TEAM D

Fwoosh!

The wall of cobalt ice dashed towards Drake and Blake.

The apex of the solid wave towered over them with every inch of the room in front of them becoming enveloped in the permafrost. Standing next to the frozen Megan, Drake grabbed Blake by the shoulder and wrapped him up in his body. With a shove of his feet, he pushed off the edge of the roof with Blake in both of his hands. No time to revert them to talons, his large fingers clutched onto the front of Blake's white undershirt.

The pair sunk off the edge. They plummeted through the thick, humid air. The chill of the ice left them, but a shadow from the newly-formed cliff of ice on the rooftop shielded them from the sun's rays. Blake was quiet, his brow furrowed as the wind rushed into his drying eyes. His breath hitched, but he remained calm as the iron-tinted asphalt below magnified with every inch that flew past.

Drake concentrated before two jets of flames hissed from his back. Strengthening into dragon scales, he hugged Blake to his chest and pulled upward. His wings flapped, and they swung just above an awning that covered one of the entrances into the building. The tips of Blake's designer black shoes swatted the tips of the taut fabric before both him and Drake zoomed upward into the sky.

Flying back to the roof, Drake's wings flapped and twitched in a smooth rhythm not unlike surfing waves. Once they reached the top, they floated upwards to come across the large wave of ice that sparkled on the rooftop.

Drake's head transformed back into his dragon state. With a roar, he opened his mouth and a beam of flames raked over the top of the ice cliff. The edges of the summit melted. Solid ice dissolved into cool trickles of water that cascaded down the front. It melted enough to give them enough clearance to fly overhead.

They sailed over the cliff. What lay underneath them was a sheet of ice that covered the half of the rooftop that Shoto faced. Flat like an ice rink, the ice gleamed and sparkled with flecks of gold and emerald blinking from the sun's harsh light illuminating the roof. Shoto stood right in the center, his face snapping to the large dot that sailed overhead.

"Should we take him out?" Blake asked.

As they circled around the perimeter of the roof, Drake reverted his head back to his regular state. He spotted the corner of the roof where Megan remained incarcerated in a small block of ice. Underneath her, the tile had been frozen. Yet, it had been moved enough to see what lay underneath it.

A digital clock.

"Even if we get to the bomb, he'll try and stop us," Drake said.

Right as he spoke, a ball of fire clipped the edge of his right wing. Drake grunted out and double-flapped the wing. The muscles of the flesh were okay, but the edge of the scarlet dragon skin as singed.

Shoto fired off even more shots. They erupted from his hands like cannons and sailed upwards towards them. Blake clung to Drake even harder, his fingernails digging into him as he swung around. Drake had no choice but to dip and dive in mid-air like an intoxicated fly. Drake dived like an expert eagle snatching prey in the desert. Blake yelped and swung like a pendulum as Drake sashayed around to avoid the fireballs.

"Hang on!"

Drake pointed himself right at Shoto and charged. Tucking his wings to his body, he spiraled downward with the force of a runaway roller coaster. The forces of the spin made Blake slam right onto Drake's frame as they corkscrewed right to Shoto's path. Drake opened up his mouth, and reverting back to his dragon head, fire spewed out from him. The ability to spiral made his flames circle around the target.

The Pro-Hero below thrusted up his hand from his other half of his body. Instead of flames, a jet of ice jutted out towards the pair seething towards him. As the ropes of fire rushed towards him, the ice collided with it.

Red met ice blue as they smashed in mid-air. The fire melted out the edge of the ice beam, but Shoto kept pumping it out of his hand. Despite this, Drake spiraled faster, and the flames encircled the ice and melded with it. Drake flew closer to Shoto, the flames beginning to overwhelm the small blast.

Shoto, tired of playing games, yelled out and thrusted out both of his hands. He conjured a wall of ice that protected him from the fire and the oncoming dragon.

With the surprising tall barrier, Drake broke out of his spin and soared upward from the ice. Just missing a collision, Drake skittered a fraction of an inch above the surface before twisting away and flying back to regroup. Blake felt the blood gushing towards his head, his limbs becoming numb from the speed of the maneuvering.

As they flew back to the perimeter of the roof, Shoto clenched both of his fists at the same time. Blake noticed this and narrowed his gaze. Steam simmered off the large block of ice shielding Shoto. Then, as fast as he blinked, Blake guffawed as the ice transformed into a wall of flames.

"Watch out!"

Drake's back began to feel warmer, and he noticed the fringes of fabric on his school uniform illuminated in quick spurts of fire. He craned his head back. Then, he gasped. What once was ice morphed into a wave of fire. He knew he could be okay, but Blake would certainly be fried by the rush of flame.

With one more shout, Drake pulled upward. The tips of his shoes just kissing the edge of the fire. They raced upward towards the deep blue sky. Drake flipped them over, and they flew above Shoto upside down. Drake looked upward as Blake lay on top of Drake, his legs swinging in the warm air on either side of his body.

They both lassoed air into their lungs. Drake knew that Shoto was simply toying with them. He had seem him perform attacks for faster and more dangerous than with them. Blake looked over the side of Drake's frame. The quiet flap of his wings the only thing assuaging their ears.

"I have an idea," Blake said. He looked down at Drake's face.

As they circled above, Shoto cracked a stiff muscle in his neck. He was not even worried about beating them. The bomb would erupt any minute now, and that would be the end of the exercise. He had to admit that the spiral fire attack was a creative one. Had he not created the thick ice wall, the amount of flame spread above him would have caused some impact. As is, he had hardly broken a sweat.

Roughly fifty feet above him, Drake continued to float in a holding pattern with Blake on his chest. It was an odd position, but Blake paid no mind as he peered down at the small multi-colored dot below him.

"Drop me down. Right at him."

Drake blinked.

"Drop?"

"Yes," Blake said. "Fly down and throw me over the ice at him. Trust me."

Drake cradled Blake to himself and whipped himself right side up. Like a war bomber circling over a target, Drake continued to circle above. Blake swallowed some saliva, his heart thumping in his chest. Blake knew that his scenario in his head could only work if the timing was perfect. Too soon, and Shoto could do whatever he wanted. Too late, and he was a pancake on the rooftop.

Once they traced the sky, they blocked Shoto's view of the sun. The black dots above created a small shadow. With a light of his flames on the side of his head, he looked up and saw Blake gritting his teeth far above.

Right above him.

"Now," Blake shouted.

Drake, deciding to trust his partner, sailed downward. Once he reached the other side of the roof, he flew over the ice and gained momentum.

"Release!"

Drake threw Blake over the ice like he was skipping stones in the bay of Whittier. When he did so, he bolted away from the roof and started to swing around to flank Shoto.

Blake collided with the ice and slid over it at the speed of a chasing jaguar. The boy snapped his arms to his side and skid over the smooth ice surface like a world-class luge runner. Like a bullet, his aim was true as he balanced himself and rose to his feet. . The wind whistled over his ears, and his legs and tips of his obsidian hair were damp from the ice. Regardless, he lumbered up to a hunched position as he skated with just his feet over the ice.

Thirty feet away.

Blake felt a rush of cool pride shaking his nerves as he surfed over the ice like a trained figure skater. However, a nick in the ice caused him to lose his balance. He tumbled over and slammed onto his side, the air rushing out of his lungs. His head cracked onto the ground, and the force of the bend in his ankle creaked it at an awkward angle that made pain shoot up his leg.

His momentum was so great, however, that he skid closer to Todoroki at break neck speed. Sitting up, Blake held his hands out as the Pro-Hero grew larger with every inch gained on him.

From the corner of his eye, Shoto thought he had the plan figured out. Blake was the decoy. Drake had circled around the clock tower behind and to the right of him and was planning on sneaking up behind him. Very well, he thought. As soon as he froze Blake, he would turn and surprise Drake with an attack. Did they really think him that short-sighted? That dumb?

Blake could see the pupils in Shoto's eyes. He was as close as he needed to be.

Shoto shot out a simple wave of ice. Just large enough to stop and imprison Blake in a suffocating coffin of ice that would render him completely immobile.

And it did.

Right as he approached the man, Blake saw the blast and did nothing to stop it. His momentum halted, his entire being prickled with the cold squeezing him into a frozen corpse. His joints were marble, and his bones were stone while his entire frame creaked in the chinks of the ice that held him hostage. His entire being froze in place, and his final resting spot was just at the base of Shoto's feet.

Now, all Shoto had to do was turn around and deal with Drake, and he could wait for the next team. This class would be too easy. Shoto commanded himself to spin aroun don his heels and illuminate fire that would scorch Drake enough to throw him backwards. Then, he could freeze him along with Megan.

Except...

He could not move.

Shoto could only muster a surprised opening of his mouth, not unlike somebody stabbing him in the heart. His body was just as frozen as Blake's despite having no physical barriers around him to keep him at bay. One arm outstretched, his gaze matched the boy sitting in front of him.

The same freeze that came from his ice constricted around him. It was as if he were stuck in the ice along with Blake. He tried to move his eyes. Ignite his fire quirk. Not even a wisp of smoke.

Why couldn't he move?

Drake had landed behind Shoto. Stepping towards him, he gawked at the strange image of Shoto frozen in time. Like he was examining a wax figure, he raked his gaze over the man. Stepping in front of him, his eyes betrayed no acknowledgment of his existence. He was a statue with no hint of any twitch or involuntary spasm. He braved a touch to Shoto's face. When he pressed his finger, instead of flesh, he was met with frigid skin as hard as the concrete that hid underneath the sea of ice below his feet.

With a gasp, the dots began to connect. Drake whipped around and gazed down at Blake. He was seated and frozen in a block of ice that was the shape of his body.

Blake was frozen.

So was Shoto.

Blake Marseilles! His quirk: Affinity Field. Blake creates a field of a twenty foot radius that duplicates whatever physical or mental effect is inflicted on Blake to everyone standing in the field!

"So should we just destroy it?"

Within seconds, Drake had acted. He carefully belted with his fire breath the ice beyond Blake and raked it over the roof. Once he reached Megan, he coated her with the flames a couple of times to melt the ice off. Using his talons, he broke her out of her solid coffin. After collapsing to the ground, Megan shivered and rubbed herself as Drake pulled up the corner tile of the roof.

Sure enough, the incendiary device was underneath. It was an alarm clock with three sticks of dynamite. Thin green and red tubes crossed together and knotted in rows of plastic insulation that protected the copper wires inside. A small black bud of a microphone stuck out from the clock.

He placed the bomb right in between him and Megan. The digital clock ticked down, and Drake's face fell when he saw the time.

Two minutes.

Megan quickly smacked her face to regain consciousness to the world and huddled up next to Drake. They both peered down at the bomb in front of their laps and sat on the floor. Megan sat on her knees, while Drake pulled out the riddle from his pocket. Unfurling it, he scanned the words for any extra clues.

"Like, we can fly it in the sky and blow it up, right?" Megan asked.

"But we won't be in a spot where we can always do that," Drake said while staring at the paper. "Also, they said we had to disarm it. Not destroy it."

"Tomato, tomahtoe," Megan said. She breathed out in a stressed fashion and swirled her head around the device. "There," she pointed.

Drake saw the microphone on the side. "A mic? So, it must be a voice code of some kind. Maybe a word?"

Megan grabbed her short hair in exasperation. "But what word? What does the riddle say again?"

Drake read the paper. Megan leered over Drake's broad shoulder.

"We got the temple part," Megan said. She traced her hand over the slip of paper. "The numbers. Where Ocean and Ocean meet. We found the bomb, but what do the otehr words mean?"

"The past has already happened, and will only continue with you," Drake read the words aloud.

A beep from the bomb.

One minute.

"We're so close," Megan said. "What has already happened? What will continue with us?"

"The...future?" Drake asked to himself.

Megan tapped her finger to her plush lips. "Yes, the future. But what continues only with us? Our...future? Our...turn?

Drake thought back to all of the words said over the past few weeks. It had been a long time coming to this school. From convincing his parents to let him go to training himself to absorb more heat. He thought back to his heroes. Heroes like All Might that he admired so much. He dreamed that he would be taught by him, but he knew that was never to be. However, Deku teaching him was the next best thing, and he had to ask himself a simple quesiton.

What would Deku think?

"All Might," Drake said.

Megan perked up. "What?"

"All Might," Drake said. "Remember what he said in his last battle? That big battle in Japan?"

Twenty seconds.

"He said, 'You're next. It's up to you,'" Megan recounted. "Something like that."

"Except he didn't," Drake said. "I'm a quarter Japanese, so my mom would teach me the language. 'You're next' is the English translation, but those weren't his exact words. He actually said the phrase, 'The future begins with you.'"

"Really?" Megan asked. "So, the future begins with us."

"And the present is with his student. Our teacher, Deku," Drake said.

"Which means the past is All Might!" Megan's eyes lit up. She hunched over and brought her mouth to the microphone.

"All Might!" She shouted.

Ten seconds. And counting.

Megan clenched her fists and snapped her head towards Drake. "Nothing!"

"Wait," Drake shouted. "What was his real name?"

"Oh," Megan squeezed her hands together. "My father told me this one time. What was it?"

"You don't know?"

"You don't?"

Five seconds.

"It's Japanese!" Megan said. "It's..."

Three seconds.

Suddenly, as if they were reading each other's minds, they locked eyes. A name formed between them. They both smacked their heads together, lowering their heads towards the microphone. They did not care, because they only had one answer in mind. One that would save them.

Or not. If they were wrong.

"Yagi Toshinori!" They shouted together.

One second.

Beep. Beep. Boop.

The alarm clock shut off.

Congratulations! You're winner!

Megan and Drake looked at each other. A rare smile forming on both of their faces. They could not believe it, but they had just passed their first test. No nightmares from failure tonight!

A door opened from behind them at the clock tower. Drake and Megan turned around. Beyond the frozen statues of Blake and Shoto, they saw nearly have the class standing by the tower.

"Hey guys," Moxie waved. "Is the bomb here?"

"Are we too la-. Shoto?" Katsu gasped.

As the Japanese boy rushed over to his teacher, the other members of Teams A and C fanned out. Some of the roof was scorched with black smoke marks. Parts of it were coated in slippery ice that was melting in the late afternoon sun. They spoke to themselves and examined the mess of broken tile and ruptured concrete cracks that crucnhed under their feet.

Eventually, the other members congregated towards Drake and Megan. The disabled bomb lifeless in front of them.

"Someone actually did it," Hunter smiled. "Good job, guys."

"Did you have to fight Shoto?" Leo asked in disbelief. "That's so scary."

"How did you guys bypass the power source and initiator?" Martel said with a deep sigh. "Man, and I had the perfect device for disarming bombs."

"Wasn't that annoying boy with you?" Synaes asked Megan. "What'd he do? Is he here?"

"In fact," Drake looked over at Blake's thawing body. Katsu was knocking his fist on Shoto's head, testing to see if he was really frozen in place.

Blake. A strange, hyper kid that would not shut up.

Sacrificing himself to buy them time to disarm the bomb.

He knew little about him, yet he sacrificed his own well-being for him and the team.

Blake had the selflessness, and just the right hint of recklessness to be a good Pro-Hero one day.

Drake smiled up at the class. "He was the hero today."

Megan frowned when she noticed the large group on the roof. "Wait, is that Steve Buscemi?"

Steve looked over from Katsu and Shoto and waved at the small group at the edge. "How do you do, fellow students? Glad I could be of assistance."

"Assistance?" Anton asked with a huff. "You didn't do anything. You were as useful as Abel."

"Who is Abel?"

"He's one of our..."

Moxie, who stood nearby, locked eyes with Anton. They both gasped.

"We forgot Abel!"

"You shouldn't have grabbed it, dumbass."

"You told me to!"

Covered in specks of glitter, Team B sat in a small diner across from the pier. They ate in front of a window showing the brilliant sunset. The neon lights of the pier began to shine as lavender overtook the cerulean above the Earth. The diner was one straight out of the 1950's with lilac walls and stark ivory table tops with a lime perimeter painted on the table's edge. A rickety fan swirled overhead, and the clattering of forks and knives tapped on porcelain plates around them.

Unknown to them, the true bomb was only a few blocks away. However, after Lloyd had attempted to vanish the bomb into pieces of dust, it went off anyway and covered them in a rainbow of glitter and confetti. True, the bystanders thought it was hilarious to point and laugh. However, Austin thought it was a little mean of them to bask in the student's defeat.

Regardless, they decided to call it a loss as a group and enjoy lunch since they had not finished their hot dogs. James, now back in his school uniform albeit with the tie undone around his neck, munched on a piece of rare steak like a bear gnawing at a doe's carcass. Blood dripped over his chin with his teeth gnashing into the meat. Austin picked at his rare steak and had the decency to chew silently and eat like a real human being.

"Well, you should know your quirk better to know it wouldn't have worked," James said with the steak in his mouth muffling his voice.

"You should've known not to run at Midnight like that," Lloyd said. "Nor should you have stripped in public."

Robyn slurped on her cherry milkshake, giggling to herself as James argued with Lloyd while murdering the steak below him. She found an odd amusement at just how much like an old married couple these two were already acting. It was almost as if hey had known each other for years up to this point.

"I'm okay with the stripping, just so you both know," Robyn interrupted.

Ignoring her, James turned next to Lloyd and sneered at him. Still chewing, he gestured out at the pier beyond the window. "We got lucky. A real villain would've attacked us in seconds. I was just being pro-active."

"You can't always charge head first into everything. You're quirk would be better used if you paid more attention to strategy."

"You're quirk would be better used if you used it on yourself," James grunted. "Turn into ash."

"All joking aside," Lloyd said while missing the point of James's quip. "I am quite happy with how we all worked together today."

"Is that what we did?" Austin said before taking a sip of his water.

"We did," Lloyd smiled at the group around him. "Robyn healed James, and Austin was the one that knocked out Midnight. And as incorrigible as James is as a human being, he was able to deduce some key factors and clues in the narrative that Midnight created."

"I don't know what you just said," James growled. "But...I guess you're right."

"He called you a dumbass," Robyn slurped on her milkshake.

"Whatever," James said. "I'm tired and just wanna go home."

Lloyd patted James on the shoulder, earning a death-cold stare from Lloyd that he completely ignored. "We have proven that, even though we did not accomplish our goal, we have both the brain and muscle power to take down anybody. Like Jonathon protecting David from King Saul! Or Anakin shouting to save Luke from Palpatine! There is nothing that friendship and love can't overcome!"

"Does anyone have a cyanide pill I can chew on?" James rubbed the temples of his head.

"I think I'll disagree on the love part for now," Austin said. "Otherwise...sure."

"Who is Saul?" Robyn asked. "From that tv show?"

"He's talking about his fairy tales," James snatched the glass of water from in front of him and held it to his lips. "King Saul trying to kill David, and Saul's son protected him.

"In fact, these stories are the best examples of how free will can lead humans to make real connections," Lloyd said. "Connections that could save you in a rough situation."

James smacked his glass onto the table. The plate next to it vibrated. "People only make those connections to benefit themselves. It's natural selection. Survival."

"To ensure survival, yes," Lloyd traced his finger around the rim of his glass containing seltzer water. "But to evolve that into friendship. Into bonding. That's not survival. That's human. Free will."

"So, you're one of those people," James rolled his eyes.

"Someone that doesn't hate everyone?" Robyn asked.

"No," James stared straight at Robyn. "A gross humanist."

"Maybe I just think everything has it's reason for being," Lloyd said. He ran a thumb over the crucifix pendant underneath his silk dress shirt. "Something beyond random. A purpose for every action and existence."

"So that's why All Might had to retire? Why Uravity died? If every action has a reason, why do those things happen to the ones that don't deserve it? No one asks for a villain to trash their neighborhood, but you see it everyday. Right? "

James turned to face Lloyd and stopped in his tracks. The boy's yellow eyes reflected his heterochromic ones, and he squinted with intrigue. For as annoying as this Canadian moron was, he hated to admit that he saw his quick thinking with Midnight and was just slightly envious. Just slightly. Not only that, but he supposed the man's quirk wasn't completely useless. Worse case scenario, he could still kick his ass in the future. With or without a quirk.

Austin and Robyn also gave off stares at Lloyd, as if they wanted him to answer.

"You know, free will works both ways," Lloyd said. He panned his neck to the left and peered out at the window next to him. The early evening was tranquil. Pedestrians jogged and a few cars rumbled past while rustling the palm tree leaves that waved in the quiet breeze. "Yes, it gives us terrible things. War, greed, villains. But without it, how would we have the energy or desire to create good things? The Sistine Chapels. The band Rush. This steak in front of us. Every human being has an impact on the world in some way, shape, or form. Maybe we are lucky because we can make a mark that's more visible, but that doesn't make us any more or less important than the chef that made our food, does it?"

James was more silent than he had ever been. As he stared down at the undeniably great steak in front of him, His mind raced with memories. Events and people he would rather forget.

"I guess it's something we all think about at some point," Robyn said. She pulled up her bag onto her lap. Seeing a black sheath, she pulled up the edge of it so the rest of the table could see it. Pulling back on the sheath, a glint of a sword sparkled under the neon lighting around them.

"I got this about a week or so after my brother died," Robyn said. The faces around her remained unreadable like the bare asphalt outside. "It was meant for him, but I've been using it almost every day for the past six or seven years. And every time I look at this sword, I almost wonder if this was all a big trick pulled on me. Somebody up there, whoever they are, playing me like a puppet. I still wonder why it happened. Maybe I deserved it, did something in a past life. Maybe he deserved it for trying to be a Pro-Hero. But at some point, I realized that neither of us did. There's no point in thinking the world is senseless. It has to mean something, y'know? It just does. And even if it doesn't, you can mold it to where it will."

"Our situations are what we make of it," Austin said. "We can sulk all day about it, or we can learn from it. Grow. Be stronger."

Robyn put down her bag and considered his words. Once they connected, she nodded and flashed a soft grin. "Yeah, I guess that's what I meant in a nutshell."

James twitched at the small pang of pity that he felt for her. No, pity would not help anybody in any situation. However, another feeling zipped through his chest. This one not pity. However, when he examined the undeniably pretty girl in front of him, it reminded him of somebody else from a time very long in the distance.

"So, should we go back to the school?" Austin asked.

"I already texted Deku," Lloyd said. "He will be here any moment."

Shaking his head, James ushered out any other thoughts on the matter and cleared his throat. "Of course you have," James said. "By the way, 'Anakin' didn't shout to Luke in Return of the Jedi. It was Darth Vader, and there was no shouting."

"So you're an original version purist as well," Robyn said.

"Hell yes," James pointed his fork at Robyn. "And I think anyone that puts their hands on the original shit should have charcoal stuck up their anus."

"Language!"

"Sorry, red-head," James rolled his eyes again. "I meant ass."

Robyn could not help the laugh that bubbled from her mouth. James locked gazes with her. Just a quiet moment, but one where Robyn smiled, and James did not care to look away at anyone else.

Even Austin could not help but chuckle. "At least he apologized to you," he said to Lloyd.

Lloyd sighed, but the ghost of a grin appeared on his face. "Yes. It's a start."

IT'S OVER!

Congratulations to TEAM D, the WINNERS of the BOMB HUNT!

Drake Kaiset

Megan Shaw

Blake Marseilles

Do you think there should be an award for them? Maybe they get one, maybe they don't. IDK.

As always, please review. I know you guys make comments on the discord, and I would love to read them, but reviews are also important! Make sure you tell me what you liked and disliked!

What did you think? Did you get close to where the location was? Did you like the characters? Interaction? Dialogue? Let me know!

By the way, I just realized Lloyd has red hair and yellow eyes much like Karma Akabane. I can't help but laughing picturing that character from Assassination Classroom saying such stuff as Lloyd. Hilarious!

By the way, I just made up the All Might Japanese stuff. In Japanese, he probably did just say "You are next" or "It's your turn." However, I wanted to play with the idea that language is something that can still be a barrier.

Let me know where you wanna see this go next. I have a plan, but I'm always open to suggestions, comments, fan art, and any other ideas.

Keep commenting. Keep talking. Keep reading. I am so grateful for you all, and you are doing as much good for me as I hope I am doing for you!

Thank you. See you soon!