Chapter 30: Strategy

"I assume you have a plan to have picked the villain side?" Shouji asked with narrowed eyes.

"Well, we have to win the fight. It's not like this is a real fight where we are villains. It's a test to measure our capabilities. You want to win, right?" Izuku said.

"Well, yeah. But we could have done it as heroes too, right?" Shouji asked.

"Maybe," Izuku replied, "But we have the advantage by being the villains. We have an entire layout of the building and we get 10 minutes to strategize, so we have the upper hand as defenders. Sort of like in a video game," Izuku said with glee.

Shouji sighed, "So, what is your plan?"

"Hide and seek!"

"Hide and seek?" Shouji asked slowly.

"Yup! All Might never said we couldn't move the bomb. We'll just store it down in the basement!"

"That's all good but we still don't have a full idea of Tokoyami's quirk. What if he has some sort of sensory quirk and uses that to find the bomb?"

"Well, that's no problem at all. We will both engage them from the start and lead them away from the second floor so that they think the bomb is up there. But we have to make sure they never actually see anything there. We have the comms to keep in touch with each other. One of us just has to battle it out near the basement."

Shouji nodded, "Guess I should get this moving then," he pointed to the bomb.

"That would be wonderful! Speaking of, who do you want to take on?" Izuku asked while Shouji built extra arms to lift the bomb, "I think I should take on Ojiro. Your quirk seems stronger,"

Izuku became slightly flustered, "It can be stronger but right now I think you are much stronger than me,"

"Probably," Shouji replied, "But I am not exactly acrobatic. Since I can only build on my tentacles, my legs are usually left wide-open. You, on the other hand, can use your power anywhere in your body,"

Izuku thought about it for a while, "I guess so. You won't have too many problems with Ojiro I'm sure. Try to help me please, Tokoyami's quirk seems quite powerful even if I don't know at it is," Izuku gave a shaky laugh.

Shouji gave a curt nod.

"FOURTH MATCH, START!" All Might's voice rang out.

Surprisingly, neither of them rushed in and seemed to take their time to scope out the building.

"Why are they doing that?" Denki asked.

"Seems like they take Izuku's intelligence as a threat," Watanabe said with a smirk.

Tokoyami used his dark shadow to burst open the main door. It scoped around and gave the two the all-clear. Tokoyami nodded and led Ojiro into the building.

Meanwhile, Shouji was hanging onto the ceiling right above the main door. He had seen dark shadow scope out the floor and was lucky to have not been discovered. Once, the all-clear had been given, Tokoymai and Ojiro had run in. Shouji jumped down while pumping an extra muscular hand to his tentacle. He already knew how to create longer arms than usual, so creating more muscular ones as Izuku had suggested was a piece of cake.

"Behind!" Dark shadow gave a warning cry.

Ojiro was too slow to respond and was sent flying through the wall beside. Shouji gave Tokoyami no respite and charged at him viciously. Tokoyami was almost caught but Dark Shadow came to the rescue, having grown in the darkness of the building. Shouji stopped his advancement and fell back, "The ultimate defense, huh?"

Izuku chose that moment to slide in for a sweeping kick. "Oi! You have to get through me first!" Dark shadow said and lunged towards Izuku. Izuku grunted and used his feet to jump away from the shadow's attack. He darted off into the shadows. Dark Shadow followed him and Shouji took the opportunity to thrust himself at Tokoyami's open defense. The bird-like boy dodged the first strike which smashed the floor into pieces. Shouji snarled in the heat of the battle and outstretched his palm. Fortunately, Dark shadow used his tether to deflect the palm to the side. Before Shouji could understand what had happened, he was smacked in the face by Ojiro's tail.

"Are you all right?" Tokoyami asked seeing the blood pouring down Ojiro's head.

"Yeah. We still have to win right,"

"Tch," Shouji thought to himself. He had expected that shot to take Ojiro out of commission but it seemed like he was tougher than it looked. His tail packed quite a punch too. He decided to go through with the second phase of their plan and retreat into the darkness.

Ojiro made a move to after him but was stopped by Tokoyami, "Wait. I'll go after him. You go this way where Izuku fled," he pointed down the stairs.

"Why though?"

"Midoriya seems to be a very smart and competent opponent. Splitting us up is probably their tactics. However, they must have garnered Dark Shadow's attention in order to make me chase Midoriya instead. Therefore, I think we should switch to mess up their plan," Fumikage explained.

Ojiro nodded and launched himself straight to the stairs while Tokoyami ran after Shouji. As soon as Ojiro had gotten near the stairs to the basement, Izuku had slammed into him from behind with a drilling kick but Ojiro had caught Izuku's leg by the tail and sent him flying. Izuku groaned seeing Ojiro in front of him and tapped into the comms, "Shouji, they-,"

"I know," Shouji replied seeing Tokoyami in front of him.

"Now then Izuku, what will you do?" Watanabe asked no one in particular.

"You knew this would happen?" Uraraka asked.

"Something was bound to go wrong,"

"How so?" Hitoshi asked.

"Izuku is a strategist. He prefers to make plans before the battle. His plan was to take Tokoyami instead, but Ojiro messed it up. Of course, he does have backup plans, but naturally, they keep lowering in quality," Denki explained, "Let's hope he has a good backup,"

Izuku was a bit unnerved. Their plan had been going so fluid up until now. He did have a backup plan in case something like this happened, but he wished he had gotten Tokoyami right off the bat. Taking a deep breath, he entered a stance, a mix of the basic dojo stance he had learned and Torino's stance. Ojiro eyed him suspiciously, recognizing certain aspects of the stance.

Without a word, both of them charged at each other. Both of their arms collided mid-air. Izuku winced as his legs were swept out from under him. Ojiro's tail hit him straight in the stomach and pummeled him to the ground. Izuku gasped for air as the metallic taste of blood reached his throats. He regained his bearings and slid away from the next attack.

He ran into the comfort of the shadows in order to get a clear space of mind, "He's just like Watanabe almost. A martial arts specialist. The way I am right now, I can't beat even Watanabe, let alone Ojiro who literally has an extra limb to integrate into his combat style. Fighting with him is suicide. The best I can do is go for my backup," He opened the comms network.

Shouji huffed as he was sent flying once more by Dark Shadow. He couldn't get anywhere near Tokoyami to land a blow, not to mention it had gotten stronger all of a sudden. He ducked under Dark Shadow's attack once more and extended his arms to grapple onto it. He anchored his legs and pulled. Tokoyami's eyes widened in surprise as he felt himself being launched off his feet, but Shouji's moment of victory didn't last long as Dark Shadow enhanced itself further and lashed around smashing Shouji into the wall and causing him to let go.

Shouji tensed. He felt the comms open up and retreated shortly to make sure Tokoyami didn't hear anything. "We're going for Plan B then," He thought to himself and turned his back. He was going to lead Tokoyami to their rendevous point as discussed. He deflated his tentacles to reduce body mass and increase speed and mobility and made a run for it. Twice, he was almost slammed face-first to the ground. Finally, he came face to face with a dead end. "Now you're mine!" Dark Shadow said confidently. Shouji smirked and built up his muscular arms. He smashed through the cabinets and saw Izuku coming.

"SWITCH!" Izuku yelled. Shouji didn't need a second order and leaped towards Izuku who jumped out of the way leaving a pale Ojiro who got punched straight in the face and was sent crashing into the wall behind.

Shouji quickly built up another muscular arm on his left which Izuku used as a pivot and jumped up high. Dark Shadow snarled and lunged but Izuku planted his feet on the ceiling and dodged to the left. Izuku went straight for Tokoyami but Dark Shadow arched again to block. Izuku moved his legs to run the right, close to Dark Shadow causing him to outstretch towards Izuku. Izuku smirked, his feint had worked! He channeled extra energy into his left leg and leaped. Dark Shadow growled and made another go at him but Izuku rolled away beside him and came to a stop right in front of Tokoyami's face. He switched his balance to his hands and drilled a brutal rising kick to Tokoyami's chin sending him flying through the air. Dark Shadow yelped and moved past Izuku, ignoring him, and was just in time to layout as a cushion for his master.

"Whoa! That was such a manly combo!" Kirishima praised with passion.

All Might smiled too. Indeed, Izuku's brains and agility with One for All made him a very terrifying opponent.

Tokoyami frowned as he let Dark Shadow occupy Izuku. "Their original plan was to split us up," he thought while wiping off the blood from his mouth. That kick had hurt like hell and had numbed his brain slightly. He couldn't even move his jaw without it hurting, "So, we have to stay together! They can't team up on us either since Dark Shadow can be considered an extra member," Tokoyami thought, "Ojiro!" he used the comms, "Don't let them split us up. Stay together so that we can protect each other!" Tokoyami ordered under his breath.

Ojiro nodded as he dodged under Shouji's punch and slammed with full force into his stomach sending him skidding. Ojiro flapped his tail menacingly and settled into a stance, "You got me by surprise both of those times. I'm not going to let you beat me this time!" Ojiro said. Shouji didn't reply and instead grew out more of arms in response, "Izuku, it seems we have to that," Shouji said. "Yah!" Izuku exclaimed.

Both Tokoyami and Ojiro tensed at that but charged at their opponents. Ojiro blocked Shouji's lumbering punch with his tail and used his legs to push against Shouji. He ducked under the arms and swept Shouji's legs. Shouji's eyes widened but he couldn't do anything as he fell painfully to the ground. Ojiro got up quickly and hammered a kick into Shouji's chest. Shouji barely blocked the kick with his arms and rolled over.

Meanwhile, Izuku had been using the walls to dodge around Dark Shadow. He had tried to out-maneuver it and get close to Tokoyami once again but it seemed they had learned their lesson. In the corner of his eye, Izuku saw Shouji almost get driven into the ground. He turned to get a better view but that lapse of concentration was all it took for Dark Shadow to smash him through the wall. Izuku groaned. He got up shakingly, hurting all over. His eyes widened when he noticed that Dark Shadow's tether had suddenly grown thinner than before, "But why?'" Izuku squinted his face as he felt the sunlight pouring in from the window beside, "Oh, so that's why! It makes sense, Dark Shadow obviously works better in the dark. It's in the name! Light is Tokoyami's weakness then!" Izuku's face cleared up as he formulated a new plan.

"Shouji-" Izuku opened up his comms but stopped as the wall beside him crashed. Shouji came flying through and slid to Izuku's feet. "Shouji! Are you ok?" Izuku asked worriedly.

"Yeah, Ojiro is much more powerful than I thought,"

"Yeah, I didn't know he had martial arts skills too," Izuku replied as he warily watched OJiro join up with Tokoyami. It seemed both Ojiro and Tokoyami were tired too and had decided to stop fighting for now. Though Izuku was sure, he didn't have enough time before they were pressed again since he could make a plan in the meantime, "Shouji listen. Tokoyami's quirk seems to be weakest in the light. So we have to keep him here. Since Ojiro is so troublesome, you try to hold him off while I pretend to go after Tokoyami. Then I'll double back and we can take care of Ojiro together before we both go for Tokoyami," Izuku explained. "I'll... try," Shouji said in between breaths.

Ojiro didn't let them plan any further and charged, Dark shadow behind for support. Izuku grunted and picked up Shouji's heavy body and jumped out of Ojiro's punch but collided with Dark Shadow instead. Izuku charged some extra energy from One for All to stop before they smashed into a wall. With a heave, Shouji got up. He took a few calming breaths. He flew towards Ojiro with an outstretched palm. Ojiro easily countered by ducking and aimed for the stomach. Shouji smiled underneath his mask and created a branching arm below his attack and slammed Ojiro to the ground.

Izuku came flying in with Dark Shadow and kicked Ojiro away right as he was about to get up. Dark Shadow growled and sped up to catch Izuku but yelped. Tokoyami had fallen to the ground and Dark Shadow couldn't get any further. "Shit, the tether won't go any further in this light," Dark Shadow growled.

Shouji built up a muscular arm on his uninjured right side and caught Izuku in mid-air before throwing him towards Tokoyami. Fumikage was just getting up and his eyes widened when he saw Izuku coming. Dark Shadow arced underneath Shouji and tripped him before flying to his master's aid. He landed as a menacing barrier between Izuku, "Ok, even though Dark Shadow is weakened, my punch won't do anything. In that case, I'll have to use more power!" He thought and concentrated One For All in his arm, "One for All... 20%!" He grimaced as he felt the volatile power coursing through, "SMASH!" He yelled and blew Tokoyami and Dark Shadow away. Thankfully, even 20% was not enough to blow away the walls. However, it was just enough for Fumikage to be knocked out into the wall.

Izuku sighed with relief as he held his broken arm in pain. He wondered why the match wasn't being called when Dark Shadow smashed him into the floor, "How dare you hurt Fumikage!" he yelled and went for another swing but stopped short as All Might's voice rang out, "TIME IS UP! VILLAIN TEAM WINS!" Izuku sighed with relief.

Recovery girl twitched as four more came in, "All Might overdid it with his first class," she grumbled as she went around healing everyone. "First Koda and now you four," she said pointing to Koda's sleeping body.

She bandaged Ojiro's bleeding head and tended to Shouji's bruises. She sighed and disinfected Tokoyami's head where it was bleeding slightly. She let Tokoyami sleep it off and turned her attention to Izuku. Chiyo gave him a kiss and healed his hand before putting a cast on it, "Now, take a nap," she ordered all of them.

Izuku seemed to speak their mind, "But the rest of the maaaatches," he couldn't finish as he yawned out.

Chiyo smirked, "Sleep, your friends can fill you in later," she said warmly. Shouji and Ojiro followed her orders. Izuku grumbled but decided against angering Chiyo. After all, he would need her to heal him every time he broke his bones.

A/N: Please leave a review.