Abel took a ginger bite of the greasy cheeseburger that was sitting in front of him, moaning in pleasure as he did so.
"Lunch Rush is no joke! This is like the best burger I've ever had!"
Austin only hummed in agreement, eating his own food across from his friend. The table that they sat at was also accompanied by Kaminari, Jiro, Mina, Sero, and Kirishima, who all ate and excitedly chattered with each other.
Kaminari leaned back in his chair. "Man, Present Mic totally lost me today. I hate English!"
At the utterance of the words, they turned and looked towards the two American students sitting beside them. Abel momentarily paused from his eating, while Kaminari slid closer to him, throwing his arm around the long-haired teen.
"Why, my foreign friends, Abel Chevelle and Austin Bordette. You two speak fluent English! Why, it's your first language!"
Abel grinned. "So you want us to help you with your homework?"
The electric quirk user put his hands together, in a pleading motion.
"Yes, please!"
Austin swallowed his food and gave them all a smile. "We'd be glad to help. I do have a condition though."
They all looked at him expectantly, causing the large teen to blush slightly.
"Well, Abel and I aren't exactly Japanese wizzes or anything. We have a good enough grasp of the language to get by, but writing?"
Abel nodded, making a thumbs down and blowing a raspberry.
"Yeah, and since our curriculum is adjusted with that in mind, we're learning Japanese, and could really use the help."
The Pink skinned acid user thoughtfully tapped her chin, before nodding.
"Totally! It's a deal. Oh, and we can get Momo in on it too."
Kirishima grinned, hardening his arm. "Yeah, learning is totally manly!"
They continued to eat and discuss plans for studying, and before long, lunch was over, and it was time for their next class. As they sat in their temporary seats, Abel stretched and yawned.
"I wonder what's on the agenda today."
It had been about a week since the two had arrived, and things had gone relatively normal. Honestly, it was beginning to make Austin a little weary. In his experience, things never went this smoothly, or this normally. There was usually some kind of big event, like a big training session, or like a villain attack. He looked over to his dark-haired friend.
"You know, maybe we should've been more acquainted with the things that happened and what order they happened in. That way we could be prepared for any huge event."
Abel thought for a moment, before shrugging.
"Well, there's no way we could've known we would've been sent back in time to this specific time. I do know one thing, though."
The bulky teen gave his friend a questioning look, and Abel leaned in to whisper something.
"All Might is already retired, so we're somewhere between the big fight with All for One, and since none of them have provisional licenses, we're somewhere before that big raid and stuff Mr. Deku told us about."
"Deku told you about what?"
Both teen boys jumped and made a less than manly yelp, as Ochaco Uraraka turned around, evidently hearing them mention their teacher's name.
Austin froze at her question, while Abel gave a nervous smile.
"Oh, he just gave us some pointers on the homework!"
She stared at them for a moment, and both teens could feel sweat drip down their faces. She then gave them a wide smile.
"Yeah, that sounds like Deku alright! Always trying to help people out!"
She turned back around, and both teens sighed in relief. As that happened, All Might and Mr. Aizawa walked into the room.
"Alright students. Suit up and meet us at training grounds beta for combat training. That's all."
They immediately turned around, seemingly discussing something, and the students gathered any necessities, and made their ways to the dressing rooms. Shortly after they arrived, the support department had fixed their hero suits. Abel remembered the event fondly, as when they went to retrieve the suits, the excitable Mei Hatsume had spent a solid five minutes feeling Austin up, much to his chagrin. He had been embarrassed, but the rocker boy had told him that he was lucky that such a cute girl was so physical with him.
After dressing in their hero costumes, and meeting Aizawa and All Might at the training grounds, they awaited instructions with bated breath.
Class 1-A's homeroom teacher stepped forward and began to describe the day's heroics lesson.
"Alright, pretty simple stuff today. We'll be doing a play on your heroes vs villains exercises. You'll be split into teams of 4 and will be doing battle outside. Essentially, you'll just go until either three of the opposing team are captured, unable to continue fighting, or in the case where the match goes on longer than 10 minutes, the Villain team will "escape" and automatically win."
There were a few mutterings about the exercise before Iida rose his hand.
"Mr. Aizawa! You said that we'll be split into teams of four! How will that be possible, as there are 22 of us present."
Aizawa paused for a moment, sending a look to Abel and Austin, the prior seeming to be paying little attention, while Austin seemed more invested in the question. Suddenly, Aizawa grinned, as if the perfect idea had crossed his mind, which scared the entire class greatly.
"Well, then we'll have two teams of two, and then 6 teams of 3. That way, we'll have a perfectly even match up. Midoriya, Bakugo!"
The two aforementioned students directed their attention to their homeroom teacher, Izuku freezing and standing straight up at attention, while Bakugo simply gave the man an unamused look.
"You'll both be on the teams of two, with Bordette and Chevelle. Bakugo, you're with Chevelle, and Midoriya, you're with Bordette."
Izuku nodded in an affirmative, giving a salute and a 'Yes sir!' while Bakugo scoffed.
"Well, earbuds better not slow me down. I'll take him out too."
Abel was not paying any attention to the explosion quirk user, much to his aggravation.
Aizawa simply shrugged and went back to explaining the exercise. Austin and Abel's teams of two wouldn't actually be facing off with each other, rather facing off against one of the teams of three at random. Some of the students frowned.
"Sir, wouldn't that be kind of unfair to the team with the numbers advantage?"
Aizawa nodded. "Yes, partially. However, since Bordette and Chevelle are both ahead in their curriculum, and Bakugo and Midoriya are still hot off their house arrest, then it will be a good opportunity for them to show how much they like to fight."
The last part was said with a bit more venom than the rest, causing Deku to freeze and turn red with embarrassment, while Bakugo simply turned away and scoffed, his face also getting a tinge of red on it. Aizawa seemed satisfied by their reaction and turned back to the students.
"All Might and I will be judging the fights and will be grading them accordingly. First fight is against Hero Team A, consisting of Kirishima, Ojiro, and Hakagure, and Villain Team B, which is Bordette and Midoriya. You have five minutes to prepare."
While the two teams went to prepare for the exercise, the rest of Class 1-A went to the observation room to watch the fights.
Austin strode beside Izuku in silence, giving each other sidelong glances, but not saying a word. Finally, Izuku spoke up.
"Uh, Bordette…can you give me a detailed description of your quirk?"
The much larger teen paused for a second, before nodding.
"Uh, yeah. I have these spines on my arm, and their loaded with a neurotoxin that I can produce. It's pretty potent and can pretty much immobilize someone with a very small dose. My spit is the antidote."
Izuku nodded. "How quickly does it take effect?"
"A couple of seconds max. I've gotten the exact dosage based on body size and type down pretty good."
The green haired hero in training looked at the taller boy in awe. "Wow, that's super cool! How about long range?"
Austin shook his head. "Nah, I'm close range only pretty much. The spines don't come out or anything. That'd probably hurt a lot."
Izuku nodded. "Well, we're both close range, which is a bit of a problem with who we're going up against. We already start with a numbers disadvantage, but if you're able to take out Ojiro and Hakagure while I keep Kirishima busy, since it'd be super hard to get a good hit on him, with his hardening. Hakagure will also be a problem if we can't locate her. If she's able to slip past our guard and capture just one of us, then we lose immediately. How exactly would we locate her then? Maybe we can play it defensive and let them come to us, but that leaves us open to a double-sided ambush, or…"
Izuku began to speak faster and faster, and Austin's head began to spin. It was rare in the future, but he had been subjected to one of Deku's mumble fests. He tapped the smaller teen's shoulder.
"Hey, slow down there."
The green mophead blushed. "Ah, sorry! I've just been talking this whole time! Do you have any ideas?"
"Well," Austin started, rubbing his hands together, "my quirk definitely couldn't affect Kirishima, unless we could surprise him before he could harden. However, neither of us are the sneaky type. Ojiro is like super good at martial arts too, right? I'm a brawler mostly, but if I can get close enough, I might be able to take him out. His tail is a pretty big target. As for Hakagure, we may have to take her on first and at the same time. You're way faster than me, which makes me her prime target for capture. So maybe you can play back up, while I take hits? Try to take Ojiro out first, then keep perimeter up around me while we try to catch Hakagure and keep Kirishima busy?"
Izuku pondered for a moment, before nodding. "Yeah. I think we can work with that! I'll do my best to keep Hakagure and Kirishima out of your way!"
Austin gave the greenette a small smile. "And I'll do mine to take out Ojiro and Hakagure."
As they finished up planning, the buzzer sounded, alerting them to the official start of the match. They gave each other determined nods, before heading into the direction of the other team, Izuku staying ahead while Austin pulled the rear.
As they ran, the area stayed relatively silent, until a streetlamp fell in front of them, and Kirishima emerged from around the corner. Izuku immediately engaged him, causing the red-head to halt in his tracks. However, this didn't mean Austin was out of the woods. He looked around him, listening carefully to the surrounding area, trying to tune out Izuku's fight.
There! A glimpse of white ribbon!
Austin moved backwards, and the ribbon continued to pursue him. He could see Hakagure! He tried to punch forward, but it was hard to gauge where the invisible girl, even though she was visibly holding the tape. Suddenly, something large hit him in the back, and sent him forward a couple of steps. He spun around, avoiding another attack from Ojiro, as he swung his tail deftly, and Hakagure, who was still pursuing him actively. Austin punched forward between the two, hoping that he'd at least graze one of them. Ojiro deftly avoided, but he felt a bit of resistance, before the white capture tape fell down to the ground abruptly.
"Hakagure is unable to fight and is eliminated!"
Ojiro frowned, and Austin draped the capture tape over the invisible girl-or at least where he thought she was- and told her that he'd give her the anti-venom once the match was over. He turned to the tail wielder, and they had a Mexican standoff, before Ojiro swept his tail forward, attempting to knock the larger boy off of his feet. Austin, now only having to focus on one opponent, jumped up, avoiding the tail, and punched forward, but Ojiro simply sidestepped the hit.
Austin growled underneath his breath. The tailman was fast, and his hits weren't connecting. However, he wasn't having trouble avoiding attacks, since it seemed that Ojiro was wary of his spines. He grinned slightly. Good, they're the most dangerous part of his body. Ojiro spoke up.
"You're faster than I expected. Still slow though."
Austin chuckled. "I appreciate it. Although, maybe you'd be having a better time if you'd hit me more centered."
The blonde shook his head. "No thanks. Besides, all I have to do is keep you busy long enough for Kirishima to capture Midoriya."
The spiney teen grinned. "I don't know man, Midoriya's fast."
Ojiro grunted. "I know, but he'll tire out eventually."
They stopped talking, electing on focusing on the fight, rather than small talk. Their exchange went on similarly for a few seconds, and Austin could feel his legs getting tired from the constant jumping. Soon, he'd be hit, and then he'd be at the mercy of the tail teen.
Suddenly, an idea came to his mind, one that made him groan internally. He knew it was his best chance at winning, but he also knew that he wouldn't hear the end of it ever. He sighed, deciding that losing just because of Abel's teasing was dumb, and immediately dropped his chest to the ground, and lurched forward, punching towards Ojiro's ankles.
The tail quirk user was surprised by the sudden change in attack, that he couldn't react fast enough to dodge, and he felt a prick on his ankle, before he immediately dropped to the ground, numb to everything. Austin got up, and wrapped the capture tape around his opponent's wrist.
"And with 5 minutes and 24 seconds to spare, the Villain team wins!"
Austin licked the end of his finger, and put it on the stab wounds, allowing his victims to regain their feeling, albeit, very red faced. Kirishima was panting, and Midoriya seemed winded as well, but both seemed relatively unharmed, save for a few scratches on Midoriya, and a few scuffs on Kirishima.
"That was a totally manly match! You're quirk is super useful Bordette!"
Austin blushed. "Well, I had Midoriya going against you for a reason. There's no way I could've gotten past your hardening."
Izuku nodded. "Yeah, and sorry for making you do most of the work!"
The tall blonde chuckled. "Don't worry Midoriya, Kirishima was the biggest threat to us, so it only made sense to have you handle him."
They made it back to the observation room, and All Might echoed that sentiment.
"Yes, very well thought out plans on both parties. You've definitely improved greatly since you all started! Wonderful teamwork everyone!"
They smiled, and Aizawa began to analyze their performances.
"Team A, good plan, distracting Midoriya with Kirishima to try and catch Bordette. With the thought that he'd be slower and an easier target, you had the right idea. However, one important thing. Bordette can completely incapacitate you with a single pinprick. Had you any long range attackers, he would've been better to attack, but since your entire team consisted of close quarters combat, he was especially dangerous since he only had to land a single good hit. It would've been over much sooner if Bordette had been any faster."
They nodded, absorbing the information raptly. He then turned to team B.
"Team B, same thing. However, you were much more aware of your strengths and weaknesses. Had Kirishima focused more on getting to Bordette, then the match would've most likely ended with either Midoriya getting captured by Hakagure or Ojiro, or a three on one against Bordette, with Midoriya running interference. In the future though, try not to spread yourselves too thin."
They accepted the praise, as well as the criticism, and Aizawa announced the next match up.
"Next, Hero Team C, which is Chevelle and Bakugo, and Villain Team D, who consists of Yaoyorozu, Ashido, and Iida. You may begin preparing."
Said teams made their way to the training grounds, and everyone else went back to the observation deck to watch.
Abel whistled as he walked beside Bakugo, hands behind his hands casually. Suddenly, Bakugo spun around on him, interrupting him as he walked.
"Quit that damn whistling earphones, before I blow you to bits. You'd better not get in my way out here, or I'll make your life a living hell!"
Abel simply held his hands up. "Woah man, chill down. Besides, how do I know you're not gonna slow me down?"
After he said it, purposefully trying to rile up the angry teen, the rocker teen realized that maybe it wasn't his best decision.
Bakugo's hands popped dangerously. "If I wouldn't get points off, I'd kill you right now. Come on, bastard. Follow my lead, and maybe I won't kill you when this is over with."
Abel frowned. "How about an actual plan? I mean, I'm all for winging it, but Yaomomo is like super smart, even smarter than the all powerful Bakugo. Maybe we shouldn't just give her a free win?"
Bakugo growled. "Of course I have a plan!"
The two were silent for a few moments, before Abel motioned for him to continue.
"So lemme hear it!"
The blonde turned his head. "You stand behind me, and follow my movements, keep my back."
Abel frowned. "Dude, how am I supposed to be your back up when you're the long range and I'm the short range?"
Bakugo gave him a hard glare. "What?"
The rocker sighed. "Look, how about I take the lead, and you push the back with those huge explosions. I promise I'm fast enough to stay out of the way. That way, while they try to get away from your blasts, I'll clean them up from the sides."
Bakugo frowned, seemingly in thought, before giving Abel a softer glare.
"Okay, but we're doing this my way. Listen up…"
Momo rubbed her chin, inspecting her handiwork, as Iida and Mina stood in flame retardant coats. There were also huge water balloons, and a cannon. She nodded.
"Okay, let's see how this goes."
She was definitely nervous, but if this went exactly how she planned, it could work. It was the best she could work with on short notice, but Bakugo was their main threat. She was somewhat familiar with Chevelle's quirk, and decided that Iida and Mina could take him in close quarters together. And if they soaked Bakugo, he wouldn't be able to use his explosions, and would also be an easier target, one that Iida could probably take out with his speed. The buzzer sounded, signaling the beginning of the match, and she steeled herself.
It was time to put her plan into action.
The three team members walked forward, but stayed largely in the same area, opting to let the other two into their trap. An explosion sounded out from across the battlefield. Then another. After a few rang out, a voice cut through the air.
"ALL ABOARD HAHAHAHAH!"
A guitar riff cut through the air, and Momo prepared her cannon.
"Okay you two! Get ready!"
An explosion tore through the air when the main riff of Crazy Train started, and Abel sprinted forward at full speed, feeling the full effect of his quirk coursing through his body. He grinned.
"Oh yeah!"
Bakugo was close behind, sending an explosion forward once they spotted their opponents. The fire covered Abel, and he slid around, delivering a strong kick towards Iida. It connected, and Iida slid backwards, clearly surprised by the sudden attack.
"Chevelle! You're much faster than anticipated! But you Heroes won't get us today! Mwahahah!"
Abel was caught off guard by the sudden exclamation, but simply grinned, deciding to play along.
"Well, not on my watch, Villain!"
He sprinted forward again, but Iida dodged. Rather than spinning around, Abel switched his focus to Mina, who was preoccupied with Bakugo, and delivered a solid punch on her. She jumped back, and dodged another one of Bakugo's explosions, and sent a wave of acid forward. Abel dodged out of the way, as did Bakugo, but that was part of their plan evidently.
"NOW!"
The sound of a cannon firing exploded through the arena, and a huge water balloon came flying out at high speeds, before nailing Bakugo in the chest, completely soaking him. Abel cried out.
"Bakugo!"
He turned to Iida and Mina, who were now approaching him two on one. He groaned.
"Of course I gotta do this too."
He readied himself, and began to run around them, similarly to how Iida fought. Bakugo had gotten up at this point, and bum rushed Yaoyorozu, fighting her hand to hand, him quirkless, and her with a lead pipe. Clearly, the teen was still just as good a fighter, even without the help of his explosions.
Abel grunted when Iida landed a solid hit on him, and then hissed when Mina's acid burned through part of his outfit, irritating his skin in the process.
"Hey Bakugo! Catch her already and then come help me with these two!"
He growled. "Don't tell me what to do!"
He spun around on his opponent and began to gain ground.
"Hey Ponytail, that was some real aggravating shit with that shitty water balloon plan. But guess what."
She rose her eyebrow for a second, before a look of shock overcame her face when his palm started to glow again.
"All better now."
An explosion rang out, and her lead pipe went flying out her hands. Then, she felt her hands being bound with the capture tape. Bakugo gave her a feral smile, before flying off with his explosions to assist his teammate. Abel grinned, deciding to focus on Iida while Bakugo tried to capture Mina.
"You may be fast Chevelle! But I am faster!" The young Ingenium taunted.
Abel grinned. "Well, you may be faster, but-woah watch out!"
He suddenly pointed to the left, and when Iida looked, Abel wrapped the capture tape around his wrist with ease. At the same exact time, Bakugo also tied up Mina with his.
"Well, it seems that the Hero team has beaten the Villain team with a clean sweep!"
Abel grinned, and turned to Bakugo, his grin turning mischievous.
"So," he began, "I totally caught Iida first."
Bakugo spun around on him. "There's no way you could've caught him first! You needed help to do it anyway. And I caught two people! So don't you dare go around looking down on me, you shitty extra!"
He huffed and walked briskly too the observation deck, while Abel tried to contain his laughter. It really was way too easy.
Once they arrived back at the observation deck, All Might congratulated on Bakugo and Abel on their sweep. Bakugo simply scoffed, while Abel grinned at the legendary hero. Aizawa then stepped forward.
"Team A, decent plan, could've done better with the teamwork though. I feel like a broken record saying that involving Bakugo, but it still needs to be worked on. At least its better than what it was."
He then turned to Yaoyorozu. "Team B, interesting plan. However, two huge glaring problems. One, you completely underestimated Chevelle, and he was able to catch you off guard. Secondly, you didn't have a back up for once you soaked Bakugo. I can excuse Chevelle, a bit, but you all know how skilled a fighter Bakugo is, even if he's an impossible problem child. I know you have more foresight in you Yaoyorozu. Other than that, good teamwork, just work on that planning."
She nodded; her head lowered a bit in embarrassment. But Abel could see that she was determined to get better, so all's well that ends well. He walked over to his friend, who was silently reading something in his notes, but looked up when he heard him approach.
Austin closed his book, and motioned for his friend to take a seat, and they began to watch the other matches with everyone else.
The day went by relatively smoothly, most of the matches being over pretty quickly and simply, with not much to comment on. It was their last class of the day, so afterwards, most people headed back to the dorms and cleaned up, before settling down for the day, either studying or relaxing, in preparation for the weekend. Abel sat on the couch in the common area, plucking the strings of an acoustic that he had borrowed from Jiro. Austin sat contently, listening to the soft acoustic rendition of Mama I'm Coming Home, and relaxed after the long day of school.
The larger teen sighed in content. "Man, as much I like it here, I'm kinda ready to get home."
Abel didn't stop plucking and nodded. "Yeah, I hear you man. But hey, I'm still holding out that it'll be soon! I mean, Principal Nedzu is like the smartest thing on Planet Earth right? So, I'm sure it's all being taking care of. And man this acoustic is awesome."
Austin chuckled at his friend, but frowned slightly at his words.
He hoped he was right.
Nedzu sat quietly in his office, going over paperwork and nursing a small cup of tea. There was a knock on the door, and when he called them in.
"Sir, we have those files you requested. A potential student?"
Nedzu chuckled and accepted the file graciously.
"Ah, something like that. Thank you for these, Detective. I'll let you know if I need anything else."
The man nodded and left the office. Nedzu opened the file, reading it over. Then, once he reached the end, he closed it, and set it back on his desk, scratching his chin.
"How very interesting. Perhaps I'll be calling back after all."
To Be Continued…