoriya's eyes."O-one day, we'll fight again Midoriya. And I will beat you," Iida promised, groaning in pain.

The greenette smiled and raised his fist. "Train hard," He said before taking off to see what had caused the massive shakeup, though Midoriya had a good feeling what did it. His run stopped when he saw a portion of the hall was gone, along with a quarter of the building completely blown off.

"Tsk, Kacchan…" Midoriya complained as he walked to the end of the destroyed hallway. There, he was able to see the unconscious Kirishima lying on his back while a weakened Bakugou was on the floor.

"Sheesh, you kind of went overboard don't you think?" Midoriya commented to Kacchan as he dropped down to check on Kirishima. Luckily, the red-head was able to harden enough to survive the full power of the attack. But as expected, he was unable to walk away without a few burns. The hardened villain passed out from having taken too much damage from the blast.

Bakugou on the other hand was struggling to collect himself, finding it difficult to recover after having been smacked so hard by Shitty-Hair. In an attempt to pick himself up, he only collapsed back onto the floor and falling completely unconscious, leaving Midoriya was the only one left standing.

Izuku looked around the floor he was on, hoping to spot the weapon on the floor they were on, but to no avail. "Man, where could they have put it?" the green hero grumbled. Checking his timer, he saw he had only thirty-eight seconds left. "Eh, I got time."

Uraraka was now hyped but also extremely worried. Bakugou was able to make a comeback in the most epic way possible but was now out. And she was fully aware that Midoriya was fast, she didn't know if he would be fast enough to find the weapon. The chances seem slim but her hopes were still up.

"Looks like this is it the heroes are gonna lose. There's no way Midoriya can search for it in time," Kaminari concluded.

"Yeah, if Midoriya wants to find that weapon, he's gotta be quick," said Ojiro. "Though I'm not even sure if he-"

"HEROES WIN!" All Might announced loudly through the speaker.

The whole class jumped in shock from the outcome. "What?!" They unanimously exclaimed in shock.

"Yes!" Uraraka happily jumped from hearing the good news like an excited fan. The class stared at her from the sudden outburst, which caused the brunette to shrink back to the corner. "Um, my bad."

"We'll discuss results soon. In the meantime, behave here while I go check on the others," All Might announced to the rest of the class as he briskly left the control room.

The class resumed to their surprise and rushed over to the screens, clamoring together to search where the Midoriya was. Eventually, they found the green-haired boy himself touching the weapon shown on one of the monitors.

"B-But, wasn't he just on the fifth floor a second ago? The weapon's on the second story, how did he get it so fast?" Mina questioned.

"It's like he teleported," Mineta said in awe.

"The only way he could have found the weapon is if he had properly searched the building. Considering there are multiple rooms and floors and that his performance finished within 1.6 seconds, he must have been moving at a speed faster than Iida," Yaoyurozu calculated.

Todoroki jaw hung open. 'Was he really as fast as Iida?'

"And he still keeps telling us he's quirkless? There's just no way!" Sero brought up in disbelief.

Shoji crossed his arms in agreement. "Tell me about it. It's like he's making fun of actual quirkless people. It's not funny."

Uraracka put her hands on her hips defensively from hearing her friend being berated. "If he had a quirk then he should have lost to Aizawa like the rest of us. But he didn't, so that means his true strength and speed are natural right? I think he really quirkless," She argued.

The class began taking her point to consideration. "I mean, she does have a point. But Yaoyurozu's theory yesterday could also be the case," Jirou countered.

"Yeah, I believe that more than him just 'working out' as he puts it," Kaminari agreed.

And so the class continued to argue about the validity of Midoriya's quirklessness while they waited for All Might to get back, who at the moment was keeping his cheeky smile upon arriving to the scene of the simulation. The building was completely destroyed from the explosion, earning a disappointed sigh from the sight. "These students. Goodness me…" He muttered, with small medical droids following him inside

Kirishima and Bakugou were carried out to the nursery while Iida was cut free. The blue-haired teen was still coming around being hit in the balls. The two relatively uninjured students were eventually escorted back to the surveillance room with the rest of the class. There they sat as far as they could from each other, Iida still upset from the exercise.

"Now that was some battle. While the heroes showed great strength and were ultimately the winners, I am giving the villains more points. Specifically Kirishima, as he is granted the title of MVP," All Might criticized.

Tenya's head shot up, just as surprised by the results of his classmates. "Wait, but shouldn't the MVP be someone on the hero team since they won?" Tsuyu posed, visibly confused.

But All Might shook his head. "Nope. Anyone have an idea why exactly?"

Yaoyorozu raised her hand. "I believe I have the reason. Kirishima displayed effective use of not only his quirk but also his surroundings, displaying intelligent decision making and planning," She praised.

"Yes, exactly! Very go-"

But for some reason, she didn't stop. "Bakugou may have overpowered him with brute strength but he was also reckless and destroyed a quarter of the building, which was extremely dangerous. Iida's actions could be justified as him buying time by engaging Midoriya, but he was also getting carried away with personal vendettas rather than efficiently ending the conflict. And Midoriya lacked any real effort and participation despite possibly having the potential to have ended the exercise quickly."

"Hey, I deserve more credit than that!" Midoriya defensively jumped from his seat, annoyed.

"Alright, calm down. Yaoyorozu, those are some excellent observations and you hit right on the money. Now I do give Midoriya some credit for how swiftly he took out Iida and for finding the weapon in such a timely manner. But overall, great observations. Just uh, mind leaving the teaching to me next time?" The number one hero asked.

"Oops, apologize. I get carried away sometimes" She hid her flushed and slightly embarrassed face.

All Might snickered. "It quite alright. Anyway newbies, shall we start the next round?!"

Afterschool…

After cleaning up, changing, and packing up, Bakugou exited the campus and into the late afternoon. He was the last person out of his class, with everyone else having gone home already as he was still unconscious at the time. He was wrapped up in bandages, with bruises and cuts scattered all across his body. Muscles aching and his throbbing head made it difficult for him to find his balance. Recovery Girl was most likely going to fix him up tomorrow morning since he barely had any stamina to be healed. Finally reaching the front yard, he was almost out.

'I guess I'm gonna walk alone today,' Katsuki grumbled in his head in disappointment. Looking up at the main gate, he then found himself pleasantly surprised at the sight of his green-haired friend on his phone leaning at the exit. 'He waited for me?'

"Hey Kacchan," He waved, shutting his cell off and storing it in his pocket. "Someday huh?"

Bakugou looked him with pursed lips. He had missed a lot of class and didn't even get a chance to get his reflection from the training. However, Bakugou had a good idea already where he went wrong. "Lemme guess. Even though we won, we still fucked up."

"Yep, pretty much," Midoriya answered

His head dropped, hanging low in disappointment. "I was so damn weak today. I almost lost cause of fucking sprinklers," He vented as the two walked away from the school.

"Yeah, I heard Kirishima was tricky," Midoriya noted.

Katuski struggled a nod, feeling himself tremble and swelling with anxiety and insecurity. His pride and confidence had been completely shattered once more. "Even after training like hell during those ten months, I'm only as good as everyone else here. I say I want to be the strongest yet I'm still nowhere near surpassing the likes of you," he let out, feeling himself getting torn up inside. He didn't care if they had won today. His fight with Kirishima had left him feeling like absolute shit.

"It's like everything I do is useless. Like this all I can fucking do." He turned to his Izuku with a distressed and vulnerable expression.

The green-haired boy stopped walking and stood still for a moment. Katsuki noticed, stopping in his tracks as well. He also saw that Midoriya's normal, plain face had shifted to a more serious one.

"Kacchan it's the start of the year. So tell me, was today really the limit of your power?" Izuku asked. The ash-blonde didn't know how to respond. He remained silent as his friend continued.

"You say you worked hard. Well, maybe you need to work a little harder. Keep asking yourself: Could you of tomorrow beat you today?" Midoriya advised. Bakugou felt himself biting his lip, the words he was hearing rang with his heart.

Izuku began walking again. "Instead of staying frustrated Kacchan, just keeping moving forward," he finished, heading toward the train station.

For a moment, Bakugou stood alone, reflecting on what he was told just now. He didn't know why, but the words were resonating strongly with him. The thoughts about his anxiety were now replaced with determination. He knew what he had to do to get stronger if he wanted to prove his worth to the world as a hero. He felt his heart feel lighter and his mind more at ease now that he realized how irrational his thinking was. He looked on at the palm of his right hand, clenching it into a fist. The ash-blonde knew today wasn't all he could offer. Not by a long shot.

Bakugou let out a small laugh. His friend always had the right words to say whenever he was feeling down. There was just something about the nerd helped him like no one else could. He was always grateful that the geek had forgiven him so easily after all of those in middle school because he didn't know if he could ever find a friend like Izuku ever again.

"Hey wanna get udon noodles with me?" Midoriya called for him, now several feet away. Katsuki was broken out of his trance, straightening himself as he regained his composure.

"Alright you nerd, wait up," He said as he quickly ran to catch up, his wounds stinging a little from moving forward. But even with the little pain, Bakugou found himself smiling as he ran to catch up with his friend.

Next Chapter: The Chaotic City

A/N: This chapter was a pain to write as it gave me more trouble than should've. What happened was that I had a hard time interchanging betweens scenes of Kiri v. Baku, Iida v. Deku, and Class 1-A's commentary. I eventually wrote way more than what I wanted and ended up cutting a lot of scenes as it was hurting the pacing. Even now I'm still wary about uploading this chapter but I refined it the best I could for you all. I hope this was a good read.

P.S.: Oh, and I completely forgot last upload but Happy Late New Year! Hopes for another decade of new, awful memes.