Chapter 22 in coming. With this chapter we bring an end to the Battle Trial Arc. Next Chapter we begin the USJ Arc. With that some changes from the original canon are coming in so look forward to that. Without further adieu let's start the chapter.


Battle Trial Arc

Chapter 22: Battle Trials End

Ruby's mind worked tirelessly forming strategies and counter strategies. Okay let's see, Jaune can amplify people's physical abilities, which means it can amplify their quirks as well. That shouldn't affect Hanta's quirk too much other then maybe make his tape stickier and allowing him to make more.

"Man I can't wait to charge in and get down to business." Eijiro declared.

"That'd be a horrible idea. Unless your [Hardening] can cut through Hanta's tape?" Ruby asked.

"Uh… no but why would it be so bad to just charge in?" Eijiro questioned.

"You'd get stuck in a the hallway full of tape." Ruby answered.

"Well obviously I won't go through the halls I'd smash through the walls." He replied.

"Jaune would know you'd do that and make it so the same thing would happen." She quickly returned.

"Okay but… well… fine I won't charge in." Eijiro relented.

"Don't worry while YOU won't be charging in. WE will." Ruby stated with a smile.

"Huh?" Eijiro questioned.


Later, inside the building…

"Anddddd… done." Hanta stated as he put down the last line of tape.

The duo had been using Jaune's quirk to allow Hanta to make more tape that was stronger and came out faster. They set up tape all around the bomb and the throughout the floor they were on. Also using said tape they suspended the bomb in mid air.

"Good," Jaune stated as he lowered his hand and stopped using his quirk.

"And start!" All Might announced.

"Here we go, no way their getting to the bomb now." Hanta declared.

"No, they have other ways of getting in. This is just to limit their options." Jaune pointed out.

"Limit their options?" Hanta questioned.

"Yeah, when they get in we'll force them to fight in this room." Jaune stated. "Ruby and Kirishima are gonna get in here no matter what and I already know how she'll do it. So instead of keeping her out we're gonna keep her in. If she's able to pull back she'll be able to recover quickly formulate a new plan and it'll make our job far more difficult. So we're gonna stop that entirely by keeping her here. And with the tape we've set up around the bomb, Ruby won't able to just blitz it. She'll be forced to fight. And in a war of attrition, we'll have the advantage. Speaking of Ruby."

Jaune, who had been facing the bomb, turned around. As he did something suddenly burst through the ground at high speeds. A blur of red arc through the air, leaving a trail of rose petals.

"There here" Jaune stated.

"What the hell how'd they get in so fast?!" Hanta exclaimed.


Earlier, outside the building…

"And start!" All Might announced.

Ruby flew up and scouted out the building. In doing so she spotted the floor that had been taped up. As I thought. And if my next prediction is correct, he'll be in the center room. She quickly flew back down and landed a little ways away from Eijiro. She took a deep breath.

"Ready?!" She shouted.

Hardening his arms Eijiro smiled as he mentally and physically prepared himself.

"Hell yeah!" He stated with a confident smile.

Bursting forward, Ruby shot towards Eijiro picking him up while spinning. As they flew towards the building, Eijiro held out his arms and cupped his hands to mimic the head of a drill. With this, they were able to drill through the building. Ruby flew them towards the center of the building before flying up. After a little bit she burst up through the floor into the room where the bomb was. After arcing through the air she slammed into the ground kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Get ready." Jaune stated as he activated his quirk on himself.

Hanta readied himself as well. Quickly, Ruby and Eijiro rushed out of the dust. Eijiro went for Jaune while Ruby charged at Hanta. With still hardened arms, Eijiro aimed a punch straight at Jaune's face. However, Jaune quickly knocked it to the side before aiming a punch straight at Eijiro's gut. Quickly he hardened his stomach. The force of the impact sent him skidding back a ways.

As this happened Ruby rushed towards Hanta. Acting quickly, he shot out several lines of tape at her. She ducked under one, dodge rolled over another, and burst up over the rest. With that she flew past Hanta.

"What the hell!" He shouted.

Ruby rushed towards the bomb. She slid under the tape. As she did she brought her hands up towards her cape.

"Sero!" He shouted.

"Already on it." Hanta shouted as he lined up for a shot.

In that moment Eijiro went to attack Hanta only for Jaune to intercept with a powerful punch, sending his opponent skidding back. Hanta shot out a line of tape which connected Ruby's cape. However, the minute it did she lift her cape up over her head, taking it off. Jaune's strategies have always been excellent. If he knows everything about an opponent he can almost always come up with a way to win. Not only that he's gotten a lot stronger in the now four months he's been here. However! Ruby returned to an upright position and bent her knees. I've been here for eight months now. That means I've had far more time to grow my powers which means… She burst up towards the bomb and split into several smaller clusters of petals which flew threw the gaps between the lines of tape. I have one trick you didn't see coming Jaune.

"Wait she can do that!" Jaune shouted.

The clusters formed together right next to the bomb and Ruby grabbed onto the bomb.

"Secured!" She shouted.

"Hero team wins!" All Might announce.

"Nice going Ruby, what a manly finish!" Eijiro shouted.

"Maaaaaan… I can't believe we lost." Hanta expressed.

"Yeah, kind of wished I knew she could do that." Jaune stated.

Ruby snaked her way down from the bomb and towards the group.

"Hey don't feel to bad. If it wasn't for that winning would have been a lot harder." Ruby stated. "In fact we might have lost.

"True, I would have put more tape around the bomb and less outside. In that situation I would have banked on the tape outside being enough to keep you in here until we wore you down." Jaune noted.

"Yeah but you did good anyways Jaune." Ruby complimented as she held up her hand.

"Thanks Ruby." Jaune returned with a high five.

"Everyone report to the CCTV for your evaluation." Glynda stated.

"Yes ma'am!" They all replied.


Inside the CCTV…

Everyone was silent. Almost as soon as the match had started it has ended. Most we're confused by the whole thing.

"Another short match, kind of expected this one to be longer." Toru expressed.

Thank god for that. All Might thought to himself.

"And while Jaune's plan makes sense. Ruby's just seemed… kind of out there." Fumikage noted.

"It definitely worked though given they won." Izuku pointed out.

Momo however, was doing her best to keep calm. These two are far beyond anything I had expected. I'm sure if I'd gone against them it would be difficult if not impossible to win. The only reason it was that quick was due to Ruby taking advantage of Jaune not knowing about her ability to split apart when she uses her quirk. If not for that, the match would have gone on for far longer. Regardless that begs the question, how did they get so good? I have my studies, but they seem to have some sort of experience in this. It also appears to be a good amount to. But from where?

Wait… how did Jaune not know about Ruby's ability to split apart? Haven't they been friends for awhile? At least, that appears to be the case. So why would he not know about that? Surely Ruby would have told him when she discovered it. So why would that not have happened?

In that moment the match participants entered the CCTV.

"Hey their back. Whatta go Ruby, you too Kirishima." Itsuka stated as she went up to them.

"Yeah you both did great out there. Izuku complimented.

Splinter hopped back to Ruby's shoulder.

"Nice jobs girly. Dat was one fun match to watch." He added.

Ren and Nora walked up to a slightly sad Jaune and Hanta.

"Hey don't feel too bad you guys did good." Nora complimented.

"Indeed, Ruby's no easy opponent to beat." Ren added.

"All participates line up for your evaluation." Glynda announced.

Doing as they were told. They lined up and faced their teachers.

"Good job out there everyone. While everyone did well, ultimately we chose Ms. Rose as the MVP of the match." Glynda stated.

"Yes…" Ruby expressed.

"Anyone care to tell us why?" All Might inquired.

He was meet of silence.

"Kind of figured that'd be the response." He expressed.

Given that both Young Rose and Young Arc know each other so well, they resorted to very unorthodox strategies. Said strategies makes it hard for the less experience to follow. Heck even I had some trouble with it. Not many people would think to literally drill through the building to get in.

"Allow us to explain." All Might stated.

"Mr. Sero naturally gave his team the edge in defense. Combo that with Mr. Arc's empowerment ability it made it extremely difficult for Ms. Rose and Mr. Kirishima to get to the bomb. And getting in is just half the battle. They then had to overcome Mr. Arc's and Mr. Sero's advantage in simply being able to out fight and out last them" Glynda explained. "However, Ms. Rose was able to overcome this through creative thinking and using what the villain team knew against them."

"Indeed, by using Young Arc and Young Sero's lack of knowledge of her ability to split apart, Young Rose was able to obtain victory." All Might continued. "Thus due to her creative thinking and using the information at hand to her advantage, Young Rose earned the title of MVP for the match."

Ruby stood tall and proud with a smug smile.

"Although she could have been a little less destructive in her approach to entering." Glynda add.

Ruby's face went red at this. Then hung her head in shame.

"Alright now students meet up at the exit for some closing statements." All Might directed.

Doing as they were told, all the students made their way to the Ground Beta's exit. As they did Katsuki was slowly trailing behind everyone taking in everything he'd seen today. That Icy Hot bastard, Red Tips, they're so strong. I always thought I was the best, but today, I lost to Deku.. And there's those two, can I really beat them? All Might and Glynda faced their students.

"Excellent work out their everyone you all did well." All Might praised.

"Indeed apart from Mr. Mineta, we've had no serious injuries." Glynda noted. "Just remember to take the lessons you learned to day to heart. It was your first real training exercise but it won't be your last so be sure to keep improving."

"Man after Mr. Aizawa's teaching it feels kind of nice to have a much more straight forward class." Denki noted.

"Good to hear now I'd best go inform the principle of our new little friend. Get changed out of your costumes everyone and head back to the classroom." All Might directed. "Now… watch a pro exit like he has somewhere to be."

All Might bolted at lightning speed down the exit. I'd like to talk more with Young Bakugo. Such pride will only lead to him crashing in burning when it's shattered. However… All Might rushed into a hall before deflating out of his hero form.

"I'm out of time." He state.

The rest of the day continued without much trouble with Minoru returning not long after Hero training had finished. At the end of the day Katsuki left without saying a word to anyone. Should I tell him about [One for All]. I haven't told anyone, not even my mom. Then why do I feel like he needs to know. Is it because I still admire him even though he's still a jerk. No… I know why. He got up out of his seat and followed Katsuki.

"Wha hey Izuku where you going?" Ruby questioned.

"I bet he's going to talk to Bakugo about today's match." Jaune noted.

"I was thinking the same thing." Ochako added.

"Tokoyami, that desk is not a chair!" They heard Tenya declare.

They looked to see Tenya march up to Kyoka, Fumikage, and Mashiro who were gathered around a desk.

"You should…" He began.

Before he could say another word, Itsuka walked up and covered his mouth before dragging him away.

"You need to loosen up, classes are over, they're fine." She told him as she dragged him to their group.

In that moment she noticed Shoto get up and walk towards the door.

"I'll be right back guys I need to ask Todoroki something." She stated as she drop Tenya on the ground.

"Now that was very rude Kendo." Tenya stated.

Splinter hopped on top of his head.

"Coming from da guy who was gonna shout at students for sittin' on a desk, dat means very little." He stated.

Splinter and Tenya continued to banter back and forth as Itsuka made her way towards Shoto.

"Hey Todoroki, can I talk to you in private?" Itsuka inquired as he walked up to the duel hair colored boy.

"Hmm… I don't see why not." He replied dryly.

"Cool," Itsuka returned.

The two made their way out of the room.

"I wonder what she wanted to talk to him about?" Ruby questioned.

"Someding importants probably, dis ships gotta start somewheres." Splinter noted.

"Would you get off of my forehead!" Tenya demanded.

Itsuka and Shoto made their way to a more secluded area of the school.

"So what did you want to talk about?" He inquired.

"Well… I know it might be personal but… I'm curious. Why don't you use your left side?" She asked.

His eyes narrowed in on her. She could practically see the walls to his true self come up.

"If you don't want to answer that's fine. I'll understand if it's something personal." She quickly stated.

After staring at her for a few seconds Shoto sighed.

"It is." Shoto stated. "I'd rather not talk about it. For now, let's just say I have my reason for not using his flames."

"We'll I'm not sure who this 'his' is but I'm guessing he's your father and that's where your heat, or fire, part of you quirk comes from." Itsuka noted.

"Yeah, so…" He replied.

"So that means it's your flames not his." She pointed out.

This caused Shoto to stop and ponder what she had told him.

"I know you have your reasons for not using your left side and I'm not gonna tell you to change when I don't know the whole story. But I think you should know that whatever the reason it's still your quirk your choosing not to use, not his." She returned with a smile. "I hope we can talk later and you'll be ready to tell me the whole story. Bye for now."

"Yeah…" He expressed as she left.


Meanwhile, outside the school…

Katsuki slowly made his way out of school grounds. The sinking feeling of weakness permeating through him.

"Kacchan!" Izuku shouted as he ran up to him.

Katsuki stopped

"Eh… what you want Deku? Here to rub your victory in my face?" He growled as he looked Izuku in the eye.

Izuku looked down, took a deep breath, and looked him in the eye.

"No…" He simply stated. "While can't say much, all I'm going to say is that I got my quirk from someone else."

"Huh?" Katuski questioned.

"I can't say from who and I know it's hard to believe. I'm only telling you because, for some reason, when you said I lied or tricked you into thinking I didn't have a quirk, a part of me couldn't stand it." Izuku continued. "I've still got a long way to go before I truly make this power mine. I've only just begun to understand it. But when that time comes I'll overcome you with my full power."

"What the hell Deku!" Katsuki shouted.

"Wha?" Izuku expressed.

"I don't have a goddamn clue what your talking about! Borrowed power?! Stop making a fool out of me!" Katsuki shouted. "I lost to you today and there's no way around it. Not only that, that friend of yours Red Tips."

"Ruby," Izuku corrected.

"And the Icy Hot bastard. I don't know if I can beat them." Bakugo continued. "That's why I'm done losing you hear! I'm gonna beat all of you!"

He turned around and continued walking.

"So enjoy your win Deku! It's the last one you'll ever get over me!" He declared.

Izuku sighed. Good to see Kacchan's back to his old self… Kind of.

"Young Bakugo!" All Might shouted.

"Oh son of a…" Izuku began.

Before he finished All Might blitz past him, the gust knocking him to the ground.

"I think…" All Might began.

"I don't need a goddamn lecture from you All Might!" Katsuki shouted.

Scary, but at least he's back to normal… I guess that's a good thing.


Inside the school…

Ruby quickly made her way through the halls of the school towards one of the development studio. In her hands were blueprints for a new Crescent Rose. Okay, Uncle Qrow said that Power Loader should be in. I hope he remembered to let him know about my little project. As she went down the hallway she saw a pair of large metal doors.

"Ohhh… there it is!" Ruby exclaimed.

Ruby picked up the pace and rushed towards the door. Before she got their she stopped right before the door. Suddenly the doors exploded open.

"Dammit Hatsume, the days over. Stop tinkering and go home!" A male shouted.

"Oh come on Power Loader just a little more." The girl known as Hatsume stated as she rose from the smoke.

Hatsume had salmon pink hair styled into dreadlocks. She wore a black tank top, with black cargo pants, and a black jacket tied around her waist. She also wore a pair of black boots, goggles on her head, and black gloves.

"Oh who are you?" Hatsumen asked.

"I'm Ruby Rose I'm…" Ruby began.

"Don't care." Hatsume stated as she walked back into the studio.

Power Loader sighed.

"You're the one Qrow mentioned I take it?" Power Loader questioned.

"Yep," Ruby stated as she walked up. "I have the blue prints for…"

Ruby stopped her eyes went wide when she saw the studio full of gadgets. Her eyes sparkled with excitement.

"So many gadgets and… and… weapons!" Ruby exclaimed.

She rushed in leaving Power Loader in the dust.

"Oh god not another one." He groaned.

"Oh my gods these all look so cool." Ruby exclaimed as she looked at all the various gadgets.

Hatsume rushed up next to her.

"I see you're a woman of culture as well. I'm Mei Hatsume." Mei introduced herself. "And if you want to see something cool, check out these babies."

She held up a pair of boots.

"Hover boots of my own creation." Mei declared.

"If you think that's cool check this out." Ruby stated.

She began to show Mei her various blueprints. With each one Mei's smile grew bigger and bigger as her excitement rose. Soon the two gadget nerds were chatting up a storm as they bounced ideas off one another. Power Loader only looked on nervously. I got a bad feeling about this.


Elsewhere…

"So All Might's a teacher now?" A boy with light blue hair stated full of malice. "I wonder…"

He looked to a hulking black mass in the corner of the bar he was in.

"What would happen if villains broke in and killed the Symbol of Peace." He stated was sinister smile.


Izuku: And with that this Arc is finished.

Ochako: I'm just happy the writer let me do this again since Ruby and Jaune's fight was originally going to be much longer.

Izuku: Y-yeah me and you... *Blushes* Anyways let's get on with the next chapter preview.

Ochako: Right next time, we all hang out at Deku's to rest and relax.

Izuku: Meanwhile Neo begins making her move in the criminal world.

Ochako: And some interesting things happen at school.

Izuku: Next time Chapter 23: Cool Down and Ramp Up

Ochako: Catch you guys then.