Welcome, readers! A New Pencil returns to the desk!

Underline is for English this time!

Italics is either thoughts, a flashback, or a song/poem.

I do not own Kingdom Hearts, My Hero Academia, OMORI, Final Fantasy, or any of its characters. They all belong to their respective companies.

Chapter 18: A Hero's Strife

Embrace your dreams... if you want to be a hero, you need to have dreams... and honor.

(Silence)

After that talk, Sora felt a little better about himself, though the guilt was still there. However, he was happy that his connection with his classmates had deepened, even just a little bit.

After a grueling rest of the day, afternoon classes were finished. Sora finally got his bag and looked up towards the door, ready to follow Izuku to his home. However, he was met with a crowd of people at the door, and they were not 1-A.

Sora smiled a bit. So they were getting attention from the other students now after the U.S.J.. Hopefully it was good attention. Getting on everyone's bad side would spell disaster for their class.

Unfortunately, his classmates didn't understand that yet.

"What's going on?" Ochaco wondered, "Why the heck are all of you here?"

"Do you have some business with our class?" Tenya questioned them.

"Why are you blocking our doorway?" Mineta protested, "I won't let you hold us hostage!"

"Isn't it obvious?" Katsuki said, "They're scouting the competition out. We're the ones who survived a Villain attack, after all. They wanna see us with their own eyes."

"I hope he doesn't scold anybody." Izuku said nervously.

Katsuki was now standing in front of the crowd, "Well, now you know what a future Pro looks like. Now move it, extras."

Sora deadpanned at Izuku, "You just had to say that, didn't you?"

Iida looked insulted by Bakugo's comment, even though he wasn't the one the comment was targeted at, "You can't just call them extras just because you don't know them!"

(Play: MHA OST - An Abdominal Investigation)

"So this is Class 1-A." A new voice chimed in. Sora looked under Bakugo's shoulder and saw a mess of purple hair. It was the same person who had been close to him, Ochaco, and Tenya in the lunch line. "I heard that you guys are impressive, but you just sound like an ass." he glared at Bakugo as he said this, "Is everyone in this class as delusional as you?"

The majority of Class 1-A shook their heads frantically in denial, while Sora stood up from his seat. Bakugo wasn't helping as he lifted his chin up on the student currently talking. Sora wanted to step in, but the student talking wasn't giving him the chance.

"How sad it is to come here only to find a bunch of egomaniacs like you." the student continued, "I too wanted to be in the Hero Course, but like many others here with me, I was forced to choose a different path. Such is life." he looked around at the other students, "I may haven't cut it the first time around, but now I have another chance. If any of us do well in the Sports Festival, the teachers can consider transferring us into the Hero Course, and they'll have to transfer someone out to make room."

Odd. Sora was a clear exception to that rule, being an extra student, but he could feel his classmates tense around him, minus Bakugo.

"Scouting out competition, you say?" the student asked, "Maybe some of my peers are. But I'm here to tell you that if you don't give it your all, your seat in the Hero Course is as good as gone. Because I might just steal your spot right under you." his glared turned to Sora, who was staring back with an unreadable expression, "Consider this a declaration of war."

At that, Sora began to walk towards the crowd, ignoring Izuku's shaking head. But before he got there, another student within the crowd beat him to the punch, also shooting a glare at Sora's volatile classmate.

"Hey you!" he shouted at Bakugo, "I'm from Class 1-B, right next door to you! We heard you fought Villains, so I wanted to see if it was true, but you're all just a bunch of brats!" he shook his head as he stared down the explosive student, "You may think you're better than us. Talk all you want! It'll just be more embarrassing once you get KO'd!"

(Silence)

Okay, this has gone on far enough. Bakugo was about to walk away, but a firm hand gripped his shoulder from behind. It was Sora, and he also had a stern look on his face as he got himself in front of Katsuki. He wasn't gonna defend him, but he would defend his classmates, who had no part in Bakugo's behavior. He stood there, thinking of what to say underneath his firm expression.

"Gonna defend him, you little punk?!" snarled the student.

Sora simply sighed, looking back at Bakugo and then to the crowd, addressing them all, "I'm sorry about him. He's the 'bad boy' in our class."

At that, the majority of Class A almost smirked at Sora's comment, while Bakugo himself pushed Sora aside and walked out of the crowd, who despite letting him go, now had their attention on the Keyblade wielder.

Izuku was worried. Now Sora was going to take the punishment that was meant for Kacchan. Before he could move in, Sora raised a hand and looked back at him with a reassuring smile, stopping Midoriya as he took that gesture as "don't worry. I have this under control.". When Izuku had stopped, Sora nodded before looking back towards the loud Class B student. Sora could now see that he had silver hair, almost like Riku.

"What's your name?" he asked him.

"Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, and don't you forget it!"

"Alright, Tetsutetsu." he nodded, "How many people are in your class?"

"21. A little different from our usual 20. What about it, kid?" Tetsutetsu asked, the glare still on him.

(Play: KH DDD OST - Dearly Beloved)

Ah. So they had an extra student too. He smiled at Tetsutetsu kindly.

"My name is Sora, and I'm the 21st student here in Class 1-A." he began, "I was a last second addition to this class, but I never replaced anybody here, because all of Class A has the potential to be an amazing Hero. It was proven when our teacher threatened to expel any of us if we didn't show we had potential."

That got the crowd's attention, minus the purple-haired student. Class 1-A was definitely taught differently than most others, and that would've made them more angry, had Sora not continued.

"I'm sorry you didn't make it in the Hero Course the first time," Sora directed his words to the purple-haired student, "But I can see you're a person who's working hard to become a Hero, even though you missed your chance. I respect people like you who work hard to achieve and embrace their dreams," Sora extended a hand out to him with a smile, "So I don't want there to be any bad blood between us."

The purple-haired student looked from Sora's hand to Sora himself, his face still unreadable, "I declare war and you're trying to offer peace?"

"Not at all." Sora kept up his smile, "I'm just acknowledging that there are others like you who are trying to get into the Hero Course, and that I'm offering my moral support." He kept his hand outstretched, and waited for any sort of reaction. This was now up to the student in front of him, and what he chose to do with Sora's words.

Finally, the student grasped Sora's hand in his own, shaking it, but not returning the smile. At that, Sora said one final thing, now addressing the crowd in front of him, "To you, and to anyone else who's working hard to become a Hero, I hope you make it in, but not as replacements. But as welcome additions, just like me."

The crowd was now looking at Sora in a different light. It was the complete opposite of the egotistical student from before. Sora seemed more supportive and kind, even welcoming the prospect of more students coming in the Hero course. Along with the information that he was an extra student, the hostility the crowd once had began to fade. In a matter of minutes, the crowd cleared a path for Sora and his classmates.

"Come on, guys." Sora waved his classmates over, and they followed him out.

As he walked through the crowd, he no longer felt that burning hostility from earlier. His speech worked, and that was good. Let their hostility go to Bakugo for all he cared, but not towards the ones who didn't deserve such hostility.

He felt an arm on his shoulder as he turned to see Eijiro looking down at him with respect. "Wow, Sora." he said in Japanese, and Sora noted that he no longer used any honorifics, "Not only did your manly speech calm the crowd, but your exit was much more manly than Bakugo's was."

"Thanks for the save, Sora." Denki smiled, "Really appreciate it."

"Yeah, man. We owe you one." Hanta nodded.

"It's what I do for my friends." Sora said with a grin.

"Speaking of," Kaminari walked up to him, "After we're out of the crowd, there's something I wanna talk to you about."

"Sounds good, Denki." Sora nodded.

(Play: MHA OST - U.A. Corridors)

Once the class had exited the crowd, Sora and Denki were on the staircase leading down to the exit. The electrical student was rummaging through his bag while Sora waited politely.

"So you needed me for something, Denki?" Sora asked.

"Actually, I wanted to give you something," Kaminari pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to Sora, "I heard that what's written here could help you with Hero work, so I wanted to give this to you, as thanks for helping save my neck back at U.S.J."

"Denki, you didn't have to…" Sora then looked to the paper, stopping mid-sentence as his eyes widened, "Waitaminute… where'd you get this?!"

"Huh?" Kaminari looked at him, "Some weird chibi-looking cat thing with wings."

"Wow, wow, wow… This is great!" Sora grinned, "Thanks a bunch, Denki!"

"What is it?"

"It's instructions on how to summon stronger lightning!"

"Wait, what?! I gave you a manual that helps with your Quirk?!"

To be specific, Kaminari had given him an instruction manual on how to cast the 2nd tier lightning spell Thundara, as well as applying it to his Keyblade for the Thunder Raid ability. He somewhat remembered how to do that, but after casting 3rd tier spells a lot in the Keyblade War, he had nearly forgotten how to do so. Almost fitting that the electric type student would be the one to deliver this to him.

"Thanks again, Denki! I'll try my best to repay you later!" Sora smiled, before running off, "I can't wait to apply this again."

"Wait, Sora! It was just-!" Denki called out, but he was already gone. He sighed, hoping Sora didn't go overboard with this.

(Play: KH 3 OST - Heroes' Gathering)

Sora eventually made his way back to his friends, who had been waiting for him by the entrance.

"That was a close one." Ochaco said to him, "Thanks a lot, Sora-kun."

"I agree. What you did was beyond noble, Sora-kun." Tenya nodded, "Especially after what Bakugo-kun did, painting a target on our backs."

"I'm glad you got rid of that. The looks they had were scary." Izuku nodded.

"I didn't actually get rid of the targets." Sora admitted, "I only made them smaller."

"Huh?"

"The other students seemed happy with your speech, though," Uraraka said, "So why would they still be gunning for us?"

"Ah-ha! The Sports Festival!" Iida remembered, "Everyone's going for the top spot, so in a sense, everybody has a target on their backs!"

"That's a little nerve-wracking…" Izuku muttered, "Everyone's eyes are on us and I still don't have control over my Quirk."

"No worries, Izuku," Sora reassured him, "I mean, look at it this way. You've found a way to reduce the area that you damage every time you use your Quirk, and with Hero's advice, I'm sure you'll figure out how to control it in no time. Plus, this way, people like your mom will see how much you've grown,"

"Sora…" Izuku said, shocked to see how positive his friend could be. Uraraka and Iida, though they had heard how Sora remained positive through his time before U.A., were also surprised as well.

"You know what? You're right." Ochaco grinned, "It's our time to shine."

"Once again, I'm astonished by your positivity, Sora-kun." Iida commented.

"I had good role models." Sora grinned, before he heard his Gummiphone ring. His friends watched as he picked it up, "Hello?"

(Play: KH Re:Chain of Memories OST - Destiny Islands)

"Sora, it's Hero." was the response, "Your mom's awake."

Sora stopped in his tracks, "She is? You're not kidding, right?"

"No. She's awake… and she wants to talk to you."

"Can I… see her?"

"She would prefer to call you for the moment."

"Got it." Sora said as he deflated a little. It made sense, considering she had been attacked by a doppelganger of himself. Out of the corner of his eye, Izuku, Ochaco, and Tenya walked out of earshot to give Sora privacy.

"...Sora?"

Her voice was weak, but it was there. Sora then saw her on his screen, garbed in a hospital gown in bed, with her left cheek covered in a bandage. "Hey mom." Sora replied, relaxing, "Are you alright?"

"I'm doing okay, sweetie. Though I won't deny that I feel pretty drained." she nodded, "How about you?"

"...I'm sorry." Sora's voice shook as he said it.

"It's not your fault, Sora." she coughed before continuing, "Nobody could've expected some impostor to come knocking at the door 10 minutes after I came back."

"Still…"

"And don't even think about beating yourself up over it, young man." she told him firmly, "I've made my peace with it. I already know those things will keep trying to come after you, one way or another." she took some time to catch her breath, before smiling, "And don't worry about me. I'll be okay here. Your friend Hero tells the most wonderful stories."

"Glad to hear that," Sora smiled in relief, "How long will you be there?"

"I don't know… it's too early to tell when I'll be discharged from the hospital. Not to mention I'm still bedridden." Shimizu admitted, "The doctors are making sure I didn't get any sickness from your evil twin."

"Did…" he paused, looking away, "Did he sound like…?"

"It was close… but I knew it wasn't you." She admitted, "Unless you went through puberty twice in a row when I wasn't looking, my son doesn't have that distorted a voice."

Sora sighed in relief, "Can I come see you later today?"

"Of course. It'd be a welcome sight." she yawned, "Assuming I don't fall asleep when you arrive, that is."

"Thanks, Mom."

"No problem. Take care of yourself until then, okay?"

"You too."

Sora ended the call, looking up to his worried friends, "She's okay." he breathed out, "She's okay…"

"I'm glad to hear that, Sora-kun," Ochaco smiled.

"You can tell her that we wish her a speedy recovery when you visit her." Tenya told him.

"I'll make sure to do just that," Sora nodded.

(Play: MHA OST - HERO A)

On that happy note, the four of them went their separate ways, with Sora and Izuku returning to the Midoriya residence. Sora went out on the rooftop to practice Thundara while Izuku went over to Takoba Beach to train his body.

Later that day, Sora would go and visit his mother, and the two would reconcile in person, thankful that the other is okay for the most part. Sora promises to visit her every now and then, as he was training for the Sports Festival, and his mother promises to watch him do so and perform in the Festival with flying colors.

And so, two weeks of training began for the students of Class 1-A. Whether they were on or off campus, the students were working to better themselves.

Toru practiced building her strength up through workout routines.

Rikido continued to train through eating sweets and testing the limit of how much he could lift and punch through.

Koji continued to improve his vocal cords as best he could to better interact with the animals around him.

Mashirao continued to hone his martial arts and his tail strength.

Eijiro continued to practice the length of his Hardening time limit.

Mezo practiced morphing his limbs and making as much as possible.

Momo researched how to make more complex objects down to the very atom.

Katsuki made bigger and bigger explosions.

Mineta continued to pop off more sticky balls.

Mina tried making her acid be used for multiple things.

Tenya practiced his endurance running with Engine to better improve his Quirk.

Ochaco was making more and more objects float at a time.

Izuku was thinking about Hero's advice the other day and attempting to reduce the power he had in his hand as well as pushing his body to its limits.

Shoto practiced using his ice for longer periods and making the range of said attacks as large as possible.

Kyoka was looking into ways to use her Quirk without support gear.

Hanta tried using his tape to multitask.

Tsuyu went into further research into her frog-like abilities.

Denki was trying to find how much he could charge before he shorted out and became dumb again.

Yuga was practicing using his laser for longer periods of time.

Fumikage was practicing utilizing Dark Shadow in the light.

And Sora was practicing his spells and Formchanges, able to master Thundara, Fira, and another new spell within a week and a half. The third spell, however, took longer since Sora hadn't cast this spell in a very long time, but he got to it eventually.

(Play: MHA OST - I'll Become a Hero!)

Then, one week before the Festival, Class A returned to U.S.J., the place where they had been attacked and experienced a short glimpse of what Heroes in the field had to deal with. Thirteen and Aizawa, despite their injuries, were there too. All of them were in their Hero Costumes. Well, except for Midoriya, whose costume was still undergoing repairs, and Sora, whose AR Device was also being repaired.

"Well, that happened, but class is class." Thirteen commented on it, "Now let's begin the rescue training."

"Thirteen-sensei, can you really move?" Uraraka asked concerned.

"My back might hurt a bit, but it's nothing compared to Aizawa-senpai." Thirteen reassured.

"We're wasting time as it is." Aizawa grunted through his wrappings, "Let's get this class started, since we're all ready to go."

"Hang on… Aizawa-sensei?" Izuku piped up, "Isn't All Might supposed to be here, too?"

"Hell if I know." was the reply, "Forget about him today."

(Play: MHA OST - U.A. Reporting For Duty!)

Class A gathered at the Rockslide Zone, ready to roll.

"Here's the exercise, Class A. There will be three people in this chasm." Thirteen pointed down towards said chasm, "One will be unconscious, the other has a broken leg, and the third will be panicking."

"Holy crap." Kirishima gawked, "That's a big drop!"

"How the heck are we supposed to get down?" Kaminari stared down into the equivalent of the abyss.

Tenya however, was getting into the role of the Hero, "What kind of reassurance is that?! Do not worry, citizens, for help has arrived!"

A few of the classmates commented on his behavior, while Ochaco was hyping herself up for the exercise, getting a bit too close for comfort to Izuku as she joyfully hyped herself up. Sora on the other hand was simply looking about warily, in case the Heartless decided to ruin the day for them. Though he didn't have his AR Device on him, that didn't make him deaf or blind to anything relating to his problem.

"Okay, the three injured will be… you three!" Thirteen pointed to Midoriya, Uraraka, and Iida, who looked at her with surprise. Clearly, they weren't expecting to be the first ones that were being rescued.

Ten minutes later, with the three all prepared for their roles, Thirteen declared that Sora, Bakugo, Momo, and Todoroki would be the ones rescuing them.

"Why the hell do I have to save Deku?!" Katsuki growled.

"Because we're in an alternate universe fanfic, Bakugo." Asui pointed out.

"Leave him be, Tsu-chan." Eijiro told her.

(Play: MHA OST - U.A. Corridors)

"Okay, who's dropping first?" Todoroki asked the group. Momo put a hand on her chin, while Bakugo was muttering something about blowing up the mountainside, making Sora sigh in frustration. Apparently, Denki overheard Bakugo, saying that it was typical of him.

"Yaoyorozu," Todoroki suddenly declared, "Create a pulley with your Quirk. Nakajima, drop down and find them. When you find them, we'll send the pulley and you can get them on there so we can pull them up."

"Stop telling me what to do, Half-and-Half!" barked Bakugo.

He didn't even assign you a role… Sora stared at him.

"Calm down, Bakugo-san…" Momo tried to reason with Katsuki, but her words fell on deaf ears.

"I'm going down now." Sora said. He knew that she and Shoto would have a better time calming the explosive student down than he did, and he was planning to get to his other friends before Katsuki did anything to endanger everybody.

(Play: MHA OST - My Hero Academia)

Momo peered down the chasm as Sora leapt down, sliding down on the edge. She called out, "Don't worry! Help is on the way!"

"Please hurry!" Tenya screamed at the top of his lungs. He must be the one panicking.

"We're finally saved," Izuku said awkwardly. The one with the broken leg.

Meanwhile, Ochaco was the one unconscious. She was trying her best not to laugh at Iida's way of taking this seriously. Sora lifted her up, before looking to Iida, "Don't worry, I've got her. Can you help me with your injured friend?"

"Y-Yes!" Tenya stammered, still looking nervous.

"It's alright. You're safe now." Sora gave him a reassuring smile, "Deep breaths, okay?"

"Okay." Tenya took a deep breath, before lifting Midoriya up carefully so as not to apply pressure on his "wound".

Sora looked back up to where the others were, "We're all good to go here! You can bring the pulley down now!"

"I thank you, Hero." Iida bowed slightly, "You saved us in our time of need."

"So I did," Sora grinned, "And now my fellow Heroes will help finish the job!"

"But… can't you just use your Quirk to get Uraraka-san out first?" Izuku asked him.

"Gotta make sure you two are safe and sound as well." Sora reminded him, "What kind of Hero leaves several people behind for the sake of one?"

Tenya nearly teared up at those words, though it was clear he was acting. The sound of someone stifling their laughter was heard, and Sora and Iida glanced back to Ochaco.

"Sorry!" they heard her whisper.

As Iida and Izuku went up the pulley and were safely out of the cliff, Sora told Ochaco to open her eyes again. She did so, and Sora crouched down.

"Enjoy the view." Sora said.

Before Ochaco could say anything, Sora leapt up high using Flowmotion, reaching halfway across the cliff before landing and running the rest of the way, while Ochaco looked around in awe at the view around them, which consisted of the other zones. Eventually, Sora leapt up high at the top, casting Aero to cushion his fall as he descended down.

(Play: MHA OST - Symbol of Peace)

"The ability to rescue people with your Quirks is one of the main reasons why modern Heroes are able to shine. When your Quirk is compatible with the situation, the job is much easier," Thirteen explained as Sora helped Uraraka on her feet, "When your Quirk isn't compatible, however, it might be hard to lend a helping hand. That's why group effort is essential for a rescue."

"Are you gonna clean up the mess?" Sero teased Bakugo.

"Shut it, Arms!" he snarled.

"He knew his Quirk wasn't compatible, and did what he could to help. A good call," Thirteen clarified, "Most Heroes with incompatible Quirks would abandon the situation, but we at U.A. teach you that you shouldn't do that. Since he didn't, he gets full marks."

Sora acknowledged that this was indeed a smart play by Katsuki, but that didn't lift the bad blood between them. Not one drop.

(Play: MHA OST - U.A. Session)

After that training was done, the class moved onto the damaged city zone for the next lesson.

"Hopefully, this new rescue lesson will give a more realistic experience, since not everyone you save is in plain sight." Thirteen began, "5 of you will be looking for the other 16. 8 of which, however, are unable to speak."

"So it's hide and seek?" Ashido said.

"In a way. It's still search and rescue," Thirteen corrected. She then chose Sora, Izuku, Mineta, Uraraka, and Bakugo to be the Heroes.

"It's one thing to be paired with shitty Deku, but now Spiky, too?!" Bakugo raged.

"We can't help it," Ochaco reasoned, "It's a crossover AU,"

"What the hell even is that?!"

"Please stop, Uraraka," Kirishima sighed.

"When handling the ladies, are we able to-" Mineta was about to ask, before receiving a chop to the head courtesy of Sora.

"Okay. Enough with the creepy thoughts about girls," Sora asked.

"Hmph! You just don't have taste for the finer things in life." he scoffed.

"That's… not a good taste."

"Aren't you interested in caressing the lovely curves of a woman?" Minoru fantasized, "To be able to- ACK!"

Sora hit him again, this time with the Kingdom Key as he forced his mind as far away from the gutter as possible. "You're NOT touching any girls, Minoru."

The training began two minutes in, and Sora decided to split off after Katsuki decided to go lone wolf. He managed to get into an abandoned building, looking about for any signs of life. Eventually, he noticed someone moving on the top floor, and he found Shoto, staring resentfully at the remains of a treadmill. He muttered something out of earshot from Sora, and before he could get there…

(Play: KH 2.5 Remix OST - Apprehension)

"What a face that is!"

Sora and Shoto froze at the voice, "Who's there?"

The ground burst underneath Shoto, revealing something big, "That's not the face of a Pro Hero."

"Shoto!" Sora shouted, about to summon the Kingdom Key, before suddenly, he felt something affect his body. What the-?! He thought for mere seconds before his mind went blank and his vision fogged.

(Silence)

In a matter of seconds, once his mind cleared up, the villain and Shoto were gone, as if they were never there.

He blinked a few times, before rubbing his eye. He swore that the two were just there in front of him just moments ago. Sora grit his teeth in frustration. How could they have moved so fast?

Wait…

Could it be?

Sora looked around, trying to look for something familiar, but found nothing. The sound of his classmates shouting caused him to perk up, before he raced up to the rooftop of the building to figure out what the heck was going on.

When he reached the roof, he could see the Villain, holding an unconscious Shoto, engaging with Katsuki on the ground. Midoriya, Mineta, and Iida were there too. On the outside of the barren ground were the rest of the classmates. He could also see that the exit had been blocked off. He initially thought of jumping in, but he stopped, recalling how his mind had blanked out once he tried to intervene before. He began to scout about to look for any clues.

(Play: MHA OST - My Hero Academia)

As Bakugo hit the villain with a powerful explosion, Sora heard him tell Tenya to get the "weaklings" out of here while he took on the villain.

"Whaddya mean by 'weaklings,' Bakugo?" he heard Kirishima say as he walked forward.

"We are the 21 students of Class 1-A," Momo declared to the Villain.

"And we're all going to be future Heroes!" Uraraka finished, with all the other students standing in defiance against the unexpected villain. Sora had to admire their courage in the face of this danger.

"Ho…" the Villain replied, "How brave."

In response, the Villain attacked first, swinging his arm out and sending a large chunk of debris out towards his opponents. Aoyama took out the first wave with his laser, while Kirishima and Sato destroyed the debris that the sparkling student missed.

Jiro went on the offensive, using her Quirk to disorient the villain while Hanta and Momo caught him in wrappings, giving them an opening. Before they could charge in and do any damage, however, the villain managed to break free of the tape and net, sending a shockwave and knocking Class 1-A back.

(Play: MHA OST - You Say Run)

He began to gloat about how weak the attempt was, but was interrupted by Katsuki trying to hit him with explosions, and then a spin-hook, which was blocked. As he was trying to land a hit in, Sora noticed Izuku talking to the others, most likely forming a plan. Sora got his Keyblade out and on the ready.

Okay, Izuku. Sora thought, What's on your mind this time?

"Now!" Izuku shouted, rushing in with one of Mineta's balls.

"Here we go!" Ochaco raised her hand, high-fiving Izuku before he called out to Tsuyu, who used her tongue and wrapped it around him. She then flung him into the direction of the Villain. Sora watched amazed as Izuku used the ball to grab onto the downed Todoroki, before passing by the similarly astonished Bakugo and villain.

With Todoroki safe, Izuku rolled around and aimed his hand towards the Villain, launching a gust of wind with a flick of his finger. It struck home, but was blocked by the Villain and negated.

"Now DIIIEEEE!" Bakugo shouted, raising his hands towards the Villain's exposed midsection, releasing a powerful explosion on him! It sent the villain back further, but he didn't notice Sora landing next to Katsuki.

"Improvised Team Attack!" Sora shouted, orange flames blazing to life in his hand, "Carpet Bomb!"

He then launched Fira towards the Villain, the larger fireball making contact and ensuring the Villain couldn't retaliate or stop his momentum as he was sent flying towards a wall with a bunch of Mineta's sticky balls in it.

"It worked!" Minoru said in delight, "Now he's stuck and can't fight anymore."

"Straight into the spheres, just as planned." Iida grinned to Izuku, who nodded, before running over to Sora.

"Hey, Sora!" the Keyblade wielder looked over to him, "You're not hurt right? I didn't see you anywhere."

"I'm fine." Sora nodded as Asui and Uraraka went over to praise Izuku for his plan, before he noticed Bakugo stomping dangerously towards the villain, "I guess he isn't the worst teammate. He caught on with your plan pretty quickly."

"He's amazing, huh?"

"I wouldn't go that far."

Katsuki meanwhile, was glaring at the villain, who was struggling to escape from his bonds. "Now for the final blow!" he shouted, raising his hand up and prepping for a final explosive attack.

"Wait a minute. I am… I'm…!" the villain struggled, before his mask ripped off his head, freeing it and revealing a familiar face of blonde hair, "I AM… HERE!"

(Silence)

"ALL MIGHT?!" Izuku and Katsuki shouted in shock. The Symbol of Peace laughed joyfully in response. Sora was stunned, before seeing Todoroki get up from his spot on the ground, relatively unharmed.

"Huh? You're alright?" he asked him.

"Yeah. I was told to play along." Todoroki said, "Though I have to admit, this was a stupid idea even for All Might."

"He dressed up as a Villain… as a surprise?" Sora said, "Even though we were attacked just a couple weeks earlier?"

Shoto simply grunted, and given how he had acted all this time, this was all Sora would get out of him for now.

"Well, minus the other day that happened, you all did wonderful! As expected from U.A.'s Hero Course!" The students had now surrounded All Might as he praised their ability and their quickness to react to such an attack, unaware of the death glares he was getting from his class.

"However… just because you've captured me…" his smile shifted slightly, into a devious smirk, "Doesn't mean this lesson is over."

(Play: FF7 Remake OST - Scorpion Sentinel)

Sora froze at the change of tone All Might had, before looking around frantically. He then heard something up to the sky. He gasped in shock at what he saw, before running in.

"EVERYONE LOOK OUT!" he shouted, blowing his classmates back with Aero, before summoning the Kingdom Key and raising it above his head.

A loud metal clang was heard, along with a mighty shockwave that rattled the zone. When Izuku managed to get back on his feet, he saw that Sora was struggling against a large bandaged broadsword, which belonged to a familiar spiky blonde. The ground beneath the hero and his opponent had cratered underneath due to the massive pressure as sparks flew between the two blades.

"You're-!" Izuku started, before Sora finally managed to push the blonde away into the air, but before he had time to act further, a black blur landed in front of him and thrusted a palm in front of him, sending a blast of blue energy at the Keyblade Wielder! Class 1-A could only watch as Sora was sent flying away, plowing through some of the buildings before finally crash-landing into a specifically large one, which creaked dangerously as Sora made impact with it.

"Sora!" the majority of the class shouted in alarm.

"Don't bother." the blonde landed next to the blur, "At this distance, he probably can't hear you."

Izuku could only watch in horror. The blur and the swordsman were now revealed to be the man who had accompanied All Might at the attack on U.S.J. weeks before, and a new face he hadn't seen before. The swordsman was dressed in different attire, with indigo pants with a sleeveless shirt and a belt. His feet were garbed with brown boots, his hands with gauntlets and a pauldron rested over his left shoulder. He also wore a gear-like armlet on his left forearm and a red scarf around his neck. Not to mention that his sword was now partially covered in bandages that were clearly not made of fabric.

"That's-!" he heard Mashirao look in surprise.

"...Tifa?" Jiro said in shock on his right.

"A bombshell…" Minoru drooled, completely focused on the woman's… assets.

"You have probably 15 minutes at best before that floor's supports collapse on your classmate, potentially killing him." the man began calmly, resting his sword on his shoulder and ignoring the remarks thrown at him, "You rescue him, you pass the lesson. The kicker? You've got to get past us to get to him."

"What kind of lesson is this?!" Tenya shouted incredulously.

"Your teachers were looking for a realistic rescue experience, so I decided to deliver on that," the swordsman told him, "Clock's ticking. You just going to stand there?"

The class could barely react as the swordsman's blade began glowing green, "Fine. If you won't do anything, I'll make the first move." He raised his sword high, "Say goodbye!"

Spinning in the air, he slammed the blade down into the ground, sending three green shockwaves of energy towards the class, who were barely able to dodge as the beams went past them and sliced through the landscape behind them like butter.

"Holy crap!" Kirishima shouted, seeing the small remnants of a store behind him collapse.

"You think you're hot stuff?" Katsuki growled, "Fine! I'll show you not to mess with the best!"

Katsuki rushed in and attempted to launch an explosion towards the swordsman, only for his companion to rush forward, trip him mid-stride, and spin-kick him painfully back.

"Don't forget I'm here too," said the young woman, "So I hope you brought your A game!"

Izuku noticed the building Sora crashed into had started to creak, bringing him back to reality. Katsuki blasted away from a swing of the sword by the mystery swordsman as Midoriya started to think.

"Deku-kun, what do we do?" Ochaco asked nervously.

"We…" Izuku's eyes darted back and forth, ignoring the yelling Katsuki was making, before looking back at her, "We need to split up. One group needs to hold the line here and distract them, while the other goes to look for Sora."

"I'll go look for him," Momo offered.

"But who else should we-?"

"Quit your chatter. It leaves you wide open." the man's voice stopped them from talking as he suddenly was on them, high in the air with the blade in a stabbing motion. Even when the three got out of the way, the shockwave that followed as the man slammed the ground with his weapon sent them further away.

Izuku and Ochaco were sent crashing into the ground, but he ended up getting the brunt of the ground impact. He noticed the swordsman making a break for him, and Midoriya panicked. However, the swordsman stopped and raised his sword to block an explosion from Katsuki, and was suddenly attacked from behind from a blow to Kirishima, staggering him.

"Hands off our classmates!" Eijiro shouted. The swordsman ignores the remark and swings his blade around to hit Kirishima hard. Thanks to his hardened arms, he is saved from being sliced in two, but the force and weight of the massive broadsword forces Eijiro to get knocked back.

Katsuki begins another assault, bringing his right hand forward to nail the swordsman in the head with a point-blank explosion. To his shock, the swordsman only moved his head to casually dodge the explosion, before swinging a left hook towards Bakugo's jaw. The explosive student barely managed to dodge using an explosion to nail the swordsman's incoming fist. Said person hissed from the heat, shaking his smoking hand briefly before glaring daggers at Bakugo. Sparks of his own begin to emit from his hand as something in his broadsword glows briefly.

Meanwhile, Ojiro was engaged in hand-to-hand combat against the woman Kyoka had called Tifa. Tifa blocked a kick from Ojiro using her left arm, before delivering a spin hook kick of her own, knocking Ojiro back. She quickly turned around, leaping into the air to dodge a laser from Yuga, before slamming her fist down to the ground, cracking it and knocking Ashido and Denki off-balance nearby. She turns to clash fists with Sato, creating a massive shockwave and cratering the ground beneath them. To her surprise, Rikido was actually slowly pushing her back with his own strength.

"Okay, you're strong," she notes, "Let's turn it up a notch then,"

She pivots on one foot, turning and allowing Rikido's fist to fly past her, before she turns and grabs the length of his arm, spinning him around and around before flinging him away, sending him crashing into Mashirao, who had tried to move in to surprise her.

"Just great!" Denki said exasperated, "Not only is she hot, she's also super strong!"

"Can we focus on her looks after they stop trying to kill us?" Ashido told her classmate.

"Okay, okay!" Denki said, "Don't be so- HOLY CRAP!"

The two just barely move out of the way as Tifa attempts a divekick towards them, landing in between the two as they were just millimeters away from getting the boot.

"I appreciate your compliment," she replies, "But flattery will get you nowhere." With that, she plants a foot in Mina's midsection and sends her tumbling before spinning to face a terrified Kaminari.

I'm so dead… he thought as she bolted towards him with a fist outstretched.

(Silence)

Meanwhile, away from the fighting, Momo has recovered from the swordsman's attack, now looking to the building Sora had crashed into. She looked down, noticing a burn on her left knee from the skid she took.

"Yaoyorozu." Kyoka ran up to her, as well as Mezo and Koji, "You alright?"

"I'm okay, Jiro-san." She replied, "But we need to find Sora-san before that building collapses."

"I know, but why is Tifa-san attacking us?"

"That man said that it was part of some 'lesson,'" Momo thought aloud, "But we can't focus on that right now."

"Right. We've gotta find Sora."

"You know her?" Mezo asked the two.

"She saved us during the U.S.J. incident. She's really fast and strong to boot." Kyoka explained to them, before turning to Momo again, "How much time do we have?"

Momo stopped to think, ignoring the yells of Katsuki and the sounds of fighting. Sora had knocked them back to block a blow from the swordsman, before Tifa blasted him into a building. That was 30 seconds. Another 20 for the swordsman to tell them the situation before attacking. Adding that with their current time…

"Less than eleven minutes." She concluded, "Maybe ten if we keep standing still."

"Then we have to move fast." Shoji told them, "The quicker we can get to Sora, the better."

(Play: Final Fantasy 7 Remake OST - Crab Warden Phase 1)

Meanwhile, the swordsman was still on his toes. The students were a lot tougher than he thought they'd be. As he rolls away from an attack by Hanta's tape, he manages to see two groups of students heading off towards the building where Sora crashed into.

"Tifa!" he called over to her as she landed next to him, "We've got a group heading to the kid's location. Slow them down."

"As soon as I'm done with these guys." she nodded, seeing Ojiro and Sato re-engaging her again, "You should probably watch your back too, Cloud."

"Got it covered." he nods, raising his sword to block another explosion courtesy of Katsuki, "I'll try giving you an opening. When that happens, you make a break for it."

"And you?"

"I'll see how much I should cut loose."

"Uh…" a new voice asked, and the duo remembered All Might, still stuck in that wall, "Can one of you try getting me out?"

"No." the two said flatly.

"Hey! Didn't you say something about talking?!"

Katsuki and Eijiro were already on the assault, and Cloud reared his free hand back, flames engulfing it. With a grunt, he flung the fireball towards the ground between them, creating an explosion that knocked the two backwards. Tifa then blitzed through the smoke and sent both of them back further with two powerful strikes.

Tifa stopped to catch her breath briefly before dodging a strike from Mashirao, backflipping away to get more space. Cloud noticed her engaging once again with Ojiro, and found himself blocking a strike from Dark Shadow, courtesy of Tokoyami.

"Not bad." he commented on Fumikage's attack, "But is this really your best?"

He then pushed Dark Shadow back with his sword before casting Fira again to blast him back. A grunt alerts him to Tifa, who has blocked Ojiro's tail with her arm, only to find it wrapping around said arm. Cloud was about to help her, but found that Kirishima was already back on the move, trying to rush in and punch Cloud in the midsection. He also noticed Bakugo coming from above, so he sidestepped, making both of them miss, before he glowed a blue fiery aura.

"Blade Beam!" he calls out, swinging his blade from the ground up, creating a crescent-shaped beam at the two. Tifa, who had managed to free herself from Ojiro's tail and kick him away, is able to leap away from the attack, while Katsuki and Eijiro barely dodge it. It slices through the pile of debris behind them before disappearing.

"Okay, seriously, is he actually trying to kill us?!" Eijiro asked.

"Good…" Bakugo grinned like a maniac, "That means I don't have to worry about you pulling your punches, Spiky 2.0!"

He blasted himself towards Cloud with the intent to kill, spinning around to deliver a spin kick to the swordsman. Cloud ducks in response, before grabbing the extended leg and flinging Bakugo to the ground, before lifting him up and slamming him down again, doing this 4 more times until he was satisfied.

"You should be less worried about me pulling my punches, and more worried about your downed teammate that's probably going to die due to your negligence," Cloud chastises, lifting a dazed Bakugo by his foot, "Unless you really have a death wish, I suggest you stand down."

"Fuck you!" Katsuki spat, "I'll focus on blasting you to hell first before I actually think twice about Spiky!"

"What an ego…" Cloud sighs, before swinging Bakugo around and flinging him towards Kirishima. Bakugo responded by propelling himself back to prevent himself from crashing into his hardened classmate.

"Tifa, go!" Cloud tells her, and she nods, rolling away from Ojiro and jumping high into the air to intercept the group going after Sora.

"Oh no you don't!" Hanta shouted, launching tape to try and stop the brawler from getting over there, but Cloud, seeing this, leapt up and intercepted the tape himself, casting Fire to burn it away. Sero barely managed to dislodge the tape before the fire spread from the tape to his elbow.

Cloud landed on the ground as Tifa bounded away, leaving him with the other members of 1-A to recover a bit. He simply swung his sword and planted the dull end of his blade on his shoulder.

"Seriously? After everything we did he's barely got a scratch on him!" Kaminari groaned. He was wincing as he clutched his own cheek. Tifa had punched him hard there, and it hadn't been pretty like her looks.

"This warrior is definitely in a league of his own…" Tokoyami mused, "His power is like All Might's… simply incredible."

"Can we stop complimenting the guy who's trying to kill us?!"

Just then, Cloud was suddenly enveloped in a large chunk of ice. When the group of Class A turned, they saw Todoroki had used his Quirk to call upon the powerful ice and envelop Cloud entirely in it.

"What the hell, Icy-Hot bastard?!" Bakugo shouted, "What were you doing all this time?!"

"Waiting for the right moment to strike," was the cold reply. Bakugo snarled at him, but Kirishima held him back.

"You may be strong enough to handle a lot of us at once," Shoto told the frozen Cloud, "But you're still at a disadvantage given that all of us have different Quirks, and you clearly don't have knowledge of all of them. And you've made a mistake by splitting your forces. Any one of us can knock you down with a powerful attack without your wingman to watch your back." he walked over to him casually, "It's over."

(Play: FF7 Remake OST - Crab Warden Phase 2)

Suddenly, the ice began to crack, much to his shock, as Cloud began to glare daggers at Todoroki. In a few seconds, the ice burst and Todoroki was knocked away, but managed to stop his momentum with an ice wall behind him as his classmates ran up to him. As he watched, Cloud walked out from the mists of the melted ice completely unscathed, his blade trailed menacingly behind his back, leaving sparks behind him as it grazed the ground. He exhaled, releasing red flames from his mouth as his blue, fiery aura flared once again.

"I'll give you credit. You did catch me off my guard," he complimented, though his face bore no trace of a smile as he regained his stance, "But you'll have to do better than mere sneak attacks, a ripoff of Diamond Dust, and a couple of little fireworks if you're planning on beating me."

"'Fireworks?' You wanna say that again?" Katsuki charged in, "I'll kill you for saying that!"

"Here's a word of advice, punk." The swordsman merely grabbed Bakugo's wrist with one hand before he could release the sweat, before lifting it, and Katsuki, high into the air, forcing the explosion upwards, "When you're the first one in the battlefield to rush in or draw your weapon," he glared at the explosive boy as his grip tightened enough that bones were heard creaking, "Be ready to be the first to die."

With a mighty swing, he slammed the broadsword into Katsuki's gut before the boy could use his other hand to blast him, sending Bakugo careening away and tumbling to the ground. He got back to his feet, only to see the swordsman rushing at him with breakneck speed, weapon thrusted out in an attempt to stab him. He only barely propelled himself out of the way.

Cloud wasn't done, though, as he leapt into the air with his sword up and ready to stab the ground. Katsuki reacted and blasted himself away, ignoring the fact that both Kaminari and Kirishima were there, as they barely managed to dodge the impact, but the shockwave afterwards blew the two away.

"Dark Shadow!" Tokoyami shouted, sending the dark double towards Cloud, who merely blocked the shadow with his sword, before coating it with energy and swinging it at Dark Shadow, who reared back to dodge the attack as the sword slammed into the ground.

Cloud then spun to block Yuga's laser with the Buster Sword, the force of the laser slightly pushing him back. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Katsuki going for another attack, and the moment Aoyama's laser stopped blasting on Cloud's weapon, he pivoted and whacked the explosive kid with an upward slash too fast for Bakugo to react as he was sent flying into the air. His footing then changed, with both hands now holding the sword diagonally downward in a slightly defensive stance. Unlike his regular Operator Stance, Cloud's Punisher Stance was used only to counterattack and hit hard at close quarters when necessary.

And this explosive kid… Katsuki, wasn't it… had just earned that right to get clobbered by it, as annoying and stubborn the kid was.

"You're really persistent." he commented as Bakugo slowly got back up with a snarl, "I'm almost impressed,"

Come on, kid… when are you showing up? Cloud thought, as his eyes then darted to where Kirishima and Sato were coming in with a dual attack, I might actually have to hurt these guys a lot more than I have to. He backed away and jumped.

"Braver!" he called out, somersaulting in midair and slamming his blade in between the charging boys, sending them both off course as Cloud brought himself to his Punisher Stance once again. He noticed Todoroki going for another barrage of ice and he rolled away to avoid it, turning around to knock Dark Shadow away with the Buster Sword.

He then felt a tug on his weapon arm, and found it trapped by tape, courtesy of Hanta. He turned to face him, before he heard a familiar roar. Quick to react, he turned back to grab the face of Katsuki with his free hand, before suddenly electrocuting him with Thunder and kicking him aside.

"Next time you do a sneak attack," he said to the downed Bakugo as he ripped the tape off his arm, "Shut the hell up."

Meanwhile, Izuku, Ochaco, Tsuyu, Mineta, and Tenya were racing towards the building Sora had crashed into. It was now creaking a lot more than normal.

"How much time left, Deku-kun?" Ochaco asked.

"Seven minutes and counting!" he replied, "Sora likely crashed near the middle. We have to find him fast!"

"I'll scout ahead!" Iida offered.

"AHH!" Mineta screamed, "Boobies on our tail!"

Izuku turned to see what Minoru was talking about, and gasped to see that the woman named Tifa was actually sprinting towards them.

"Whoa!" Izuku shouted.

"She's already here, kero?!" Asui said, equally surprised.

Tifa quickly jumped over them, landing between them and the building. "I'm sorry," she said, her arms crossed, "But I can't let you pass."

Deku, Ochaco, Tsuyu, and Tenya got themselves ready, but Mineta was staring at Tifa very oddly, much to her discomfort.

Oh, god. Not another Corneo… she thought.

Izuku was thinking frantically, What the heck do we do? She's a fighter, who can hit hard and move fast, and not to mention she's super agile. None of us have the skillset to take her on. Think, Izuku, think…

"You daydreaming over there?" Tifa's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

Izuku glanced to the right, seeing a flash of red and purple on the corner of his eye. He also saw a multitude of arms, and realized who was there running towards the building.

He knew what he had to do.

"Please, get out of our way!" he told her, "If we don't do something, our friend might die!"

Ochaco seemed to realize what Izuku was trying to do and continued, "Y-Yeah. We know you're not an actual Villain. If we don't get there in time…!"

She shook her head, "I'm afraid I can't do that. Besides, can't you trust your own classmate to get out of there himself?"

"That doesn't mean we abandon him!" Iida declared, "That's not what a Hero would do!"

"Unfortunately, that's not what I'm here to do, and talking will only waste your time." She said, before suddenly, she raised her left arm to grab a pouncing Mineta, who had tried to get at her assets when she wasn't looking, before slamming him to the ground painfully, "I suggest not trying to do anything like that, okay? Otherwise, who knows what I might do to your precious jewels…"

She gets close to Mineta's face, an acid-sweet grin on her face as she plants a foot next to his body, "I could smash them."

Why the heck is the bombshell suddenly scary?! Mineta thought in fear.

That's right… keep her busy. Let Yaoyorozu-san and the others get to Sora. Midoriya thought as Tifa looked at Mineta and closed her eyes in thought.

"Meh, I'll save it for later." she concluded, opening her eyes, before lifting Mineta up and punching the pervert in the gut with her other hand, sending him crashing into a nearby worn-down shop.

With Minoru down, she turned her attention to the other four.

"We can keep talking, if you like," she began, "But I'm out of things to say, so…"

With breakneck speed, she then dashed towards Izuku, who barely had time to dodge as he blocked her first strike with his arms up. But that didn't stop him from being knocked back and sent tumbling to the ground.

The remaining three of them could barely register what had happened as Tifa then focused their sights on them.

"I hope your bite is as good as your bark," she challenged as Izuku winced from the combined pain of his broken finger and the sting his arms had due to Tifa's punch. She might not be All Might, but for a woman, she was unusually strong.

As the four of them readied themselves for a seemingly hopeless fight, Momo, Jiro, Koda, and Shoji had made it into the building thanks to their distraction and had ascended a couple of floors already, and based on the rumblings above, the floor Sora might be on was starting to give way.

"How much time?" Jiro asked.

"Five minutes." Momo replied.

"Do you hear anything, Shoji-san?" Koji signed.

Mezo placed ears across the floor and walls, "Nothing. Jiro?"

Kyoka placed her jacks into the wall. She closed her eyes, listening to the sounds around her, before gasping, "I hear him! He's 3 floors above us!"

"What's he doing?" Momo asked.

"Struggling. I think he's stuck." Jiro guessed, "It's hard to tell."

"We have to get up there." Mezo declared.

"Be careful though. We don't know how unstable this building is." Momo warned, "If the floor Sora-san is on gives way, the floors above might also fall and cause the whole thing to collapse."

"All the more reason to keep moving," Mezo replied

They nodded, before slowly ascending the stairs. As they gingerly took the stairs, a portion of a step suddenly crumbled under Koji, and Mezo only barely saved him from falling by grabbing his arm. He signed a quick thank-you before they continued slowly upward.

One minute later, they arrived on the floor they had heard Sora in, and after following a trail of broken support beams and a peculiar-shaped hole in the wall, they found him, but he seemed to be in a big bind. His lower body was trapped underneath several pipes, and his right arm was caught in some wires dangling from the ceiling as well. Kyoka had been right; he was stuck.

"Sora!" Mezo called out.

"M-Mezo? Ack!" Sora winced as a sharp wire made a small cut on his trapped arm, "H-Hey! Did you come by yourself?"

"No. I have Yaoyorozu, Jiro, and Koda with me right now."

"That's great,"

"Just stay put. We're coming!" Kyoka called out, but was stopped by Momo before she could step forward.

"Wait! The building." she reminded her. As she said that, the building they were in began to shake even further as the group heard a groaning noise.

"That didn't sound good, did it?" Sora asked.

"No. The support beams in this floor are probably failing." Momo deduced, "Your crash must have dislodged some of them."

"That's just swell…" he grumbled.

"I'll try and lift this up." Mezo looked towards the pipes trapping Sora's legs, "Koda-san, can you help?"

The animal-themed hero nodded in response.

"Be careful," Momo said, creating a knife out of her arm to cut the wires once Mezo was done. Shoji took a few steps slowly forward, keeping balance and trying to make sure he didn't dislodge anything as the building shook again. When he reached the pipe that was on Sora's legs, he signaled for Koji to get to the other side of the pipe. Together, the two gingerly lifted the first pipe up, moving off of Sora's leg and into the ground.

Momo quickly walked up to Sora's arm, examining the wires for a few seconds, concluding that they were no longer circulating electricity, and quickly cut them off.

"Thanks, guys." Sora smiled as Momo examined his arm for any injuries.

"Anything broken?" Mezo asked as he and Koda lifted the second pipe off his abdomen.

"Maybe my pride." he joked with a cough, shaking his now free right arm. Finally, Mezo and Koda got the final pipe off of Sora, who, with Momo and Kyoka's help, got back on his feet, staggering a bit due to the lack of blood circulation.

"Darn… my legs fell asleep…" Sora muttered, shaking his legs and summoning Hero's Origin, turning back to his friends, "So what's happening out there? Last time I checked Cloud and Tifa attacked us and sent me flying into this building."

Before any of them could answer Sora's question, the floor they were on began creaking as the ceiling above them began to shake, sending dust to the floor.

"That… doesn't sound good…" Sora said uneasily.

"We need to get off this floor." Momo replied, "We're running out of time."

"How much time do we have left?" Kyoka asked, looking at the shaking ceiling above while her jacks were to the wall, "I don't think we have very long!"

"Less than a minute, at best."

"That's all?! We won't make it out of the building that fast!"

A distant shout of pain caused them to look in that direction. "Was that Midoriya?" Mezo asked. Sora froze in shock at the shout. If Cloud went too far…

"Wah!"

Koda's shout alerted them to the shaking floor, as one of the support beams began to crumble and bend under the pressure, before suddenly, it broke. The sounds of other things breaking followed. They were out of time.

Sora reacted fast. Quickly, he swung Hero's Origin to the side, allowing it to transform into Counter Shield. He had no clue if it'll do anything, but since he couldn't cast a stronger Reflect spell, this was probably the only thing he could possibly think of.

Let's hope this works! Sora thought with eyes closed as he raised his shield above him as the ceiling started to fall on him and his four classmates…

As the students in the building went in to rescue Sora, Izuku's little team was trying to hold their ground against Tifa, but it wasn't going well. She was way too quick to Izuku to even land a hit on, and Tenya was the only one fast enough to keep up, though her agility made his attempts at fighting useless. Tsuyu had gotten her once, but only that, as the brawler had managed to fling her while holding Asui's tongue, slamming her down and knocking her out.

Izuku had to raise his arms up to protect himself as Tifa planted a kick there, making him yell out in pain as he crashed into Ochaco, the two tumbling to the ground.

Come on, where are they?! Izuku thought to himself, They're almost out of time!

"Had enough?" Tifa asked, relaxing and straightening her posture. Now that she was up close, Izuku could deduce she was pretty tall, maybe slightly above Yaoyorozu's height.

"Not yet… not until… my friend is safe…" he grunted, struggling to get up. But several minutes of tanking Tifa's blows had exhausted him, and he nearly fell back had it not been for Ochaco supporting him.

"Hey, don't push yourself." She said despite the situation, before suddenly a rumbling alerted everybody to what had happened. The rumbling managed to wake up Tsu, who looked up and cried out, "Oh no! The building!"

Midoriya looked up in horror as he saw the top of the building tipping over, and Tifa looked over as well, as suddenly the top part of the building began to fall forward, slowly collapsing onto the ground, nearly taking the bottom half had it not been for the supports below.

"No!" Izuku shouted, "Sora!"

(Silence)

When she saw it, Tifa surprisingly stopped moving in shock, seemingly having lost track of time. "Oh god…" she whispered. She had noticed earlier when Izuku was trying to reason with her that another group had rushed into the building, so she played along and pretended not to see them. However, throughout her own fight with these students, she didn't notice them exit at all.

Before she could go over and check for survivors, she suddenly notices a bright light emitted from the rubble on the top of the bottom half of the building, before a large golden fist slammed out of the debris, dematerializing before four students flew out of the rubble.

(Play: FF7 Remake OST - Tifa's Theme - Seventh Heaven)

"They made it," she said in English as she sighed in relief.

"Is that them?" Ochaco asked.

"I think so." Tifa nodded, "You guys passed our little… lesson."

Tenya looked at her dumbfounded, "I still can't believe this was allowed by Aizawa-sensei. Did you have to send our classmate into those buildings like that?!"

Surprisingly to the four of them, Tifa started to look embarrassed, scratching her cheek and looking away while biting her lip, "Um… I guess I went a little overboard, didn't I? I'm sorry if I scared you all."

Izuku was quick to reply, "N-No, it's alright, Tifa-san. That is your name, right?"

"Yes, it is."

"O-Okay." Izuku took a breath of relief, "At least you were holding back on us."

"Can you walk? I didn't break anything, did I?" She walked up to Izuku and Ochaco, examining the two.

"N-No, you're fine." Izuku grunted, taking her hand in his left one, "You sure are strong, Tifa-san."

"I'm really not," she replied, "But we shouldn't be talking about how strong I am. We should get over there and make sure your friends and classmates are okay."

"And what should we do with him?" Tsuyu asked, holding an unconscious Minoru underneath her arm. Tifa stared at the little pervert before sighing, "We can take him too. Just make sure he's still out like a light,"

The froggy Heroine croaked in response.

"We're going up?" Izuku asked.

"Yes." Tifa nodded, before looking over Izuku's broken finger, "But we should take care of this first."

But as they were talking, they didn't notice a bolt of blue light blitz out of the rubble.

(Resume: FF7 Remake OST - Crab Warden Phase 2)

Back at the center of the destroyed city, as the top half of the building crashed to the ground, it caught the attention of everybody present, even Cloud, who paused in his stride to look over at the building. Shrugging, he turned back to the group of 1-A students that were still standing. Kirishima was being supported by Sato, the former having run out of time with his Hardening Quirk having reached his limit and was now covered in bruises and small cuts. Tokoyami and Dark Shadow were still kicking, but the shadow was currently recovering from the Fire spells Cloud had used. Bakugo was the only one who was stubborn enough to stand and currently fight, as the ones with long range couldn't even land a solid hit on Cloud. This warrior was way too fast and too quick to react.

"Looks like time's up." Cloud concluded, "Let's hope your friends were able to save him."

Todoroki realized at that moment, whether Sora had been rescued or not, that the lesson was over. He lowered his guard, and so did the others, who were now looking over to what was left of the building Sora had crashed into.

"I don't care about Spiky, you bastard!" Katsuki barked, being the only person who didn't back down, "I only care about kicking your ass!"

He propelled himself towards Cloud again, and the SOLDIER merely sidestepped to dodge the attack, but suddenly, Katsuki reared his left hand down, going for a rising uppercut with an open hand. Before Cloud could internally question what he was planning to do, Katsuki used his Quirk while swinging to send debris towards him. Cloud was initially blinded by the debris, before he felt a burning sensation in his chest area, along with a loud "DIIIIEEEE!" as he was hit with a pretty strong explosion.

The sound of someone tumbling to the ground made Katsuki grin as his attack appeared to have connected. "How's that, Spiky 2.0?"

Suddenly, the dust blew away and revealed Cloud on his feet, with a clearly pissed off expression and that fiery blue aura around him.

"You really are asking for it, aren't you?" Cloud snarled, bringing his sword up to his chest horizontally, "Fine, then." he then brought it diagonally in front of him, "Let's dance, asshole!"

Nobody could comprehend what exactly happened next, but with merely a few seconds, Cloud was in the air, his sword sending Bakugo sailing as the swordsman landed on the ground with his back turned, even when the explosive kid fell to the ground hard, his body now battered by whatever brutal barrage of attacks Cloud had inflicted, and the remains of his gauntlets pretty much in pieces around him.

Cloud then turned around and walked over, grabbing the kid by the scruff of the hair and lifting him up face-to-face. "You said that you were the best of the best, right?"

"You… bet…" Katsuki grunted, barely conscious, "And… don't you… forget it!"

The SOLDIER simply sighed, before slamming him face-first into the ground. "Get help." With a strong kick to the rear, he sent Katsuki skidding face-first along the ground, where he didn't get back up.

He looked back to the others, who looked stricken by the brutal way he had thrashed Katsuki, as he went on to ask, "Anybody else? Or should we wait on-?"

(Play: FF7 Remake OST - Crab Warden Phase 3)

Suddenly, a red and black blur blitzes towards Cloud, making him barely able to block the unexpected attack with his sword as the impact causes him to skid back and dig his feet into the ground.

"We're here!" A familiar voice called out in Japanese. The other students looked and felt sudden relief as Momo, Shoji, Kyoka, and Koda came back, all of whom were led by Sora. And based on the look on his face, he was not happy.

"First, you unexpectedly attack my friends and blast me into a building, and the collapse nearly killed not just me, but also the people who went to save me." Sora said in English, an uncharacteristic glare on his face, "And now you're still planning on attacking them?"

"That depends," Cloud replied.

"On what?"

"You know what I mean."

Sora's eyes widened, before gripping his Kingdom Key, "You're on."

"Sora, wait…" Momo told him, but Sora raised a hand to stop her.

"No." he said firmly, "He's mine."

Cloud got back into his Operator Stance as Sora advanced towards him, Kingdom Key in hand, before getting into his own stance, prepping for a fight as his classmates watched anxiously.

Without warning, the two blitzed, blades thrusting and passing one another. When the two flew past one another and turned, neither of them seemed affected by the clash. However, when Sora turned to face Cloud, those that were close enough could see a trickle of blood run down his right cheek.

Sora seemed unfazed by this and charged in, clashing blades with Cloud this time. The two shared a look that his classmates couldn't see, before their blades reared back, clashed again and knocked the two back a couple feet. They weren't done, as both swordsmen dashed towards one another, weapons colliding again and again, before Sora swiped his weapon horizontally to strike Cloud, but he dashed under the swing as Sora quickly turned back. Cloud then leapt into the air, raising the Buster Sword over his head to slam his weapon down on Sora, but he quickly switched to his Counter Shield, blocking the sword with it before grunting and pushing him off. Cloud landed and reacted just in time to stop Sora's Kingdom Key from hitting his head, before pushing him up into the air and leaping after him.

"Holy crap…" Denki uttered as Sora and Cloud continued clashing in the air before the two landed on a building's side, with Sora being chased by the swordsman, "They're fast!"

"Maybe not as fast as All Might, but I'm still shocked Sora's keeping pace with the guy!" Eijiro added, while being supported by Sato, "Especially since we couldn't even touch him unless his guard was down!"

"Are you guys alright?" Mina asked Kyoka, who looked out of breath, "I thought Sora was a goner back there."

"We could've been too. We were in that building," Jiro admitted, shocking her, "If Sora hadn't protected us, we'd probably be injured or worse."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"You think he'll be okay?" Koda signed to Mezo.

"I don't know…" was the reply.

Shoto watched the battle unfold as Sora flung a fireball to meet Cloud's own, amazed by the sheer speed at which the two were fighting. He hadn't seen a lot of combat, but by the way the two were engaging each other, something seemed to be… off.

That's when it hit him.

"...He's been holding back this entire time."

"What?" Hanta asked, looking to Todoroki, "Sora's holding back?"

Shoto only shook his head before Cloud knocked Sora back down to the ground hard, landing a second afterward. As the dust settled, Sora was still there, though the attack had done a number on him.

Sora then casts Blizzard three times before using the trail it left behind to propel himself towards Cloud in the same manner as how he approached Toru in the Battle Trial. Cloud cast Fire to dispel the ice shards, but was shocked to see Sora lunge at him through the mist. In a matter of seconds, Cloud was on the defensive, blocking each of Sora's strikes that came at him. But no matter how much he was defending, Sora kept pushing forward.

Finally, Sora managed to find an opening and struck Cloud in the midsection as hard as he could, sending him crashing into some debris, giving Sora a chance to breathe. He turned back to his classmates, who were watching in awe.

"Is everyone okay?" he called out.

"A little banged up here, but we're kicking! Dunno about Bakugo, though," Kirishima called back, and Sora turned to where the unconscious kid was. Sora could only guess what happened, and given who they were dealing with, he wasn't surprised.

"What about Izuku? Have you seen him?" Sora asked.

"He went to find you an- Look out!" shouted Hanta.

Sora turned just in time to see the dust cloud being blown away, revealing Cloud back in stance and his blue fiery aura all around him. He grit his teeth as he recognized the implications of what this meant: Cloud was planning to use his Limit Break, and that wouldn't be good if that attack reached his classmates. He got his Keyblade up as his clothes began to change color.

"Let's go!" he shouted, Formchanging into Second Form to challenge Cloud's Limit Break. The two charged towards one another, before they exchanged four horizontal slashes that parried one another, before Cloud suddenly pinned Sora's blade to the ground, and Sora couldn't even react as Cloud slashed upward across his chest, sending him flying backwards. The Keyblade wielder managed to regain his footing and ignored the searing pain on his chest, clashing with Cloud once again with a downward slash that Cloud responded with his own, both blades locking one another in a brief stalemate, before the two pushed each other back.

Cloud reared back the Buster Sword, and Sora responded in kind, before the two lunged towards each other for one final strike.

(Play FF7 Remake OST - Crab Warden - Ending)

However, it did not come.

"ENOUGH!" a voice shouted out, as a black blur slammed into the center between the two. Sora and Cloud quickly reared back, planting their feet down and skidding to prevent their strikes from hitting the blur, with Cloud planting the sword into the ground to better stop himself.

"Tifa…!" said Cloud, before being met with a glare that would've melted normal men's eyes, and he sighed, the blue aura dissipating around him as Sora stopped in front of them, his Second Form dispelled as he panted in exhaustion.

"Everyone!" a familiar voice calls out as the remainder of Class 1-A turn to see Izuku, Ochaco, Tsuyu, carrying an unconscious Mineta with her tongue, and Tenya run up to them.

(Play FF7 Remake OST - Main Theme of FF7 - Sector 7 Undercity)

"Guys?!" Sora turned back in surprise.

"Looks like they made it out as well." Cloud noted.

"I made sure of that. The only one who's probably hurt the most is the green-haired kid. I think his name's Midoriya." Tifa told him, "Still has a broken finger, but I fixed him up the best I could."

"That's a relief…" Sora smiled.

"Ochaco-chan! Tsu-chan! You're alright!" Toru ran over and bear-hugged them both, comically sobbing, "I thought you were goners!"

"Hagakure-chan… you're squeezing us… ack!" Ochaco squeaked out as she and Tsuyu were nearly crushed by her hug.

"Kero…" said Tsuyu, not complaining whatsoever.

"Enough about us. What about you?" Izuku turned to Momo, "We went with Tifa-san to find you guys after the building collapsed, but we couldn't find you."

"Well… It was Sora-san who saved us." Momo admitted, "He managed to summon some sort of barrier to protect all of us from the debris."

"And when he heard that the Cloud dude was still attacking us, He didn't hesitate to take us back to the fight." Kyoka added, "You missed it, by the way."

"Not really, kero." Tsuyu corrected getting out of Hagakure's grip, "We watched the tail end of the fight before Tifa-chan interfered and stopped them."

"Who knew Sora could be that fast, though," Hanta commented.

"Still…" Izuku looked over nervously as Sora and Cloud glanced at one another, holding it there for quite a while as the rest of Class A nervously advanced towards the trio, waiting for a reaction between the two.

After what seemed like forever, Cloud said, "You're definitely not the kid I fought in the Colosseum way back then, that's for sure. You're skills have improved greatly, Sora."

"You bet they did, and I can see you've got new tricks too." Sora grinned, offering a fist to Cloud, "It's great to see you again."

Cloud smirked, returning the little fist with one of his own, humoring him and giving the kid a fist bump. Sora then turned over to find an unconscious Katsuki.

"Gonna revive him?" he asked Cloud.

"When I feel like it." was the reply, "Stubborn kid. He didn't make it easy to hold back."

"I can imagine." Sora nodded in sympathy.

"Fine. I'll heal him." Tifa walked over to Bakugo, casting something that Sora didn't recognize. Slowly, the bruises slightly disappeared, and he regained consciousness, though was too disoriented to talk.

Sora then looked over to his classmates, who were still clearly nervous about Cloud attacking them again.

"It's alright guys. He's not gonna hurt you." Sora called to them in Japanese, making them relax somewhat.

"Trust me. I'm not going to slice anyone in half." Cloud affirmed, "You passed the lesson by rescuing your comrade while dealing with the enemy."

"I still can't believe Aizawa-sensei would tolerate what you just did as a lesson." Tenya advanced towards Cloud, before sighing, "But he did say that the teacher makes the rules…"

"Glad someone remembers," Aizawa's voice rang out as he and Thirteen walked up to them, and surprisingly, Nezu was with them.

"You did wonderful, Class 1-A, though I do admit I wasn't expecting this." Nezu congratulated them, before looking to Sora, "I suspect that me bringing in these two was a surprise for you as well, wasn't it?"

"A lot, sir." Sora nodded, "Wait… you called them here?!"

Nezu only laughed.

"I hate to be rude, though, but," Mezo started, "Who exactly are these two individuals, Sora?"

"I can answer that." Nezu piped up, "Everyone, it is my pleasure to introduce to you Cloud Strife, the Mercenary Hero: Fenrir, and his partner, Tifa Lockhart. Hero name, Starshower!"

"Hi there." Tifa waved politely to the class.

"Hey," Cloud simply crossed his arms.

"Before they arrived here in Japan, they were initially living in America, but they are also experts in our language, so there is no cause for language barrier concerns," Nezu continued, "Cloud-san, as his Hero name suggests, is a freelance Pro, and has been taking jobs at any Hero Agency across the world… for a good price, that is."

"To put it bluntly, he's a mercenary." Aizawa replied, "But also an underground Hero like me, which is why you all haven't heard of him until now."

"Gotta make a living somehow." Fenrir affirmed, "I also work part-time as a courier for my own delivery service, but when that wasn't enough I turned to Hero work."

"I go along with him at times, but sometimes I stay back and take care of the neighborhood we live in." Starshower smiled, "Someone's gotta keep the neighborhood watch when one of us is away,"

Nezu then revealed, "With the threat of these new creatures called the Heartless coming about and posing a great danger here in the country, I called Cloud-san and Tifa-san to offer them a place as staff members of U.A., to provide extra security in case the Heartless or villains decided to show up again. This… lesson was Cloud-san's little test of how he would do as a teacher."

"Just to make it clear, I still haven't signed the contract, Nezu," Cloud reminded the creature.

"I know. You are still contemplating your decision, correct? Even when this is over?"

"Yeah. I'll let you know when the time comes."

Tenya walked over to Cloud, and to the latter's surprise, he bowed, "My apologies, Strife-san. I am glad you are considering becoming a teacher here, and as Class A's representative, I welcome you to U.A." he then glanced back to Sora, "Though I may speak on behalf of not just myself, but also on behalf of my other classmates, when I ask this question. You and Sora-kun seem to know each other. How is that?"

"It should've been obvious during our fight." Cloud said without a pause, "I'm the one who mentored him in swordsmanship."

Sora perked up at that, nearly just about to object, but stopped immediately, remembering that since Cloud was also from another world, he needed an alibi, so Sora had to back him up. His classmates glanced towards him, and then to Cloud, repeating this multiple times before the connection finally clicked.

"That would explain the first attack that both of them did." Tokoyami mused, "And why Sora was able to fare better against Strife-san compared to Bakugo."

"Not to mention that both of them seem to have similar Quirks," Mashirao mused, "It's not out of the question that Strife-san is Sora's sensei."

"Plus, look at their hairstyles. Both are pretty similar, dontcha think?" Kaminari pointed out.

"Do I smell another fanboy?" Ashido teased.

"H-Hey!" Sora objected, "My hair's always been spiky even before I met Cloud!"

"So you're saying you don't really admire me as your mentor?" Cloud asked, faking a sigh, "I don't mind. But it's a really big punch to the gut considering how much I taught you."

Sora glared at him, "You're having fun with this, aren't you?"

Cloud only smirked.

"But what about All Might?" Izuku asked, "Wasn't he a part of the lesson?"

"No. He orchestrated the whole villain attacking thing for the lesson. I just followed along. I was going to do something lighter since you guys got attacked by Villains and Heartless here a while back, but he insisted that Tifa and I play along with his so-called 'prank'. Since he was already a staff member, I couldn't refuse." Cloud said, "If you want someone to blame, it's him."

At that, the students all glared at the still immobilized Hero, who looked rather embarrassed and sweatdropped. "Yes… about that… I'm sorry."

Bakugo, who had finally fully recovered, Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sero, weren't having it; though, and exploded, "YOU WENT OVERBOARD, YOU MORON!"

Cloud looked away, "Not helping you outta this one, big guy."

The rest of the class deadpanned and sweatdropped as the four students began to comically trample All Might. Sora, ignoring the yelling, turned to Izuku, "I heard you had a broken finger. Does it hurt?"

"O-Oh. N-No, not as much, Sora-kun." Izuku shook his head, "Tifa-san helped cushion it a bit before we got here. But forget about me," he looked over at Sora's condition, "You're bleeding."

"I am?" Sora asked, looking down at the spot where Cloud slashed his chest, and a shallow cut was slightly visible, with blood seeping from it. "Oh. No worries, I can take care of that." He then raised his hand up, "Heal!"

As his hand glowed green, a comforting warmth fell over the two as leaves fell over them before disappearing. Izuku felt the pain in his finger lessen as he saw Sora's cuts on his face and chest close up.

"Feeling better?" Sora asked.

"Y-Yeah. What was that?" Midoriya asked, "Was that your Quirk?"

"Yeah. I don't know what I'm summoning when I do that. To be honest, I did just find out I could do it during the second wave. It helped me survive long enough for the staff to pull through." Sora explained.

"How cruel of you, All Might!" They heard Mina shout, making the two turn to see that Mina, Tenya, and Ochaco were now there after the angry boys had had their due with him.

"I'm really sorry… it wasn't all that serious…" All Might said while comically in tears.

"Not only did Bakugo-kun get knocked unconscious, but Midoriya-kun also broke his finger!" Tenya declared, adjusting his glasses rapidly, "Don't you think that will give the school a bad image?!"

"Please don't do it again, All Might!" Ochaco pleaded, before looking over to Izuku, "Right, Deku-kun?"

In response, Izuku slumped to the floor, much to Sora's shock, but it surprised him further when he saw his friend's face was shown to be one of relief. "Well…" Izuku grinned, "At least it was a surprise."

Sora grinned. Looks like it was gonna be okay for Midoriya, even if his idol did push it a bit too far.

"Midoriya-shounen…" All Might uttered, before Ochaco, Mina, and Tenya returned their glares tenfold on him, making him shut up.

"We should probably go see Recovery Girl to get that fixed," Ochaco walked back to Izuku to examine his finger.

Ack! So close! Midoriya blushed, and Sora took notice.

Looks like someone's got a crush, he chuckled, I can totally relate.

He then noticed Cloud and Katsuki staring at one another, the latter glaring at him, while Cloud was looking down on him with an unamused expression.

"Don't think just because you beat me now means you're superior, Big Sword," Katsuki growled at him, "The next time we fight, you're going down."

Cloud stared at him, before giving him a smirk, "I look forward to when that day comes."

Sora couldn't tell if Cloud was being genuine or sarcastic as he walked away from Bakugo. But suddenly, he turned around to face the explosive kid again, "Oh, and another thing, about earlier…"

Katsuki turned back from looking over to All Might, as Cloud took a deep breath. Then, the next several words were one Sora didn't expect.

"I'm really sorry about your ass."

Katsuki just stared at him, "...Hah?"

He didn't get a chance to process that as Cloud merely walked away to speak with Aizawa and Nezu, while Tifa walked up next to Sora, who was trying to understand why Cloud said that himself, while she glanced towards his classmates, specifically to Izuku, Ochaco, and Tenya.

"They're good friends, Sora." Tifa commented in English, "And smart too. They tried to talk to me to distract me from seeing your other friends go off to save you."

"And you let them go?" Sora asked, "Bit of a slip-up for you, huh?"

"Coming from the super strong Keyblade wielder who holds back for their sakes?" The brawler pointed out, "Jokes aside, it was either that or you getting seriously injured,"

"Fair point." Sora said, "And is Cloud actually serious about getting a job here?"

"As long as it pays well." Tifa replied.

"Gotcha." Sora said. That sounded like something Cloud would do.

"Sora-kun! Come! We must go see Recovery Girl!" Tenya called out to him.

"That's my cue." Sora said, "Be seeing you guys around?"

"More often than not. I'm starting to like your class." Tifa admitted, "I'm sure Cloud will warm up to them too."

"You think?" Sora asked, recalling how broody Cloud had been in the past.

"You'd be surprised how much people can change in a short period of time, Sora." she replied, "Besides, you still have that little rematch, right?"

"Yeah. Thanks for stopping it before things got messy." Sora smiled.

"No problem."

"Sora-kun!" this time it was Ochaco who was calling to him, staying close to a red-faced Izuku.

"Coming!" Sora called out, before waving goodbye to Tifa and tearing after his friends. Today was a pretty unexpected day, and though that day had exhausted him quite a lot, it wasn't an unwelcome event that Cloud and Tifa showed up out of nowhere again. Hopefully tomorrow will be just as swell.

He smiled a bit before pulling out his Gummiphone. He couldn't wait to tell his mother everything when he visited the next time.

Wahoo! Chapter 18 is done, baby! Over 20 pages of Final Fantasy 7 love! UGH!

So yeah, new difference here is that Cloud and Tifa join the fun in this OVA Rescue Mission, and they give Class A a very worthy challenge. And yeah, we could've gotten a rematch right there and then between our two spiky haired swordsman, but we'll just have to settle with what we've got.

And just to let you know, Cloud and Tifa are WAY taller here than they are in the OG FF7. Here's why: We only know ONE actual measurement of height in KH, and that's Sora's (5ft 3). In KH3 Re:Mind, through Data Greeting, it turns out Leon's character model (he's 5ft 10 in his game) is actually TALLER than Terra's, who is one of the taller members of the Guardians of Light second only to Axel/Lea, who's literally a giant. In KH2, Cloud's model appears to be of similar height, if not slightly smaller than KH Leon.

And look at Aerith! She's supposed to be like 5ft 4 in FF7, but in Re:Mind, she's just shy of Riku's height.

So to sum it up...

While FF7 Cloud is 5ft 8, I would say KH Cloud is taller, around 6 feet (Since KH Leon is clearly taller than his Final Fantasy counterpart, if we base everything off of Sora's height.)

And the same applies for Tifa. FF7 Tifa is 5ft 6, while KH Tifa would be, I'd say, 5ft 9 or 10, give or take, as I'm keeping her 2 inches shorter than Cloud like in FF7.

Gosh, why is nearly every major humanoid character other than the Sora and Kairi counterparts in KH so tall?!

You can disregard my rant about their height if you don't care much about it. Other than that, it was a huge joy to write this chapter, and you can really see why.

And before you lot complain again about how sharp the Buster Sword is and it should've sliced someone like Katsuki in half, there's a reason why in this chapter, the Buster Sword has special wrappings around it.

Onto reviews!

Shadowmwape: Ya know what? I'm gonna say that this will remain a secret, as future chapters will explain this for ya. Stay tuned!

Gamelover41592: Glad you enjoyed it.

blueassassin996: Yeah. That definitely wouldn't have bode well for Sora if he was too late to save Shimizu. He already feels guilty for not being there to protect her, imagine how he would feel if she died despite his best efforts.

Guest: Thanks for your feedback, and yeah, I cleared that up so that Tenya and Ochaco don't get the wrong idea.

Guest: That... is an interesting theory. Given what we know in Dark Road, it might be possible.

keybladelight: No. SoraxMomo is not gonna be a ship setting sail in this fic anytime soon. Though there's no doubt that Sora's likeable personality might spark a few crushes on him, and small bits of jealousy, but only small. Unfortunately, his heart already belongs to somebody else, and KH3 made it CLEARLY obvious who he's got eyes on.

And regarding that other point, I don't think it'll be possible. Shimizu is in a completely different hospital.

Jaded671: Thank you. Let's hope Sora's mom will make it.

Cujo: Funnily enough, I did consider giving Shimizu a Keyblade, but ultimately decided against it. No, Shimizu won't get a Keyblade, but after this particular incident, she will consider learning how to better defend herself.

Shadow Tiger24: Yep. Shimizu isn't out of the running just yet, thankfully.

Engineer4Ever: True, but we don't just instantly go from one thing to another just like that. Interludes like this help Sora and company recover from stuff like U.S.J.

MK: Yeah, I agree. Cloud would dislike the idea of the Festival, since you're exposing all your tricks to your enemy, but that's exactly why U.A. is the best Hero School out there. They literally put themselves in a vulnerable position, like in the Provisional License Exam, and work their way around it. It's like Aizawa said, a Hero's job is to fight unfairness.

The OC Maniac: Yep. Except this time, it's a nightmare for the poor boy. You don't get sweet dreams after your mother almost dies to a lookalike.

ultima-owner: Yes. For now.

Guest: Patience. It'll come soon.

What did you think about this chapter? I'm happy if you enjoyed it, and I apologize if it didn't meet expectations.

This is gonna be the last chapter for a while, since I'm still putting my thoughts together for the Sports Festival.

Oh, and there's a special ending here if you wish to read it! Enjoy!

(Silence)

Suddenly, a red and black blur blitzes towards Cloud, making him barely able to block the unexpected attack with his sword as the impact causes him to skid back and dig his feet into the ground.

"We're here!" A familiar voice called out in Japanese. The other students looked and felt sudden relief as Momo, Shoji, Kyoka, and Koda came back, all of whom were led by Sora. And based on the look on his face, he was not happy.

"First, you unexpectedly attack my friends and blast me into a building, and the collapse nearly killed not just me, but also the people who went to save me." Sora said in English, an uncharacteristic glare on his face, "And now you're still planning on attacking them?"

"That depends," Cloud replied.

"On what?"

"You know what I mean."

Sora's eyes widened, before gripping his Kingdom Key, "You're on."

"Sora, wait…" Momo told him, but Sora raised a hand to stop her.

"No." he said firmly, "He's mine."

Cloud got back into his Operator Stance as Sora advanced towards him, Kingdom Key in hand, before getting into his own stance, prepping for a fight as his classmates watched anxiously. Without warning, the two lunged towards each other, swords clashing in a flash of light.

And suddenly, they disappeared, just as quickly as you could say "Go!"

"Huh?!" Kaminari looked shocked, "Where did they go?!"

(Play: Super Smash Brothers OST - Final Destination [Any Version You Wish])

Turns out, the two had been warped to a very strange arena made of crystal and metal, all the way in... space?

"Eh?" Sora looked around, "Where are we?"

"Beats me," Cloud shrugged, "Are we gonna do this or not?"

"Oh, yeah! Bring it on!" Sora grinned as he got back into stance. Cloud responded by getting into his own.

3!

2!

1!

GO!

Sora immediately dashed towards Cloud, jumping into the air and swinging his blade forward. Cloud jumped back to avoid the blow before, to Sora's shock, he did a second jump forward and thrusted his sword down, making contact. Sora hissed from the strike, before he swung his blade upwards to counterattack, hitting Cloud back, before rolling to the ground.

Cloud landed on the other side of the platform before swinging his blade upwards, creating a crescent-shaped beam towards Sora.

"Fire!" Sora launched a ball of flame to meet the attack, and the two attacks negated one another as Cloud leapt into the air, sword reared back to deal a devastating strike. Sora immediately brought his guard up, wincing as the blades made impact with one another. Cloud grunted as he gained his footing on the ground, only to be met with a Keyblade to the face as he was sent flying away. Sora quickly gave chase, leaping up to swing his weapon yet again. To his shock, Cloud dodged the attack mid-air, before landing on the ground. Sora quickly turned around to swing his weapon behind him, but Cloud sidestepped to avoid the attack, before suddenly rushing in and attacking Sora with what he recognized was a Cross Slash, this time consisting of four strikes instead of three.

Either way, it hurt.

Sora was sent off the platform, but quickly recovered, leaping back into the air with what he assumed was Doubleflight to try and get back to it.

"Not happening, kid!" Cloud jumped up to meet him in the air, raising his blade up again.

Crap. If Cloud's attack connected, Sora would be kissing the void of space. Quickly, he too dodged in midair, causing Cloud's attack to whiff as he became the one off the platform. Sora rushed after him to fight him in the air. Cloud noticed this and initiated another attack Sora wasn't expecting: He thrusted his sword forward, rising above the Keyblade wielder, before coming down with a downward strike, connecting with Sora and knocking him down, before Cloud grabbed the edge.

Sora realized he was falling down, and quickly tried to double jump again, only to fail. Seeing no other options, he tried spinning his weapon around in hopes of it working, and it did. However, it wasn't enough to bring him back to the edge, so he tried a second move: Sonic Blade.

"Here goes!" Sora thrusted forwards, then upwards, then diagonally left, before noticing Cloud on the edge, charging something up. He stopped once Sora caught the edge and leapt back as he tried to attack upon getting up. Sora was forced to bring his guard up again as Cloud tried to execute another Cross-Slash, but as he did, Sora swung his Keyblade to parry the last attack, sending Cloud off balance.

"Ah-Ha!" Sora shouted, rushing in and sliding, his foot sending Cloud flying. Sora gave chase and jumped, landing three hits with his weapon to knock the SOLDIER away further.

Cloud managed to right himself and land back on the ground, a blue aura flowing through him. "Limits are meant to be broken!"

Sora then spun downwards with Hurricane Blast, ready to knock some sense into Cloud, but suddenly found out that it was a big mistake.

"YAH!" Cloud spun his weapon around, unleashing a torrent of wind that made impact with Sora as he was coming down, sending him flying back up into the air WAY too high for comfort. Miraculously, he managed to hold on.

Again, Sora found himself in a tight spot, but he wasn't giving up just yet.

Cloud watched with surprise as Sora spiraled down again with Hurricane Blast, and reared his Buster Sword to meet the attack. However, Sora was able to use Sonic Blade in the air to avoid such a confrontation as Cloud's attack whiffed yet again. Cloud dashed after him, but Sora immediately turned the third Sonic Blade attack around, locking onto Cloud and knocking him back.

Suddenly, Sora's body flared with strange energy, as his eyes glowed a golden color with white pupils. He didn't know what was going on, but he decided to let it flow.

"Let's go!" Sora spun his Keyblade before firing a beam of light straight at Cloud. Too slow to react, Cloud was sucked into a giant keyhole, before he was shut behind a door. Sora then jumped back, spinning his Keyblade again and pointing it towards the door's lock, firing a beam of light into it. He twisted his blade, and the door suddenly exploded.

Cloud was send flying away from the explosion, but to Sora's surprise, he was flaring a different aura compare to his Limit, much like Sora's when he unleashed that mysterious power. He was far away from the platform, though. There was no way he was going to get back.

"Sorry kid." he heard Cloud say, "But you're out of luck."

Cloud then suddenly propelled himself so fast that Sora couldn't even blink. Next thing he knew, he was knocked high into the air, and Cloud followed him, slashing him every which as the aura flared with brilliant force. These series of slashes... they were like Omnislash, but at a much stronger level than when Cloud had used this on him in the past.

Sora could only watch helplessly as Cloud raised his sword high, before bringing down on him and sending both down to the ground, resulting in a massive explosion.

(Silence)

Ugh... no way... Sora thought as the last bit of energy left him.

GAME!

Suddenly, in a flash of light, the two were back at the U.S.J., swords still locked in combat.

"They're back! Just like that?!" Sora heard Kirishima say in surprise.

"Huh?" Sora and Cloud looked around in confusion, and then to each other. It didn't seem like much time had passed, perhaps a few minutes at best.

Grinning, Sora realized that the battle wasn't over yet. He still had a chance to win.

"Let's finish this, Cloud." Sora said to him.

The SOLDIER blinked, but smirked in response, as the two separated and got back into stance, before they rushed in with an open thrust.

(Play: Lifelight - Any Version)

Thank you so much, Sakurai! One year ago we got Sora in Smash, and with his inclusion, many dreams came true! Give a round of applause for the magical man, and three cheers for...

Super.

SMAAAAAAAAASSSHH

BROTHERRRRRRRRRRRSSSSS!

Thanks for reading this story, and until our paths cross again.