Chapter 5:

"I'm so excited! How 'bout you guys!?"

"Totally!" Kirishima answered, sharped toothy smile on full display as he fastened the straps on his vest.

Izuku by contrast, like his classmate Todoroki, only had a UA gym uniform for today. He… hadn't really designed a costume.

Oh sure, he had plenty of ideas when he was a kid, especially when he still thought he might develop a quirk, but all those ideas had been based around that.

A quirk.

He still wanted to be a hero. But somehow running around in a costume without a quirk just felt… off…

Maybe as he progressed and he realized or thought of new tools he needed in his day to day he'd figure out what kind of costume he wanted to design around that. He still had some time.

"A practice battle is just what we need to really see what our classmates can do. Nothing is more manly than people goin' at it and seein' what they're all really about. Layin it all on the line for the fight ya know." Kirishima's shark toothed smile was wide, and his eyes swimming with the possibilities.

Mina nodded. "Kinda, I'm just kinda excited we actually get to use our quirks and start practicing for the real thing! We've all imagined how we'd work as heroes but now we can actually see for ourselves and show everyone what we can do!"

Izuku suddenly felt a weight settle across his shoulders, Kirishima's arm settling over him, as the faux redhead leaned closer. "How bout you Midoriya? You don't got a quirk but you musta thought of plenty you can do with that big brain o' yours!"

Izuku ducked his head. "I… sort of. We don't know what the test is actually gonna be about. Or who exactly we'll be fighting. All those things kinda matter in making a plan."

The truth was, he had plenty of time between the first day and today to think of different ways to counter the various quirks his classmates had displayed.

Bakugou, of course… was Bakugou. He knew how to counter his quirk, the only question was how effectively he could depending on the battlefield they were given.

Asui, the frog girl had an obvious mutation and while mutation quirks could be extremely powerful they also came with the drawbacks, especially if they were an animal based mutation quirk. Like Gang Orca, who was famously weak to fire drying out his skin.

Frogs, by and large preferred warmth and did not do well, even in only mild levels of cold. If Asui held true to quirk biology, cold would be her issue.

Tokoyami and his projection quirk was very strong, but Izuku doubted Tokoyami's physical body was quite as strong as the projection. If he could flank him, close the distance and catch him off guard, he might have a chance. His head didn't resemble any particular species of bird, so nothing there, but birds in general had very very sharp eyes. A strength usually, but also something he could exploit.

Mina's acid was a strong close-combat quirk, that was obvious enough. But she didn't really have a way to direct it beyond splashing it onto an enemy. Keeping distance, staying out of her range and forcing her to exhaust her quirk trying to close that distance seemed like the best option.

She was fit though. She'd mentioned she loved dancing, and it showed. Her legs were lean with muscle and she'd done nearly as well as he had in the sprint. Beating out many of their classmates as her powerful legs pushed her to "skate" along her slick acid trail.

Kirishima's hardening was a tough one. No pun intended. It was a through and through durability quirk with slight strength enhancing properties, but just as he'd told Gran Torino when he first posed a question on how to take on a Brute quirk; there were ways around Kirishima's exoskeletal rock shell.

The strongest quirk in his opinion was Yayorozu, the ability to make virtually anything on the fly was… frankly, insane. She effectively had "every quirk" on demand if she so chose, or at least its nearest technological equivalent.

It took time for her to make her creations though. If he hit her hard and fast, he might be able to overpower her before she could bring her full quirk to bear.

The real quirks that he didn't want to face, at all, were Todoroki and Ibara.

Frankly, they both seemed like they were a cut above everyone else as far as their quirks raw power output, even Bakugou.

"I guess you're right." Kirishima said. "Still, I gotta ask, dude, why become a Hero when you're quirkless?"

Izuku winced. Kirishima either didn't notice or didn't understand, plowing head on. "I mean-" He mused. "It seems like someone with your brains could do something a lot less- OW!"

Mina's hand smacking him on the back of the head had cut him short. "Who cares if he has a quirk or not! Greenie's got his points in the test and made it ninth on Aizawa's too. That's a lot better than everyone who failed or had a quirk. He can do it." She said firmly. He wasn't sure if she'd picked up on his sudden discomfort or if she was just being nice but either way, he appreciated it.

"I guess," Kirishima muttered before standing up and stretching. Izuku spied some of the others beginning to march out of the locker room, all changed into their hero costumes.

"Come on guys! Let's go!"

With Mina practically skipping ahead of them Izuku followed behind at a slightly more sedate pace.

Finally, they reached their classroom for the day, finding there Mr. Aizawa and-

"Edgeshot!?" Izuku found himself all but spluttering in surprise.

The Ninja themed hero smiled, his eye curling to show his amusement as he waved merrily. "Why hello there"

"As I stated yesterday" Aizawa began. "This year's classes1-A and 1-B will be undergoing some updated protocols. Experiments if you will. One of them is working more closely with active duty pros. In particular, All Might's hero agency has volunteered to lend out their time, experience and expertise to help us evaluate you and refine our evaluation procedures." The dark haired teacher muttered, squeezing some eyedrops into his perpetually red eyes.

"So that means if Edgeshot is here, then there's another of All Might's partners with class 1-B?" Asui asked, raising her long arm up.

Aizawa nodded. "Correct. At the moment, class 1-B is being seen by Sir Nighteye, he'll be evaluating them for Gentle. Just as Edgeshot will be evaluating all of you alongside myself."

"Why this change to the curriculum, Profesor Aizawa?" The tall boy, the one with glasses, shot up his hand as he asked.

"In large part-" The man began, adjusting his scarf. "Every professor in UA is a pro hero, but we're not as active as others in the profession. Our tactics and skills are meant to help you learn tactics and skills of your own that can be applied, relatively speaking, universally. But active heroes like Edgeshot or Sir Nighteye, working directly with All Might can identify certain students with quirks or talents that could be applicable in many hero agencies or against particular criminal groups. This is part scouting group, part fine tuning."

The Underground hero shifted his weight. "Also, the reality is many criminal organizations are escalating, with All Might having a known base of operations they're growing bolder where his influence can't readily reach, which means we have to take a much more active role in picking up the slack. There's a lot of expectations and hopes resting on fresh hero graduates.

Izuku sort of understood. Though it seemed like a lot of trouble to go through. That and it seemed a little contradictory.

If they wanted to expand effective groups beyond All Might's readily accessible reach… why put them front and center to be scouted by All Might's hero agency?

Was there something they weren't saying?

"I see. How many hero agencies will be involved in this program?" Iida asked, adjusting his glasses.

"At the moment, All Might's agency is the most involved, but as others commit and get around the legalities you'll be made aware. For now, no more questions. Treat Edgeshot like any other teacher, and let's get started. There's plenty of combat to get through today."

His piece said, the dark haired teacher walked off, hands stuffed into his pockets.

Izuku and the other students followed behind him, With Edgeshot trailing behind them.

After almost ten minutes of navigating through the halls, exiting outside and entering a building at the edge of the campus, they seemed to arrive.

"This is the urban battle zone simulator." Aizawa drawled as Edgeshot leaned against the far wall. "You'll be undergoing various scenarios. Each one a different type of potential conflict a hero might have when facing a villain. For these exercises you'll be split into teams of two. One Villain team, One Hero team. Four students in total per test."

With a few clicks on the keyboard, a hologram lit up.

"Scenario one." Aizawa said. "Hostage situation. The villains have been cornered by the police. They've taken a hostage. Heroes need to rescue said hostage. Rules of engagement, Villain team, you're not allowed to outright 'kill' the hostage before the hero team actually makes a move against you. After that, anything goes."

"Guess it wouldn't be fair if the villain team just brained the guy when the test starts." Kaminari said with a laugh, scratching the back of his head.

Another click. "Scenario two. VIP escort. An inverse of the previous conditions. Hero team needs to protect a VIP. Villain team wants to assassinate said VIP.

"Who'll be playing the VIP's?" Jirou, the girl with the ear quirk asked.

"Myself and Edgeshot. It'll let us observe and make sure the rules are followed.."

"Scenario three, Infiltration. The Villain team has a base, hidden in the combat zone. Hero team needs to determine where it is, definitively. You win if you find it. You lose if you're spotted."

"I WANT THAT ONE!" Hagakure's hand shot straight up into the air, her glove floating, fingers splayed wide.

"Random draw." Aizawa muttered. "Best hope you get lucky."

Two more rather hard clacks on the keyboard and- "Scenario four, Villain chase. Rather self explanatory. The villains are going to try and escape. Heroes need to prevent that from happening..

One last click.

"And lastly Scenario Five. Bomb disposal alongside Bomb Delivery."

"Villains deliver the bomb and Heroes try to stop 'em? Interesting. Seems kinda similar to the VIP thing though, just inverted."

"They won't be." Aizawa answered curtly "Now. Teams will be selected by random draw. Even numbers are heroes. Odd numbers are villains. One through four on Scenario One, Five through Eight Scenario two and so on and so forth.

He held out a box. "Reach in. Pull your number."

Mina bounced on the balls of her feet between Izuku and Kirishima. "Oh this is so exciting."

The students reached for the wide brimmed box, pulling free slips of paper in short order.

He looked at his number.

Seventeen.

Villain team, Scenario Five.

"Call out your numbers in order." Aizawa drawled. "Number One?"

"Here…" All eyes rounded onto Kirishima, the red haired boy rubbing the back of his neck. "Was kinda hoping I'd be on the hero team. But this is cool too.

"Number Two-"

"Here, sir."

Yayorozu-san answered that time.

One by one the numbers were called. Until they had each student sorted by number and scenario.

Scenario One:

Villain Team

Ejiro Kirishima

Hanta Sero

Hero team:

Momo Yayorozu

Ochako Uraraka

Scenario Two:

Villain Team:

Kyoka Jirou

Rikido Sato

Hero team:

Fumikage Tokoyami

Denki Kaminari

Scenario Three:

Villain team:

Yuuga Aoyama

Shoto Todoroki

Hero team:

Tooru Hagakure

Koji Koda

Scenario Four:

Villain team

Mashirao Ojiro

Ibara Shiosaki

Hero team:

Mina Ashido

Tenya Iida

Scenario Five:

Villain team

Izuku Midoriya,

Asui Tsuyu

Hero team

Mezo Shoji

Katsuki Bakugou

A rather loud cry of elated joy came from what could only be Hagakure, leaving his ears slightly ringing before the exams began with Aizawa's call for the first teams to get moving.

Izuku panned his eyes across the room, finding Asui's rather blank stare on him, and behind her was the glowering Bakugou.

Okay then...

(X)(X)(X)

Izuku tried to pay attention to the first exam. He really did.

It was Kirishima up there on the first fight, someone who seemed to be friendly enough and seemed to want to be his friend.

But, by and large, it was almost a foregone conclusion how it would end.

Momo, by every measure, was smarter than damn near everyone in the class, and Izuku was including himself in that grouping, and had an extremely powerful quirk.

The only thing she needed was time to prepare. If she had that, her quirk's power was theoretically limitless.

Off the top of her head, she had given Ochako a harness with mini thrusters, like the ones used by astronauts in zero gravity.

Which allowed Ochako to keep up with Sero-san with an almost laughable ease.

Hammering Kirishima with Pepper spray and tear gas grenades before he'd ever closed the distance and giving herself a gas mask just clenched it.

Hero team won that one. Almost too easily.

Honestly, the only thing that made the fight last a little longer was that Ochako-san was having way too much fun on her thruster pack to come down when called.

So, Izuku did try to pay attention, really, he owed it to his possible friend, but the reality was his own mind was wandering, specifically to his upcoming exam, and the people in it with him.

He knew Bakugou, and Bakugou knew him. They were both known quantities to each other, that meant he had to figure out the two wild cards.

Asui and Mezo.

His green eyes trailed upwards, finding Bakugou's ruby red orbs boring a hole through his skull before the blonde bomber turned and marched towards Mezo, apparently having the same thought, or anticipating Izuku's thoughts.

Damn… looks like neither of them wanted to lose today… As usual.

Izuku turned to Asui.

The frog quirk girl was staring at the screen, but her big eyes turned to him as he approached.

Suddenly, he was nervous, the only girl he'd really had any extensive contact with was Mina and, frankly, she had more than enough initiative for the both of them.

"H-hello." He stuttered, shifting nervously from foot to foot.

"Hey there." She greeted back. "Come to talk about the test?"

"Yeah… a little."

She nodded. "Right, so I kinda figure you're a quirkless guy with a lot of brains, and you're trying to figure out a plan."

He winced at the word "quirkless" but, frankly, that was a fairly accurate assessment. "Yeah… kinda."

She nodded. "Alright. So what are you thinking?"

"Well…" He mumbled, looking down as his red sneakers. "I… kinda need to know what your quirk is. I mean… I know it's a mutation with frogs but is there any specific stand out strengths or weaknesses?"

"Not really." She shrugged. "My strength in my legs is about six times that of an olympic athlete when last they checked. My bones are a bit more bendy than normal ones, helps with shock absorption, but they do break if strained enough. So let's not try that. My arms are a little weaker than most people, the muscle fibres there are just naturally thinner and won't really grow like normal humans. My tongue is really long, and powerful enough to pick up people. I can spit a minor toxin, nothing that'll do damage just sting your eyes a bit…" Her finger raised up again to her chin. "As for weaknesses. Cold really. I get sluggish, and if it gets cold enough I might shut down, like hibernation to try and save myself."

"How cold exactly?" If her threshold was too sensitive then half his plan might have a problem.

"Nothing we should find normally here from what I see. Anything below sixty starts to make me feel really slow… kinda like I'm drunk, or drugged. Below forty is the time I start to sleep."

He nodded. That wasn't too bad. He could work with that within his plans.

"How good are you in water?"

He saw her lips twitch into what he assumed was a smile.

(X)(X)(X)

"You two have a history."

The comment made Bakugou's eyes swivel towards the taller Mezo Shoji, red eyes glaring at the multi-armed teen.

"Got any other obvious insights?"

Shoji shrugged. "Not particularly. Though I'm not sure why you seem so worried. He's quirkless."

"Don't underestimate him." The Ash blonde snarled. "Deku's a quirkless shit. But it wouldn't surprise me if he's already got plans on how to beat everyone in this damn room, or at least the beginnings of one."

His partner didn't look convinced; shrugging quietly. "If you say so."

(X)(X)(X)

The exams moved too fast and too slow, all at the same time.

The second exam was an upset win for Kyoka and Sato. He was sure Tokoyami-san's projection quirk would be more than powerful enough to defeat both, but it had one major weakness, Light.

Kaminari's lightning blasts had all but made the thing shrivel up and hide behind Tokoyami himself, leaving the bird effectively quirkless

With the two Heroes unable to work together effectively, Jirou and Sato were able to ride to an easy victory with Edgeshot congratulating them.

The third exam, which should have been an easy one for Hagakure, turned out to be a bit more complicated than that.

It was after all, hard to infiltrate quietly while naked, and shivering as your warm breath puffs cloud the air in front of you.

Todoroki had frozen almost half the battle zone.

Aoyama hadn't needed to do much of anything honestly.

Hagakure and Koda would have lost if not for the latter's power.

He talked to the birds.

And they told him where the objective was.

And they'd also infiltrated.

Todoroki hadn't known the details of Koda's quirk, otherwise Izuku was pretty sure freezing birds solid wasn't off the table in his book either.

Aizawa counted it as Koda and Hagakure's win when a crow flew into the objective. Izuku was pretty sure he just didn't like Todoroki's brute force, high collateral damage approach.

But maybe he was just being presumptuous. Despite himself though, Izuku could grudgingly agree with the man's logic.

The fourth test had been a tie.

Ibara, on the villain team, had misunderstood the parameters of her exam.

The villain team was supposed to try and escape.

Both of them.

Not just one of them.

The vine haired girl had volunteered to delay both Mina and Iida as Ojiro rushed to escape the zone.

She'd succeeded. But Iida had certainly not made it easy on her. Once he realized what was happening, the tallest boy in the class had rushed headlong after Ojiro, if not for Ibara's impressive range on those vines (he'd have to amend his notes later) he would have succeeded.

As it was, Ojiro had been forced onto the rooftops as a means of keeping his distance from Iida.

He'd gotten away, but Ibara hadn't. She hadn't even tried to. Not exactly how a villain was supposed to typically behave.

Aizawa declared the exam a draw, surprising Izuku. He would have thought that the man would call it a loss for a villain team, but he was… fairer than expected.

Finally; it was his and Tsuyu's turn.

"Fifth teams- you're up." the man called from the door.

Izuku's hand shot up. "Mr. Aizawa I have a questio-"

"This fucking battle zone have a working sprinkler system?"

Izuku bit his tongue. Of course, Katsuki would guess what he was thinking.

Aizawa allowed a single eyebrow to hike up to his hairline.

"Legally all our facilities must have working sprinkler systems and abide by fire safety laws. Why?"

Izuku felt more than saw Bakugou biting back a curse.

(X)(X)(X)

"The exam is simple." Aizawa drawled , walking with him and Asui. "The heroes know you're coming. You know where they are. No fancy hide and seek, no avoiding it. Both teams have objectives to defend. The heroes have to defend the site, and you two need to transfer your bombs."

He held up two belts with packs attached to them, labeled in bright, bold lettering "Bomb" on the flap.

Subtle.

He opened up the pack, revealing foam beads that he pulled aside to reveal some sort of cartridge.

"The inside houses an orange paint in a hardened vial. If the vial breaks, the bomb is damaged, effectively worthless. If the Hero team destroys both bombs you fail. If even one bomb makes it to the designated location, your team wins. If you're both captured you fail."

He handed them both the packs. "Deliver them however you see fit. Like other teams the final score on this exam won't strictly depend on success or failure of the main objective, but rather how you carry out those objectives. Again, like all other exams, you can consider this a sanctioned full contact sparring match. Quirk usage is allowed as is everything that doesn't go over the line in terms of deliberate permanent damage to your classmates.

"One question." Tsuyu said, raising her hand, bringing the man's eyes towards her. "Bakugou's quirk is explosions, if we somehow make him destroy their site by accident does it count for us."

Izuku looked at her. Not a bad idea. Ambitious, and unlikely to work, Bakugou wasn't that stupid, for all his anger, but not a horrible idea at all.

Aizawa shrugged. "It's a bomb going off. Though that kind of force would be unacceptable. So more likely than not I'd call the match before he could flatten the building.

"Well there goes that idea.."

"We can still use it." Izuku muttered to himself, bringing Asui and Aizawa's eyes to him. "Maybe we can-"

"Stop" Aizawa's sharp voice made him jump. "Your plans are yours. Your judgement, or lack thereof will be taken into account for your grade here. It's hardly fair for you to be asking me what can fly in this test when the other team has no such extended luxury."

"Yes sir." " Sorry sir."

Handing them both their packs, Aizawa turned and marched out, a bright red timer lighting up beside the doorway.

"Timer hits zero, exam starts. I suggest you use the time well." He said before rounding the corner, leaving them alone.

(X)(X)(X)

"Why? It's a defensive objective. Leaving it to play offense is risky."

Bakugou felt his teeth grinding together so hard they might just chip.

It wasn't that what Mezo said was stupid or untrue. It wasn't. It made perfect sense given what he knew.

But he didn't know fucking Deku.

"We can't fight him indoors."

The taller boy raised his single visible eyebrow, eyes trailing up to the ceiling.

"This has something to do with that sprinkler question the two of you threw out?"

Bastard was fast on the uptake.

This was not something he wanted to get talked about across the school.

The last thing he needed people thinking was that his weakness was a drizzly fucking day.

"Yes…" He snarled.

For a moment, the tentacle armed teen stared at him, hands rising to cup his chin in thought. "That quirk of yours… explosions. Needs a spark or something? Sprinklers would make that hard. And Midoriya knows."

"We went to the same school." His words were clipped, irritated. The sooner they were off this subject the better. "Any building we fight him in he's gonna set off the sprinklers, or my own damn quirk will do it for him. At that point my quirk may as well be out of the picture. And it'll be just you and frog girl. You're stronger than her but she's faster than you, a lot faster. You really wanna try your hand in stopping her if she gets too damn close to this room?"

"Hmmm… Troublesome." Shoji closed his eyes, arms crossed over his chest. "I could hear them coming from far off. I doubt Midoriya or Asui knows of that aspect of my quirk." He shifted one of the tendrils into an ear. "But in the same vein going on the offensive leaves us too exposed if Asui manages to get past us."

"Outside I can catch up to her." He countered. "I'm faster than her on the sprint."

"Not by so much that you'll be able to catch her before she reaches the building, at which point she'll simply set off the sprinklers herself. Midoriya has no reason not to inform her."

That… was a good point actually.

Bakugou racked his brain, eyes swimming in his skull, darting this way and that way.

There had to be an answer. Izuku knew how to counter him.

So Katsuki just had to think around him. He's not the only little shit with tricks after so many years.

His fist clenched.

"Alright, here's what we're gonna do."

(X)(X)(X)

The timer goes off and Izuku's eyes turn skyward as they make their way down the road. Watching. Waiting.

He doesn't have to wait long.

He hears Bakugou long before he sees him.

It's not even the explosions…

"Got some lungs on him doesn't he?"

Absentmindedly, he noddeds to Asui before looking at her. "You ok?"

She nods. "It's fine. Not a problem. Besides, it's a little late to turn back now eh?"

She's right, in for a penny, in for a pound and all that.

(X)(X)(X)

"I'm putting ten down on the living angry face emoji." Kaminari says, having regained enough of his wits to speak again.

"Suckers bet." Jirou said from the back of the room. "Green may have beaten some bots but 'splosion boy looks a hell of a lot meaner and beat a lot more of those bots to boot."

"Hey! Don't count out Greenie, I'll bet any money he'll win this round." Mina said.

"Actual money or just cheerleading your friend there?" Hanta teased

"Gambling is unethical and unbecoming of UA students!"

"Unless you all pipe down and start watching, I'll fail the lot of you."

That got everyone to shut up in a right hurry.

Edgeshot tried not to chuckle too loudly where he stood, his back to the wall, eyes panning over the screens.

Hopefully this match would be interesting. He's seen a few that caught his eye already. Though this one seemed a little lopsided truth be told.

Ahh well. Who knows. Maybe the kid could surprise them.

Elbowing Aizawa, he ignored the irritated glare and muttered, "Ten on the Green kid."

(X)(X)(X)

When Bakugou shot himself over a building above them, Izuku had plenty of time to see his long time rival, and thus, had plenty of time to react accordingly.

"Go. He'll come straight for me," Izuku ordered

He didn't shout, he wouldn't risk it, but Tsuyu shot herself into a nearby alley, leaping off the walls to gain some distance as Izuku rushed into the nearest building.

Shoulder rushing the door, he could hear Bakugou's frustrated cry as he crunched his shoulder hard enough into the doorway to rattle the thing off its hinges. His booted feet pounded concrete hands fishing into a pocket for a lighter. He lit it and held up to the nearest available sprinkler.

He thought Bakugou would hesitate.

He didn't.

The blonde bomber rushed in, blasting himself full tilt into the hallway to close the distance in a flash.

Maybe it was the heat of Bakugou's own blasts, maybe Izuku had just managed to hold the fire onto the systems just long enough for the heat to register, but the downpour was immediately followed by an explosion=powered shoulder rush.

Izuku didn't even had time to brace himself from his fully stretched position before Bakugou rammed into his stomach so hard it knocked the wind straight out of him, his lungs burning and his gut cramping, bile rose up in his throat and his body flipped end over end to crack against the stone floor.

"We were never allowed to really use our quirks in school, Deku." He heard Bakugou's voice distant, like his ears were underwater, the pain was immense, but still, Izuku found it in himself to open his eyes and struggle to his feet.

He found Bakugou's red eyes staring at him, a feral smirk on his lips. And the sprinkler over his head blasted into ruined slag.

"Gotta say. It sure is satisfying hitting you with a full powered hit for once."

Izuku cursed, tasting bile and the distinct tang of metal at the back of his throat. Oh yeah. Something hurts…

He made it to his feet.

Then, he turned and ran

"GET BACK HERE!" Izuku heard right before blasts boomed directly behind him, each one no doubt destroying another sprinkler in the hallway, clearing the way for Bakugou to move relatively unimpeded.

That was fine. He just has to stall him. Make it convincing…

Izuku turned the corner, clutching at his stomach.

Please be right. Please be right. Please be right-

Two more hallways, one right one left. There… right there.

A second later when Bakugou rounded the corner chasing after him, he was greeted with a full powered blast to the face of an industrial grade fire hose.

(X)(X)(X)

The whole class 1-A collectively winced as they saw Bakugou's body slam hard into the wall, the high pressure hose hitting him like a car.

"Jeeze, what's with these two and water?" Kirishima asked, scratching his cheek.

"Isn't it obvious?" Yayorozu chimed in where she stood, hands clasped behind her back. "From what I understand, Bakugou's explosion quirk requires two primary things. A strange nitroglycerin like sweat compound, and a spark. The water is both constantly washing away his sweat and making it impossible to light a spark. Thus, rendering him, effectively speaking, quirkless.

"But… but that's so unmanly!" Kirishima seemed completely dismayed at the thought. "'Zuku's not letting him fight back!"

"Midoriya-san is bringing the fight down to his level." Iida muttered, adjusting his glasses. "It is clever. But I must agree with the thrust of Kirishima's sentiment. It seems a little unsportsmanlike to exploit a weakness you know of from a childhood acquaintance."

"Oh come on you guys, what's Deku-kun supposed to do?" Ochako protested. "Fight explosions with fistycuffs?" His brain is his quirk… I mean...kinda, asking him not to use it is kinda asking him not to use any quirk at all."

"Yeah!" Mina shouted "What she said!"

But behind them, Edgeshot's eyes were now much more attentive on the screen. His interest had been piqued.

(X)(X)(X)

Izuku let the torrent of water continue for a full ten seconds before cutting it off.

"When Aizawa said, legally they have to abide by sprinkler systems, I kinda figured they'd have the same layout on fire equipment for their buildings. Industrial grade hoses, bottom floor, south east corners, mandated since Firebug's rampage thirty years ago."

Bakugou's body was shaking as he struggled to his feet, coughing up water. He looked like a drowned, angry pomeranian. "Fucking Dek-"

The hose came right back on.

Bakugou hit the wall hard. Visibly struggling to resist one hundred fifty pounds per square inch of force shoving him down to the ground and wall

He wasn't faking, but Izuku couldn't let his guard down.

He knew Bakugou. He'd thought of this weakness every day since they were six years old since the first time Izuku used it.

Bakugo too must've thought of it every single day. Of that there was no doubt. Every way around it. Every way to counter it. Destroying sprinklers wasn't the only thi-

Something blew up.

The blast was strong, stronger than any Izuku had felt in a long time. The water blew back some, but most of the concussive force smashed right into him like a sledgehammer, his body flew back, the hose falling from his grip to go flying wildly. He heard another blast a second before he hit the wall, the pain returning to his lungs a hundred fold as the air was knocked clean out of him again.

His elbows slammed into the ground. Taking the fall as he collapsed to his knees before looking up.

The hose head was destroyed.

And Bakugou was there, a portion of his right gauntlet gaping and smoking and Izuku now recognized the design. A revolver of some sort. Something to hold sweat. Multiple shots. Five. For each gauntlet made a total of ten.

He just used two.

Eight more huh?

Bakugou was panting, shoulders heaving as he snarled. "I got some tricks too ya fucking los-"

Bakugou stopped and Izuku could see his eyes turning this way and that way. Searching.

"...You gave your bomb pack to the frog bitch…"

That was faster than he'd hoped…

He smiled in the way he knew infuriated his childhood rival. "Took you long enough."

Bakugou stalked forward, looking for all intents and purposes like he might just wring Izuku's neck.

The green haired boy scrambled to his feet, taking a fighting stance. "Think you can afford the time?" He asked.

The blonde paused.

"You're still catching your breath." The green haired youth said. "I think we both know how our fist fights can go on a day where we're both on a full tank, but now? With your quirk still needing to build up some sweat? You really wanna fight me?"

He saw Katsuki's teeth grind together. He could almost hear it as he struggled with the choice of keeping his eye on the ball, against his satisfaction of punching the greenette in the face.

Izuku didn't give him the time to think about it. If he did, he might just catch on.

He turned and ran again.

(X)(X)(X)

"He's running away again!?"

"Bakugou looks like he's rushing back to base."

"I don't get it!? Weren't they gonna fight?"

"This is so confusing."

Edgeshot watched.

It didn't add up…

(X)(X)(X)

Mezo could hear the explosions in the distance. With no two way radios, it was a way for Bakugou to signal how far they were, and anything closer than that was to be considered a threat.

Crude but effective.

Steadily, something did come closer and closer. And Shoji had plenty of time to get in place to intercept.

It wasn't much of a surprise to see Asui when she was the one to make it to the halls of the defense building.

Bakugou and Midoriya were working out their histories it seems.

"Hey." Asui said in greeting.

"Hey." He greeted back. "Guess we're fighting."

"Looks like it."

They stayed there for a moment.

"So…" Shoji rubbed his head awkwardly, "do like I make the first move or-"

Her tongue shot out of her mouth like a bullet.

Pure reflex made him reel back enough to avoid getting smacked in the face as his powerful arm slapped it aside, only for Asui to use the momentary breaking of his line of sight to close the distance; all but lunging at him with those powerful legs of hers, flipping mid air and slamming both her heels into his chest.

Shoji was a strong guy. The strongest, physically, in his class, the strongest of any of the kids in his old school.

And he still felt like it may have been the hardest hit he'd ever taken. And that was with her hitting pure pectorals as opposed to any actual weak spot.

He caught the green blur of her body launching up to the ceiling, looking to get straight past him.

No!

His hand shot forward, grabbing onto the first thing he could, and yanked down. He heard her half yelp half croak in pain, and it was when she hit the ground, with a solid thump of body hitting concrete and tears leaking from the corner of her eyes that he realized he'd yanked her by her long long hair.

"Sorry."

"Not cool." She answered miserably.

Without warning her body twisted, contorted really, her frog-like flexibility letting her bend, almost unnaturally to bring those legs up to kick him from the ground, her heel clipping his forehead as he reeled back.

Then she was on her feet. Her tongue wrapping around his ankle before yanking him forward in surprise, he stumbled, his guard dropping for a moment and this time her kick caught him full in the jaw, his skull cracking into the wall beside them before he caught himself mid fall.

She crouched, ready to jump over him again before he surged to his feet, shoulder rushing her and slamming his body into hers to crash her back into the wall, holding her in place.

Her legs came up again, knee, smashing into his stomach and chest, each blow feeling as hard as a brick before he brought his arms to grab her by the knees, tendrils extending to wrap around the back of his head and upper back as he felt her elbows trying to hit the exposed areas.

With a shift of his legs he lifted her up, pulling her off the wall and slamming her onto the ground.

She groaned in pain.

Truthfully, he thought she was done. Anyone else would be after being slammed that hard into the ground.

But apparently, Frogs had descended from the evolutionary family of ancient, medieval Battle Tanks.

Who knew?

The second his arms let go of those legs, to reach for the capture cuff on his back; they came right back up. One shot to the gut, another to the chin and both to the chest again, hitting him so hard he was physically lifted straight up, smashing the overhead lights hard enough to shatter them before his body flopped back down to the ground.

The world swam and swayed and it took him a moment to remember what day it was.

Ooookay then.

Shoji rolled over onto his back, laying in a bewildering amount of pain.

On the other hand. Asui didn't seem too eager to start moving either; her body seemingly giving up the fight with an agonized croak of "Ribbit."

He pulled himself to his feet, feeling something at his back. Likely a cut. He shifted one tendril on his arm to an eye and snaked it around to look.

Yeah. That was not a pleasant looking gash.

He reached down, being careful of the dangerous dangerous dangerous legs and slapped the capture cuff on her ankle

"Think that means you're done…"

"Ribit…" She wheezed. He felt kinda bad.

"I kinda think the pain's hitting me now." She admitted.

"Think you can walk? Might not be five stars, but there's a chair in the room we're supposed to guard."

"Not before you take those fucking bombs off of her."

Shoji looked up, and Asui craned her head to stare upside down at the glowering Bakugou as he stalked down the hallway towards them.

Shoji nodded, looking at her waist where he could see both belts now that he had the mind to look. "He gave you both bombs? Was he really counting on you doing all the heavy lifting?"

"... Not really."

She looked like she was smiling, though it was a bit hard to tell with her… blank face.

Shoji raised an eyebrow, looking at Bakugou whose gaze seemed much sharper at her words.

Unbuckling the belts he reached for the bags and opened them.

They were empty.

"He took the orange paint vials." Shoji said.

"Son of a bitch. He's always planning some shit."

"Whatever he's planning, he gave up his only partner for it." He answered with a shrug "Seems like a stupid plan If he now has to try and fight two quirked opponents."

Bakugou's eyes darted this way and that way. "Doesn't make sense… He must've known the odds… why'd he bet it all on you… He's smarter than this."

"Your history with him is making you paranoid." Shoji said before reaching down to help Asui to her feet. "Lets get her out of the way then we'll go and deal with him together. Between the two of us getting a capture tape on him should be easy, sprinklers or no sprinklers.

"This doesn't make any fucking sense!" Bakugou roared, red eyes wild. "I know him! This plan doesn't make any fucking sense!"

Shoji shrugged, turning the tendrils of his arms to ears.

"If it's any consolation. You can ask him yourself. He's close."

"How close?"

Shoji turned, looking into a room and out the window, to the other building across the street, where they could see Izuku standing at the opposite window watching quietly.

Bakugou followed his gaze, eyeing the greenette and muttering "I gotta think… gotta think. The fuck's he planning."

Shoji sighed. "You're acting paranoid. Whatever his plan is, it's both of us against him. We're faster and stronger. He can't get to the room from there if we both move and take him out now. I don't care what kind of plan he could have cooked up."

Bakugou still looked unsure.

Shoji was not.

Stepping up towards the window sill, Shoji opened the glass pane, arms turning into fleshy fins that would let him glide the distance.

(X)(X)(X)

Moment of truth.

Izuku tried not to gulp where he stood, watching as Shoji stepped up to the window counting the seconds quietly as Shoji moved to cross the distance and reach him.

Come on… Move… Move…

One second passed, two, then three.

He just saw Shoji grasp the concrete ledge outside when finally, Bakugou blasted out of the window to rush straight towards him

Izuku felt himself smile.

He backed away from the window, seconds later a blast shattered the thing sending shards everywhere as Bakugou made his way inside followed shortly by Shoji.

The blonde bomber looked absolutely livid.

Which was saying something, considering his usual mood.

"The fuck is this shit Deku?! You really gonna embarrass yourself sticking all your eggs in the frog girl basket? This shit ain't you!"

He wasn't wrong…

Izuku backed away, Shoji stepped forward, capture tape in hand.

"You can't beat us both Midoriya. So let's just call this our win and better luck next time."

Izuku felt his lips twitch in a smile.

"Well… you're half right."

Shoji raised an eyebrow, but Bakugou stiffened.

"I can't beat the both of you…" His grin widened just a bit. "But I think I'll call this our win."

He couldn't have timed it better, because at that moment Aizawa's voice rang through the exam arena much to Bakugo's fury and Shoji's obvious surprise.

"Villain objective achieved."

(X)(X)(X)

The watchers had erupted into uproar after the final play of the match.

"Wait! What!"

"Oh, that is Bullshit!"

"Language!"

"Dude! That's total BS. She was captured!"

"That was clever actually."

"Oh of course you'd say that; Ms, invisible sneaky shenanigans. "

As the various cries and protests rang through the group of students Aizawa's headache grew.

Of course…

Of course, the quirkless student, the one who, on paper should be the LEAST of his problems would come up with a plan that only exacerbated his addiction to aspirins.

How in the hell was he supposed to grade this?

They captured Tsuyu. Walked away from her… and then Tsuyu had proceeded to march over to the room they were supposed to keep safe and regurgitated the two bombs from her stomach and placed them there.

Because, apparently, Frogs could do that…

Goddamn problem child.

He turned his eyes across the room, to the other examiner, finding Edgeshot.

Aizawa recognized that look.

It seemed that Edgeshot had found what he was looking for after all.

(X)(X)(X)

Well here ya go, a nice beefy chapter for ya.