A/N: Alright, I'm on time (kind of)! Let's see how Team Applicant vs. Team RWBY concludes!

If you haven't had a chance yet, you can check out my Instagram the_red_swordsman to check out my sketch of the hero aspirants!

Phase 4: Chapter 6

Pendulum

"Damn, these guys have thought things out," Kurai mused as they watched the supplicate team move out to enact the next part of their plan. "They're leaving almost nothing to chance."

"Almost nothing?" Mina repeated.

"Well, they're sending Asada with Yang to make sure that she gets to the prison, which makes sense, given that he's the least combat-oriented of the bunch," Izuku answered before Kurai could. "But they are gambling with Shinso's control over Rose, if what Mister Aizawa said about his quirk is correct."

"They just have to hit Ruby, right?" Ochaco questioned, to which both boys nodded, having questioned their teacher about their prospective peers' abilities.

"The problem is that she's so fast, it'll be hard for them to hit her," her boyfriend pointed out. "And they'll have to deal with the fact that Shinso can brainwash them, too, since they don't know how his quirk functions."

"You're underestimating our friends," Kurai countered, causing the others' gaze to turn back to him. "Belladonna has told me about the kind of combat training they do in the States, and it's a lot more competitive than what we do here."

"This isn't competitive enough?" Mina grinned as she made a wide gesture to indicate their surroundings.

"They apparently have class tournaments once a month, and once a week, they train against each other in battle, all with live rounds, mind you," he said with a raised eyebrow.

"Wait, live rounds as in actual bullets?!" Mina gaped. "Like, the metal ones?"

"Yep."

"How do they do that without killing each other?! Even they're not that good!"

"They have a professor there who can infuse a force field around up to ten individuals for an hour," Kurai recalled aloud. "They're pretty much impenetrable as long as the student is conscious, but each time the shield is hit, it drains their stamina. Too much force, and the things shatter, which has happened a few times with Xiao Long, apparently."

"That's not really surprising," Ochaco giggled.

"So instead of a healer, they have someone who prevents any actual harm to begin with," Izuku murmured, his eyes a bit distant as he did. "Interesting…"

Before he could wander too far down that rabbit hole, Kurai said, "In any case, the girls have not only a lot of combat experience against other people, but against each other, too. Even if it comes to them fighting Rose, I'm sure they'll figure something out."

"Let's hope so," Mina said as she pointed up at the screen. "Cos that Shinso guy looks like he's not planning to mess around."

"It's been too long."

Weiss frowned, but she knew that Blake was right- Ruby should have been back with a captive long before they were. However, when they had arrived at their home base to deposit their prisoner, they were both surprised to find it empty, and with their team leader nowhere to be seen. Not only that, but Yang was also missing.

"You don't think that they got captured, do you?" she finally asked her partner, who shrugged in response.

"It's starting to look that way, no matter how improbable it seems," Blake replied. "Even if they're out in the field somewhere, we should operate under the assumption that we're on our own from now on."

"Agreed," Weiss muttered as they began to walk away from their base. "Our biggest issue is still that we have no idea what our enemies' powers are."

"If they've managed to capture Yang or Ruby, they're even more dangerous than we gave them credit for," Blake replied as she assumed a thoughtful look. "We haven't heard any big explosions since the match began, so whatever they can do, it's likely that they're banking on stealth and catching us off-guard to make it work."

"So we'll have to be ready to flip the tables the second that they make an appearance." The furrow in Weiss' brow deepened before she added, "I've finally got that one move down, but do you have anything else that might help in case of an ambush?"

Before Blake could give an answer, both girls unsheathed their blades as they heard a familiar rush of wind coming right at them from further up the field. "Is that Ruby?" the raven-haired heroine asked as she narrowed her eyes at the oncoming storm.

"If it is, she probably needs backup," Weiss replied as the air around her began to cool off rapidly. "Get ready." Blake made no reply, but she did leap up onto a streetlight in order to get a better vantage point on whoever might be chasing their friend while Weiss prepared for a more direct counterattack. "What do you see?!"

"…Weiss, get out of there!"

Without hesitation, the Regal Heroine used a hex to launch herself skyward and then another to get her up on a nearby rooftop, just in time for Ruby to tear through the spot where she had just been a moment ago. "What was-?!"

"She didn't have any pursuers, so I figured that one of us had to be the target!" Blake interrupted as they watched their teammate skid to a stop, cracking the pavement beneath her feet as she halted her massive momentum. To the younger girl, she shouted, "Ruby, what are you doing?!"

In response, Ruby unslung her scythe and took aim at Blake with a stony expression on her face. Both Blake and Weiss paled before a rubber bullet tore through the Shadow Heroine's clone, forcing it to dissipate while the girl herself dropped down to the street. "She's not herself!" Weiss shouted as she rushed forward, her rapier describing circles in the air as she moved with the speed of her hexes. "One of those guys must have a hypnotism quirk that's controlling her!"

"Who did she go after, again?!"

"That'd be me," said Shinso as he walked up the street from the same direction that Ruby had initially come from, his face hidden behind his mask. As he maintained a measured pace, he called out, "Alright, Rose, get over here- I need a meat shield." Without a second of hesitation, Ruby zoomed over to stand between him and the other girls, much to their frustration. Before they could move to try and circle him, Shinso added, "I wouldn't try anything, if I were you. After all, you don't know how to undo my brainwashing, and if you take me down before you do, who knows what'll happen to your little friend?"

"What a cheap move," Weiss grumbled under her breath.

Shinso flicked his eyes up toward her while he turned a knob on the side of his mask. Then he turned away, just in time for her to hear Ruby say, "Don't try to fight him, Schnee. He already got Xiao Long."

Weiss went to yell at her teammate to snap out of it, but just before she did, she silenced herself and switched to hold her rapier in reverse. With an angry scowl, she jammed the blade into the roof that she stood on, sending her power surging into the pure white hex that she had conjured, which spanned well over the square footage of the structure. The air's temperature dropped across the entire city block, causing everyone but Weiss herself to shiver as a massive figure began to rise from the sigil, crumbling the building beneath them with a mere touch.

The colossus soon showed itself clearly by shrugging off the rubble of the building it had stood on, revealing an ice golem armed with a massive sword and thick armor that would have held up to a beat down from the likes of Ryukyu in her dragon form. "Ultimate Move… Summoning: Arma Gigas!"

Weiss was panting as she looked down at Shinso from her creation's shoulder, who suddenly looked a lot less sure of himself. "I don't know where you get off trying to use Ruby's voice as your own, but the next time you imitate someone, make sure you know how they address their companions," she called down haughtily. "Now, release my friend from your control, or I'll ice you and this entire complex to trap your teammates. And before you get any bright ideas about trying to take down my giant, allow me to inform you that you'll need flames on par with Endeavor's Hellfire before you'll have a chance at melting him- and he'll keep going even after I've been knocked unconscious."

Shinso was rendered speechless. He'd been operating under the assumption that Weiss was the weakest member of the team, and that even if he couldn't outsmart her- which he had intended to do with his Persona Chords support item- he could have Akabane restrain her once she got in close enough. Now, though, he knew that none of his teammates had the skillset needed to get close enough to the American girl to restrain her, forget trying to take on her golem. He had only one option in this scenario.

Turning to Ruby, he ordered, "Block her line of sight and throw the snowman off-balance with your quirk! Make a tornado around them!" He was in a doubly bad spot now that his gambit to utilize the girl's voice had failed. He doubted that Weiss had figured out the specifics of his quirk- after all, she had spoken to him after summoning her golem, even if he had been too startled to take advantage of it- but she would be even more cautious in approaching him if they came face-to-face again. I was too quick to play that card, he fumed as he watched Ruby begin her assault on the giant, quickly losing sight of the icy figures in the storm of rose petals and rushing winds.

Meanwhile, Akabane had tried to take advantage of Blake's distraction with Weiss' situation by pinning her down with pair of blood crystals, but the other girl's quirk had allowed her to evade harm once again. Blake was quickly on the counteroffensive, using both her sword and sheathe to drive her opponent away from the mounting battle with a stony expression which almost matched that of Shinso's brainwashing victims. She was holding her own by using her crystalized blood to create spiked knuckledusters with her gauntlets, which were durable enough to stave off her opponent's sharper weapons.

"You've been trained to fight." Blake's words were phrased as a statement, not a question, but Akabane didn't feel like answering, either way. As the shadowy heroine batted away a swift jab to her midsection, she added, "You should've already been in the hero course with skills like yours'. Why lower yourself to the general studies?"

Akabane's eyes narrowed before she bared her teeth and growled out, "That's none of your business!" This was followed by a three-punch combo that cut Blake's left knuckles and culminated with a savage side kick that nearly knocked her down, though she was able to substitute a clone in time to avoid any real damage. Like Yang before her, she was surprised by the seemingly quiet girl's sudden viciousness.

However, she knew that she had bigger things to worry about when she felt the cold air around her begin to shudder, and she knew what was coming next. To her opponent, she said, "If you want to make it into the hero course, you can't let any inhibitions hold you back. You'll be playing catchup with my friends, and speaking from personal experience, it's not an easy thing to do." Then she leaped up high, conjuring two clones beside her as she did, which then cupped their hands beneath her feet and launched her up even higher, just out of Akabane's reach.

"Not so fast!" the hemophiliac girl shouted as she aimed both fists at Blake. "Crimson Hail!" Nearly three-dozen blood crystals shot out of her gauntlets at Blake, who knew that even with her quirk, there was no way that she would be able to avoid such a widespread attack.

Fortunately, thanks to her innate sense of timing and reflexes, she wouldn't have to. Just as she began to lose momentum, Weiss' golem swept its huge sword right beneath her, turning the air around them bone-chillingly cold, and intercepting the bloody projectiles. Blake landed on the flat of the massive blade and immediately started to run up its length, heading for Weiss, who was waving her over. She knew that if she stayed still for even a moment, the cold would lock her in place, and then Weiss would have to dispel the giant. As it was, frost began to coat her clothes as she ran, even as the sword carved a huge gash in the city block, leaving massive ice crystals in its wake.

"Going a little overboard, aren't you?" she panted as she came to a stop on the shoulder next to Weiss, who shrugged unapologetically. "We'll lose points for this."

"I am not losing to a group of half-trained wannabes," the icy girl replied stubbornly as the golem completed its lumbering stroke, leaving both Shinso and Akabane in a frigid prison of frozen moisture. "They may well have garnered the teachers' attention with their potential, but I haven't worked as hard as I have to be upstaged by potential alone."

Deciding not to press the subject of the collateral damage any further, Blake decided instead to ask, "Where's Ruby? Last I saw, she was trying to make a tornado around you."

"D-D-Down here!" Both girls looked down to see their teammate shivering violently next to the golem's right foot, her eyes looking up at them pleadingly. "Please, l-let me out… So c-cold…"

"Sorry, Ruby, but you can't be trusted, given the circumstances," Weiss replied, a little archly. "For all we know, he could still be controlling you."

"He's not!" the younger girl whined. "When he g-got me, I c-couldn't t-t-talk at all!"

Weiss and Blake exchanged a look before the white-themed heroine shrugged and said, "If you think it's worth the risk, go and cut her loose. You'd be better suited for getting out of a close-quarters ambush."

"True." With that, Blake leaped down and held her sword at the ready, immediately slashing through the ice imprisoning her friend before she leaped away, senses on high alert for any sign of hostility from the other girl. When all Ruby did was start rubbing her arms rapidly to try and generate friction, she asked her, "You okay?"

"Th-That was cold, even for her," the younger girl complained. "I just wish I knew how he did that to me…"

"How'd you snap out of it?" Blake asked as she converted her sword into its pistol form.

"I d-don't really remember anything after t-talking to him until Weiss' statue stabbed the ground, a-and I tripped up, which got me to hit that wall." As she spoke, Ruby indicated a nearby structure, which had been partially demolished by the ice damage. "Right after that, I got frozen."

"So he probably lost his concentration when she started her attack, or the impact itself is what set you free," Blake mused as she started to head toward the frozen students. "Well, whatever the case is, we should get him back to the jail- assuming Weiss didn't just smash it."

Ruby giggled at that before saying, "Weiss may hate to lose, b-but she wouldn't do anything to endanger us winning." Her expression became more serious as they drew nearer to Shinso, who was looking a little blue as he shivered in the ice. "Whatever you do, don't talk to him," she warned her teammate. "I'm not a hundred percent on this, but I think something about talking to him is what allows him to control people."

"Got it."

The two girls quickly released their captives from the ice, bound them, and then had Ruby use her speed to throw them both in the prison. Shinso kept talking the whole time, asking them questions, insulting them, and doing anything that he could to get a reaction out of them, all to no avail. While this was happening, Weiss released her golem and allowed it to fade into a flurry of snow before joining her friends. After comparing notes on their opponents' fighting styles, they agreed that Shinso probably did control people by getting them to talk.

"That explains why he imitated your voice," Weiss recalled as she and the others began to head back out into the field in search of the last student. "He probably thought that I'd try to talk you out of his brainwashing."

"How'd you know it wasn't me talking?" Ruby then asked.

"He called Yang and I by our surnames," the Regal Heroine snorted. "He was good, I give him that, but I wasn't about to fall for it after such a glaring mistake."

"Good thing you're so smart," Ruby grinned at her teammate. "Sorry I got tricked so easily."

"That's what training is for," Blake shrugged before Weiss could make a reply. "This is a learning opportunity. Now you know to be more cautious when engaging in banter with an enemy who you don't know anything about."

"Banter with an enemy in general seems pretty pointless to me," Weiss quipped.

"Ah, but it's half the fun of the job," Ruby giggled. Growing somber again, she added, "Seriously, thanks, you guys. I almost ruined our chances at winning cos I was too overconfident, even though I was one of the ones saying we should be careful. I'm glad you had my back."

"We always do," Weiss replied with a genuinely warm smile that the other two couldn't help but reciprocate- after all, it wasn't every day that they got to see her softer side.

They never found Asada, but because they had imprisoned three opponents as opposed to their one captured teammate, they were declared the winners of the match. The outcome hardly surprised any of the other participants, but it had been a closer call than many of them would have expected.

"I'd let Akabane and Shinso in, at the very least," Kurai said in an aside to his friends once the screens went to display the match results. "He's clever, even if he relies on his quirk a little too much, and she's got the drive people like us need to succeed."

"Given their lack of experience, I'd say they did incredibly well against our classmates," Iida agreed. "Had they been in the hero course from the beginning, I imagine that things might have turned out very differently."

"I certainly can't remember any of us other than Hikari being able to back Schnee into a corner like that during our combat practices," Todoroki added with a nod of his own. "It seems Bakugo was right- she's more capable than she lets on, most of the time."

"That's probably the idea," Izuku commented as he finished jotting down his notes. "She doesn't look very strong, and she plays on people's assumption about her. It's a really good strategy."

"For now," Kurai pointed out. When the others looked a question at him, he elaborated, "Once we all go pro, she won't be able to play that card for very long. Once people- villains- start to hear about her, they'll think twice before underestimating her strength. She won't be able to take them by surprise forever."

"Everyone here knows you need more than one trick to be a real pro, Saiyaman." The boys all looked over to see Bakugo leaning on the railing, looking up at the clouds as if he hadn't a care in the world. "You saw the same thing I did- you really think she's gonna stop coming up with ways to one-up all the idiot villains out there? If you don't watch it, she'll end up with more ultimate moves than your stupid quirk gives you."

Once again, the boys were surprised to hear him speak well of Weiss, but given his earlier outburst against Kaminari, none of them decided to comment on the matter. Even so, Kurai couldn't keep a slight grin off of his face as he had the thought that maybe their electric-themed friend might've been closer to the truth than he had realized.

Once all the students- the ones who were well enough to attend, anyway- had regathered at the starting area, Aizawa and Vlad King addressed the supplicate team to review their work. "All of you have a lot of improvements you need to make," Class A's teacher said bluntly, causing Akabane and Asada to flinch, while Shinso remained stone-faced. "All three of you placed too much faith in Shinso's ability to control his opponents, and that more than anything caused your team to fail. If you want to succeed as a hero, you need to rely on more than just your powers."

"Akabane, you're strong, but you take too long to get motivated in a fight," Vlad added, causing the girl's shoulders to slump further. "Getting angry isn't a good enough reason to make a fist. If you want to become a hero, you can't wait until you're backed into a corner to start hitting back."

"Yes, sir," she mumbled dejectedly.

"Asada, you were not nearly proactive enough in the encounters," Aizawa deadpanned, causing the boy to gulp nervously. "Your quirk is very useful for gathering information, yes, but that cannot be your only contribution to the field. Had you moved in to assist Akabane in her fight with Belladonna, there is a very real possibility that you could have blindsided her and claimed a victory."

"I understand, sir," the boy answered in a similar tone to the girl next to him.

"Shinso, you did well in leading the others in this battle, and capitalizing on the use of your quirk," Vlad told the stoic boy. "Given your lack of experience, it should be noted how well you kept your head in the situation presented to you, even when faced with overwhelming odds."

"That being said, you still rely too heavily on your quirk," Aizawa cut in. "You will only be able to catch people off-guard with that so many times before they start to catch on. You chose a poor timing to make use of your support item, and it gave your opponent a vital clue as to how they should counter you."

Shinso said nothing, but his eyes lowered, and the others thought that he looked rather disappointed in himself more than either of the teachers could be. Seeing this, Vlad and Aizawa exchanged a look before the scraggly teacher stepped forward and said, "As we told you before, you have a lot to work on- and that is because you have shown that you are willing to put in the effort to develop the talents you have been born with. So starting second year, you three will be joining the hero course- provided you don't slack off on your other classes in the meantime."

The three students all looked dumbstruck for a moment before Akabane and Asada exchanged huge smiles and an excited hi-five. Shinso continued to look stunned for a good few seconds longer before he turned directly toward Aizawa and simply said, "Thank you, sir."

"Don't thank him yet," Vlad said warningly. "My class is no cakewalk. You'd better believe you're gonna be wishing you'd stayed in general studies at some point or another."

Shinso met his fierce gaze with a steely one to match it before replying, "No, sir. I will never regret my choice."

After critiquing the work of Team RWBY- Yang was particularly chewed out for not taking note of her surroundings, while Weiss was scolded for causing so much collateral damage- the teachers told everyone to remain on standby while they prepared the next area for battle. They took this time to congratulate their new peers, during which Mina practically dragged Kurai by his robotic limb to meet Akabane, saying that he needed to be polite and congratulate the other students- an excuse that he did not buy for a second.

"You just wanna know how I might know her," he grumbled as he was forced to go with her.

She ignored him until they were close enough to talk to Akabane in a casual manner. "Congratulations on making it into the hero course," the pink girl said cheerily as she shook hands with the other girl, who had taken off her support item and stuffed a piece of tissue back up into her bloodied nose. "I gotta say, I never woulda guessed that you'd be the one to take down Xiao Long."

"That makes two of us," Akabane chuckled a little hoarsely. "But really, it was Shinso who made the capture. I just held her off until he could arrive to help."

"As someone who's been on the receiving end of some of her punches, I can say you're a lot tougher than you give yourself credit for," Kurai said as he held out his hand to shake hers'. "You're on your way to being one of the greats, Akabane."

The girl reddened a little and scratched at the back of her neck with her free hand as she took the offered grip. "That means a lot, coming from you," she said shyly, which just confused both Kurai and Mina.

"Uh…"

"Sorry, do you guys know each other?" Mina asked before Kurai could pose the question. At least this way, he wouldn't have to outright admit that he didn't remember the girl, provided that they did know each other from somewhere.

"Oh, sorry!" Akabane laughed nervously as she released his hand and stepped back a half-pace. "No, we haven't met before. I just… really admire you, Hikari."

Now Mina and Kurai were exchanging an even more confused look, and to be honest, the boy wasn't sure that he was comfortable with the territory that this seemed to be wandering towards. However, having apparently sensed the growing awkwardness, Akabane hurried to say, "N-Not like what you're thinking!" Her face was nearly as red as her bangs as she rushed to explain, "I heard about what happened when you guys fought at the USJ, and how your quirk nearly got you killed because of it. I really respected you because even though you have a quirk that could be hazardous to your health, you decided to continue pursuing your dream of being a hero- unlike me…"

"How do you mean?" he asked, feeling a little better now that it seemed that the girl wasn't enamored with him like he had begun to fear.

"My quirk doesn't replace my blood when it's outside my body," Akabane explained. "If I lose too much blood, well… It's similar to me just bleeding out. It's hard to keep track of how much blood I'm using when I fight, so it's kinda dangerous for me to use it, which is why my dad was worried about me wanting to become a hero. But after he met you, he seemed to realize that maybe my quirk wasn't as dangerous to my well-being as giving up on my dreams could be. So since then, he's been more supportive of my goal to become a hero."

"Your dad?" Kurai inquired, feeling even more confused than before. "I don't know anyone named Akabane- I don't think?"

The girl, instead of being insulted, chuckled a little bit before replying, "Given how rough a shape you must have been when you met him, I guess it's not a surprise you don't remember him. But he's the guy who saved your life after… well, after that." Here, she pointed at Kurai's right arm- or to be more specific, at the spot where his flesh transformed into metal.

Suddenly Kurai realized why the girl had seemed so familiar to him, and yet he had been unable to place it. Her eyes were the same color and shape as the man who had operated on him after he had been brought back from the brink of death, and the red bangs on her head also matched his crimson hair. "I remember him, now," he said, his eyes a little wide in surprise. "He talked about you after I woke up for the first time."

"Dude!" Mina said with mock exasperation. "Talk about rude, not bothering to remember the guy who saved your life!"

"If you'll recall, I was still making my way out of a mini-coma that was one pit stop away from death's door," he quipped dryly. "Forgive me for forgetting my good manners at the baggage terminal."

In response, she swatted his arm- and then immediately bit back a curse as her flesh encountered dense metal beneath the orange fabric of his costume. This made her boyfriend snort with laughter as he managed to get out, "Not so funny when it happens to you, is it?"

"It's never been funny!"

"It's kinda funny." He then held her at arm's length as she tried to get in a solid smack on his other side, where there was no danger of being injured by his prosthetic. To Akabane, he said, "Well, I know it's probably a bit late to be saying this, but please send your father my regards when you next talk to him. I'll be looking forward to having you as a peer- and a rival."

"Haha!" Akabane snorted. "I appreciate the encouragement, but after seeing your fight in Fukuoka, I doubt you have any rivals here."

"Only if you keep up that attitude," he grinned at her, even as Mina gave up and chose to sag onto his arm like a limp noodle with a pouting expression. "Congratulations again, Akabane."

"Thanks, Hikari."

The following matches passed in a blur for Kurai. Even though the momentum leading to victory swung like a pendulum between the two classes, he was happy to see how much his friends had been improving over the last few months. The first match was cut a little close by Kirishima's team, but they managed to secure a 4-2 win, which was followed by a loss on Yaoyorozu's team, 1-4. Iida's group was unable to best their opponents, but they didn't lose either, with both teams ending the match with a single prisoner. In spite of the result, Kurai took time to congratulate Iida on his improved Recipro move after he had come back from the nurse's office, as well as praise Todoroki for his increased resilience to his own flames. Following this was an absolute annihilation of Class B's fourth team by Bakugo, Jiro, Sato, and Sero, with the explosive hero-in-training showing a surprising amount of cooperation and leadership that impressed Kurai and many of the others alongside him.

"Since when was he a team player?" the cyborg teen couldn't help but ask aloud.

"He wanted to win, and protecting the others was the best way to do that," Izuku answered him with a light smile. "Kacchan's always been obsessed with winning- now he's just learning that claiming an absolute victory doesn't mean leaving all of his classmates in the dust."

"Huh," Kurai chuckled. "Now I've seen everything." As he rubbed the spot on his arm where flesh fused with metal, he added in a lower tone, "I guess this was worth it, after all…"

Mina looked sadly at his arm before she forced a smile onto her face and gripped the artificial appendage, drawing his attention to her dark eyes. "I still think the price was too high," she whispered. "But I'm glad that the most is being made out of it."

"You and me both, sweetheart."

"You doing okay?" Ochaco asked as she and Izuku moved to stand in front of their teammates. She hadn't heard what they were saying, but the looks on their faces said enough to let them know that they weren't continuing the shameless flirting that they had been doing all day.

"I'm good," Kurai assured them quickly. Adding a slightly more evil smile to his expression, he added, "It's payback time." As he said this, he directed his gaze across the waiting area toward Monoma, who was talking in lowered tones with his teammates, none of whom were looking too confident in their chances of victory.

Objectively, Mina couldn't blame them. Sure, they had some decent powers on their team, and against most opponents, Monoma's quirk would be a disconcerting one to go up against- after all, how often did people have to fight exact replicas of their own abilities? On a more personal level, she was looking forward to seeing just what Kurai would do once he had Monoma in his sights on the battlefield.

Before either teams could move out, Aizawa approached Kurai's group and singled him out for a more private discussion. Once they were away from everyone else, the teacher turned to look at his student with a steely gaze before saying, "You won't be within range of my quirk, so I won't be able to physically stop the match at any given time. Don't take that as permission to do whatever you want."

Kurai kept his features composed as he returned his instructor's gaze evenly and replied, "I won't lie to you, sir. There's some catharsis to be had on my end for the crap he put me through. This is going to be something of a grudge match. That said, I will promise you that I won't cause any… permanent damage."

Aizawa regarded him silently for a moment before he nodded behind his scarf and said, "Given the level of restraint you've shown since your father's crime was revealed to the public, as well as your handling of the situation with your uncle's killer, I'm willing to trust you. Don't violate that- my trust isn't easily won."

"I'm well aware," Kurai chuckled briefly. He then bowed to his teacher and said, "Thank you, sir. I'll see to it that your trust is not misplaced."

Aizawa merely grunted and led his charge back to the observation deck, where Monoma's team had already begun to head out. As he rejoined his own group, he was intrigued when the majority of his classmates gathered around on either side of them, all of them wearing knowing smiles as they did.

"Kick his ass, man," Kaminari told him.

"We're all rooting for you," Ojiro said with a thumbs-up.

"May good fortune and the gods of vengeance smile upon you," Tokoyami murmured.

"Try not to get the others caught up in the crossfire, yeah?" Jiro grinned as she gave him a fist bump.

Everyone fell quiet when Bakugo stepped up with a scowl on his face, and his arms crossed. Then he simply said, "Kill him, Saiyaman."

"Done," Kurai smirked as he passed his classmate by, who then walked toward the display screen.

Just before they hit the stairs, however, their group had one more surprise waiting for them. "Hey, Hikari!" Kendo called, halting the quartet in place as they looked over their shoulders to see Class B's representative giving him a charming smile and a giant thumbs-up. "I'm not exactly rooting for your team to win, but… Well, I suppose I can cheer for you. So, good luck." This was followed by all of her classmates adding their voices of approval for the young hero, who felt touched by their show of support.

"Thanks, you guys," he called as Mina tugged on his arm and reminded him that they needed to get moving. "Once this is over, let's all celebrate our hard work, yeah?"

"You got it," Kendo nodded. "Now show us what you're made of, Kai."

"Yes, ma'am!"

Deku: I feel like Shinso got robbed a little bit.

Mataras: I mean, I can see that. But given that events have played differently to the original canon, you have to expect that not everyone will be afforded the same emotional payoffs. I did what I could to include Shinso because I like his character, but I couldn't just shoehorn him in and expect the same level of catharsis for when he got into the hero course.

Ground Zero: Who cares about that?! Get to the ass-kicking!

Mataras: I would, but we are out of time for today's chapter. You'll have to wait until the next one.

Ground Zero: Outta time?! You didn't even bother to write my win into this piece a crap, what kinda lame-ass excuse is that?!

Mataras: What?! If people want to know how your fight went, they can just go and watch the show! I didn't need to translate video to written word, so why would I?

Ground Zero: You're just lazy!

Deku: Kacchan, this really isn't the place! We don't wanna attract any-!

Kai: There you are!

Mataras: Ah, crap. Deku, you finish up, I'm out!

Kai: Get back here!

Deku: Oh man. Umm, next time on Your Hero Academia- Awakening

Ground Zero: Better be something that keeps me more awake than this snooze fest.

Mataras: I'm telling Weiss you said that!

Ground Zero: That tears it! Saiyaman, hold him still!

Deku: Ack! Guys-! Uh, Go Beyond, Plus Ultra, we'll see you next time!

Kai: FINAL...!

Ground Zero: HOWITZER...!

Deku: Guys, cut it out!

Next time on Your Hero Academia..

"Sounds like we need a preemptive strike, then," Ochaco chimed in. "Something that'll throw them off before they have a chance to get started."

"Kurai can handle that, no problem," Mina grinned as she patted her boyfriend on the shoulder. "Right, sweetie?"

Kurai was about to agree that he could do so, but he was interrupted when Izuku shook his head in the negative and said, "No, they'll be expecting him to make the long-range attack. Monoma probably has a countermeasure in mind for that- after all, he wants to win against Kurai more than anyone else in Class B."

Kurai mused on this for a moment before a slow smile worked its way across his face and he said, "Ochaco is right, a preemptive, long-range attack is probably the best way to get things going in our favor. But if they're expecting me, then I say we give 'em something else to think about."

"How's that?" Mina asked as she let a bit of acid drip off of her fingertip. "I can do medium-range attacks, but I can't snipe someone from across the map like you can."

"You sure about that?"

"…Eh?"