A/N: WE MADE 1500 FOLLOWERS?! How?! Thank you all so much!

The reaction to the last chapter was very much worth all the waiting I did to get my story to the time where I wanted a Nighteye and Stain showdown- thank you all so much for your support and for giving me a big old smile to read some of your reviews (I will be replying to those this week- sorry, it's been a very busy one at work). They're two of my favourite characters in the series in any event, because of how fascinating their respective world views are, and there is plenty more to come from both of them.

Shout-out this chapter goes to someone whose story I picked up relatively recently, and found myself asking "why didn't I see this sooner"? Many of you will know that I absolutely love Ignite to the Call, by CannibalisticApple (who was kind enough to give this fic a channel on her Discord, which you can join with the code nrdzNE4H ). The shout-out this week goes to someone who has written a fic in a similar vein, and that's Sleepless Elite with 'Once More Into The Fray'. Like Ignite, it deals with dimensional displacement, but in a different and incredibly interesting way, and I am very intrigued about where it's going. You should all give it a look!

Anyway, two chapters away from Izuku means I wouldn't dare leave Izuku out of this chapter. And for me it's an interesting one, because this is one which is tied to certain canon events; something more familiar for some of you reading. You'll see.

Enjoy!

(***)

Standing in his Hero costume for the first time since he had arrived at UA, it was hard for Izuku not to tremble with excitement and anticipation. He wasn't too ashamed to admit that some classic Midoriya tears had been shed the moment that he had seen himself in the changing room mirror, wearing the outfit made for him by Tenko and his mother, and finally getting to put it on as part of their Hero training for the first time? He wished he could bottle up that feeling, and hold onto that forever.

The homeroom session of Class 1A had been buzzing with chatter when he and his friends had arrived, and it wasn't hard to figure out why. Midnight's mentions of a Combat Training class during their Quirk Apprehension test on day one had got people excited to face off against each other and test their mettle, and that was without even knowing the rules. A few appeared apprehensive- Izuku had caught a look on Kodai's face as she sat down behind him, and amidst the loud chatter Awase's grin had been clearly see-through- but for the most part, people were raring to go. And then Midnight had arrived, and told them to suit up for the first time. If the class had been buzzing before she announced that they would be in costume, it was bouncing afterwards.

Izuku had only seen half the class's costumes from the brief time getting changed with the rest of the boys, but he knew full well that when he went home, the first point of call would be to the drawer in which he kept his notebooks, to get drawing as best as he could his classmate's profiles. Their costumes had been beyond his wildest expectations. Izuku was (to his relief) not alone in being someone who hadn't made the most of the Support Course's offer to design him a costume based on his own blueprints, sticking to the homemade jumpsuit which Tenko and his mother had put their heart and soul into. He had nearly squealed aloud when he saw the armour Iida had donned, a loving tribute to the Ingenium family line, and he had been amazed by how simple and functional Shoji had gone with the combat vest and pants; it wasn't extravagant, but it was perfect for his Quirk to get maximum usage, and Izuku's exclamation along those lines had earned an approving nod from the boy. He may not have been able to see behind Shoji's mask, but he could tell that the Dupli-Arms user had smiled from how it creased, and he was glad that he could show the boy his respect.

Among those who did put their trust in the Support Course, Honenuki's orange armour and jet-black helmet had been incredible to see, and Izuku had been especially blown away by the exquisite suit which had for reasons unknown to him been requested by Monoma; as much as the boy clearly didn't like him, Izuku couldn't just stand by and not admit how awesome he thought his costume was. It was worth it for the little smirk on the blonde's face when he heard Izuku's comments, even if Tenko picking up on the smile and mocking Monoma had probably destroyed that in seconds.

Flattery will get you everywhere.

Tenko's costume had been a surprise for Izuku, without question. For starters, Tenko had apparently insisted on keeping the red trainers which Izuku had bought him as a gift, incorporating them into his costume to Izuku's great joy. While Tenko usually wore tighter trousers and jeans than him, these were gone and replaced with black combat pants, and his top appeared to be almost identical to the material Izuku's jumpsuit had been made of; Tenko calling it the "beta version" when Izuku asked confirmed that it had been the test run of Tenko making his costume for him. Topped off with a long black leather coat with a hood, it looked a little intimidating to begin with, but Izuku had realised just how much Tenko had gone for practicality, and thought it was amazing because of that.

"You think so?" Tenko had asked, when Izuku pointed this out on the walk, before chuckling. "Heh. See some of the rest of these? Yeah, it's flashy, but some of it just looks like it gets in the way, and some of it just looks like they've wanted to look awesome in the cutscenes. I went for something that gave me good utility and defence, without bottoming out my agility stat."

"I know! I get that!" Izuku gestured at the pockets of the coat, where Tenko had pointed out he could store things like first-aid kits. "It's just… don't you think that y-your coat might be-"

"... Yeah, it might be a little much with the hood." Tenko flipped a gloved hand back to play with the hood slightly. "I might lose some points in defence, but maybe something in lighter cloth, with no hood?"

"Right. Then it's less s-scary-"

"Scary? You should have seen the first version. I kinda wanted a mask, you know?" Tenko laughed. "You've got Inko to thank, talking me out of adding one. Apparently looking a lil' trustworthy is more important than being able to breathe in a gas attack, but I guess she made the right call huh?"

Izuku had tried to picture that, and shuddered at the thought. "It suits you, now, like this. It doesn't need anything else with it."

"I thought so too. I like it." Tenko gestured to the jumpsuit Izuku was wearing. "And hey, black across the board with both of us. I think it's pretty cool we both picked the same sort of skin, don't you think?"

"... Yeah. I like that." Izuku smiled, and meant it. "We're like p-partners."

"And don't you ever forget that, Izu."

He wouldn't. That much he swore.

From the changing rooms, it had been a relatively quick walk to the training grounds. Not that all of them were open and available to them; apparently Ground Beta was one of the few which had been maintained as UA found itself adapting to a new world without government funding to support it. Izuku knew that in the old days, it was the Pro Hero Cementoss who had been in charge of creating what was effectively a giant Hero playground out of concrete, but times had changed. Capable of fixing a disaster zone, Cementoss had been one of the few UA staff who hadn't stuck with the school full-time as Principal Nezu turned it into effectively his own Agency. In light of his part time status and a desire to keep the costs down in trying times, UA had scaled back how much of its sprawling site it opened up to the students for training; Ground Theta and Ground Sigma had both been deserted when Izuku and the rest of the class passed them, and even when arriving in Ground Beta, it wasn't hard to spot the cracks in the concrete, the scrap metal hulks of former prop vehicles which hadn't been replaced.

It was used, worn, run-down, and possibly a little bit sad to see, given how much he had marvelled at the documentaries on television that he had watched growing up; the naive part of him that had dreamed of UA as the pinnacle of Hero education didn't like seeing a site which was languishing and tired. It reminded him of that world outside. But in a way, that wasn't so bad. It was an awful world without All Might, he knew that much, but that wouldn't defeat him, or deter him from wanting to help people, so… if even UA couldn't stop the creeping-in of the negativity from outside, he had to work even harder to make that right. And he would.

Plus Ultra had never meant so much to him.

On arrival at the start line of their Combat Training, the girls had been a complete surprise in the variety of costumes. Asui's costume had drawn his eyes because of just how much attention to detail the frog girl had put into the various parts of it, and how useful all of her additions were; it was amazing that the Support Course had managed to make her boots which were easy to walk in on land, and yet would be good flippers in the water. Shiozaki's simple robes and Yanagi's kimono looked ever so slightly more focused on the aesthetics, but comfortable. What surprised Izuku most was Kodai, who had gone for a bodysuit which resembled the Ultraman comics of the olden days, and somehow made it look badass. He hadn't expected that of her, at all, and he'd probably enjoy talking to her about it after the class.

The less said about the fact that Hagakure had made the most of her Invisibility Quirk and appeared to have turned up naked, the better. Izuku couldn't look her in the eyes anyway when he realised this, but he definitely couldn't look at Setsuna. She'd have bullied him in front of everyone.

Midnight, in full Hero costume, had lost herself in a brief moment squealing over the sight of several of their costumes and just how good they all looked in them, and honestly Izuku couldn't help but agree with her assessment; they really did look like proper future Heroes, across the board. It hadn't been a long moment before Midnight had coughed, composing herself again, and explaining the task at hand. Izuku had not been surprised when the R-Rated Heroine had outlined that there would be a separate objective beyond just facing off against each other, and that there would be an element of teamwork to the exercise. Midnight was using her experience as a Hero to recreate one of the most common scenarios they would find themselves in, in a world like this, and one of the most common situations that she herself had been drafted in to deal with…

Hostage situations.

Izuku had seen more than enough news coverage of Midnight in action to know just how in demand she was, when it came to dealing with villains using civilians as shields. Somnambulist was an incredible Quirk, universal in who it worked on; neutralising the villains while causing no harm to the bystanders provided a perfect solution to most problems. It had meant that for some time after her debut, there had been a run on gas masks in the black market from the more professional gangs, running out of fear of her Quirk. Midnight's all-time high of Number Eleven in the Hero Rankings was testament to that.

It therefore made sense that she was asking them to try the same sort of exercise in their teams. The class were split into teams of two, drawn randomly, and divided into roles of Heroes and Villains. The Villains were handed a training dummy by Midnight, for some inexplicable reason decorated to look like Present Mic, and told to set themselves up in a fake apartment block at the centre of Ground Beta. The Heroes, against the odds, were tasked with climbing the tower, retrieving the hostage dummy, and getting it out of the building to the ground floor in ten minutes. All the Villains had to do was beat the Heroes, or stall them for long enough that they couldn't get the hostage out of the tower.

It was simple, Izuku realised, and yet effective at making them come up with solutions on the fly. All of his practice in watching the Quirks of his classmates while at Aldera, and all the time in training with Tenko and Setsuna, had given him the perfect training without knowing for trying to adapt to surprise situations like this. With those, and the extent of the notes he had been able to make on some of his classmates during the Quirk Apprehension test… he was actually looking forward to his fight, no matter how much his nerves were telling him otherwise.

The first two fights had demonstrated just how the odds could be stacked in the Villain's favour during this exercise, and yet how creative they had to get in defending a target in a confined space. Despite the random drawing, absolutely nobody had been surprised to see Tetsutetsu and Kirishima drawn together as the Heroes, full of manly cries and very little gameplan. Charging up the tower to confront their Villains, they had been bamboozled and overwhelmed by one of the most complex and thick defences in the class, courtesy of Momo Yaoyorozu (looking commanding in a red cloak) and Ibara Shiozaki, whose reluctance to be cast as a Villain had been completely forgotten in the pursuit of a total victory. The Villains had very quickly realised that the two carbon copies of each other would be totally dependant on getting up close for a brawl, and had made their match a misery with walls of vines blocking stairwells, and all manner of strange traps from Yaoyorozu.

Tenko had taken one look at Yaoyorozu making a set of flashbangs on the cameras watching the match, and declared her in need of a nerf. Izuku couldn't help but agree, and judging from the dejected looks for the two Heroes when the timer signified their defeat, it appeared they did too.

On the subject of Tenko, his match had been decidedly more brutal, and Izuku couldn't help but get a little nervous watching it. Tenko had taken to the role of being a Villain a little too well, but when he was paired with Mina Ashido, the one classmate with a Quirk as destructive as his, it was… carnage. Kendo and Shoji, their opponents as Heroes, had been left with very little choice but to mount a full-frontal assault; Dupli-Arms and Big Fist didn't give them any range or alternative at all. Traversing the damage done to the building by Decay and Acid hadn't left the Heroes much time, so what could have been a brutal war of attrition was thankfully cut short by the timer again. It wasn't hard to see why Midnight was insisting that all four of them went to see the school nurse after the Combat Training was over. Shoji was one of the few people who could stand up to Decay, but the sight of him losing a Dupli-Arm to Tenko's Quirk was still grim, and between Tenko's battered state at being targeted by Kendo and Ashido's burning skin from overuse of her Quirk as a deterrent, they were all a little worse for wear. Kendo seemed to be rather grateful she had gotten off lightly with scrapes and bruises, in comparison.

Izuku couldn't help but be a little jealous, though. Tenko got to meet Recovery Girl before he did, at this rate. If she was even at the school anymore.

His frantic note-taking had unfortunately been cut short by his match, however. Midnight had taken a brief pause to find a new tower for the exercise, after Ashido and Tenko had damaged their building a little too much, and had then declared it time for him and his partner to take to the stage. Their opponents were going to be difficult, and were clearly getting into the role as Villains; there had already been an argument with Midnight about why they hadn't already won, as a result of them throwing the hostage dummy out of a sixth-floor window before the round even started. Izuku shouldn't have expected anything less.

Izuku swallowed, looking up at the sixth floor where he knew their opponents would be, and turned to his partner. "I… I'm glad I'm working with you."

Himiko had been looking tired and pale ever since they had arrived at school that morning; apparently she had pushed herself too hard the night before in getting ready for the Combat Training. Izuku couldn't help but sympathise, because if she was to push herself to her full potential, Himiko faced showing people what her Quirk could do, and he had been a little nervous himself about what the tasks would entail. Still, even despite her tiredness, she shot him a smile. "Me too, Izu. I'm glad I have ya."

He couldn't help but blush a little faintly, scratching the back of his head. "T-Thanks. I kinda feel we're up for a tough one here, but we can get through it together."

"Hell yeah!" She bounced a little on her heels, looking him up and down. "So Tenko made that costume for you? It's so cool… I feel I should make something for it in future, y'know? So you've got a bit of me with ya as well!"

"I'd really l-like that!" Izuku took in her costume as well, and couldn't help but marvel at how awesome it was. He had never seen her in anything other than a skirt in all the times that they had met, and her Hero costume had somehow incorporated a black version of this on top of a form-fitting black suit which appeared to be made from similar material to Midnight's own suit. Under the skirt, Himiko had apparently secured a utility belt which holstered three smaller knives, to compliment the two larger holsters on her back; the teachers had insisted that while she could normally incorporate them for self-defence into her costume, she was limited to training knives in any combat class, much to her annoyance at how flimsy the training blades apparently were. "And I can add something to yours! Although it's so cool right now, so I wouldn't want to ruin it-"

Himiko giggled, cutting off his muttering. "If you give me something I'll wear it! Although… just don't make it too much to get in the way of how useful the costume can be, okay?"

"Useful? How do you mean?"

"Didn't I tell you? I spoke to Midnight about how to make this thing, so… it's made from the same material she uses!" Himiko grabbed at part of the suit on her forearm and tore, to Izuku's great surprise. "See! So it can come off easy! And then I keep a spare in the belt, so I'm not exposed after!"

"W-Wow…" Izuku felt himself going bright red at the implications, but his Quirk-obsessed mind somehow steered him back on course. "For your Quirk, right? Y-You can't copy over your clothes, so… you can tear the costume off and then you wouldn't look like-"

"Like I'm you in a skirt?" Himiko teased. "Exactly! Although don't think I don't see you right now, I know what you were thinking-"

Damn teenage hormones.

"I d-don't know what you mean-"

"You're a terrible liar, Izu. It's one of the things I love about ya." Himiko flicked him on the nose with a boop, and turned to face the tower. "But now ain't the time for either of our heads to be in the gutter. We've got a fight on our hands right now."

"Y-Yeah…" Izuku shook himself, and clenched a fist as he looked up. "They're going to be hard. If she's been involved with the plan, then we could be walking into anything, and the Villain team has one each round so far. But at least neither of them know what you can do yet-"

"Let's make them find out the hard way." Despite the bags under her eyes, Himiko grinned, and Izuku could see the fire burning deep within. "You and me? We could take on the world, Izuku. These two aren't gonna stand a chance."

"R-Right!" The excitement had been building all along, the thrill of finally being in his costume and raring to go to prove himself reaching its crescendo. Right now, he wasn't worried about what his Quirk could do, or what he was walking in to; all he knew was the adrenaline, and the anticipation of taking his first steps to properly prove his potential as a Hero. "Let's go!"

This was his start line. And as he strode forward towards the apartment block, Himiko by his side and arming herself with one of her training knives, he felt ready for anything.

(***)

The climb had been… uneventful. This had concerned Izuku more than if there had been any attempt to stop them on the way up.

Their opponents were chalk and cheese as people, but Izuku felt he had enough of a grasp on both of their personalities to be able to think about tactics in advance of the fight. It was something he loved doing, after all, and yet his predictions about being rushed at some point throughout the building before reaching the hostage's room on the sixth form didn't come true. It was unexpected, given that they were so devious as to try and exploit a loophole in the scenario before it had even begun, but if it meant Izuku had more time to think things through on the way up, then so be it.

Himiko had taken the lead on the climb up, and Izuku had been impressed with just how at ease she had been taking the tower floor by floor. He was apparently a lot more naive than her, needing her guidance to pull him back from wandering around a corner without scouting it out, and letting her clear out darker corners of the rooms before they progressed onwards. He didn't know what she had been taught, or what lessons her previous school had been giving her about Hero training- it might just have been that the guardian she had previously told him about had taught her more than just self-defence. Either way, it had helped keep them safe this far, and now they were right outside the room, clearly being expected by the villains.

The one annoying thing about their opponents which they had needed to get used to was communicating without making a sound. Izuku knew what they were up against, so he and Himiko had made a good go of gesticulating, pointing, and miming what their plans would need to be as a safer bet of how to communicate their gameplan to each other. They just couldn't be too careful, because saying anything could have been a dead giveaway to one of their opponents. Izuku just knew she would be listening. She had her ways, after all.

Outside the imposing double doors to the main room on the sixth floor, the room which had been designated the Villain's base, he paused, looking over to Himiko with a nod and a wiggle of two fingers. Her nod, and the gentle pushing motion she made with both hands was all he needed to know; yes, his next move was obvious, but the last thing they should do was rush in against opponents like these. Announcing their arrival could have worked as intimidation, perhaps, but they needed to take stock before they did anything reckless.

Gently does it.

Bringing up two fingers to point towards the door, the familiar feeling of Air Force rippling and ready to go rolled over his hand, before Izuku nodded and flicked outwards without a word. Even holding back deliberately in his head about how much force he would apply, the doors were blasted open, and as they clattered off their hinges and fell to the side with a loud bang, Izuku couldn't help but whisper with a smile on his face. "... Smash."

"Hehehe… so good of you to announce your arrival, Zuzu. Took you long enough to get up here, huh?"

Izuku straightened up, recognising that she had been waiting for them. Now he didn't need to keep quiet. "After that trick you tried to pull with the hostage, I didn't know what you'd try on the way up. Better safe than sorry."

"Can you blame a girl for trying?" The Villain put her hands on her hips, clad in her blue scaly bodysuit, and leered at him. "Early bird gets the worm, after all."

"I'd have done the same thing if I was you," Himiko said, stepping forward to stand alongside Izuku and face off against their opponent. "Doesn't explain why you didn't try and ambush us somewhere along the way, though."

"Isn't it more fun this way? I knew you'd both waste all that time being careful of any traps, so we just had to sit tight and wait for you to get here with half your time gone." Setsuna grinned, and balled her fists. "Now we get a fated battle of rivals instead, across the family divide, all or nothing for the hostage! Ain't that something?"

Izuku couldn't help but smile a little in spite of the desire to win the training exercise. The moment that he had learned Setsuna would be one of their opponents, he knew they'd be in for a challenge because of just how razor-sharp his cousin could be. Not only did she have the second Quirk which he had given her, but her control over Lizard Tail Splitter meant that she was a phenomenal opponent, and one who was well aware of his own Quirk too. This would be good. "We're not planning on losing-"

"Good. Neither are we." Setsuna's companion finally spoke up, and Izuku tried not to react when he saw Fumikage Tokoyami standing a little further back from Setsuna, feet planted strangely and cloak billowing in the breeze coming through the empty windows. Tokoyami was a powerhouse in his own right, if Dark Shadow's display in the Quirk Apprehension test was anything to go by, and it was clear he was buying into the scenario- his black arm was wrapped around the throat of the hostage dummy, holding it close to himself as if it was a protective shield. "Midoriya, Toga. The darkness will consume you, soon enough."

"You're keeping the hostage close," Himiko noted, a frown on her face. "Tokoyami has to hold himself back from the fight, but… so do we. Or you just bait us into throwing the match."

"Himiko gets it! See, before you try and take us out, remember why you're here Zuzu. You know you've got to save someone and not just defeat us, right?" Setsuna's sharp canines, inherited from the reptilian Quirks in some of her family, framed her mocking smile. "Air Force isn't gonna help you out, not if you blast Collateral Damage over here out of the window to his death."

"I had wanted to face you in the darkness below," Tokoyami said, a wry look on his face, "and take advantage of favourable conditions to myself. Tokage's plan, though… works better to secure our chances of victory. Rather than looking for trouble… we simply neutralise the threat you can pose."

"Why separate ourselves, and take the fight to you, when we can control how much you can do up here?" Setsuna's Quirk activated, and Izuku started, black lightning crackling on his arms, before he watched Setsuna fan out the various pieces of her body in front of Tokoyami as a defensive measure. "You're supposed to be a Hero, Zuzu. Use Air Force on us, and you could hurt the hostage. Use Air Force, and you could blow me apart so I can't reassemble myself. Neither of those are all that heroic, don't you think?"

Setsuna was goading him and yet she was right. He couldn't use any of the other Quirks he had, not least because of Tokoyami and Himiko, but also because of the cameras and his watching classmates. His hands were tied with Air Force being all that he could use, and in a situation like this, he knew full well that Midnight would fail them if any of what Setsuna had described happened.

There had to be another way! There had to be something they could do to-

"HYYAH!"

Izuku nearly jumped out of his skin as Himiko cried out and lunged for the nearest piece of Setsuna with her training knife, batting a large chunk of torso away. "H-Himiko!"

"Getting pretty into this whole Villain thing with the speeches, aren't you both?" Himiko grinned, her own canines as sharp as Setsuna's. "You wanna try and distract us to run down the time? Not happening! You wanna act like there's nothing we can do and you've backed us into a corner? Think again!"

Back her up, Izuku.

"R-Right!" Izuku shook himself, and balled his fists. "If I have to fight Quirkless to get through you and Tokoyami… I'll do it! I'm not alone, and we're not gonna lose!"

"Bold talk!" Setsuna laughed, floating to position herself between Himiko and her teammate as Himiko lunged for the hostage and was batted away by a barrage of pieces. "You two really don't care about not having a chance, huh?"

"A real Hero doesn't give up because the odds are against them!" Izuku cried, dodging Setsuna's attack as she redirected it towards him. "A real Hero keeps going, no matter how hard it is to save people!"

"I'm glad you both think so." Setsuna's head had remained intact the whole way through, and Izuku suddenly saw her wink at Tokoyami. "It's even harder when you're outnumbered, right?"

Izuku suddenly realised with horror why Tokoyami was stood so weirdly, and why Setsuna had been so happy to stall for time, as the cloak Tokoyami was wearing billowed and moved, revealing the hole in the concrete floor. To his horror, as the cloak shifted, he saw the strand of inky blackness disappearing through the floor, and felt the rumbling from the floor beneath them, and he turned in panic, his first instinct being to jump towards his teammate. "Himiko! His Quirk-"

Tokoyami smirked. "Revelry in the dark."

"COMING THROUUUUGH!"

As Izuku leaped towards Himiko, the entire room seemed to explode into chunks of concrete as Dark Shadow burst upwards through the floor beneath their feet with an ear-splitting cry. They hadn't spotted a single sign of him the entire way up the building, and Izuku realised with horror that Setsuna really must have been monitoring them the whole way, waiting for the time to direct the sentient shadow creature to hide downstairs in ambush for them. As both he and Himiko collided with the floor beneath them collapsing, the creature balled up a gigantic black fist and punched out towards Izuku, smashing into his chest with the faint sound of at least one rib cracking. "Gah!"

"Izu!" Himiko, to her credit, responded quickly to the sudden attack, and stabbed out with the knife she was holding, the training blade sinking into Dark Shadow's ghostly arm and somehow sticking as it was ripped out of her grasp. "What the hell-"

"SERIOUSLY?! DID YOU JUST STAB ME?!" Dark Shadow sounded genuinely offended, ripping the blade out of its arm and throwing it away. "AIGHT, NOW IT'S PERSONAL!"

Setsuna cackled, catching the knife in a detached arm and pointing it at both Izuku and Himiko. "Finish them, buddy! Let's win this!"

"ON IT! TOKAGE DARK SHADOW COMBO!" Dark Shadow yelled, grabbing onto him and Himiko in an arm each before driving forward, dragging them across the floor and pushing them forcefully into the far wall across the other side of the building, rubble and dust that were the remains of the floor following in its wake. "TWILIGHT AMBUSH!"

Pain. So much pain as Dark Shadow grabbed his chest. Izuku had staggered from the force of the punch thrown his way, but with what he suspected to be broken ribs the pain from being clutched in the talons of the demonic Quirk and rammed into the far wall nearly finished Izuku, as he fell next to Himiko with a cry. For a moment among the dust clouds, black tinted his vision and Izuku worried he was about to be taken out by the raw power of the attack from Dark Shadow…

Defeat? So soon? Not a chance.

Impact Recoil.

All Izuku felt was a thump in his chest, and then suddenly the air exploded in front of him. He hadn't felt anything around his hands to show him that Air Force had been activated, like he always did, but the black lightning that appeared to come from his Quirk being used seemed to pool for a second on his chest where Dark Shadow had struck him, and then fizzle into nothingness as the air blasted out from him. Dark Shadow had been grasping at his chest, but was launched backwards with a sudden yelp, crashing into a concrete pillar across the way as part of the ceiling collapsed into a dust cloud which hung over him and Himiko...

Wait, dust cloud?

Izuku took stock for a second, shook his head to clear the ringing in his ears amidst the chaos. Whatever his Quirk had just done (and it was hard to explain, but that was a problem to work out in future), it had bought them a few seconds with the benefit of a visual shield, the dust cloud working to obscure them from both Setsuna and Tokoyami. Even if Tokoyami or Dark Shadow had better vision in the dark than Setsuna, the blast he had just created had done enough damage to Dark Shadow that it had forced the Quirk backwards, reluctant to push an attack on Izuku. They could use that to take advantage, and he looked over at the silhouette of Himiko in the dust, only to see a determined nod, and hear the tear of fabric…

Izuku suddenly understood, and couldn't help but grin to himself. The Villains really wouldn't see that coming at all.

Outside of the dust cloud, Tokoyami stumbled with the force of the impact on Dark Shadow and the connection between them, nearly falling over with the hostage in his arms. "... Ow."

"Not going down without a fight, huh, Zuzu?" Setsuna yelled, on the other side of the dust cloud, as she pulled her pieces back together. "There's more where that came from, if you get back up any time soon! Only, what, two minutes left?"

"OH, NOW I SEE WHY YOU WANTED ME AS A SHIELD!" Dark Shadow yelled, pulling itself upright with a lurch and glaring at Tokoyami. "NOBODY TOLD ME HE COULD PUNCH THAT HARD!"

"I distinctly remember warning you that Midoriya's Quirk would be hard to handle," Tokoyami groaned, shooting a look over at Setsuna as the dust swirled. "So did Tokage. And I also remember that your response was to tell me to stop trying to make you look uncool in front of your friend-"

"PARTNER IN CRIME, THANK YOU! BUT WHATEVER!" Dark Shadow growled at the dust cloud in the corner of the room, and the faintly stirring shadows within. "HE WON'T GET ANOTHER HIT IN LIKE THAT!"

"Tell him that yourself…" Setsuna caught sight of movement within the cloud of dust which had begun to swirl, and grinned. "Hey, Zuzu. You gonna apologise for hurting my friend, or what?"

Dust swirled around the legs of Izuku as he rose, and he balled his fists in defiance of his two classmates. "If you think that's all it will take to beat us… then you've already lost."

"So you want to go down swinging…" Tokoyami mused, drawing himself into a defensive stance with Dark Shadow shutting up and looming above his master in preparation. "I'm happy to oblige."

"Catching us off guard with a distraction…" Izuku made eye contact with Setsuna. "Cheap trick."

"Thanks! We came up with it ourselves!"

"Heh. Right…" Izuku flashed Setsuna a smile that was all teeth, and not at all Izuku, and as Setsuna's eyes widened, the sludge began to run down the face of the boy standing across from her. "How about this one?"

"Oh shit-"

"IZU!"

Now!

The second that Izuku had picked up the faint sound of Himiko's costume being torn amidst the chaos, he knew what she was planning to do. As one of the few people who she had trusted with all of the knowledge of what her Quirk could do, Izuku had been more than willing to provide more blood on a couple of occasions since the Entrance Exam (although he had been lucky that neither Tenko nor his mother had walked in on them while he did, and that Himiko hadn't made him admit that he secretly quite enjoyed it). His face, therefore, was one which she had effectively on stand-by with her Quirk with the reserves that she had previously consumed, and one which she had deployed without hesitation to recover the round from Setsuna and Tokoyami.

As she had distracted them, Izuku lay in wait, charging up with Air Force and feeling the air curl around his fingertips ready to strike; with them focused on Himiko, he had been able to catch his breath and build up the attack without interruption, trusting her to keep their attention off of him while the black lightning curled around his arms. And then, as Himiko yelled his name and dropped to the floor, his face melting off of her to reveal her bright eyes and blonde hair once more, he sprung up from where he had been hiding in the dust and unleashed Air Force with his fingers directly pointed at Setsuna and Tokoyami, from point blank range. "SMASH!"

Izuku's blast had charged up as he had waited, and so the blast of air pressure that followed shook the entire floor of the building. It wasn't just enough to catch both of their opponents completely off-guard, lifting them both off of their feet, but it blasted a furrow into the already-ruined floor and sent debris from Dark Shadow's earlier attack flying, before finally colliding with the rear wall. The windows of the fake apartment block shattered, never standing a chance, and the concrete around the windows on the back wall erupted outwards to blow a hole big enough to drive a bus through in the side of the building. It was overkill, maybe, but Izuku didn't even see the damage he had done to the tower; he was solely focused on what he could do to target the two Villains across from him.

"Hey!" Setsuna had been on the receiving end of one before in training, and so while she was lifted into the air and off her feet, she was at least able to catch herself while being launched backwards, Lizard Tail Splitter allowing her to break apart and reform herself to arrest her own momentum a little before tumbling to the floor in one piece. "Shit! Tokoyami!"

"Urk!" Tokoyami, however, hadn't seen it coming or known what to do, and in complete surprise at being lifted off his feet managed to lose his grip on the hostage dummy, flying backwards towards the blown-open windows with a look of fear on his face. "Dark Shadow!"

"I GOT YOU, FUMI!" Despite being absolutely rocked by the air blast, Tokoyami's Quirk flew into action, both of its massive clawed hands digging into the floor to anchor itself for its host. As Dark Shadow pulled, Tokoyami's flight slowed before he slammed onto the floor, the tether between them being the only thing that prevented the raven-headed boy from disappearing out of a sixth-floor window to his doom. "HOLD ON!"

"Himiko! The hostage!" Izuku couldn't run, not in his current state, not after taking the brunt of Dark Shadow's attacks. His teammate, however, could, and if there was one person who could make sure they won this exercise and got the job done, he knew it could be Himiko. "Get him out!"

She was already two steps ahead of him, left hand firmly grasping the dummy's arm and hauling it over her shoulder as she charged for the stairwell. "On it!"

"As if it'd be that easy! Scale Storm!" Even with a cough as she cried out, reeling slightly from being caught up in Izuku's Smash, Setsuna's outstretched arm broke apart, and Izuku caught her activating her Long Fingers Quirk to increase the size of the attack before launching it. With several large fingers and pieces of arm launched like missiles towards his teammate, hell bent on ensuring that Himiko didn't make it to the stairwell to get away and win the round. It was at that moment, when Himiko ducked under the Scale Storm attack and changed course, that Izuku realised two things.

The first, as Himiko whirled away from the staircase, was that Himiko had ignored the teacher's requests on her weaponry being only training knives for combat classes; while her left hand clutched the hostage's arm to secure it, her right hand was now armed with a large and sharp machete which gleamed viciously in the light of day, something very real and very dangerous which must have come from the larger holsters on her back. And the second realisation, perhaps most importantly, was just where Himiko had changed course to… "No! Himiko!"

She wasn't headed for the stairwell, Izuku realised, as he jumped upright in horror and charged despite the pain in his ribs. She was headed for the window.

"See ya!"

With a crash of glass breaking as she leaped through, the last thing Izuku had expected to see was the girl he liked throwing herself out of a sixth floor window to try to win the training ground. It was a straight drop down several floors, and Himiko had absolutely nothing to protect her from the fall, so Izuku couldn't help but be a little terrified as he made it to the window to see…

Himiko, carefree and laughing wildly, stabbing the blade into the concrete wall to stop her fall at about the second floor. As the blade embedded itself into the wall and held firm, somehow stopping dead and not carving a gash into the concrete, Himiko let go of the grip she had on her blade, allowing herself to fall and land with feline grace for the last part of her descent. "Woohoo! Made it!"

Izuku didn't even know where to start, his mouth hanging open in complete shock for a second. He hadn't known what she was planning, and even if he had seen her use a knife before when she kept the Yakuza at bay, he hadn't known she was carrying actual weaponry the whole way through the training exercise. Her agility was also something he admired, and yet the effortless way in which she had stopped her fall and landed without a scratch and without letting go of the dummy had nearly floored. "H-Himiko! Are you alright?!"

"Hell yeah! And Mister Hostage is just fine too!" Himiko lifted up the arm of the dummy to wave at Izuku, as if she was just completely ignoring the fact she had thrown herself out of a building and lived to tell the tale. "I guess we won, right?"

… This girl's a keeper, Izuku.

He couldn't have agreed more.

The intercom crackled and a siren sounded out across the Training Ground, and the stunned silence that filled the airwaves for just a second showed that even their teacher couldn't quite process what had just happened. With Setsuna collapsed on the floor above, Izuku leaning out of a window and staring at the ground in shock, Himiko cheering on the ground after her fall and Dark Shadow reeling in Tokoyami after preventing him from being blasted out of the exercise… it wasn't hard to sympathise with her.

"... Umm. For the first time today… the Hero team wins!"

Sweet victory.

Even despite how nuts it had been, Izuku couldn't help but feel a little proud.

(***)

When the two teams had finally made it down from the tower, Himiko clinging giddily to Izuku's side and Dark Shadow hanging dejectedly over his host, it was no surprise to Izuku that the rest of the class had run across from the viewing area into the training ground, and begun to bombard them about the result.

"That was super manly, Toga! The way you threw yourself out of that window like that-"

"I must disagree, Kirishima! Toga, you could have seriously injured yourself if that had gone wrong! And I can't believe you brought an actual blade to a training exercise-"

"I thought she did well, Iida. That's one way to win the battle, ribbit-"

"Yo, Midoriya." Honenuki, helmet off to reveal a broad grin on his skull-like lips. "That move was awesome that you pulled to flip the battle against Dark Shadow. Right on the point of impact, just like that? Takes some real mental strength to think that fast-"

"O-Oh, thank you!"

"Yeah, but Toga was just as quick with that final move, right?" Ashido interrupted, bumping Himiko with an elbow. "Like, I thought Tokage's Scale Storm had got you but you just flipped on out of there-!

"Okay, okay, you guys are crowding her," Tenko interrupted, the older boy wading in to clap both Izuku and Himiko on the shoulders and get the others to back off a little. "Although seriously, good job Himiko. I don't know how you pulled that Assassin's Creed shit off in real life, but it just makes you the most badass in the group, I guess?"

"Heh, as much as I wanna disagree, and as bad as I feel for not winning, he's not wrong." Setsuna slipped in beside Tenko and squeezed his side in a hug, oblivious to (or uncaring about) the squeals it prompted from Ashido and Hagakure in the background. "Well played, Himi. I can't be mad at losing to moves like that."

Himiko looked sheepish, a faint blush on her cheeks. "Heh, thanks-"

"And none of that would have been possible without the distraction from your Quirk, Toga." At the call of the familiar voice, Izuku and Himiko stiffened, and turned to face Monoma as he picked at his fingers. "You used Midoriya's face. Your Quirk… lets you transform into other people?"

Himiko froze, briefly, under the gaze of several people whose heads had turned her way, before she swallowed and nodded her head. "Y-Yeah! It's… kinda a little more complicated than that, and if you don't mind it can be kinda gross to talk about, but… I can copy what other people look like, yeah."

"Huh…" Monoma looked up, and nodded, the condescending smirk that was usually ever-present not making an appearance. "That's a neat ability. I can't wait to see how you use that for some of the rest of us in future."

"... Wait." Tenko narrowed his eyes at Monoma. "That sounded suspiciously like a compliment from you. Are you alright? Nothing's glitched or-"

"Relax, Shimura. I still don't like you much at all." Monoma shrugged, and the usual cocky smirk returned. "But when your friends do something impressive, like that winning combo from Toga, well, it's only fair I praise them for it. I suppose you could say… this is my way of undergoing character development."

"Okay, now you're making gaming references and trying to subvert tropes, which are both my thing. Something's definitely wrong here-"

"As entertaining as this all is, boys and girls, we still have more groups to examine." At the sound of Midnight announcing her arrival, it was amazing how quick a class of rowdy teenagers could stand to attention and stop talking. "Midoriya, Toga?"

"Y-Yeah?"

"Well done on being the first group of Heroes to win the exercise. It's deliberately stacked against the Heroes to reflect real life scenarios, and yet you both pulled through and rescued the hostage." As Izuku opened his mouth to say his thanks, Midnight shot him a look that made him instantly shut up and gulp. "However… Toga?"

"Hi?"

"I'm not going to be annoyed at the knife, because you could have all sorts of use for it in a non-combat situation and you thankfully didn't use it on your fellow students. The fact you threw yourself out of a window with only that to stop your fall, though…" Midnight tapped her foot, disapprovingly, and seemed to pierce right through the pair of them with a stare. "I don't know who taught you before, or where you learned moves like that, but try that again in my class and I'll put you in detention. I'm not having you die because you wanted to win a trophy, pulling stunts that put your life on the line and would really hurt you if you tried in the field."

Himiko sagged. "Fiiiine."

"And Midoriya?"

"M-Me?" Izuku didn't know what he had done.

"No, the other Midoriya in this class," Midnight replied drily, shaking her head. "Yes, you. I found it promising when the pair of you were climbing up the tower, because you both have good instincts and clearly work well together. But even if you are a match made in heaven-"

"Wh-Wha-"

"You were just a little too reckless when you attacked up the top. If Tokage had been separated when you launched that air blast-"

"I'd have been fine," Setsuna interrupted, waving it off. "Trust me. We tried it before we got into UA, and I'm still here in one piece! Most of the time, anyway."

Midnight shot her a thoroughly unimpressed look, chewing the inside of her mouth for a second before giving up and shaking her head. "You know what, fine. Well done on the win. Just… rein it in, both of you, and don't be so reckless next time. I normally love such youthful energy, but if you could save people without breaking yourselves or giving me a heart attack, that would be great."

"S-Sure."

Come on. She could have been a little more impressed.

"With that said, and with nobody looking like they urgently need Recovery Girl to stitch them back together…" Midnight shot one more cool look at Himiko beside him, and then turned to the rest of the class. "Alright, class, we're moving to another tower since Tokoyami and Midoriya seem to have wrecked the last one-"

"Some dark actions are not my responsibility," Tokoyami groaned, and Izuku couldn't help but feel bad for the boy receiving the blame for his mostly-independent Quirk's actions.

"Monoma, Hagakure, you're up for the Heroes this time. Awase, Kodai, it's you for the Villains. If you could try to be a little less destructive than our previous two groups, I'd be grateful."

"Relax, teach." Monoma's voice had somehow adopted the same swagger as he did, as he somehow slung an arm over Hagakure's shoulders despite her wearing nothing but her gloves and boots. "The two of us, together? They're definitely not gonna see us coming."

"They will if you're wearing that stupid suit over the top!" Hagakure took his hand off of her shoulder and grabbed it with her glove, dragging him off. "Come on! If you want my Quirk then it's all gotta come off somewhere, mister-"

"Hey, wait! And don't call my costume stupid, it's beautifully made!"

"Aw man…" Awase looked crestfallen at the sight of the invisible girl and his maniacal Copy-using friend running off together. "Both of them are gonna be invisible? We're gonna be stomped if we don't know where they're coming from."

"Hm." Kodai's response was to dig an elbow into her partner's side, a slight glare on her face, before turning to Izuku and nodding. "... Plan?"

Izuku briefly thought of the small discussion they had been having before Tenko's match, and how Kodai planned on hiding away the hostage in the most simple and infuriating way with both of their Quirks. "... Yeah. It should do great. You've got this, Kodai!"

"... Hmm." She shot him a small smile, before taking her own partner by the arm and dragging him off, refusing to let him ruin the round for her when she had a good plan. "... Come on. Idiot."

"Well… this ought to be fun." Midnight shrugged at the sight of her two teams of students wandering off towards the ground, before clapping and beginning to usher the rest of the students off. "Let's head back to the class. Oh, and Midoriya? Shimura?"

"Huh?"

"It appears the girls are having a chat behind you." Izuku's head shot round to see Setsuna and Himiko in deep whispered discussion- he hadn't even realised that the pair of them had disappeared from right next to him and Tenko- and when he looked back to Midnight, the knowing look on her face told him everything he needed to know. "I'll let you all catch up. You might need to join in this one."

"T-Thank you…" Izuku turned after waiting for the rest of the students to head on behind Midnight, to see Himiko take a step back from Setsuna and look across shyly at him. It wasn't hard to put two and two together. "Wait… Himiko, you just told her?"

"Yeah… she asked, and after what I just did, I…" Himiko shrugged, nervously. "I dunno. I guess I can't keep that secret forever, can I? Not with people I trust?"

"See, I just thought you two were really into the PDA, with the marks you were leaving on his neck." Setsuna raised an eyebrow at Izuku. "Now it makes way more sense."

"Wait…" Tenko looked confused, having not been part of the conversation. "I might have missed something-"
"Yeah, no shit," Setsuna snarked. "Himiko, did you feel okay saying to him? I kinda don't mind if you need me to say if you're nervous-"

"No, no! I'm fine saying!" Izuku could see how much Himiko trembled when she said that, and it was clear the brief insecurities around her Quirk's nature were still there, but she had resolved herself and overcame that to look Tenko in the eye. "The reason… I can copy people… it's when I can drink some of their blood. I can only copy Izu out of all of us because, w-well…"

"... Oh. Neat." Izuku didn't know why he had expected Tenko to be any different other than completely nonplussed by such a reveal. Tenko was (in spite of his gaming obsessions) the most mature of their group, after all, being the oldest. "I mean, as long as you don't completely drain my best friend dry at any point, that's cool. Pretty awesome skill-set, if you ask me?"
"Y-You think?" Himiko's smile was returning to her face, slowly, as the weight of her reveal and the lack of negative reaction seemed to finally get through to her. "You… don't think it's a villain's Quirk or-"

"Himi," Setsuna interrupted, with a faint nudge of a detached elbow, "anything's a villain's Quirk if the person using it is that way inclined. I don't think that about you at all. Hell, I think it's kinda cool that one of my friends is a literal vampire."

Himiko's blush had cropped up. "Thank you-"

"And hey, if you want a face that isn't Izuku to borrow every now and then, hit me up and I'll let you have some of my blood too." Setsuna smirked, not seeing the stunned look on Himiko's face. "Although you might wanna make it a little less intimate with me than you do with Zuzu over here. Don't want Ten getting all jealous on me-"

"Okay, first of all, keep it in your pants you damn reptile," Tenko replied, shaking his head in exasperation. "And secondly, count me in too. I'll be damned if Set gets you to help bully me using her face, and you don't get to use mine too. But if these two are doing it… I'm not gonna leave my friend out either."

Himiko looked like she was about to well up and cry happy tears, but the only response she could manage was to launch herself forwards with the same speed and agility she had displayed when fleeing Setsuna earlier, this time to grab Setsuna and Tenko with an arm each and bring them into a giant hug. Izuku couldn't help but chuckle and feel happy as he saw how much it meant to the girl he liked so much, how she felt so much more comfortable and safe around not just him but also his friends, and how now she would hopefully be able to make so much more use of her Quirk going forwards.

Sure, it wouldn't be easy with everyone like it had been with his cousin and his best friend. Nothing ever would be. But the more they could get Himiko to feel like she belonged, the happier she would be, and by default the happier he would be as well. She deserved that happiness, and that appreciation, and after showing just how well they worked together in achieving the result they had during Combat Training, Izuku just knew they had something special. She hadn't been a member of their group anywhere near as long as the rest, but… he hoped that she never left.

If only you could be so honest with your Quirk, Izuku.

… That was a problem for another day. For now in the shadow of Ground Beta, Izuku basked in the success of their mission, the relief of Himiko feeling like she belonged, and the joy of being with his friends as wannabe Heroes in training.

Nothing could be better than moments like these.

(***)

A/N: And that's a wrap! Combat Training, over and done with!

I wanted to include a version of the Combat Training from the moment I decided on Izuku getting into UA. For me, it serves as one of those "dark mirror" moments, where we get something that looks a little more like the familiar ground of canon, but gets to work more on different things. It was mildly amusing writing this, knowing that I wanted Himiko to replace Ochaco so that Izuku still ended up partnered with his best girl in Incident Zero as well. That was fun, almost as much as it was reuniting the unholy partnership of Setsuna and Dark Shadow, with Tokoyami third-wheeling in the background. Hopefully that fight came across as fun.

As for match-ups outside of canon, I deliberately haven't focused too much here on some fights because there are certain things I don't want to spend too much word-count repeating. There are numerous fics out there that do very comprehensive Combat Training and can probably do a lot better; I don't want my fic to saturate the market, or taint it by giving you a fight between less major characters that ends up becoming dull/distracting/not worth people's investment. The only one I possibly regret not writing is the out-and-out brawl that would have been Mina and Tenko on a team against Kendo and Shoji- Tenko's partner got randomly drawn, but that one might have been fun. Let me know if you were interested in any of the other fights- I can always add an omake chapter down the line, or a oneshot for "deleted scenes" if they get interest.

Anyway, next chapter we're going to be seeing a few different people, before an absolute run of Izuku chapters. There is something major coming for this story which I have been building up for since the very start of the story, and which may turn things on its head a little. With that being the case, there's a few people I want to touch base with before we start that ball rolling, because I genuinely can't wait!

As I said above, thank you so much for 1500+ follows, and for all your kind reviews- I promise I will respond to any reviews I missed on last chapter this week. For now, your support is always nuts and please feel free to review this chapter, fave and follow if you haven't already, and share with your friends. Also feel free to check out my other content- I have a Toga one-shot "Love Live and Die" which needs some love, and a few others in the pipeline/updating soon.

Until next time, ya boy, out.