Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Vlad King's Green Bean

Chapter forty-one: Joint training event shenanigans, part one

The following morning, the 1-A and 1-B classes of UA were outside near the industrial training area that had been used for the practical portion of the final exams a while ago. Everyone was in their costumes, many of which had changes to compensate for the colder temperatures since Winter was kicking into gear. Aizawa and Sekijiro, along with Nemuri and Toshinori, were gathered to address the students. "Well kids, this is it," Toshinori said to the combined forty first year hero course students, "This is the day where you will test yourselves against one another."

"As I'm sure it has been mentioned before, each class will split up into five teams of four," Nemuri said, "And in each round, one team from 1-A will fight one team from 1-B. In order to win a round, all of one team will have to incapacitate all of the other team within twenty minutes."

Aizawa and Sekijiro then held up two ballot boxes. "To determine teams," Nemuri went on, "Each of you will pull a single ballot from the box of your class's respective homeroom teacher; it'll say group one, group two, group three, group four, or group five. After you get your ballots and you all separate into your respective groups, we will get started."

"As you all ought to be able to reason," Aizawa said, "Group one of 1-A will face group one of 1-B, the group twos from both classes with face one another, and so on and so forth." At the cue of the teachers, the first year hero course students all went over to their respective teachers in order to draw out their respective ballots in order to determine their groups. This randomized process made things as fair as possible by mixing things up.

After all ballots had been drawn, the teams were determined. Class 1-A would see a team of Kirishima, Kaminari, Gomu, and Yamamaya in round one, a team of Tokoyami, Hagakure, Yaoyorozu, and Aoyama in round two, a team of Ojiro, Todoroki, Shoji, and Shizuo in round three, a team of Sero, Jiro, Bakugo, and Shinso in round four, and a team of Mina, Uraraka, Kurata, and Mahou in round five. As for Class 1-B, they would see a team of Ibara, Jurota, Hiryu, and Kosei in round one, a team of Itsuka, Kinoko, Shihai, and Manga in round two, a team of Pony, Juzo, Sen, and Tetsutetsu in round three, a team of Togaru, Setsuna, Yosetsu, and Bondo in round four, and a team of Izuku, Yui, Reiko, and Nirengeki in round five.

As the round one teams went in to get ready for their match, Nemuri leaned to her side to whisper to Toshinori. "Which team do you think will win?"

"A tough call," Toshinori replied, "Sekijiro's kids have overall stayed out of trouble and were able to grow and improve in safety. But Aizawa's students have loads more practical experience from working in the real world." Not that Nemuri saw it, but Toshinori had a hint of worried concern in his eyes as he regarded the 1-A students; they all seemed to be giving off airs of being rattled, as if they fear that they would lose. The former Symbol of Peace also saw signs that the 1-A students, overall, were not in the best of conditions, at least compared to their counterparts in 1-B; Aizawa's kids going in for round one look like they've been worked down to the bone, and most of the other 1-A students showed similar signs. The students under the underground hero going in for round one showed signs of not only being worn ragged, but also psyched out.

Toshinori, although he didn't vocalize his thoughts, gave Class 1-B a ninety-one point six percent chance of winning round one.

...

Round one began with the 1-A team going in. "How the heck are we supposed to find the 1-B team in all of this?" Gomu asked as he looked around.

Gently shaking her head, Yamamaya said, "No clue. It doesn't help that our team lacks stealth capabilities to help us maintain cover until we find the opposing team so we could attempt a sneak attack."

Kaminari gulped nervously. "Guys, I'm scared."

"Of what," Kirishima asked, "Of the 1-B team getting the jump on us?"

"Of what Aizawa-sensei will do to us if we lose," Kaminari clarified, "You remember what he said before we all came here for the joint training event, right?"

(FLASHBACK)

In the Class 1-A homeroom, Aizawa had all of his students seated at their desks before they would go to change into their Winter costumes. "The joint training event will be starting in roughly one hour," Aizawa began, "That being said, you all had better win."

Some of the 1-A students, feeling like their teacher's words came off as more of a threat than as encouragement, had unsure expressions on their faces. "Umm, we will certainly try our best, Aizawa-sensei," Yaoyorozu said, "But there's always a chance that-"

"Perhaps you didn't understand it the first time, Yaoyorozu," Aizawa interrupted in a snarl, "Given that I had ordered you all to win." His glare going over his students as a whole, Aizawa went on, "I will be honest with you all. I have had it with how this class as a whole had failed repeatedly. I will NOT tolerate any more failure, and any failure that any of you do show from this point moving forward will be met with punishment as severe as I can reasonably give for it."

The class as a whole tried to cry out in complaint, but Aizawa barked at the top of his lungs, "SHUT IT, BRATS!" After the complaining students quieted back down, Aizawa said, "This is the deal. Any of you who fails to win during the joint training exercise will be given TRIPLE the amount of work to do in training, to help ensure that they won't fail again as enough training will make them strong enough to not fail. If this class as a whole fails to win, then not only will the prior punishment apply to all students who fail to win, but EVERY STUDENT IN THIS CLASS will have afterschool detention EVERYDAY for the rest of this school year."

"That's not fair!" Uraraka cried out, "What if we fail because of something outside of our control?"

"That's not my problem," Aizawa said coolly, then added to the class as a whole, "That being said, unless any of you want to be punished, you will NOT fail, and you will NOT lose. Do I make myself clear?"

"Sensei, you're being cruel," Yaoyorozu said flatly, "Straight up threatening us to try to-"

"DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!"

Yaoyorozu was cut off by Aizawa bellowing at the top of his lungs, even sending some spittle flying from his mouth although luckily it didn't land on any of the students. The students of 1-A as a whole were cowed, and Aizawa, seeing that his students were under control, said, "Good, you all seem to get the idea. About damn time too that some of you finally get the idea. And remember." To the class as a whole, Aizawa said, "Failure is NOT going to be tolerated. Now go get yourselves ready, you have a training event to win. And this class had better win it flawlessly."

Unable to talk back due to being cowed, the 1-A students shuffled quietly out of the classroom at their homeroom teacher's direction. They had to go get ready for the joint training event, an exent that they were determined to win at all costs, if only to avoid the wrath of Aizawa.

(FLASHBACK OVER)

The first round group for Class 1-A continued looking around, still on edge due to a combination of factors. "Guys, we have got to win this," Kaminari said, a sense of foreboding fear clear in his tone, "Because I don't know about you, but I don't wanna see how-"

Kaminari got cut off when he and the others in his group saw loads of thorned vines spread out from the direction in front of them. The 1-A group, knowing that this had to be from Ibara's quirk, all moved to get out of the way, but only Kirishima was able to avoid getting wrapped up by the vines of Ibara; Gomu who was wrapped up was able to stretch himself as if made of rubber to slither out from being tied up. After Gomu joined up with Kirishima, the two of them saw where Ibara stood, the vines that made up her hair growing long and out towards them.

"There's Shiozaki!" Gomu said, prompting himself and Kirishima to run towards her. However, they were both stopped about a dozen feet from reaching the pious girl of Class 1-B when Kosei leapt in and, using his quirk, let out a breath that solidified into a barrier that blocked the two boys from 1-A from reaching Ibara.

"Ha!" Kirishima yelled, "I've dealt with a barrier user before! And his was stronger than this!" Pulling a hardened fist back, Kirishima went on, "Breaking this will be as easy as-"

*WHUBAM*

Kirishima was cut off when Jurota rammed him from the side, shoving him away from breaking the barrier Kosei made. Similarly, Hiryu struck Gomu away with an arm covered in green scales. Although the blunt blow of the punch didn't really hurt Gomu, the slicing sting of the scales did hurt him, eliciting a pained cry from Class 1-A's stretching boy. After Kirishima and Gomu were separated, Jurota and Hiryu faced off against them respectively while Iraba held Kaminari and Yamamaya bound up in her vine hair and Kosei moved to provide a support role.

In said support role, Kosei helped Hiryu with dealing with Gomu. Hiryu struck Gomu in the side of the head with a scale covered punch, with the scales slicing into him a bit did more than the actual punch himself. Even so, the blow made Gomu flinch, at least enough to give Kosei time to trap Gomu in a breath barrier box from which the stretching boy wouldn't be able to escape. Ibara and Kosei went to throw Kaminari, Yamamaya, and Gomu into the 'jail' area that was set up to show a student from one of the teams had been captured and thus was out of the round.

As for Kirishima, he while hardened was having to deal with Jurota in full beast mode. Jurota blocked a punch with his left arm before reaching in to grab Kirishima by his left ankle, then proceeded to swing him over to slam him into the ground, then swing him over the other way to slam him into the ground there, and went on like a brutal metronome until he let go after a few swings. Kirishima, who was fully hardened, was able to get back up, but he was dizzy from the assault he received from the brainy looking beast of Class 1-B.

The hardening boy was stunned as such long enough for Kosei to trap him in a breath barrier box, similar to what he had done with Gomu, then Kosei and Jurota hauled him over to the 'jail' area and threw him in with Kaminari, Gomu, and Yamamaya. "All of the Class 1-A team has been captured," a robotic drone had announced, "Class 1-B wins round one!"


Gomu and Kirishima were taken to Recovery Girl's office for treatment. While Aizawa was clearly steamed that his students had lost in the first round, he had to keep a cool head. Meanwhile, Sekijiro asked his students to reflect on how they had won and why. "...To be honest, sensei," Ibara began, a hint of being unsure in her tone, "I think that our opponents were too disorganized to function properly. I feel that they were all caught up in something else, caught up too much to be able to fight back as effectively as they could have."

Jurota nodded in agreement with Ibara's assessment. "I can see what Shiozaki is trying to get at. The Class 1-A team we faced clearly weren't at their best, at least not mentally and or emotionally from what I'm feeling."

Sekijiro, with a curious and mildly concerned look on his face, turned to regard Aizawa. "Hey Shouta, are you sure you're working with your students properly?"

"I am, and I'll thank you for not questioning my teaching methods," Aizawa replied coolly, "And believe you me, Sekijiro. I'll have Kirishima, Kamina, Gomu, and Yamamaya more than make up for their failure here." The 1-A students who were present, as well as some of the 1-B students, couldn't help but shudder. Kaminari and Yamamaya especially were worried about what the future held for them.

...

Without much further fanfare, the second round teams made their way into the battleground. "Hey Momo," Itsuka began, "Quick question. How come I didn't see you do any prep for the beauty pageant during the school festival?"

"I... didn't know there would be one until the day of the festival," Yaoyorozu admitted, "Aizawa-sensei didn't mention it to any of us." With an unsure and unamused look, the wealthy girl went on, "Plus, I get the feeling that he wouldn't permit me to participate, even if I did know about it ahead of time. He would probably insist that I stay to help the rest of the class with our improv practice for the performance we gave during the school festival."

Itsuka scowled. "I have only a vague idea that something's up with your teacher, I don't have a lot of details. But things ought to be reported to Principal Nezu if they ever get bad enough." Changing tunes, Itsuka went on, "But enough of that unpleasant business. You remember the bet our classes agreed upon last night, right?"

Yaoyorozu nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I know the details. Pony in your class has to agree to start going out with Bakugo in my if my class wins against yours overall today, and Kirishima in my class has to agree to start going out with Komori here in your class if your class wins overall."

"Why did you make that bet, Kendo?" Kinoko cried out in embarrassed complaint, her face reddening up, "You know I haven't worked up the courage to approach Eijiro yet!"

"Well, think of this as a step in the right direction," Itsuka replied, "We just gotta win at least two more rounds, and before you know it you'll get your dream guy!"

Shihai, looking mildly annoyed, gave a likewise scoff. "Let's just focus on giving our opponents here the business that they have coming."

"Yeah girls, we got a match to win," Manga said, although he didn't give off any of the annoyance that his pitch black classmate was giving off; Manga as well as the others there seemed oblivious to Shihai's annoyance. Regardless, the two teams soon got to their destinations to begin the second round of the joint training exercise.

...

"Okay, so here's the deal," Itsuka said, "We need to lure our opponents into an area where Kinoko can spam her mushroom spores on them. Manga, using his quirk, will help speed up the process by dampening the area."

"Question," Manga said, "How can we deal with Tokoyami? I got it he's figured out how to fly with his quirk, so-"

"Leave 'quoth the hero nevermore' to me," Shihai replied, "My quirk can very easily bring him to his knees."

Kinoko kept quiet, worried about how she can perform well with her classmates here. Suddenly, Dark Shadow appeared out of nowhere to launch an attack on the 1-B group. "Here's Kage!" Dark Shadow yelled as he popped in, "Now I ca- ERK!"

Dark Shadow was cut off when Shihai, using his own quirk, hijacked control of Dark Shadow from him. "And a little turn back!" Shihai said as he made Dark Shadow turned over and fly straight back to his source, forcing Tokoyami to jump out of hiding to avoid. Yaoyorozu came out and, seeing Shihai is controlling Dark Shadow via hijacking him, conjured some nets to try to capture him. However, Shihai saw this and disappeared into the pitch black shadows of some nearby pipes, which allowed him to completely avoid Yaoyorozu's attempt to capture him.

Tokoyami, who was able to recover from Shihai's counter attack, tried to get back at him by turning suddenly, but stopped short when he and the rest of his group saw that it was suddenly rather humid. Looking around, it was Yugo who first spotted Manga, who was using his quirk to make things humid by uttering the word 'humidity'. The students of the 1-A group were all coated with precipitation; it even helped to outline where Hagakure stood, as the precipitation on her started to accumulate to the point she was coated in it.

Aoyama growled in annoyance, and took aim at Manga to shoot him with a blast using his Laser Navel quirk. "I got no idea what you're up to," Aoyama cried out at Manga, "But it won't matter after I blast you wi- ACK!"

The sparkly boy of Class 1-A was cut off when mushrooms suddenly started growing up from him as well as Tokoyami and Hagakure; the three of them even fell to their knees as they started coughing violently. "Heh," Shihai's voice called out from where he was hiding, "Kinoko's quirk can make mushrooms grow wherever the spores she makes can reach, and the more humid the better. But on the subject of mushrooms growing where Kinoko's spores can reach..." To the worry of the 1-A students, Shihai popped out from where he was hiding, taking aim directly at Tokoyami.

"They can also get inside of things," Shihai said, "Like the throats and lungs of other people!"

*WHABAM*

A slugging strike across Tokoyami's face knocked him out, also forcing Dark Shadow to retreat back into Tokoyami. With a quick turn, Shihai then knocked out Hagakure with an elbow strike to the side of her head, a side he was able to see mainly due to the mushrooms that were growing off of Hagakure thanks to Kinoko's quirk. Shihai next would have struck Aoyama, but Manga knocked him out first, striking him with a conjured washtub in the shape of the word 'washtub' right on top of the head before the conjured word faded away. With three of the four 1-A students knocked out, Manga came down to help Shihai haul them off to the 'jail' area as all of the 1-A team aside from Yaoyorozu, who was separated from her group by an attack from Itsuka, were knocked out.

...

Itsuka broke through another shield conjured by Yaoyorozu using her quirk. "You know, personally I'm actually rather glad my team was matched to fight yours, Momo," Itsuka said, breaking another shield, "I've kind of always wanted to try myself against you."

Yaoyorozu, getting riled up, scowled at Itsuka. "You think this is some sort of game?!" Yaoyorozu snapped, "The hell is wrong with you, Kendo?!"

Itsuka had not expected that kind of a reaction out of Yaoyorozu, and it honestly concerned her. "...I'm just trying to show good sportsmanship, Momo," Itsuka replied, "There's no need to snap at me over unknowingly pushing you in a way you don't appreciate."

"There's more than just sportsmanship involved here, Kendo!" Yaoyorozu called out as Itsuka broke another conjured shield with her enlarged fists, "My class can't afford to lose! We have to win this! We don't want to be- ACK!" The wealthy girl was cut off from her panicked rant as mushrooms suddenly started growing all over her, with a few small ones even falling out from her mouth as she stumbled and fell to her hands and knees.

Looking around, Itsuka spotted Kinoko hiding nearby. Seeing that her classmate saw her, Kinoko called out to her, "I got Yaoyorozu crippled! Take the chance, Itsuka!"

Nodding once in understanding, Itsuka, albeit with some degree of uncertainty due to Yaoyorozu's panicked rant, rushed in and, with a single swing of a colossal fist, she slugged Yaoyorozu in the side, sending her tumbling away until she came to a stop, laying on her side while clearly out of it. Itsuka, with Kinoko backing her, carried Yaoyorozu to the 'jail' area and threw her in where Tokoyami, Aoyama, and Hagakure were all already waiting. "All of the Class 1-A team has been captured," the same robotic drone announced, "Class 1-B wins round two!"


All of the Class 1-A team from round two had to go see Recovery Girl due to Kinoko's assault on them, although Kinoko did provide doses of medicine to the injured 1-A students while explaining what it was. Aizawa, more steamed than before, clearly tried moving to stop Kinoko, but was stopped shot when Sekijiro called out to him. "Hey Shouta," Sekijiro said, making Aizawa take pause and turn to face the Blood Hero.

With the underground hero focusing on him, Sekijiro said, "Kendo had just told me, while she fought Yaoyorozu, that Yaoyorozu had expressed fright over 1-A possibly losing the event." Arching a wry eyebrow laced with suspicion, Sekijiro went on, "You don't have anything to do with the fear that Yaoyorozu had displayed, do you?"

"...It sounds like you're trying to accuse me of something," Aizawa droned, his tone annoyed.

Sekijiro folded his arms over his well toned chest, gave his co-worker a suspicious look. "...I'm always concerned when I hear that a student is flat out afraid of losing or otherwise failing in some way, at least far more than what ought to be understandable."

Aizawa gave an indifferent hmph as he turned his head slightly to look away from Sekijiro. "You have your own students to worry about, Sekijiro, so let me worry about mine on my own." The Blood Hero didn't want to get up into any sort of altercation with Aizawa here, so he decided to set this to the side for the time being. But it was something he intended to bring to Nezu's attention, if only he could get a moment where the animal principal of UA was free to hear him out; things ever since the Battle of Kamino Ward had kept Nezu's time occupied for the most part, so much so that Sekijiro scarcely saw him once a day. Most UA staff members were lucky to see Nezu at least once a week right now.

...But Sekijiro figured that, if things got bad enough, he'd be able to pull Nezu in regardless.


Going in for the round three match were the teams of Pony, Juzo, Sen, and Tetsutetsu for Class 1-B, and Ojiro, Todoroki, Shoji, and Shizuo for Class 1-A. "Guys, we can't afford to lose here," Ojiro said to his teammates, his tone making it clear he was worried to wit's end,"Our class is already down zero to two. If we're to avoid whatever tortures Aizawa-sensei will do to not just us but to the class as a whole, then we plus the remaining two teams in our class HAVE to win."

Shizuo cracked his neck a bit. "All we gotta do is pound down hard on the 1-B team and kick their asses. Three of us are strong up front fighters, and the third can cast powerful elemental attacks from a distance. We'll just blitz the 1-B team, hitting them hard and fast without giving them time to regroup, and before you know it we'll get our class it's first win in this event."

"I envy you for your confidence, Shizuo," Shoji remarked, "If only I had even half as much courage and optimism as you right now."

Todoroki looked down at his hands, focusing more on his right. Clenching his right hand shut tight into a fist, Todoroki went on, "...We can do this."

Shoji let out a troubled sigh. "It would seem that Shizuo isn't the only one in our class with the bravery that's needed to face the challenge before us head on. You and Shizuo must be among the best that our class has to offer, Todoroki."

Giving a single nod of acknowledgement, Todoroki replied, "Thanks for that, Shoji. Now, I say we- WHOA!"

Todoroki was cut off when he and the others in his group felt the earth beneath them getting softer and start sinking down, and both Shoji and Shizuo were trapped and unable to escape the suddenly appearing quicksand-esque trap. Todoroki and Ojiro were, however, able to jump out of the way, but Ojiro as he jumped out of the saw felt it as he was suddenly being pulled away by his clothing. Looking up, Ojiro saw that two lyre-shaped horns had hooked into his clothes and were now rocketing him away, up until he was thrown into the 'jail' area cage, thus eliminating him from the round.

Looking over, Todoroki saw Pony crouching down while aiming her horns at Ojiro; she made a few more fly off from her head, only for them to instantly regrow. Below Pony on the ground beneath where Pony knelt was Juzo, who was sending some energy forward along the ground to where Shoji and Shizuo were sinking. Seeing the two enemy team members responsible for the rest of his team being in dire straits, Todoroki clearly having been overcome by panic, cast a huge burst of ice right at Pony and Juzo, large and pointed icicles aimed right at the two students of Class 1-B.

However, Tetsutetsu leapt in and, with his fully steel body, blocked the attack, all icicles shattering into him on impact harmlessly. "Steel is resistant to ice!" Tetsutetsu called out as he charged in at Todoroki, keeping his focus as Sen went after the trapped Shoji and Shizuo, both of Sen's arms looking like they were rotating quickly and strongly like giant drills. Seeing Tetsutetsu charge right at him, Todoroki tried cranking up the ice by blasting him with a beam of icy cold energy from his right hand. But try as he might, Todoroki wasn't able to slow Tetsutetsu down.

"Why won't you go down?!" Todoroki yelled, putting even more effort into his freezing attack despite how signs of frostbite were starting to show.

"I'm too much of a man to give up easily!" Tetsutetsu called back, "And that attack you tried to throw at Tsunotori and Honenuki! If I didn't know any better, I'd go so far as to say you were tr-"

"I DON'T CARE!" Todoroki yelled, surprising Tetsutetsu, as well as Pony and Juzo behind Tetsutetsu, and Sen behind Todoroki who had just finished knocking out Shoji and Shizuo. Suddenly, Todoroki created an explosive burst of ice, forcing Tetsutetsu and Sen to brace themselves and Pony and Juzo to take cover. "I DON'T CARE WHAT MY CLASSMATES AND I HAVE TO DO!" Todoroki bellowed at the top of his lungs, clearly having snapped, "WE HAVE TO-"

*WHUBAM*

Todoroki was cut off by Sen punching him hard in the side of his head with a rotation enhanced punch, knocking the son of Endeavor out cold. After Todoroki crumpled to the ground, Sen gave a his of pain as he hopped back; a smaller icicle had pierced into his left shin to hit the bone but not pierce the bone, drawing a fair amount of blood. Tetsutetsu, who was solid steel had no such problem, although when he stopped using his quirk, he did give a shudder. Sen tore some of the top he was wearing off to tie around his wound after pulling out from the icicle.

Tetsutetsu then picked the knocked out Todoroki up and carried him over his back while also grabbing the knocked out Shizuo while Juzo and Pony carried the knocked out Shoji; Sen, who had a wound, was advised by Juzo to not help with carrying the knocked out boy. "The hell had gotten into Todoroki?" Tetsutetsu said, "I mean, you would expect Bakugo to go on a berserker rampage like that, but no, it was the cool and collected Todoroki who had snapped!"

The 1-B students soon got to the 'jail' area cage where Ojiro was being kept after Pony's horns sent him there. "Doesn't matter," Sen said as he saw his teammates toss the remainder of the opposing team into the 'jail' area one at a time.

After the last of the 1-A team, Todoroki, was tossed into the 'jail' area, the same robotic drone called out, "All of the Class 1-A team has been captured! Class 1-B wins round three!"

END, CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Author's notes;

Here we see the joint training event being covered in large part. However, most of the teams for Class 1-A have entirely different rosters (the only Class 1-B team that's different in any way is their round five team which has Izuku); that, plus how the 1-A students were noted to be going in both looking ragged and psyched out, ended up leading to Class 1-B winning the first three rounds in a row, even with how fiercely Yaoyorozu and later Todoroki tried fighting. This means that Class 1-B wins the whole event overall. How this will play out will be seen in the next chapter, so don't adjust your set.