The first Joint Training class among the first year hero course students was finally happening. With the matchups for all five fights drawn, the first set of three teams were currently taking their positions on the training field. The rest of the students stood by the entrance and kept their eyes on the monitor that would be showing all the action.

Melody and Hikari sat next to each other. They were still debating over which of the boys in their class Alicia could be crushing on.

"You know something just occurred to me." Hikari said. "Nothing says Alicia's supposed crush has to be from our class does it?"

Melody widened her eyes in realization. "Ah crud, you're right." she said. "Ugh, that opens up to a way bigger roster. There's tons of guys in Class A and B, and even more if we factor in the other classes! How are we ever going to figure this out?"

"Hm?" Sakura turned her head towards her two classmates. "What are you two talking about?"

"N-Nothing! Nothing at all!" Hikari lied.

Meanwhile, in the depths of the factory-like field, Class C's first team of Alicia, Merci, Lilina, and Rekka were standing near their prison. Everyone was waiting for the signal to begin.

Finally, Vlad spoke into a microphone, his voice sounding around the field. "Fighter's take your marks! And start!"

In the expansive field, Class C set out from their starting position. Alicia and Lilina moved out for reconnaissance while Merci and Rekka stayed behind to set up a defensive perimeter. They had a decent understanding of how Shinso's Quirk worked from witnessing it during the Sport's Festival. That made Class A the more optimal target.

"Kaminari's going to be the main problem for us." Alicia commented as she and Lilina made either way through the field stealthily. "We need to find a way to deal with his electricity."

"If we're lucky, maybe Class B will manage to handle him for us." Lilina said. "But best not to let them get too much of an upper hand on us."

"Agreed." Alicia nodded. "For now, let's try and find them first."

The two girls continued making their way forward. As they did, they eventually spotted Class A in the distance. Four of them were grouped together.

"Damn, they would be all grouped up." Alicia whispered. "I guess they're being cautious to prevent Shinso or Kaminari from getting captured by a sneak attack. But why is Asui the only one not there?"

"She can camouflage herself, remember?" Lilina told her partner. She narrowed her eyes and managed to make out a silhouette clinging to the wall near the other Class A members. "I see her. Her camouflage is good, but not perfect."

"What's our plan?" Alicia said, readying herself. "I can snipe them from afar while we retreat to lead them back near our base so Rekka and Merci can help."

"That's probably our best bet for now. No way we can take on all five of them with just two of us."

Alicia took aim as she held her right arm out while using her left to keep it steady. Long distance sniping wasn't really her forte, but she didn't necessarily need to hit them. She just needed to get their attention. However, if they were making the first move in this fight, she wanted to at least deal some damage to the enemy team. Kaminari made for the best target in that regard.

However, just as Alicia was about to fire, a loud bang was heard. Seconds later, a new figure emerged out of nowhere and grabbed Kirishima and the semi-invisible Asui. Alicia and Lilina instantly recognized the new arrival as Shishida.

Before the students of Class A could even react, Shishida threw Kirishima and Asui back, causing them to crash into a wall. Riding on Shishida's back was Tsubaraba, who wasted no time in using his Quirk to trap Koda in a prison of solid air.

"Man, Class B really didn't waste any time in going on the offensive." Lilina commented. "But we can still make this work. For now let's let them fight it out and go in once there's an opening."

Alicia silently nodded as the two girls continued to watch. Tsubaraba's voice sounded. "Take them down, Shishida!"

"Consider this our win already!" Shishida responded. However, rather than attacking, seconds passed as he simply stood there. Soon his arms fell and he slouched, as if he was asleep on his feet.

Alicia and Lilina narrowed their eyes in confusion. "Wait… Did Shishida get brainwashed? I didn't hear Shinso speak though."

"Tsubaraba seems pretty confused too." Lilina noted. Suddenly her eyes widened. "Wait… that mask Shinso's wearing! Did he talk with Tsubaraba's voice just now?!"

Alicia gasped, realizing Lilina's theory was probably correct. "That's insane! If that mask can really do that, then Shinso can fake all of our voices and trick us into thinking one of us is talking!"

The fight continued as Tsubaraba trapped Shinso in an air prison like Koda before snapping Shishida out of his trance. It was too late however as Kaminari moved in and split them up, allowing Asui to grab Tasbaraba with her tongue and begin dragging him to her team's prison. Shishida attempted to give chase, but Kirishima managed to hold him off with Koda who he had broken out of the air prison. Shishia avoided their attacks however and tossed Kirishima far in the distance, likely to where one of his teammates was lying in wait. He then took Koda in his grasp and began to retreat.

"We can't let Class B get two points over us so quickly." Alicia said. "You ready, Lilina?"

"Yeah."

The two Class C girls jumped out of hiding, ambushing Shishida from behind. Alicia unleashed her Solar Flash technique, blinding Shishida before Lilina delivered a punch to the beastly student's gut. Between the barrage and Koda's struggling, Shishida was forced to let go of Koda and fall back. As Koda fell towards the ground however, a series of vines emerged and ensnared him. Meanwhile, in his rush to escape, Shishida ran into a wall of embers that detonated as soon as he touched them, knocking him out cold.

Alicia smirked as her teammates Merci and Rekka emerged from the shadows. "Weren't a fan of waiting at the base I take it?"

"We noticed a commotion and decided to come check if you needed backup." Rekka explained with a grin. "And it seems it paid off. We got both Shishida and Koda."

Shishida returned to his normal human state, making him much lighter. However, it still took both Alicia and Lilina to lift him up and carry him. "Let's hurry back." Alicia said. "If we wait too long, the others from Class A will come back to try and save Koda."


After bringing Koda and Shishida back with them, the Class C team imprisoned them in their cage. On their trip back, Alicia and Lilina had told their teammates about what they had learned regarding Shinso's mask on the lower half of his face.

"That certainly is going to be a problem." Rekka said. "How am I supposed to communicate with my good friends if there's a chance it's Shinso?"

"Oui. A dastardly trick indeed." Merci agreed. "But I would never be fooled by pale imitations of the voices of our class's beautiful mademoiselles."

"Right…" Alicia said in an unamused tone. "Either way, we're best off not communicating verbally for now. At least until Shinso's dealt with."

"We should get ready too." Lilina said. "Both teams probably know by now that we're the only ones who haven't lost a member."

It was sound logic. If Class A and B's numbers continued to whittle away while Class C remained at full strength, it would make things all too easy for them in the late stages of the match. No way Class A and B were about to let that happen. That meant Alicia and the others needed to prepare before the imminent attack from the other two teams came.

Unfortunately, the time for preparation came and went in an instant as a long tongue came out from the shadows and wrapped around Lilina. Before any of the Class C students could react, Lilina was yanked away from her teammates.

"Help me guys!"

"Li-" Alicia tried to cut herself short, remembering their non-verbal agreement, but it was too late. The one syllable she spoke was enough to put her under Shinso's trance as she stood still with a dazed expression on her face.

Knowing they couldn't handle the four remaining members of Class A with one of their members caught and another in a trance, Rekka rushed towards Alicia to snap her out of it. However, as she ran to her, a line of electricity came and zapped her.

"Ahhhhhhhh!"

"Gotcha." Kaminari smirked as he came out of hiding. "Man, good thing one of my markers ended up sticking to Shishida before."

"I still can't believe you didn't notice it yourself." Asui told him, Lilina still wrapped in her tongue. "I'm taking this one to the cell. Watch yourselves while I'm gone."

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry. We got this." Kaminari assured her as she leaped away. He rushed in and quickly grabbed Rekka, who had been knocked out by the jolt just now.

"Unhand the mademoiselle, you fiend." Merci said as he readied his flower stems. "Unless you wish to be thrashed by my beautiful flowers."

"I don't think so." Kaminari said, firing a marker and sticking it onto Alicia. He aimed his free hand towards her while using his other arm to hold Rekka over his shoulder. "Make any moves and your last teammate gets zapped."

"Sacre bleu! You are the foulest of men." Merci gasped.

"Nothing personal. We just don't wanna lose this." Kaminari said as he backed away, keeping his aim on Alicia to prevent Merci from coming after him. "Consider us even for capturing Ko-"

Before Kaminari could finish, he felt a presence shadowing him from behind. He turned around and gasped as a series of vines quickly entangled him. Vines he recognized as belonging to Shiozaki of Class B.

"Hey, no fair! Let me go!" Kaminari shouted as he and the unconscious Rekka were dragged away by the vines.

Shinso could tell that he had no chance against Shiozaki on his own, especially when he had no way to pin her location down amongst all the vines, so he quickly retreated to meet back up with Asui. Merci on the other hand rushed towards Alicia with Kaminari no longer a threat.

"Forgive me for this, mademoiselle." Merci said as he delivered a hit to Alicia's head. The light blow snapped her out of the trance, waking her up.

"Hu? What the? Merci?" Alicia gradually came to her senses, realizing what had happened. "Ugh, dammit. I really screwed up, didn't I?"

"It is all in the past. Right now we must decide what to do now that mademoiselles Rekka and Lilina have been captured." Merci told her.

Alicia nodded her head understandingly. "Every team should be down to two people now. Class A has Asui and Shinso. Class B has Shiozaki and Rin." Alicia thought to herself on how best to approach the situation. "Shinso's too much of a wild card with that support gear of his. Our best bet is probably to take down at least one of the remaining Class B members. We'll need to be careful for Shiozaki's vines though."

"Leave that to moi." Merci said. "I have a plan."


From the viewing area, the three hero classes and teachers watched the first battle unfold. Each team was down to two members and only seven minutes remained on the clock for the match. Currently, Class B was in the lead with three people in their prison, while Class A and C each had two in theirs. But despite Class B having the edge, it was still anyone's game.

Of course that fact seemed lost on Monoma as he laughed in his usual obnoxious tone. "Hahahaha! Well it seems like Class A and C are proving yet again that they aren't as great as their reputations suggest! Class B will have a landslide victory in this round, and we'll follow suit in the remaining rounds as well!"

"God, does he ever shut up?" Fujino asked in a low whisper as she watched with her classmates.

"He's certainly got class spirit, no denying that." Hikari noted. "And with Rin and Shiozaki staying near their base, Class B could very realistically end up winning this since they only need to capture one more person."

"We'll just have to hope Alicia and Merci can pull off a win." Jill said.


Rin and Shiozaki stood together near their starting position. Kirishima, Kaminari, and Rekka were all inside the cage, wrapped up in vines and sulking over getting captured.

"I wasn't expecting us to lose both Tsubaraba and Shishida the way we did." Rin said. "Perhaps it would have been best for me to go with them."

"Using me as bait to lure out the enemy. Such a sinful act." Shiozaki said. "And equally sinful were those who captured our allies."

"R-Right…" Rin answered awkwardly. "In any case, you'd best set up your vines again so we can be ready for when the enemy comes."

Shiozaki nodded her head and the vines that doubled as her hair began stretching out. The longer the enemy teams took, the more she'd be able to spread them out. And there was no way they could have gotten to them so quickly after just having battled each other.

However, she was proven wrong as a blast of light came flying at Shiozaki. Reacting quickly, she put up a wall of vines which blocked the blast.

Seeing that her surprise attack on Shiozaki had failed, Alicia changed targets and began rapid firing sunlight blasts at Rin as she ran sideways. Rin quickly began dodging the blasts, keeping his eyes on Alicia so she couldn't escape his sight.

"Shiozaki, bind her!"

"Foolish sinner, repent for your cowardly attack!" Shiozaki said as she prepared to have her vines go after Alicia. However, before she could, a series of flowery stems from Merci came flying at her. She switched her target to Merci and they each wrapped each other up in their Quirks. But it was clear Shiozaki's binding thorns were stronger.

Just as Shiozaki was about to pull Merci in, an odd scent registered in her nostrils. She widened her eyes to see flower buds beginning to bloom.

"These flowers are special." Merci explained. "They dull the senses and put one to sleep."

"No…" Shiozaki muttered, realizing her mistake. But it was too late. Her body slouched and she found herself feeling drowsy.

"My brilliant plan worked! None can hope to outsmart moi!" Marci said. "... Now I just need to figure out how to get out of these vines."

Meanwhile, Alicia and Rin continued their shootout as they kept blasting and dodging each other, Alicia with her bullets of sunlight and Rin with his scales.

'I messed up earlier and got Rikka captured. I have to make up for my mistake.' Alicia told herself. She poked her head out from the cover she was using, but a barrage of scales from Rin told her that he still had his eye on her. 'Come on. Think.' Suddenly, an idea came to Alicia as she eyed the sheet of metal she was using for cover.

From his position, Rin saw a light from behind the wall Alicia was using that was gradually getting brighter. She was likely charging up for a powerful blast. But it didn't matter. As long as he knew where she was firing from, he could dodge it with little difficulty. He just had to wait for her to poke her head out and he could deliver a counterstrike.

To Rin's surprise however, Alicia didn't poke her head out. Instead the blast came while she hid behind the cover, causing the sheet of metal to burst out from the structure it was attached to and come flying out at Rin. He quickly rolled to the side to avoid it at the last second, but a follow up blast from Alicia managed to connect and knock him back.

"You're pretty good. But I don't plan on losing!" Alicia's voice sounded.

Alicia widened her eyes. Despite that clearly being her voice just now, she hadn't been the one who said it. And that could only mean one thing. 'Oh no.'

"Same here." Rin answered. "I won't- Urk!"

Just like that, Rin fell silent and was put under Shinso's trance. Alicia knew Shinso was hiding somewhere and began looking around. If he was here, then Asui wouldn't be far behind. Merci was in a stalemate with Shiozaki so Alicia wouldn't have to worry about the lack of communication hindering her, but she couldn't afford to let her guard down regardless.

Suddenly, Alicia saw a pipe attached to Shinso's binding cloth come flying at her. "She quickly fired a blast of sunlight to intercept the projectile. But just as she was about to follow the binding cloth and go after Shinso to take him down, Asui came from behind and kicked her off the edge. Alicia fell to the ground and crashed into it hard.

"Good work Shinso." Asui said.

"It wasn't anything special." Shinso said, coming out of hiding. "All I really did was distract her."

Alicia moaned in pain as she laid on the ground. Asui and Shinso soon came down and bound both her and Rin. As much as Alicia wanted to struggle, she lacked the strength to.

Before long, Asui and Shinso dragged Alicia and Rin to their prison and locked them up. With that, they had four people in their prison, giving them the win.

Standing outside of their prison, Asui looked to Shinso. "You know Shinso, despite what you said, you're not behind at all. I don't think we could have won this fight without you."

"I'm not nearly where I need to be. I can't let others carry me" Shinso told her. "I need to grow strong enough to become a pro hero on my own."

Vlad grunted in an annoyed tone as he was forced to make the announcement. "Despite their failures… the team of Class A plus Shinso are the winners!"

A/N: Hey readers, sorry for the delay with this chapter. Planning out the three way fights took longer than expected. But now I have the fights for all five matches planned out. Hope you all enjoyed the first round, cause there's still four more left to go.