Chapter 26

Several days had passed, and the final exams had passed as well. Gon lay on his elbow on the bed in his motel room next to Killua. The green haired boy was lazily flipping through the TV with nothing better to do now that the semester was done when All Might appeared on one of the news channels. He seemed to be at a press conference, and cameras were flashing all across the screen from behind the camera which was recording what they currently saw on this channel. He stood in front of a stand with a microphone.

Gon shot up off his elbow and nudged Killua. The silver haired teen peered up to the screen and the hero as well. Curiously, he got up too. A minute later, All Might began to speak.

"I know many of you still have questions regarding how I handled the situation with Killua Zoldyck," All Might spoke, and the ex-assassin next to Gon narrowed his eyes. Gon turned his head over to see his friend's reaction. "I understand that, and it is okay," the hero continued. "I am here to explain my decision, and my thoughts. Principal Nezu of U.A. High School will come up after me to explain what U.A.'s decision regarding Killua is."

"While I know that Killua has done some bad things in this world, and while I did say I want the world to help him get home, I did struggle with making my decision to say that." Gon and Killua both got curious looks on their faces. "I did not know if I should be a hero by helping him or by punishing him for the bad deeds he did here. My reasoning for wanting to help him is simple: he is a boy who does not belong here. He would be better off in his home world rather than our world. Locking him in jail here does not do anything for us, and it would not sit right with me as a hero. From my talks with Killua, I understood that he was doing villain work because he was being manipulated by a villain who has a Quirk that can help him. I cannot verify if there is a villain with such an ability; I am only repeating what Killua told me. If this is correct, and I assume it is, then as a hero, I should save him from such a manipulative villain and help him get back to where he belongs."

Gon's eyes widened, and he turned over to Killua again. "Did you tell him to say this stuff too?" he whispered.

Killua shook his head. "No…so this is all on his own. He's trying to convince the public better than he did before. Trying to convince…me, too, along with them."

"Convince you of what?" Gon asked curiously.

"That going along with this new plan is the better plan," the other boy responded and turned to face Gon. "He's trying to get All For One out of my head by saying I've been manipulated by him. I've known that, but I let All For One do that. It's not actually manipulation. Nothing near what Illumi and my family did," he finished in a lower tone.

Gon felt like he wanted to ask more, but he held off. He turned his head back to the TV as Killua was doing too. The reporters were asking a bunch of questions, but both teens felt the questions were useless to listen to.

"I don't know how much of what All Might just said is true in his thoughts," Killua remarked as he thought about it himself. "Maybe it was a hard decision for him to make, but I think some of his reasoning is made up."

"You think so?" the green haired teen frowned. "I don't. You talked with All Might for a while. I'm sure he was thinking of what he should do about you. He decided to go along with your plan."

"Hm, well, you might be right," Killua replied thoughtfully. "When we first talked, yes, I'm sure he was thinking of this stuff. But I don't think he's thinking about it right now, or when I explained my plan to him."

Gon nodded as that made sense. He turned to the TV and saw Nezu coming up. "Look! It's Principal Nezu! He's saying something too."

The two listened as Nezu cleared his throat. "I am here today to make an announcement on behalf of U.A. High School. After speaking to our staff about the situation surrounding Killua and the things he has done, we decided that Killua would be allowed back at U.A. in the hero course for the next semester." There was a collective gasp that could be heard from the TV, and Gon and Killua raised their eyebrows in shock too. Nezu purposefully paused because he knew people would want to digest that.

"We believe in what All Might has said about the matter," Nezu continued. "We should help Killua, not harm him. That is why we have decided this. We know he is a dangerous person, but he is not a bad person, so we feel safe to allow him back at school. That is assuming he is still here when the next semester starts."

Killua sighed and changed the TV channel. Gon glanced at him knowingly. "You think we'll be here for the next semester?" he asked the silver haired teen.

"I don't know," Killua shrugged. "I hope not. But if we are, I'm not going back to U.A. It's pointless. I'm rejecting their offer."

Gon nodded in agreement. He took the remote and turned the TV off, having had enough of it for today. Suddenly, an idea came to his mind. "Hey, Killua, you want to hear about the final practical exam I had?"

"Sure."

"It was in partners, and we were up against the U.A. teachers. Well, two versus one. That's how it was." Killua nodded along. "Originally we thought it would be against robots because Kendo talked to some upper years and that's what they said, but Principal Nezu surprised us and decided that we should get training against real people because of the rise in villains," Gon rambled on.

"Anyways, I got paired with Tetsutetsu, surprisingly. I didn't expect to be paired with him because we're friends. We were up against Cementoss, and it was really annoying." Gon frowned suddenly, remembering what the pro hero had made him and his friend go through. "I think he probably did this for people in your class too. Maybe Kirishima and someone else. But all he did was send wall after wall at us and we had to break through each one to capture him or pass through the escape gate. If we do either of those within the time, we pass. Eventually Tetsutetsu was getting tired and his Quirk would've stopped working soon. Cementoss' walls were too high and I didn't want to jump over them because it would seem suspicious, so I ran around past so many other buildings to find him. Tetsutetsu followed me, and then we fought Cementoss. He was actually really good with his Quirk!" Gon exclaimed happily in a high tone.

"He could use it pretty quickly and change the shape of the ground, so I had to kept breaking them even when we got close. At some point my speed won and I got a good opening to punch Cementoss away. Tetsutetsu followed after him too, and we handcuffed him to pass!"

"Fighting against the teachers, that sounds a little interesting," Killua mused. "I wonder who I'd be with. And, I guess, my whole class must've gotten messed up since I didn't show up." Killua laughed out, while Gon chuckled nervously, also wondering what Class 1-A did with 19 students instead of 20. "Did anyone in your class fight All Might?"

The green haired boy nodded immediately, then he frowned slightly. "I was disappointed that it wasn't me. I wanted to fight against him too, but oh well. He was up against Monoma and Awase. They were really creative, I liked watching them!"

"They won?" Killua asked with a raised eyebrow. He did not know Awase or his Quirk, but he knew Monoma. Gon nodded at the question. The silver haired teen took a noticeable pause as he tried to understand how Monoma and Awase could beat All Might. "How?"

"Well, it took them a while, and they both got beat up pretty badly," Gon admitted slowly. "But Awase has the power to weld two things together if he's touching both. So with Monoma, it's like they have two people with that power. Monoma ended up distracting All Might long enough for Awase to sneak up and weld him to the wall."

"Monoma distracted All Might?" Killua repeated.

"Yeah…more like he got beat up," Gon clarified with a laugh. "Awase ended up carrying Monoma through the escape gate because All Might was too dangerous for them to handcuff even with an arm stuck to the wall." Gon rubbed the back of his neck. "Monoma was nearly unconscious by the end."

"That must suck for him," Killua remarked with a neutral tone. He did not care too much about Monoma. The blond boy seemed like a jerk to Class A all the time. He wondered what Monoma would say now about Killua after knowing he was from a different world and did villain stuff.

"Well, anyways, I'm off to the camp tomorrow," Gon reminded Killua. "What are you going to do over the next week?"

"I think I'm going to look for some people with helpful Quirks by myself," Killua responded. "And…well…the League has a plan too. It seems pretty well thought out, but we'll only know once it's in action."

"The forest camp attack?" Gon sighed, thinking back to yesterday when Killua mentioned it. His friend nodded. "Do you have to go on it?"

"What's wrong with it?" Killua raised an eyebrow. "You seemed fine with it yesterday."

"I don't know...just...let the League do whatever," Gon hesitated out. "You were supposed to stick to the backup! All Might stood up for you to the whole world by telling them that they should help you if they can. By doing this, you'll look more like a villain! Why would anyone want to help you then?"

Killua shrugged in response. "To be honest, I'm not even doing anything there. Like, it's really nothing. I'm not attacking anyone, so even if the public knows of my presence there, it's not like I'll be doing anything. I don't even know why I'm going because I don't have a part in it. Everyone else does, though, except Shigaraki and All For One."

"Then don't go," Gon said right back with a stubborn look.

His best friend shook his head. "All For One is expecting me there. I don't know what he'd do if I don't go. What if he never sends us back?" he asked, although he knew the answer. Then All For One would be a true enemy, and the backup would become the only plan.

"He might already never send us back," Gon pointed out. "That's what All Might told you, and you agreed because you thought it could be true. So why bother doing his work?"

"On the chance he does," Killua replied with a shrug. He stared at Gon's face while the green haired boy stared right back. "But if he doesn't, I'll just turn on him. It's simple." Killua knew his friend was still hesitant about it. "Don't worry, I won't do anything there. I won't attack heroes or villains. I'll just let it happen, however it turns out."

Gon pouted because he did not think it was that simple. "Okay, whatever…"

"Remember to send me a text of the location so we can get to the camp," Killua reminded even though it was still very early. Gon would not be at the camp till at least tomorrow afternoon which was still nearly a full day away. Killua's friend nodded.


Class B was left alone in the forest and instructed to make their way through to the camp which was far away. Blocking them were the earth beasts that Pixie-Bob of the Wild, Wild Pussycats created to attack them through the forest.

The class was very worried and panicking even though Kendo tried her best to calm everyone down. Gon had no problems with it, though. He saw a beast approaching them and took the time to jump into it and punch it's arm off before it did anything.

"Wow Gon, you reacted so quickly!" Tetsutetsu shouted out. He charged the beast that was still not down yet and activated his steel. He began beating it down while green vines shot up from behind him and broke the beast's dirt away from it. Shiozaki expertly controlled her vines from the distance.

Gon heard more beasts coming from afar. His class had no sensory Quirks, so he figured some of his classmates may be in for a surprise when they get surrounded. He heard footsteps pounding behind him as Kendo, Honenuki, and Jurota Shishida ran up behind him. Honenuki bent down and touched the ground to soften it into quicksand around a beast. The monster slipped in, and Honenuki successfully restrained it.

Shishida transformed into a real beast, as his Quirk allowed, and jumped over the softened ground to tackle the earth beast down and tear it apart. Honenuki undid the effects of his Softening while Kendo ran up with enlarged hands and punched at the beast too. Together, Kendo and Shishida easily took it down.

Above Gon was a flying beast, but it did not fly for much longer. Hiryu Rin used his Scales and fired them off at the wings. The monster came crashing down. Behind Rin, Gon saw Yui Kodai increasing the size of a jagged rock that was on the ground. Shiozaki extended her vines to pick up the back of the rock while Kendo ran back and picked up the front. Together, they threw the rock which cut through the fallen beast.

Off to Gon's left was another beast. He watched in fascination as Manga Fukidashi shouted out "CRASH!" followed by two trees falling over to crush it. The green haired boy had no idea the trees were heavy enough to knock the beast down, but it did. Fukidashi had beaten the beast by himself.

"Gon!" he heard Tetsutetsu shout from behind him. The taller boy had deactivated his Quirk and pointed behind him and beckoned for Gon to come. Monoma followed them too as they came across another grounded beast. A different one was flying in the air.

Monoma copied Tetsutetsu's Quirk, and the three of them took the dirt creature down together. The flying beast swooped down, ready to attack them, but Kosei Tsuburaba and Togaru Kamakiri had it covered.

Tsuburaba blew air around him and created platforms with Solid Air for Kamakiri to jump up from. When he could, the second tallest boy in the class leapt onto the monster with blades coming out of his arms mid-air. Kamakiri landed on the beast as it tried to shake him off, but he held tight. He slashed at the dirt wings and began to fall down, but he was lucky that the beast hit the ground while he was still holding on instead of getting crushed on the ground or against a tree.

The class slowly progressed through the forest, but after two or three hours, Gon and a few others were the only ones not completely worn out. Gon could see that several of his classmates were going off pure adrenaline. They needed food, but they had not gotten any.

Tetsutetsu was panting next to Gon. The grey haired teen had preserved his Quirk as best as he could by deactivating it every time he was not using it, but he had used it a lot already. He was nearing Quirk exhaustion, and he could feel it.

Gon did a quick count of who he felt was still ready for more action. It was him, Shiozaki, Honenuki, Tokage, and possibly Awase, Kamakiri, and Kodai. Well, he found it hard to tell with Kodai. The girl nearly always had a blank expression, and even now she showed minimal signs of fatigue. Kendo was definitely tired, but Gon could see that she was keeping it together for the rest of her class. She had shouted "Plus Ultra!" a few times to motivate the rest of the students.

Another beast came up, but they were getting less and less in numbers now. They appeared more infrequently too, so the class was able to move along and rest their powers. The bulk of the beasts were in the beginning, in the first hour or so, and then they started to spread out. Now, Gon guessed one or two beasts came every 5-10 minutes.

Gon swiftly blasted through the whole beast with a powerful punch. "Dude, Gon, how do you still have so much energy?" Tetsutetsu asked from behind once the dirt fell to the ground.

The green haired teen raised a fist to the air with a smile. "Plus Ultra!" he shouted out, and Tetsutetsu smirked.

"You're right, Plus Ultra!" he repeated the motto. Kendo smiled from behind them as she kept walking forward.

A few hours later, the whole class made it to the training camp. Everyone was exhausted, and even Gon felt it a bit. He had to pretend he was tired, though. The last person who was still not tired towards the end was Shiozaki, I think, Gon thought with a small smile. She's amazing!

"Oh darn, Class A already got here?" Monoma muttered softly, not having it in him to try and taunt the other first year hero class about anything. Gon looked up and noticed he was right. Class A was here, though they looked like they just settled down.

"They look like they just got here," Kendo repeated what was just in Gon's mind. "Probably only a bit before us."

"Looks like they're eating," Tetsutetsu said and clutched his growling stomach. "We should do that too."

Class B grabbed their dinners as well and began eating. Kirishima came up next to Gon and Tetsutetu, "Yo, Tetsutetsu, Gon! You guys had to fight through the forest too?"

"Yeah, it was pretty tough," Gon replied. Tetsutetsu only nodded as he was too busy stuffing his face.

Kirishima chuckled at Tetsutetsu's hunger. "Don't worry, I was looking like you a few minutes ago. We just got here a bit before you guys." He turned to Gon. "So Killua really left us, huh?" he said in a much softer voice, immediately going to the topic that was most on his mind.

"Yeah, sorry," Gon said with a slight frown.

"Do you know what he's up to?" the redhead asked with raised eyebrows.

"Sorry, I don't," he lied in response. He felt bad about it, but he knew he had to keep up this act as best as he could. As long as no one pressured him into opening up fully… "But I hope he's okay," he finished.

Kirishima nodded and began chatting with Tetsutetsu about something or the other. Gon zoned out and did not really talk to many other people. Midoriya and Iida came up and said hi, and he spoke with his Class B friends a bit too before going to sleep. Kan and Aizawa had told them they should be ready for training by 9 AM the next morning, which was far later than any other day in the schedule. Aizawa said they would have some surprise training before getting into routine the following days and waking up at 5:30 AM.


It was 9 AM, and all 39 students stood in their hero costumes in front of Aizawa, Kan, and the Wild, Wild Pussycats. The less familiar heroes introduced themselves as Mandalay, Pixie-Bob, and Ragdoll. "There is a fourth one of us named Tiger, but he isn't here right now," Mandalay explained.

Aizawa nodded. "Tiger is out bringing a special guest here. Recovery Girl is coming, but only for what we're about to do. She's leaving before the end of today, so for the rest of the week, you're on your own. Don't break any bones or anything like that," the hero finished with a glare that aimed towards Midoriya more than anyone else.

Iida raised his hand. "What is the training we will be doing right now?"

"We have a bit of a…fun surprise for you," Aizawa replied and cracked a grin for once. He looked over to Kan to explain the rest.

"We decided that we will have one fun training exercise for both of your classes," Kan explained, and a smile formed on his face too. "There will be a capture the flag exercise, right now, between both of your classes." Smiles grew on the student's faces as well who were expecting a rigorous training camp with no time for fun. But, fortunately, the teachers came up with something more enjoyable, even if it was only for today.

"The rules are simple," Kan continued but lost his smile. "Class A will guard a red flag, and Class B will guard a blue flag. If you steal your opponent's flag and bring it back to your base, your team gets 5 points. You cannot steal your flag back. Each student from the other class that you bring to your jail is 1 point. Your class needs 19 points to win, so to do that, you either need to get the opponent's flag plus 14 students, or get 19 students. It was originally going to be 20 points to win, but unfortunately, Class A only has 19 students now. Class A is at a bit of a disadvantage, but you will have to deal with it."

"You will be allotted some space for your jail. Pixie-Bob will make an earth jail for you, and she will decide the location," Aizawa continued where Kan left off. "Try not to go too hard on each other. As I said, Recovery Girl will be visiting briefly towards the end to heal anyone who needs it, but she'll leave right after. There's not much else to say. Use your surroundings, come up with good strategies, and have fun. This will be the only fun you get."

"Oh, also," Kan mentioned to the students who were getting more excited by the minute. "Each team will get six earpieces that are connected to one line for your own class. If it gets stolen by an opponent, that's on you. Class B can get their earpieces from me, and Aizawa will give the other six to Class A. Your flags are already in the ground. You can't move them, so you'll have to guard it. Use your Quirks as you see fit."

Kan and Aizawa handed out the earpieces and left the classes to figure out their own plans. The game would start in 30 minutes, so they had time to explore the whole allowable area which was quite an expansive part of the camp. There was even a small pond included within the boundaries. There were lots of trees, but there was a lot of open space as well. Pixie-Bob had created hills and caves out of the dirt too.

"Let's kill them," Bakugo said to his classmates before Class B was even out of earshot.

"Sorry, but have you forgotten that we have the student who placed first at the Sports Festival?" Monoma asked smugly. "We have Gon! We're surely going to win!"

No more banter followed, but the two classes headed in opposite directions to find their respective flags and formulate their plans. On the way, Yaoyorozu, who had the earpieces, asked who should have one.

"They said to use our Quirks however we want, so could you make more earpieces, Yaoyorozu?" Midoriya asked in deep thought.

The tall girl mulled it over before nodding. "They did not say I can't. I think that is allowed, though I do not want to make too many. I will make four more to bring our total earpieces to 10."

"Only half the class, huh?" Uraraka hummed.

"Guess it should depend on what our strategy is," Kirishima added, thinking that if they were to split into groups, not everyone in each group would absolutely require an earpiece.

"I'm going after that green freak," Bakugo declared with a dangerous grin. He was really getting into it.

Kirishima was not too sure about that. "Gon got first on the entrance exam and crushed the record. He probably got first in Class B's Quirk Apprehension Test. He got first in the Sports Festival. He stood up to Stain when nobody else could. Let's face it, Bakugo, he's the strongest student here."

His classmates grew quiet and, although they did not want to, they accepted that the redhead was correct. "You think Freaks is stronger than me?!" Bakugo roared in challenge. His right eye was twitching, daring his only friend to say yes.

"Kacchan, Gon did beat you at the Sports Festival, so…" Midoriya muttered in response but trailed off.

"Shut your mouth Deku! I didn't ask for your opinion!" the ash blond retorted back in a dangerous tone. Midoriya's eyes widened, and he immediately closed his mouth. He felt like was back in middle school. He and Bakugo had not this type of interaction in some time, especially not since their final practical exam where they had to work together for once.

"Right now is not the time to fight," Yaoyorozu chided with the shake of her head. "Here we are," she said suddenly and stared ahead into the open space where a red flag was sticking out of the ground. "We have a limited amount of time. Let's use it wisely and make our strategy, then we can explore our surroundings a bit more."

"I don't care about any of that," Bakugo grumbled with a fierce grin. "I'm gonna murder Freaks, and then I'll throw him into our jail. He knocked me out. I was unconscious!"

"So you're after revenge," Todoroki stated coolly without even looking at Bakugo.

Bakugo was just about to explode, but Yaoyorozu interrupted and held her hands up between the two. "Stop! I just said now is not the time!" Much of the class was shocked. They had never seen her get this angry. "Okay, good," she continued after taking a deep breath. "Based on what Kirishima said, it is clear that Gon is a big threat to us. We need a strategy to deal with him, and also get the flag and defend our own. We need to watch out for the others too. Does anyone have suggestions?"

No one said anything. If anything, most of the people were staring right back at Yaoyorozu. "Why is everyone looking at me…" she said slowly with a nervous look.

Jirou rolled her eyes. "Yaomomo, you're smart. You can use your brain to come up with a good plan."

"But I was asking for suggestions," the tallest girl repeated with a frown.

"Let us work together!" Iida announced with the chop of his hand. "I suggest that we get in groups with specific objectives. Then, one person from each group can have an earpiece."

There were a lot of agreements from the class with what Iida said. "We need a group to guard the flag," Uraraka chimed in thoughtfully.

"And we'll need some offense and stealth," Midoriya added.

"Does anyone know who from Class B could be very problematic for us?" Yaoyorozu asked. "I know Kendo is quite strong, and Gon too, of course."

Midoriya felt some eyes on him. Iida and Uraraka were staring at him. "What?!" he exclaimed in shock.

"You fought against that Class B girl at the Sports Festival," Uraraka reminded him.

"Oh, right," Midoriya calmed himself down and thought back to the final round of the Sports Festival. "Uh, her name is Shiozaki. I think she's definitely strong from a long range, so you'd need to get in close to beat her. But that's assuming her close combat skills aren't that good, which I'm not sure of. She could have become good at it over her internship." His eyes trailed off to Uraraka who he knew received lots of hand-to-hand training in her internship.

Yaoyorozu nodded. "I'm sure Class B's recommended students are strong too. They got in for a reason."

"Don't forget about Tetsutetsu!" Kirishima reminded everyone of his Class B friend.

Yaoyorozu looked over at the redhead and nodded. "Right. We will need a solid defense here to guard the flag. I am willing to be one of those people."

"I'm going after Gon," Bakugo growled for the third time, but this time, Yaoyorozu gave him a hard glare.

She shook her head. "No. Bakugo, we'll need you to help with getting the flag and attacking other opponents. We should leave Gon to a couple other people."

Iida looked over at Todoroki, and they both nodded. "Todoroki and I can go after Gon," Iida offered.

Bakugo's eyes widened. "Four Eyes, Gon is just as fast as you, probably faster if he's from a different world like his bratty friend. If he is, then he's probably like junior All Might." He shifted his eyes over to Todoroki. "And he'll break IcyHot's ice in no time."

"Well…we have nothing that proves that Gon is from a different world, and as strong as Killua," Sero said hopefully. "Let's just hope he isn't." If he was from the same world as Killua, and as strong as him, then why would you think you could beat him? he wondered and stared at Bakugo.

"I agree," Yaoyorozu said. "Let's pretend Gon is like the rest of us."

"Deku, do you want to go after the flag too?" Uraraka asked. Bakugo glared at the two of them, and they both began sweating and inched away. "You don't have to work together!" she exclaimed while holding her hands up. "You can get there on your own."

"Uh, sure, that works," Midoriya accepted.

Class A continued talking about their plans. They split up into small groups, with at least one person in each group having an earpiece so they could communicate. Yaoyorozu made an extra four earpieces for a total of 10 and handed them out to their users.

Meanwhile, with Class B, Kendo took up the role as being lead strategist. They had come up with a solid plan which balanced offense and defense. Kendo knew Yaoyorozu would most likely make extra earpieces for her class, but Class B did not have that luxury. They had to make do with six. Either the groups they split into were larger, or some groups would have nobody with an earpiece.

The class talked it over and decided to go for larger groups. They would split up if necessary, but they would remain as close as they could. Monoma had brought up the problem that Class A may break up their groups and weaken them that way, but Gon brushed it aside by saying they should just stick together and take down small Class A groups with the advantage in numbers.

Both classes had done their exploring. The jails were stable structures made of dirt using Pixie-Bob's Quirk. Now, the game was about to start.

Gon was excited. He knew that with his restricted power, there were quite a few Class A students who could potentially take him on. He knew Bakugo and Todoroki were more or less at that level, and Midoriya and Iida may be there too after the internship. He had no idea about the rest of them, but he was quite sure that Class B would rely on him a lot. I don't know if there are any fighters in our class on the same level as them. Shiozaki might be close, and maybe Honenuki and Tokage too. But I still don't feel like they're on the same level.

Mandalay, using her Quirk: Telepath, instructed the students to start at their flag. A few minutes later, she gave the signal in their minds for them to begin.

Gon turned around to face his class and nodded. He separated from the group he was supposed to be in and sprinted off, snaking the trees in zigzags. "Let's win, everybody," he said into his earpiece. He heard a chorus of agreements.

The green haired boy came to a clearing with no trees, and a bit up ahead was where he knew the halfway point lay between the two classes. He waited patiently, not having seen anyone from Class A. Far to his left, Gon heard a sound in the sky that was getting louder every second. Bakugo appeared, flying through the air by using his explosions to propel him. Gon looked up at him, and Bakugo had a huge scowl on his face when he noticed the person who beat him at the Sports Festival.

However, the ash blond boy did not stop. He kept flying and passed where Gon stood and was headed to find the flag. Gon spoke into his earpiece, "Bakugo's flying through the air. I think he's going for the flag because he didn't stop to fight me."

A second later, Gon heard back from Kendo. "Thanks Gon. We'll keep an eye out. He might drop to the ground too."

Gon ran forward to where the trees began again. He had crossed over the halfway point. He jumped up onto a tree branch and started jumping from branch to branch. Growing up in nature sure helped a lot here, he remarked to himself. After a bit, below him, he saw one of Class A's reconnaissance groups. He recognized Uraraka, but he did not know the girl with the earphone jacks.

"Gon's up in the trees!" Jirou exclaimed into her earpiece. Uraraka picked up a fallen tree branch and made it weightless. Then, she tossed it up at Gon who had stopped moving.

The green haired teen easily jumped to a different tree to dodge the branch. He continued his search for the flag, knowing his group consisting of Honenuki, Kodai, Kamakiri, and Kinoko Komori would be somewhere behind him.

He heard the cold sound of ice coming towards him, and it was coming fast. Gon looked to his right and leapt off the tree as a big wave of ice crashed into the tree he was just standing on. Just as quickly, the ice melted away. He then heard footsteps pounding behind him along with snapping twigs and crunching leaves. Gon whipped around only to find Iida closing in very quickly.

Gon ducked under a powerful armoured kick that was aimed just below where his shoulder would have been. He sprung back up and jumped over more ice that would have frozen his legs. Iida did not give up after one kick, though. He chased Gon down while the Class B boy could see Todoroki waiting patiently for an opening to use his ice and trap Gon. Todoroki had his right hand ready to send out the ice, but he did not want to get Iida in it too.

Iida was still chasing behind Gon, and the boy with the hybrid Quirk was over to Gon's right with a few trees separating them. Gon took a sharp left to increase the distance between him and Todoroki, and Iida followed after him with the same path. With this direction, if Todoroki used his ice, it would freeze his classmate first before even reaching Gon.

Todoroki was not stupid, however. He began moving too, closer towards where he thought Gon would want to go. He knew the boy wanted to keep Iida between them.

Gon ducked under a very low tree branch and pulled it with him as he ran. He let go once he felt too much tension in the branches, and it snapped back right in the path Iida was taking. The boy with glasses hastily put up his armoured arms to protect from the branch as much as he could and ran through. His chin still got scratched by a very thin twig.

Gon had no idea which way was the correct way of getting to the flag anymore. He had changed directions too often. He entered another clearing (or was it the same as one before?) and heard Iida still chasing him from behind. Gon hopped into the air and turned around with a kick, sending a blast of wind in the direction Iida was coming from. He shakily landed on his feet because he did not jump high enough for his kicking leg to recover.

That was when the ice came. Gon barely got his balance back, but the ice surrounded his legs and froze him solidly to the ground. He could break out if he used a lot of Nen, but he did not. Iida ran in and delivered a powerful kick to Gon's left side. It was strong enough to break Gon out of the ice and send him sprawling on the ground near the edge of the clearing.

Gon was fine. He used Ken well enough to not be too hurt by the attack, but he could still feel it vaguely. He stood to his feet and clutched his left side with his right hand to pretend he was badly hurt.

"As expected of you," Iida said in a serious tone as he came a few steps closer. "You can still stand after a direct hit."

Gon did not reply. He ran back into the forest, though intentionally slower now. Iida sprinted after him, and Todoroki followed as best as he could without using his ice as a mobility boost. The green haired teen zigzagged through the forest, but eventually he saw Kirishima, Kaminari, and some other blond haired boy. He changed directions to run away from them.

"It's Gon!" Kaminari shouted.

"Iida and Todoroki are after him too!" Kirishima shouted back, getting ready to run after Gon. The purpose of his group was to provide offensive support to the rest of the class, and that is just what Kirishima hoped to do right now. "Let's help!"

Gon was getting bored of running, but he would need help taking out the students behind him since he was limiting his power. A bright, sparkling beam blasted the ground in front of him, and Gon came to a stop. He turned around to see that it came from the other blond boy that was with Kirishima and Kaminari. The blond boy held his hands behind his head, and a trail of smoke came from a belt he wore around his waist. The redhead himself was running towards Gon, right next to Iida, and they were coming quickly.

More ice was coming for Gon from a different angle. He quickly punched in that direction, and the ice shattered apart. Iida ran at him with another kick, and Kirishima was right behind with a hardened punch.

The two Class A students slipped into the ground. Gon only knew one person who could do that. He checked his right side where sure enough, he saw a pale skinned boy with teeth outside of his mouth. "Honenuki!" Gon beamed.

"Sorry it took us so long to find you," he responded. Off to the side where Todoroki was, Gon heard ice clashing and breaking apart. Kamakiri was fighting Todoroki with the sharp blades sticking out of his arms, and the Class A boy was trying his best to block them with ice, but Kamakiri kept breaking the ice.

"Sneak attacks? Come on!" Kirishima complained about Honenuki as he struggled to get out of the soft ground. "That's not manly!"

"Neither is five people trying to fight one," Gon answered back with a cold stare. Then the coldness faded away, and he pulled the redhead out of the ground with a beaming smile. Kirishima grunted and hardened his body. He threw his arms up to block a punch from Gon, but the impact never occurred. The wind from the punch blew Kirishima into a tree trunk. Gon did not let up the pressure. He went in with another fist, but the redhead caught it. The green haired teen yanked his hand back so quickly that Kirishima could not let go. He got pulled too, but with one palm from Gon, he was flattened to the ground.

Gon heard a yell of pain behind him. He saw that Honenuki was momentarily paralyzed by a small bolt of electricity from Kaminari. Gon jumped out of the way of another sparkling beam from the last boy he did not know. The beam had blasted the ground right in front of the tree.

The Hunter rushed that fifth boy down and punched him once. The boy had barely tried to block, showing Gon that he was not very good at close combat. The punch was enough to knock him out. Meanwhile, Honenuki was physically fighting Kaminari, as much as the blond haired teen was trying to focus his electricity in his hands to discourage the Class B student from attacking.

Honenuki winced through another shock, but he was much more skilled in close quarters than Kaminari. With a kick, he swept Kaminari off his feet and onto his back. He bent down and punched the boy in the stomach for good measure. Then he watched over both Kaminari and Aoyama to make sure they were down, even though he knew Kaminari was not unconscious.

Kodai and Komori were throwing pebbles that Kodai enlarged over at Todoroki. Eventually, the heterochromatic teen rushed away on his ice. Kamakiri was persistent, and with all of Todoroki's teammates temporarily down, he knew he would not be able to win if Gon got in too. Todoroki entered a clearing and burned his frostbite away with his fire. Kamakiri was still following him, but Todoroki felt better fighting in the open where he could use his fire without burning the trees around him.

Gon and Kamakiri appeared in front of Todorki and attacked the lone teen. Todoroki did his best to fend off using his ice and fire.

Back in the forest, Iida and Kirishima both got up. Kirishima had only been dazed for a bit by Gon while Iida could move now that Honenuki was not focusing his Quirk on him. The two went after Kodai and Komori, who were looking for the flag and cautiously exploring. They slipped away from Honenuki, though the two Class A students knew they could take him on. But he was not doing anything, so the bigger threats were the two girls looking for their flag.

Within a few minutes, Iida caught up to them with Kirishima trailing a bit behind. He burst in with a kick which aimed to knock Kodai out in one hit, but she had a rock in her hand which she grew to be as big as Iida himself. The boy with glasses lessened his kicking power and momentum as he got closer because he did not want to destroy his leg on a rock he could not break. He gently bounced off once his foot connected with it.

Kirishima caught up and went after Komori who was next to Kodai but hidden by a tree and the rock Kodai had enlarged. She heard him coming, so she held her breath and spread some mushroom spores. She must have looked a little weird because Kirishima was wondering what she was doing. He hardened his body and went to punch her, but a mushroom suddenly grew from his fist. His attack connected, but since the mushroom was covering much of his fist, it essentially just bounced off Komori.

"What the hell?!" Kirishima exclaimed in shock and examined the mushroom on his fist. The attack caused no pain to Komori.

More mushrooms began sprouting up from the ground and along the redhead's body. While Kirishima was thinking about what to do, Iida made his way around the large rock and kicked Kodai once. She fell to the ground while Komori let out a surprised sound that her partner fell so quickly.

Iida ran the short distance to kick Komori too, but he failed to notice the mushrooms on the ground and tripped and lost his balance. He saved himself from falling while Kirishima cut the mushrooms off his body in important places like his arms.

Komori tried running away, but she could not outrun the two faster boys, so she was taken down too. "Kirishima, my job is to help Todoroki take down Gon. I have been away for too long. Would you mind taking these two to our jail?"

"Yeah, sure, as much as I want to fight Gon too," Kirishima grumbled but nodded nonetheless. Iida gave a small smile and ran off to find Todoroki who was surely fighting Gon, and maybe some others too.

On a different side of the exercise boundary, Bakugo was approaching the Class B flag. He saw the five people guarding it, and he was wary of the two others he saw nearby, one of which was the girl with vines for hair. He knew she was strong…not stronger than him, of course, but in a fight where he was outnumbered, even Bakugo could struggle.

Something was snaking up from behind him. He whipped around and noticed green vines approaching. He released a small explosion to destroy them, but even that was too loud. He was sure the five standing around the flag would be alerted.

"Someone's in the forest," Rin said with narrowed eyes.

Kendo had her eyes narrowed too, looking in the direction where she heard the sound. Soon enough, Bakugo came into their view, moving and trying to destroy the vines after him. Rin and Sen Kaibara activated their Quirks around their limbs and ran after towards their opponent.

Bakugo knew he was outnumbered, so he faced his palms down and exploded into the air, leaving his attackers in the dust.

"I can't believe he ran away," Kendo said in awe.

Kaibara came back to his position, his arm drills returning to normal arms. "He didn't just run away. He knows where we are and where the flag is. He'll come with backup."

"We'll be ready for him," Rin said in a confident voice.

"We will help out too, of course," Shiozaki said as she emerged from the trees. Shishida came out too from a few trees over to her left.

"Deku, have you found the flag yet?" Bakugo muttered into his earpiece as he was landing in an area that he thought no one was occupying.

"I did, but I didn't see you. There are too many people there to fight alone, Midoriya responded.

"Wow Bakugo, I didn't know you were so scared to take out a few people, ribbit. That was Tsuyu.

A vein popped on Bakugo's forehead. "YOU WANNA TAKE THEM OUT, FROG FACE?! There's 7 people around there. I'm not that good by myself."

"Yo, Bakugo!" a voice called out from over behind the trees. The ash blond glared hard in that direction, but he lessened his glare when he saw it was just Sero waving and Sato following from behind.

Bakugo's lips curved up into a grin. "Good. Now that you two are here, we'll take their flag. There's 7 people there. I just need you two to handle two or three people between yourselves and then I'll kill the rest."

Sero and Sato scratched their heads and exchanged nervous smiles. "Uh, yeah sure," Sero muttered while smiling.

"Let's go." Bakugo began walking off in the direction he just came from while the other two followed.


Sorry for the delay. I got super busy with my internship, and I think I will continue being busy because that's just how it is. On the bright side, I had no idea where I wanted to end this chapter. I ended up writing a lot more of the CTF game and eventually chose I wanted to end where I did. So basically, I'm done a lot of the next chapter too, so hopefully that will come out sooner than this. The next chapter may be longer than this one, and it's very likely it will be mostly if not entirely about the remainder of the CTF game. I want to incorporate all 39 students in some way, even if some of them only have small action scenes.

And yes, neither class got any points in this chapter, but I promise the points will start rolling in super quickly as we get further into it. Lots of students are already tired/injured/unconscious, and that'll have more impacts in the next chapter as both classes find themselves with less and less people available to fight and defend.

Thanks for reading and continued support! Hope you all enjoyed!