The episode started off right where the last had ended, with Tsuyu and Tokoyami's test. Ectoplasm rushed at the students. Tokoyami used Dark Shadow to throw Tsuyu onto a higher level, which allowed her to use her tongue to bring him up there too. It was revealed that the two of them had talked about the move before hand.

"That's awesome! You made you're quirks work together in a way that gives you more mobility than you would alone." Izuku gushed. He'd been excited to see how these team ups would go before, but seeing such seamless teamwork made him practically bounce in his seat. He wanted to write all this down right away but was afraid he'd miss something by looking away.

"Thanks, kero."

"Yes, thank you. I only hope that such moves will buy us enough time to figure out the path to victory."

In the observation room, Izuku and Uraraka were excited by the move. Recovery Girl came back at that moment, and commented that it was due to their communication skills. She referred to communication as a simple but important skill in their work.

"Is it really a simple skill? Because I feel like it gets messed up too much for it to be simple." Uraraka said, thinking about how certain members of her class and some others in her life always seemed to have a hard time with it.

"Well, like many things, it should be simple, but there are things that can get in the way and make it more complicated." Recovery Girl said. "None the less, it is important, so if you feel you have difficulties with it in general or in specific circumstances, I would recommend finding a solution now. Practice is always helpful, and there are classes on communication as well if you know where to look. Not learning enough about it early on is one of those things that can make communication harder than it needs to be."

She further commented that it was best to be able to communicate well in general, rather than just figuring out moves with specific people.

"Ah yes, just like the first exercise. You can pick who you will be a sidekick to, or who your sidekicks are and who works in your agency if you have one, but you can never know for sure who you may need to work with in the field." Yagi's eyes rested on Bakugo for a moment. "Even if you prefer to work alone, it is still important to be able to communicate well with others, so that you can either combine strength, or ensure individual plans don't end up clashing with each other."

Aizawa nodded. "The way things are set up right now encourages competition between heroes, but you should always prioritize saving lives and putting an end to destruction, no matter how you feel about the other heroes on site."

Izuku brought up the fact that the practical was designed to test the weaknesses of the students, and wondered what weakness Tsuyu and Tokoyami shared. Izuku didn't think Ecotplasm was a bad match for them, but Recovery Girl refuted that and said he was a bad match for Tokoyami specifically.

Both the onscreen students and the ones in the room where confused by that. Tokoyami's quirk seemed so well rounded after all, and the only weakness they knew of for Dark Shadow was bright light. Ectoplasm wasn't known for any attacks that involved that though. Tokoyami himself frowned and stared at the screen, trying to figure out why the team weakness would be him and how it might cause the match to develop.

Izuku's mind ran a mile a minute, but the show didn't stop to give him time to figure it out.

Ectoplasm noted the pair running away, then he got a quirk explanation as his clones cut off their escape. The narration said he could usually create 30, but after singing some karaoke he could produce 36.

This momentarily distracted Izuku from his thoughts on Tokoyami's weakness. "Huh? Why would that be? Why would singing make him able to produce more clones? I hear singing can make the brain produce endorphins and oxytocin, so is it related to those chemicals or the relaxation they bring, or does it have something to do with breath maybe-"

Iida gently broke Izuku out of his mumbling. Iida now knew how much his friend enjoyed watching fights like this, and didn't want Izuku to feel bad for missing something. Izuku sheepishly thanked him.

Tokoyami used Dark Shadow to start dispelling the clones that cut him off. Another one almost sneaked up on him, but was taken out by Tsuyu. When Tokoyami missed a couple of clones, Tsuyu helped pull him out of the way and onto another level.

"It seems we work quite well together. Would you like to try training together once all this is said and done?" Tokoyami asked Tsuyu. She nodded.

"That sounds good, especially since the whole 'throwing me to help both of us get around' thing is something that might work with more people than just you."

While more Ectoplasm clones showed up, Recovery Girl's voice explained that Tokoyami's strength lay in his speed and ranged attacks. But that also meant he had a harder time with more close up combat. Izuku agreed that the clones ability to show up anywhere would take advantage of that weakness. Recovery Girl said that Tsuyu, on the other hand, had no clear weakness, and would therefore need to play a supporting role.

"That's very kind, but I think it helps me too. I'm also quick and built a little more for long range, so a close combat fight helps me too, I think." Tsuyu said.

"That's a good point. You have more natural mobility than Tokoyami with your jumps, so you can have an easier time staying out of range when you want too, but it's good to practice for times when that might not be an option." Momo agreed.

"Still, this does make it sound much more about me, than you. My apologies for that." Tokoyami said.

"It's fine, like I said, it helps for me to practice this too, kero."

Tokoyami nodded his thanks and approval for her mindset while he internally comforted Dark Shadow, who was rather put out with the way people were talking about his shortcomings.

Recovery Girl went on to say that Tsuyu's ability to stay calm during a crisis would be very helpful to her and those around her in the future. Izuku thought back to how helpful that calm was during the USJ, and and mentally wished for her and Tokoyami to do their best.

"Thank you, I'm glad it helped." Tsuyu said with a nod. Izuku smiled.

"It really did. It helped having someone so level headed to talk to on that boat."
"Heh, yeah, you were pretty great there. Sorry I didn't help with the whole 'calm' thing." Mineta said, remembering his on freak out with some embarrassment.

"Just try to do better. Part of my calm comes from helping with all my younger siblings, because freaking out made them more upset when something bad happened. I learned it, so I'm sure you or others could learn it too." Tsuyu said.

"Really? Then I'll give it a shot!"

Tokoyami and Tsuyu took out the 28th clone, then came to a new open area where the exit was in sight. They saw an Ectoplasm standing in front of it and assumed he was the original. He congratulated them on making it so far, but he had one last challenge for them. He breathed out a huge amount of ectoplasm and a giant clone formed in the middle of the room.

"Holy-"

"Oh my!"

"Oh! I've heard of this move of his! I can't believe I get to see this so up close, and at such a great angle! Internet videos have never captured such a great shot!" Izuku gushed at seeing the teacher's special move.

"While I have sometimes felt consumed by the darkness, I have never feared being eaten. This is truly a new experience." Tokoyami mused when he saw how big and close the clone's mouth was to them.

"Kerooo." Tsuyu croaked in fear. She'd gotten a few comments in her life about how 'frog legs' were considered a delicacy but this was too much!

"Don't freak out so much guys, the clones can't do things like eat or drink." Present Mic reassured them.

The giant clone bit down on where Tsuyu and Tokoyami were. They were not eaten, but were stuck in the clone's back instead. Dark Shadow surged forward, and started engaging the teacher in the hopes of making him release the clone and free the students. As the two fought, Tokoyami realized that Dark Shadow wasn't strong enough to beat Ectoplasm head on. Tsuyu then said that, as long as they had Dark Shadow's reach, then they had a chance.

"Oooo, is Tsuyu cooking up a plan of her own? I wanna see what it is!" Ashido said excitedly.

"Oh yeah! She can play support and take charge! She's got it all!" Hagakure cheered.

Tsuyu blushed at the praise, clearly pleased, but she still warned: "We don't know if it will work yet."

Tsuyu asked him to get Dark Shadow to carry 'this' across the finish line. When he asked what she meant, she told him not to look because it was gross, then started to heave.

With memories of the USJ being brought up so recently, it wasn't hard for Midoriya to connect the dots. "Oh! This is the thing about your stomach right? I wonder why that's being brought up now though..."

"You mean, she is going to vomit something up?" Aoyama asked, putting a hand to his mouth.

"No offense Tsuyu, but I hope they don't show us all of that." Jirou said, feeling a bit nauseous.

"Same here, kero..." Tsuyu put her own hand to her mouth, and sternly told herself that the feeling she was having now was just the 'pain factor' and her body was not rebelling against her to push her stomach out without permission, not really.

Ectoplasm continued to fight with Dark Shadow. Tokoyami suddenly called Dark Shadow back to him, and the shadowy figure grabbed something unseen from Tsuyu's hand before rushing Ectoplasm again. Tsuyu said it would be okay, because Tokoyami and Dark Shadow were strong.

There were quite a few relieved sighs when people saw that the 'process' Tsuyu had gone through had been mostly skipped over.

"I highly appreciate your faith in our abilities." Tokoyami said.

"It's just the truth, kero."

Dark Shadow sped down, and clashed with Ectoplasm once again. Ectoplasm deflected Dark Shadow easily, but when the two separated it was revealed that Dark Shadow had placed the handcuffs on Ectoplasm. Tsuyu said she'd swallowed them at the start of the match. Midoriya and Uraraka cheered the victory in the observation room.

"Oh, that's why my stomach felt funny around the time the match started." Tsuyu belatedly realized.

"You guys did so well! I really am happy for you!" Uraraka said. Izuku nodded his agreement, but stayed quiet as he had to put a lot of effort into keeping himself from asking how she had fit cuffs so big down her throat. He could ask later, in private, if she was okay with it.

"Though it has not actually happened, I am pleased as well. It bodes well for the future." Tokoyami said.

"You doing okay now Tsuyu?" Ashido asked. "You looked a little green during the end of the fight."

"I'm okay now. Bringing stuff up is never fun, but it passes quickly."

Back in the testing area, the pair of students had been released from the clone. Ectoplasm congratulated them on being so clever. Both students expressed their happiness in their own way, and Dark Shadow popped up to say it was all due to him.

"Oh yeah! We forget to congratulate Dark Shadow! He did super well in fighting Ectoplasm and getting the cuffs on him sneakily." Izuku said.

"Don't worry, he is quite aware." Tokoyami said, smiling in amusement. It would be difficult to describe to others what Dark Shadow was doing right now, but Tokoyami had always thought of it as a 'mental victory dance'.

Momo was shown to have heard the announcement of the previous pair's victory, and thought to herself it was only fitting given how handily Tokoyami had beaten her at the Sports Festival.

"I can understand why you find the loss disheartening." Tokoyami said. "Perhaps it would help to remember that I myself was handily beaten later as well. Some of the results of such a tournament are due to luck of the draw after all."

Momo managed to send him a small smile. She appreciated his effort, but she felt she was very different. Tokoyami lost due to bad match up with Bakugo, who won because he apparently noticed that Dark Shadow was sensitive to light. If only she'd managed to make that connection, then she might have won by making flash grenades or something similar. So it hadn't been a bad match up for her, not really. Plus, Tokoyami had beaten two people before losing, and she hadn't even beaten one. She hadn't even picked an internship that would help her with any of that. So she wasn't feeling good about her chances with Aizawa. Todoroki was strong, but that wouldn't mean much if Aizawa used his quirk on them.

The scene changed to Iida and Ojiro vs Power Loader, who was creating small blasts to pen the students in. Ojiro turned to Iida for leadership. Iida decided they were at too much of a disadvantage in that location, and said they should use the retreat option.

"I'm honestly starting to become impressed by how dedicated you are to getting into the right 'head space' when you do exercises like this." Jirou said, noticing how Iida framed the escape option as 'leaving to find a hero better suited for this'. She'd thought it was silly when he played up being a villain before, but it seemed to be paying off now.

"I feel the best way to take advantage of all these scenarios have to offer is to treat them as seriously as possible." Iida said.

Ojiro agreed with the plan to escape, but pointed out that there were a lot of pitfalls between them and the exit. Iida said he was sure they could do it by working together, and called for a 'fusion'. A moment later, Ojiro was shown clinging to Iida's back, clearly embarrassed by the position.

Sato snorted "Oh yeah, everything is very serious when Iida is on your team."

"What the heck are you guys doing?" Shoji asked, baffled by the sudden development.

"I can only assume this is something we worked out before hand." Iida said, though he sounded a little uncertain.

"Well I don't think I'd climb on your back for no good reason." Ojiro joked.

Iida used his reciproburst move, while Ojiro held on for dear life. At first they were able to move faster than the holes could form, but then Power Loader made a giant gorge in front of them. Iida thought fast, and jumped high into the air. He told Ojiro to wrap his tail around Iida's leg. Using his new recipro-extend move, Iida flung Ojiro far across the field. Power Loader tried to grab him, but Ojiro was able to deflect him with his tail and make it out of the gate. This allowed them to pass the test.

"That was amazing!' Izuku cried, his eyes sparkling with excitement. "That whole sequence was seamless! You both worked together so well and adapted so quickly!" He wasn't the only one to think so, as the room buzzed with cheers and congratulations from the students and noises of approval from the teachers.

"Thank you very much Midoriya." Iida said, smiling with pride. "Thank you as well, Ojiro. Your trust in me greatly helped our performance, I believe."

"No problem, and you deserve thanks too. You trusted me to make it to the gate after all." Ojiro said with a smile. He had actually felt that hit he gave to Power Loader, and couldn't help but feel proud of how strong he was getting.

"Oh man, everyone is doing so much better than us." Kirishima griped. Sato shrugged.

"Don't sweat it, we got time to get better by the time this comes around for real."

Kirishima instantly brightened back up. "Yeah man, you're right! We can take this loss and use it to become even manlier!"

The scene changed to the next match, which belonged to Momo and Todoroki. Todoroki asked if she was nervous, and Momo claimed she wasn't. Todoroki said he'd understand nerves given who they were up against, but he had a plan. Just as she said this, the signal to start was given.

Jirou snorted. "If you have a plan you think will work then you should have said something before the match started."

Todoroki nodded. "That would have been a good idea, yes. I suppose I will have to work on communicating with others." He'd known that was a weak area of his, but he never considered it a problem until he saw the sports festival, and what lay beyond it.

Momo fidgeted, nervous even though she was just watching what would happen. She desperately hoped she wouldn't have yet another poor showing after the disastrous sports festival match and her ill fitted internship.

As the pair ran, Todoroki explained his plan. He told Momo to continually make small objects. That way, if they suddenly stopped, they'd know her quirk had been erased and their opponent was close enough to see them. Todoroki said that once they found Eraserhead, he would draw attention while Momo went for the escape gate.

Izuku put a hand to his chin thoughtfully. "The idea of Yoayorozu making items like that is a good one. Since Eraserhead is an underground hero he's likely to be better at stealth, so that would be the best early warning you could get. I'm not sure the other part will work though. We saw at the USJ that Aizawa can take on multiple opponents pretty efficiently, his capture weapon gives him range, and you won't have your quirk to rely on, Todoroki. Do you have any non-quirk combat training?"

"I received some instruction in it, but my father mostly focused on my quirk." Todoroki said. "I can see your point about multiple enemies and Aizawa's fighting abilities. I wonder if my other self didn't take that into account due to not seeing Aizawa at the USJ until he was already incapacitated."

"Ah, that's a good point. I forgot how much later you showed up, and that you spent time talking to the villains first, so you didn't see him in action as much."

Momo hesitated, and Todoroki asked why she wasn't making anything yet. She got herself together after a moment, and they were next seen running down the street while little matryoshka dolls popped out of her arms. She put some of them in her belt while Todoroki said to let him know if anything felt off about her quirk. It was shown that he was keeping a small bit of ice in his palm for his own warning sign.

"It is wise to have a back up, good thinking Todoroki." Iida praised. Todoroki nodded.

"Why are you keeping the dolls? I thought we only had to worry about them if you suddenly couldn't make them anymore." Hagakure asked curiously.

"I wouldn't keep them for no reason, given our plan, so there must be something different about those ones." Momo reasoned. It's not like the dolls would suddenly vanish if her quirk was erased or anything. She had a theory about it, but wasn't quite confident enough to say it out loud.

"When she runs around with the dolls coming out like that, it kinda reminds me of Animal Crossing." Sero said out of the blue.

"Huh? How?" Kaminari asked.

"You know, when one of the villagers gets fleas? It looks kinda like that!"

Kaminari had to stifle his laugh to avoid answering awkward questions.

Momo complimented Todoroki, saying it was very like him to come up with a plan to use so quickly. Todoroki said it was nothing, and that made Momo stop. She talked about how they were both recommended students, yet she didn't have any notable practical skills. She only did what he said during the cavalry battle, and quickly lost her one on one fight.

"Don't talk like that Yoa-momo! You're being way to hard on yourself!" Ashido exclaimed.

"Yeah! You've got plenty of skill, and you're really smart! Like when you did that insulation sheet at the USJ so Kaminari could take out all those villains. You have stuff to work on sure, but so do the rest of us." Uraraka pointed out. Jirou nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, even if we missed one at the USJ, I don't think we would have lasted as long as we did if you didn't make that insulation sheet. Plus, you said you didn't have any practical skills, but you worked really well with Todoroki and the others during the cavalry battle, and we keep talking about how you gotta be able to work together to be a really good pro."

"Yeah, what she said." Ashido said pointing at her.

Momo blushed. "I...thank you. I'll try to keep things in perspective." 'Especially since 'in the middle of an exam' isn't the best time to have this sort of talk.' she scolded herself. Still, the words of encouragement made her anxious fidgeting settle a bit.

Todoroki suddenly noticed that Momo's dolls were not longer appearing. Aizawa was shown to be hanging above them, and scolded them for not reacting immediately. He landed beside Todoroki, and told him they should prioritize evasion, at this point.

"Guess you're taking the 'learning experience' part of this exam seriously." Mic chuckled at seeing Aizawa so fully in 'teacher mode' in the middle of a match.

"Of course, if they don't learn something then what's the point?" Aizawa said.

Todoroki yelled at Momo to go and kicked at Aizawa. Momo ran, but Aizawa also dodged and had Todoroki wrapped up and hanging from a telephone wire within seconds.

Todoroki frowned at how quickly he was caught. "You were right Midoriya, I underestimated how long I could hold Aizawa."

"Y-yeah...but he will have to take his eyes off you to go after Yoayorozu, so you could use your quirk to try and break the capture weapon. So I wouldn't count you out just yet."

Todoroki pointed out he could use his quirk to escape once Aizawa left. Aizawa threw a bunch of caltrops, sharp pointy metal bits, on the ground beneath Todoroki and warned him to be careful if he tried.

"Well...that makes things more complicated." Izuku admitted. Todoroki nodded in agreement.

"Even if I land on my feet, those look like they could pierce the soles of my boots. This will be difficult, but I'm sure I'll find a way."

'I wish I had his confidence.' Momo thought forlornly.

"Caltrops? What is he gonna bring out next, ninja stars?" Kaminari asked.

Todoroki also accused Aizawa of being a ninja. Aizawa told Todoroki things were different from the fight with Stain here, because Aizawa had a lot more information about his opponents. While putting in eye drops, he also told Todoroki it was nice of him to try an take on most of the burden in the fight, but that he should have talked things over more with his partner. Aizawa ran off while Todoroki thought about that.

"As you mentioned before, it would have been smarter to talk about plans in more detail before the actual fight. I'm sorry I didn't think to do that." Todoroki apologized. Momo shook her head.

"I could have initiated a talk like that too. Aizawa says you took on most of the burden, but I didn't exactly offer to take any more upon myself either. I probably thought I'd just mess things up and wanted to rely on your strength instead. I'm sorry for that, I shouldn't put everything on you just because I'm having doubts."

An idea occurred to Aizawa at this point. He still thought that Bakugo and Midoriya fighting All Might was good for both of them in their own ways, due to how much they idolized him, but he also knew now that putting the two of them together so soon was likely to end very poorly. So what if he'd switched Todoroki and Midoriya? Bakugo had also issued a challenge to Todoroki, so Bakugo would still have to work on that to make a good showing, but the bad blood wasn't as long running or intense between them as it was with Bakugo and Midoriya so it could make for a better first step. Plus, Todoroki also needed to work on communicating, which would get challenged plenty with Bakugo. Plus Midoriya, as Uraraka pointed out, was willing to work with anyone, which would allow Yoayorozu more of an opportunity to assert herself. Though going up against someone who could erase quirks wouldn't help Midoriya in learning how to control his own, so that would be an issue. Though after his internship that didn't seem to be as much of a problem. Ah well, they'd have to change up the final exam after this anyway, so no use getting too caught up in it now. Still, he'd make a note to think about all that later.

Momo's thoughts were frantic as she ran, thinking about Todoroki's fate, and whether or not she should make something or if she was even going the right way. Aizawa caught up to her then and caught her arm with his capture weapon. She only escaped because she realized her quirk wasn't being erased and used it to free herself. As she turned and ran in the opposite direction from before, Aizawa thought about how she obviously lost confidence since the festival, and had decided to let Todoroki lead since he'd done better during it. He wanted to help her regain her confidence...but that wasn't his job right now.

Momo hunched her shoulders. It was nice that he wanted to help her, but it was also embarrassing that she'd been figured out so easily. Seeming to sense her thoughts, Jirou nudged her with her shoulder.

"It probably wasn't as obvious as it seems, since we can't normally hear what you're thinking. He's probably just seen a lot of kids struggle with this stuff, since it's his job and all."

"Ah, yes, I'm sure you're right." Though the reminder that her thoughts were being put on display didn't exactly help either.

"You know, I've got a feeling that you'll find a way to challenge them and give the kid a chance to shine." Mic smirked, thinking back on how much mid-battle instruction Aizawa had already given.

"Only if she decides to take that step. I won't hold back if she doesn't."

Todoroki, still hanging from the phone wires, now realized Yoayorozu looked like she'd had something to say earlier. Momo then made it back to him, and desperately tried to decide if she should keep fleeing Aizawa or help Todoroki. Todoroki broke her out of her panic by asking if she had a plan and apologizing for not doing so sooner. Momo said her plan wouldn't work if his failed, but Todoroki reminded her that she was actually better at this than him. He admitted that one of the votes she got for class rep was his own, because he though she would be good at this sort of thing.

"I only had two votes...one of them was really yours?" Momo asked is surprise. Todoroki nodded.

"Yes, and for the exact reasons stated. I didn't want the position myself, and you made a lot of good points during that first battle trial. So I thought you'd be good at leading and stuff."

Momo put a hand to her chest, feeling deeply touched by his belief in her. 'With that, and what the others were saying earlier about the things I did do right, maybe I really have been focusing too much on what went wrong and not enough on the things that went right.' "Thank you very much, that means a lot to me." 'From now on, I'll do my best to live up to that belief, as well as the standards I've set for myself.'

That speech seemed to be just the boost in confidence Momo needed. As Aizawa arrived, she threw the dolls in her belt up into the air and shouted a warning to Todoroki. When Aizawa struck one, it opened to reveal a flash grenade. It went off, and the blinding light distracted Aizawa enough to allow Momo to get Todoroki down safely.

"Yeah! There we go!" Hagakure cheered.

"You were really thinking ahead when you made those dolls! A flash grenade is the perfect attack against someone who needs their sight to use their full strength!" Izuku praised.

'I knew she had it in her.' Aizawa thought to himself, hiding his pleased smile in his capture weapon.

Momo explained that she had a plan designed just for Aizawa, and the man smiled at them before jumping onto a nearby roof. As he did so, the screen flashed back to Aizawa explaining how, after the USJ, he could no longer use his quirk for as long or as often. Back in the present, he noted she must have been very good to notice the change.

Momo's confidence, while renewed, was still a bit shaky. But hearing her teacher praise her observation skills put it on more stable ground.

"Do you wanna look over my notebooks too sometime Yoayorozu? I was gonna do that with Todoroki sometime, but pooling our thoughts all together would be even better!"

"Oh! Yes, I'd be happy to!" Maybe she could have smaller gatherings at her house too, that would be fun. That could help her learn about more casual ways to entertain guests too.

Todoroki tried to use his quirk, but it was being erased. Momo took charge and got Todoroki to run and hide with her. She explained to him that Aizawa's eyes were more unstable these days, but that they needed to get out of his line of sight before they could exploit that. Todoroki asked if they could afford to take the time needed for that, since they couldn't use their quirks, and Momo told him to do as she said.

"Yeah! That's right, you tell him who the boss is!" Jirou grinned. Momo blushed.

"I don't mean to sound bossy..."

"I didn't mean that as a bad thing, you guys need that right now."

All Might nodded. "The more confident you sound the more likely people will be to listen to you. So it's important to project that, even if you are feeling nervous about how things will turn out."

Momo told Todoroki to keep checking if he could use his ice. Aizawa caught up to them and used his capture weapon. But Momo had already worked out with Todoroki that, the moment Aizawa blinked and he could use his quirk again, he would use it to make the giant ice wall he did at the festival. So that's exactly what he did when the time came, which allowed him to force Aizawa back and give them cover.

Several of the kids cheered at the use of the move. Sero shivered a bit, still remembering the cold Truth made him feel when it was used against him. Still, it was nice to see that move being used when Todoroki was calmer, rather than losing it due to arguing with his father.

Aizawa smirked. 'Well played kids, well played.'

Aizawa internally praised the kids for not being afraid to hit him where it hurts in order to pass. On the other side, Todoroki started to ask about the rest of the plan, only to turn back around when he saw Momo had opened her shirt to create her next item more easily.

Momo had already thought a bit about wanting to alter her costume to be a bit more efficient in the future, and now the thought struck her once again. After her shallow internship with Uwabami, she really wanted to cut down on any reason people might have to see her as an advertising opportunity more than a hero. "I should really think of a way to have enough skin showing without it being so...awkward for any teammates or civilians."

"Have you thought about covering more on top while leaving your middle bare?" Izuku asked, flipping to a page in his notebook where he'd started jotting down ideas on this very subject. "I know it would leave some vulnerable areas bare, but the 360 degree creation space you'd get as a result could really make up for it."

Momo hummed in thought. "That's not a bad idea, and I could possibly learn to make thin, strong armor on the spot to help with protecting those areas. Thank you, I'll look into it."

The item she was creating was based off of Aizawa's capture weapon, though Momo said it had something extra woven into it. She wanted to use this to keep damage down, since they were in a residential area, and to try and keep Aizawa from moving around so much.

"I will always be jealous of how quickly you can figure stuff like that out." Ashido said with a sigh, thinking about her dismal grades. She'd never be able to use her quirk if it required all the memorizing that Yoa-momo's needed!

"Really? Honestly, I have sometimes been jealous of how easily you move during a fight. I always have to think things out before acting, which is probably what lost me the fight against Tokoyami, but that always seemed to come so naturally for you."

Ashido straightened in surprise at the unexpected praise, then she smiled brightly. "I guess that means we both have our strengths to work with."

Back in the observation room, Uraraka and Midoriya theorized about why Aizawa wasn't going after them.

'Aizawa was shown thinking about wanting to help Yoayarozu get her confidence back, I wonder if he's actually waiting a bit to give her a better chance at that.' Uraraka wondered. It seemed incongruous with the man who threatened to expel them so easily, but he might not want to smack his student back down so quickly after she took charge earlier.

At the test sight, it was shown that Momo had made a catapult and put the newly made capture weapon into it. She thought trying to catch Aizawa would work better than trying to escape him, and asked if Todoroki had any complaints. He didn't.

Aizawa himself stayed where he was. The escape gate was behind him, so he had decided to wait for the students to come to him. He also smiled while thinking about Momo's confident words earlier.

That smile also made Momo smile. Aizawa could be scary sometimes, and strict, but this served as a good reminder that he really did want them to get better. She also smiled at Todoroki's continued belief in her. She hoped she didn't let him down.

Meanwhile, Uraraka internally thought she might have been right, while Mic gave Aizawa a pleased looked and nudged him with his elbow.

Aizawa then noticed two cloth covered figures coming from behind the glacier and running away from him. He admitted that he couldn't erase their quirks if he couldn't see them, but that cutting of their vision made things bad for them too. He caught the figured with his capture tape, only then realizing that one of the figures was fake, and being used to hide Momo and the catapult underneath.

Students and teachers alike leaned forward, eager to see what the full plan was and if it would work. Izuku had his pencil poised over paper, ready to take everything in.

While Aizawa was still surprised by the turn of events, Momo pulled the catapult lever, though she missed it at first. The altered capture weapon went flying and fell all around him. Momo called out for Todoroki to use his fire, and flames burst forth. As the flames expanded, the altered capture weapon suddenly seemed to harden, like it had turned to stone.

Exclamations of surprise went up around the room. Kirishima looked especially interested, since the effect looked similar to when he hardened his skin.

It turned out the extra thing woven into the capture tape was nitinol alloy, which Momo explained would turn back into its original shape instantly when heated. The result of that was the tape wrapping around Aizawa, immobilizing him.

The kids cheered in excitement as such a dramatic and inventive victory. Izuku's pencil flew over the page as he wrote down as much as he could, and was already planning to ask Momo more about shape memory alloys.

In the next scene Aizawa was shown sitting on the ground while handcuffed, the capture weapon still around him. Todoroki said the plan went well, a little too well almost. Momo admitted she made a mistake with the lever at first, but Aizawa still jumped away. She said it looked like Aizawa let the capture happen. Aizawa refuted this, saying he was just being careful of Todoroki since he still couldn't see him under the cloth. He didn't want to get frozen after all, but that lead to him playing into her trap.

"That plan went really well. Especially since you had to come up with the materials and stuff part way through rather than working at it during the whole match." Ojiro praised. Shoji nodded in agreement.

"I think that was the most complicated plan we've seen so far, and you still made it work."

"Yes, I'm glad it did." Momo murmured, blushing a bit. She still felt a little suspicious of Aizawa jumping back, but his reasoning was sound, and she was very pleased the idea she had for the capture weapon worked so well.

"You think you could help me and Kirishima work on learning to plan like that? Apparently we need it." Sato said with a teasing smile. Momo let out a breathy laugh.

"I'm not quite sure I'm ready for that, but we could study other things."

Todoroki said it was just like Momo predicted, just a matter of time, and congratulated her on her win. She suddenly started to tear up, and Todoroki asked if she was sick. She tried to brush it off, and Todoroki started giving her advice on how to deal with nausea.

This made Momo's blush turn darker, but she also giggled at Todoroki's oblivious attempts to help.

"This makes it seem like you're not sick, but if that's true then why are you crying?" Todoroki asked.

"Heh, I think it must just be the relief. I was going on before about being scared about not being good enough earlier in the fight remember? It must be huge relief to have my own plan work out so well." 'I'm feeling some of that myself right now.'

Todoroki nodded slowly. "I think I can understand that. I don't think I've ever seen anyone cry from relief before though."

"Different people react differently to emotions." Tsuyu pointed out. "Some people hardly ever cry, and some people just cry for some emotions, and others cry at just about any strong emotion, like Midoriya."

"Huh?" Midoriya looked up from his notebook when he heard his name, and he looked back down and started writing again when he didn't get an immediate answer.

Todoroki just nodded in his new found understanding.

Back in the observation room, Recover Girl said that Aizawa really was just a softy. The announcement of the students' victory played, and the episode ended.

Momo frowned, suddenly feeling anxious again. "Softy? Does that mean you really did let the capture happen?"

"Well, at the very least it means I think that's what happened." Recovery Girl said. "However, I don't think we have microphones set up to record everything being said, so it could be I'm just misinterpreting Aizawa's actions."

"Either way, I don't think it truly matters in the end. If I was telling the truth at the end, then you came up with a well thought out plan that succeeded in capturing me. If I wasn't telling the truth, then you still came up with a well thought out plan, and the only reason it might have failed would be due to a simple slip up. Those happen sometimes, especially when your first starting out. Even though we are trying to get you ready for whatever extreme situations may come in the future, it would be unreasonable to expect you not to make a few errors now and then while training. The important thing is that you learn from them." Aizawa looked at Yoayorozu with a slight smile. "At the end of the day, you performed well during that exam. I hope I can expect the same from you in the future."

Tears glinted in the corners of Momo's eyes as she smiled back at him. "I'll do my best sir!"


A.N.

I've seen the idea of switching the final exam pairs so that Izuku is with Momo and Bakugo is with Todoroki in a couple different stories. But the one I remember it from the most is a fic called Yesterday Upon the Stairs by pitviperofdoom. I highly recommend it. Izuku can see ghosts in it, which leads to some interesting changes, and it has Aizawa give a really satisfying speech to Bakugo about getting his priorities straight and improving his behavior after he punches Midoriya during the final exam. Someone did a youtube video of part of that talk, which can be found by plugging in this: watch?v=w7b8GmxOngc