"I haven't studied AT ALLLL!"

It was the final week of june, one week until our end of term tests. Both Raccoon Eyes and Dunce Face were freaking out, since they were the bottom of the class.

"With the sports Festival and internships, I didn't have time to study," moaned Dunce Face, clutching as his head while Raccoon Eyes laughed.

"Sucks that there's a practical portion too," sighed Bullhead., who had been - 9th out of 20?! What the fuck.

"I thought you were one of us!" cried Raccoon Eyes.

"Guys like you are only likable when they're morons!" added Dunce Face. "Who's gonna love you now?"

"The world, I guess," said the little creep.

"Ashido, Kaminari!" piped in Deku. "Let's do our best! It'd be great if we could all go to the lodge, right?" Right, that doesn't sound condescending at all, Mr. 4th place. One behind me, way too close in grades.

"Yes!" added Glasses. Who I wanted to kill for beating me at 2nd.

"If you just attend classes, it's hard to fail," 5th Place IcyHot commented. This seemed to be too much for Dunce face, who clutched his hand to his heart and gasped out,

"Words can hurt, you know!"

Ponytail spoke up from the back of the room at this.

"Hey, you two, I might be able to help you with the classroom stuff."

"Yaomomo!" the two dunces shouted out.

"I'm not as bad off as either of them, but how about helping me too? I'm having trouble with quadtratic functions," added Ears.

"Me too?" asked Tape Arms. "I'm struggling with classical lit."

"Me too?" added Tail.

"This is wonderful!" cried Ponytail, jumping to her feet. "Yes, let's do it! We'll hold a study session at my residence over the weekend! I'll call mother and have her prepare the great hall to set up, it'll be the perfect spot! What kind of tea does everyone like, I'll have her make sure we're stocked. In my family, we always drink Harrod's or wedgwood, so if you have any other preference let me know. When we're finished, you'll all be model students!"

"That's what virtue looks like," smirked Kirishima at me. He'd asked me for tutoring, but kept complaining that I wasn't doing it right.

"I've got virtue," I snapped. "I'll tutor you till your dead."

Later in class that day after lunch, Deku informed Dunce Face and Raccoon Eyes that apparently the practical part of the exam would be a battle against robots. Like the Entrance exam.

"If it's just robots, then it'll be a walk in the park!" cheered the two dunces, like somehow that was a good thing. What the hell's the virtue in an easy win?

"Must be happy because your quirks are hard to adjust against human opponents…" said Transformarms.

"Yep! So with robots we can win like that! Easy as pie!" Raccoon Eyes was bouncing.

"Now we just need to get someone to help us study," agreed Tape Arms.

"Now we're shoe-ins for the first lodge!" said Dunce Face.

That was too much for me. "Who cares if it's people or robots, it's all the same when they're blown away. Walk in the park my ass," I snapped at them.

"Who're you calling an idiot?" demanded Dunce Face.

"Shut up, you don't need to bother about adjusting idiot!" I replied. Learning how to control your quirk, you know, like Deku. That made me remember Deku's progress, and I turned to face him. "Hey! Deku! I dunno what's going on with your power, but I've seen how you're using it and I want you to know - it's seriously pissing me off."

"He must be talking about how Deku was jumping around like him the other day," Uraraka told Raccoon eyes, annoying me again by saying what I was thinking..

Deku was watching me, and it was hard to tell what he was thinking. I went on, "Let me tell you right now. I don't want some hollow victory like in the Sports Festival. By the end of next term, we'll see by our grades just who the better man is, whether you like it or not. I'll annihilate you, leave you in the dust with the gap between us and freaking murder you." And remembering the sports Festival made me turn to IcyHot and add "You too, Todoroki."

And annoyed at their lack of answer, I stormed out and slammed the door.

Tutoring Kirishima was frustrating, since he just didn't seem to get it no matter what I did. Finally, after the tests were done, it was time for the practical.

And then it was finally the day of the test exercise.

"Right, the text exercise will begin shortly," said Sensei, who was standing around with…every one of our sensei? All the teachers?

"Obviously you can fail this test, too, so if you want to head to the first lodge, don't make any mistakes."

"Why are all the teachers here?" asked Ears.

"I've no doubt you've all learned what information you could about the test beforehand," said Sensei, "so I think you already hold a vague notion of what you are to do."

"Just like the entrance exam, it will be robots!" cried Dunce Face.

"I can just see the fireworks, the curry, truth or dare!" yapped Raccoon eyes.

"I'm afraid - nOT!" cried a strange voice from inside of Sensei's scarf. Principal Nezu jumped out. "Due to various reasons, we're changing the test this year."

"What do you mean?" asked Yaomomo.

"Well," the principal explained, climbing down from Mr. Aizawa's scarf…

It seemed they were afraid of a villain revival, so our sensei summarized, "From now on, e'll focus our tests more on person-to-person battles, emphasizing a teaching environment as close as possible to a real battle. Which means, that from here on you will all form pairs and engage in one-on-one combat with one of these teachers!"

"Against a teacher?!" gasped Uraraka.

"Additionally, your partners and opponents have already been chosen. They were chosen at my discretion, baed on a combination of grades, familiarity, and skills. Here are the team-ups. First, Todoroki is with Yaoyorozu against me," said Sensei. I tried not to smirk. IcyHot wouldn't know what to do without his quirk.

"Then we have Midoriya," I piped up, to hear who Deku was working with. "Is with Bakugou."

WHAT?!

I turned around to face Deku in horror. He looked every bit as shocked.

"De -"

"Ka - "

"And their opponent is…"

From above, he came down. The greatest hero. The mass of All Might himself.

"I am here, to fight."

Together, Deku and I gasped, "We're up against All Might?!"

"You'll have to work together if you want to win," said the Symbol of peace, facing us down.

"The ten teams will be starting in their respective stages simultaneously. The general outline of the test will be explained by teach of the teachers you'll be battling. You're t be transported by the campus bus. Time is precious, so get in them promptly," said Sensei.

We were bussed over to a mock cityscape like the one from the entrance exam. All Might tried to keep us talking, but I didn't feel like making small talk with him and Deku. Better to think up strategies.

Outside the City, All Might gave us the lowdown.

"This is where we will fight."

"Um, fight?!" asked Deku. "You can't really expect us to beat you!"

It was like he'd slapped me. I knew Deku looked down on me, but here we were, facing off with All Might, and Deku had to say immediately, that there was no way we could win. Like he was thinking I'd be some kinda handicap on his chances.

"Pessimistic and impatient, i see!" said All Might. "Allow me to explain. The time limit is 30 minutes. Your win condition is either to pin these handcuffs on the teacher. Alternately, for either of you to escape from this stage."

"Win by fighting, or by running," said Deku.

"That's right! This will be a test of your judgement! However, you're probably thinking your only real choice is to flee! That's why we had the support course make us these handcuffs, ultra compressed weights! These add about half our body weight. It's not much, but it will eat up our stamina and make it harder for us to move around. We had a contest and young Hatsume ended p winning."

"You think we need a handicap to win against you?" I asked, stung. "That's insulting."

"I wonder," All might grinned.