As always, Tenya Iida made sure to arrive at his class ten minutes early, both to ensure that he was on time and to ensure the attendance of the rest of his classmates. As their Class Representative, it was his duty. Of course, as they met in the same monitor-filled control room where they'd watched their mid-term examinations, Tenya knew this was not a regular class period. They'd all just gotten back with lunch, and all were curious as to what they joint-training exercise was going to be. Tenya had spent the week trying to make his team feel connected, and to make sure he understood their individual strengths and weaknesses. Looking at his team, Todoroki, Kirishima, Sato, and Aoyama, Tenya felt confident they would excel at whatever this combat-related training would be.

Not long after the last of Class 1-A had settled into the Observation Room, the stragglers from Titan Academy also arrived, all forty students present and accounted for. Still, their actual teachers were nowhere to be seen.

At least, that's what Tenya thought, but suddenly Mr. Grayson walked into their field of vision, from a part of the room slightly shadowed. Tenya and his fellow UA students were all shocked, not having seen any hint of his presence, but their American counterparts didn't share that reaction. Apparently they were quite used to their teacher's predilection for surprise. The Quirkless hero was smiling, something he seemed to do quite a bit of, in contrast to Tenya's own instructor. "Hey kids! Ready for something fun?" The Titans students responded right away, some of them murmuring agreement while others shouted out excited exclamations. Realizing that was what the hero was looking for, the UA students did the same.

"Too bad. This isn't meant to be fun. It's meant to test your skills as a hero, and for the team leaders, your ability to properly strategize." The familiarly tired voice of Mr. Aizawa came from the wall of monitors, and suddenly the most center of them broadcast a picture of his face, while the rest were of different angles of the Quirk Training Room. "For your first Joint Training Exercise, you're going to going head-to-head in battle, team by team, UA against Titans."

That got a lot of excitement from most of the class, and while Tenya would never interrupt a teacher in that same way, inside, his heart began beating like mad, ready to prove himself and his teammates as worthy of being UA students. Wagging a finger, Mr. Grayson continued the explanation. "It's not just any exercise though. Think of it as the first round of a single-elimination tournament. UA and Titan teams will be pitted against each other by random selection, and each leader will be given these." The teacher held up ten laminated cards with two sets of identical backs, halfl of them colored red and orange with the Titans Academy logo, the other half in blue and white with the symbol for UA High School. "They'll decide the match-ups, blindly putting forward someone, possibly themselves, for each fight. No two members of a team can fight twice in one round, and best two out of three is how the first round will be decided."

Already, Tenya was boggled at the genius of this course of training. Not only would this be excellent combat experience against those they normally wouldn't have the opportunity to fight against, but for leaders like himself the tactical aspect would be vital. "As for the fights themselves," Mr. Aizawa added, "I'll be supervising those myself from within the room. You're allowed to use any Quirks or other powers you have, as well as support items, within reason. If I think for a second that any of you is about to do permanent damage to your opponent, I will end the fight and declare the aggressor the loser." Every member of Class 1-A, even Tenya, shivered a little at that. Their teacher had repeatedly made it clear in the year so far just how serious he was about issues like that. "Otherwise, matches end either by surrender or by being rendered unable to fight further."

That all seemed perfectly reasonable to Tenya. "First up on the docket is..." Mr. Grayson said, making drum-roll sounds with his mouth as he snapped his fingers. Roulette wheels with the team leader's faces on them spun on two different monitors, only stopping once they'd settled onto the faces of... "Tim Drake and Momo Yaoyarozu! You and your teams should head to the Quirk Training Room, the rest of us will stay here and watch!" Without any further ado, both teams left the room and Tenya waited with everyone else, trying to think through this match-up.

Over the last few days, Tenya hadn't had much time to learn about Tim Drake, except what Midoriya, as his partner, was able to tell him. The boy was Quirkless, but a skilled fighter with a brilliant mind. Hadn't Midoriya said something about him being a detective? Perhaps he'd try to guess the strategy Momo would use, and counter it. If done properly, that could be devastating. As for the rest of his team, Tenya supposed he'd have to see them in the match to know their true strengths.

On the other hand, Tenya would like to think he knew Momo quite well. They shared duties as Class Representatives, and several stressful events in the year thus far had forged a friendship between them. She was intelligent, her actions during the Provisional License Exam showed that, but she'd also faced issues with her own indecision in the past. Had she mastered her caution, or would it still rule her? There was also the fact that her team, while not unskilled, was not heavily slanted towards heroes with combat-oriented abilities.

Everyone suddenly started paying closer attention to the monitors as they saw that the teams had met Mr. Aizawa outside the room, ready to choose who went first. Each was handed their hands of cards, and while Tim made his decision quickly as to who would go first, Momo waited several minutes before finally turning in her own answer. "The first fight will be between Garfield Logan and Fumikage Tokoyami," Mr. Aizawa blandly proclaimed, opening the doors to allow both teams inside, though making sure those not participating in the fight had to sit in constrictive seats set up on the wall near the door, unable to lend their aid.

The interior of the Quirk Training Room was as it usually was, a mixture of flat terrain and large stone plateaus, easily built and torn apart by the school. Each student, like the rest of the classes, were in their hero costumes. This Garfield's costume was quite simple, a leotard of purple and black that contrasted with his own bright green skin. They stood across the room from each other, at least fifty meters separating them, when Mr. Aizawa gave the signal for the fight to start. "Dark Shadow!" Tokoyami called, summoning his Quirk and sending it towards his opponent. The lighting of the area was fairly average, but still dim enough to make Dark Shadow dangerous while also being controllable.

The American hero watched this with a wide grin on his face for a few seconds before seeming to disappear, his body blurring for a moment in a way that gave no indication as to where he had gone. Tokoyami looked around the room in confusion while Tenya tried to think through this. What type of Quirk did he have? Remembering that Jiro was partnered with the emerald hero, he looked and saw her whispering to her teammates, Midoriya nodding his head in understanding while watching the footage. "Rough match-up," he heard Avery say from nearby. "Bird-boy doesn't stand a chance."

For a moment, Tenya opened his mouth to retort in defense of his avian-headed classmate, but the words died in his mouth once he, and the rest of the classes, saw what happened next on the television. For the last half a minute, Tokoyami had been itching his neck, while still searching around for his opponent. Then, in another odd blur, something seemed to appear coming off of Tokoyami's head, growing in size rapidly until a bright green kangaroo was standing right next to him, it's furry head smirking as it lifted its body onto its tail and slammed its powerful legs into Tokoyami before he had a chance to react.

The teen was knocked through the air from the force of the impact, but Dark Shadow rapidly moved behind him and caught Tokoyami. Garfield didn't rest in the meantime, however, and had quickly changed form again, this time into a viridian rhino, which charged forward with the full mass and speed of the normal animal. Seeing it coming just in time Dark Shadow tried to block the attack while Tokoyami ran for cover, but the blow sent the shadowy creature recoiling. Without losing any momentum, Garfield shifted again, this time into a lumbering green gorilla, which quickly chased Tokoyami and caught him, grappling him until immobile.

"The fight's over," Mr. Aizawa called, staring at Garfield to cancel his Quirk and force him back into his normal human-ish form. "Garfield Logan is the winner, both of you come here and sit down." Both complied, and while Mr. Aizawa checked them out for injuries, Tenya began to think. His prediction had been correct. Momo had put her best fighter first, hoping to secure an easy victory up-front, but either Tim had seen that coming or he'd purposefully chosen a versatile combatant for security's sake. One of the monitors was squared on the teams sitting down, and it was clear to all that Momo had taken that loss difficultly, as had Tokoyami, who appeared to be mostly uninjured. Both team leaders were looking through their cards, and this time they turned in their cards at close to the same time.

This time around, Momo had chosen Sero, a smart choice considering the ample room for him to maneuver. The other team's champion was Victor Stone, the cybernetically enhanced boy with darker skin. This fight took quite a while longer, with Sero staying out-of-sight and on the move with his tape, while it seemed his opponent had long-range attacks, namely some kind of sonic cannon he could transform his arm into. For a while it seemed like Sero had the upper hand, but then Victor revealed he could use his other arm as a grappling hook, which caught Sero by surprise enough to turn the match into a series of struggles of tape against sound. Tenya hoped for a moment that the adhesive material might be able to block up the cyborg's cannon, but the next blast cleared the obstruction and sent Sero falling off the plateau they were on, though Victor quickly sprinted over and grabbed him with an extended hand.

With that victory under his belt, it seemed Tim had won. "Alright, the match it over," Mr. Aizawa said to both those in the room with him and those in the Observation room. Looking at the students there with him, he told them, "You can head back to the Observation Room. Meanwhile, the next match-up will be chosen to replace you." Sure enough, the roulette's appeared again, this time with one less option on each, and Tenya found himself looking at his own face on one of them.

"Looks like the next match is Tenya Iida versus Avery Ho!" Mr. Grayson called, smiling at both his own students and at Tenya and his team. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he looked at his assigned partner and they nodded seriously at each other, then took their teams out for the match.

The entire way there, Tenya thought over his options. His team was far more suited to this tournament than Momo's had been, that was to be sure, but who to send out first? From what he'd seen of Avery so far, she was quite impatient, always in the mood to do things quickly. That implied she'd try to win this quickly, send her best fighter first. If that was the case, sacrificing one of his team who were less likely to succeed for the first match would be wisest. It felt like some sort of underhanded tactic, but he was leading this team, and Tenya knew that this exercise was about forcing them into the difficult decisions they'd need to make in the field, where assigning people to the correct tasks could be the difference between life and death.

That's why, the second he was handed his cards, he flipped through them, past his own, Todoroki's, Sato's, and Kirishima's, to hand in the card for Aoyama. A pit had formed in his stomach as he gave it to Mr. Aizawa, but he set his jaw to make sure his countenance didn't betray how he felt inside. To no surprise, he saw that Avery had somehow beaten him to turning in a card herself. Looking at the two cards he'd been handed, Mr. Aizawa pronounced, "Well, this time we're starting with Avery Ho and Yuga Aoyama."

They all headed inside, and Tenya sat down to watch what was about to ensue, feeling awful for sending a friend, a teammate, out there against someone he was confident he had no chance of defeating. Aoyama had the makings of a great hero, but he'd seen Avery's Speed Force firsthand. Avery was wearing the same hero costume she'd worn when they first met, a purple and lavender skin-tight suit with a lightning bolt in yellow on the front, and a domino mask in midnight plum on her face. One second, Aizawa was announcing the beginning of the fight, and in the space between seconds Avery sped through the room, leaving a trail of purple lighting in her wake, and socked Aoyama right in the face, slowing down enough beforehand to just send him flat on his behind and too stunned to fight rather than doing him any serious damage.

The fight was called, even Mr. Aizawa looking surprised at how short it had lasted, and even as she was shaking the arm she'd used to throw the punch, which had clearly hurt her in the process, Avery was grinning ear-to-ear, looking straight at Tenya with pride in her eyes. Once Aoyama had made it back to sit with the rest of the team, pinching his nose to stop it from bleeding, Tenya congratulated him for giving it his best shot, while inside feeling like he'd done his comrade a wrong. Nonetheless, he pulled his next card with a surety that made him hope this hadn't been for nothing, Avery quickly doing the same after seeming to pause, looking between two cards in particular. Mr. Aizawa looked between them and told everyone who'd be up next to fight. "This will be interesting. Cassandra Wayne will be fighting Shota Todoroki."

Hearing that name, Tenya sucked in a breath. He was sending in his own best fighter, bar none, this time around, to guarantee a victory. But he hadn't counted on this match-up. He'd only heard rumors about this girl, who was leaving the seating area to stand opposite Todoroki, clad from head to toe in a black costume that seemed suited to stealth and darkness. This was the son of Endeavor going against the adopted daughter of the Batman. "Begin!" Mr. Aizawa shouted once they were in place, and after taking a deep breath, Todoroki reached out with his left arm and sent out a gout of flame. His opponent dashed out of the way without issue, despite the enormous size of the blast, then began sprinting towards the elemental hero. Stepping with purpose, Todorki began coating the floor with ice, and while Cassandra looked as though she were about to leap through the air at her foe, her feet were suddenly stuck to the ground. Before she could break the grip the ice had on her, Todorki waved his right and and solidified the binds and extended the ice up her body. "Alright, match over, Todoroki wins."

Happy to have a win under his belt, the first so far for UA against Titans in this exercise, he smiled as he saw Todoroki unfreeze Cassandra before extending a hand, which she shook, the motion looking somewhat awkward. "You're lucky, Iida," Avery whispered at him, looking entertained. "If you'd chosen anyone else, the match would be over. Cassandra's only weakness is long-range Quirks."

Unsure whether to take that information as gospel, Tenya looked at his remaining three cards to think on who to send out next. It really came down to either himself or Kirishima, but after some thought he decided to go with trusting his friend for the task of winning the round. Avery's choice didn't take nearly as long, having handed in her card shortly after the last match ended. "Alright, last fight of the match is here, and it's Jaime Reyes and Eijiro Kirishima." The two students walked out to the battlefield, but Tenya was confused.

Jaime was still dressed in a casual t-shirt and jeans, no hero costume at all. But once the signal to start was given, a metallic armor, bright blue and black contrasting over the surface and giving his eyes a sharp yellow tint, unfolded to cover the teenagers body from head to toe. Then, wings unfolded from the back, and he took to the air. Kirishima, meanwhile was hardening himself, looking up at Jaime expecting an attack. The floating hero, meanwhile seemed to be...talking to himself. "...no, we can't use that...because it would hurt him...yes, that is actually a problem..." In a way, it reminded Tenya of Midoriya's own mumbling, but this sounded like Jaime was talking with someone else. A Quirk like Dark Shadow, perhaps, with a second personality? Finally, Jaime nodded. Then, he extended one hand and his arm shifted and changed, the metal moving in a way that somehow looked more organic and unsettling than Victor's very mechanical change from before.

When it was done, Jaime's extended hand looked like a radio dish, and while Tenya couldn't hear anything, Kirishima clutched his head for a few seconds before it looked like his body locked up. "What the heck?!" he shouted, clearly confused. "I can't move!" Aizawa, looking like he had a better understanding of what had happened than anyone else, appeared more than a little peeved but still signalled that Jaime had won the fight, meaning that Tenya...had lost the match. Both teams assembled in a line and shook hands, and Tenya did his best to try not to feel bitter at his loss. Instead, he tried to focus on the whole point of this exercise: to show them all where they were strong, and where they needed work.

Most people would think watching their classmates win one match right after the other would be inspiring for M'gann. But while a smile was plastered on her bright green humanoid face, the Martian girl was not feeling very happy at all. This just put more pressure on her to succeed if she got called next, to continue the winning streak. A light probe of her team's minds told her they were feeling similarly, all of them tense. Except for Tara, of course, because she never seemed to get upset, except when it was directed at M'gann.

A lot of her classmates saw M'gann as a bright, bubbly, cheery girl always ready to help others. That was great! That's how she liked to be seen, it was the person she wanted to be, more than anything else in the world. At first, leading her own team had been amazing, as she did her best to keep everyone happy and for a while it worked. They'd been so close, but then it all fell apart. Arguments started, friendships frayed, and M'gann's telepathy proved to be more of a curse than she'd expected, and she found her team distrusting her, all because she'd used it to try and smooth things over, just a little.

Now, M'gann was in charge of three classmates who disliked her to varying extents and Joseph, who was very nice but also of little comfort, as even using telepathy to speak with him the mute boy was shy and had little to say. M'gann was biting her lip thinking about all of it when the roulette wheels, now with only two options each, chose the next match-up, and she gasped as her heart sank. "Well, looks like we'll be seeing M'gann's team going against Bakugo's!" Mr. Grayson told them all.

This was, by far, the worst possible combination. Sure, she and Bakugo had trained a lot, but that was the problem! He was so strong! And smart! He was sure to win against her, especially with such a fractured team. Letting out a sigh, M'gann was just about to leave with her team when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning to look, she saw Mr. Grayson standing there, giving her a comforting smile with steel underneath. "You know I trust you, M'gann, but we still need to make absolutely sure this competition is fair. Omen will be supervising your match, to make sure you don't use any telepathy or telekinesis."

Blushing at the implication, M'gann quickly turned and sped up to join her teammates as they were leaving. She had hoped they hadn't noticed, but with an air of innocence Tara asked, "So, what was that about, Megs?" That had been the nickname the shortest member of their team had given M'gann early on, and refused to let go of. When M'gann didn't answer immediately, her mind racing to think of a way of dodging the worst implications, Tara just continued. "Oh! Did they want to make sure you wouldn't cheat with your mind powers?"

"...I wouldn't put it that way..." M'gann muttered, and immediately she could see and feel her teammates react. Tara with glee at being correct, Kole with indignation at not being the first to think of it, Cassie with anger at the idea of winning that way, and Joseph with a quiet assurance that he still had her back. Trying not to think about the fact she was going to be monitored that way, again, M'gann tried to think strategy, glancing peeks at the team walking to the Quirk Training Room with them.

In terms of winning a one-on-one fight, M'gann knew she and Cassie were their best weapons, followed closely by Tara, so she knew for sure who she'd be sending in. But in what order? Tara was a good fighter, but she also might just spite M'gann and lose on purpose. Cassie might be the better choice, but she also might be upset that she was sent out first. Her mind was a complicated place that M'gann didn't completely understand, even more foreign to her than humans normally were. While Cassie took pride in her abilities as a warrior, she was also didn't want to be defined only as one. It was so complicated!

Feeling a little unsure, M'gann turned in her card soon after getting them, knowing the eyes of her team was on her. Bakugo also turned his in shortly, and after looking at them Mr. Aizawa told everyone, "Well then, it looks like we're starting off with M'gann and Asui." That announcement stunned M'gann. She'd put herself forward first to give her team more confidence, to show them that she was going to put herself on the line first, the same way Avery did. She didn't check their minds to feel their reactions to that action, though, the unknown of what she'd find stopped that idea quickly. But Asui? The cute frog girl? After entering the room, M'gann was so wrapped up in her thoughts she didn't even notice Bakugo whisper a few clipped words to his chosen champion.

When the fight began, M'gann immediately went to lift her opponent into the air, where the fight could end quickly from immobilization. But just as she gathered the mental force and directed it, M'gann saw Asui wasn't there anymore. Looking around quickly, M'gann caught a brief glimpse of the girl in the air, mid-hop. Before she could get a better look, Asui was gone again. Floating around the interior of the room, M'gann was trying to look for the Japanese student with her eyes, before giving up and doing the same trick she'd done against Bakugo the day before, scanning the room for other mental awarenesses. She could feel the watching teachers, Mr. Aizawa and Ms. Clay, as well as the waiting teams...but where was Asui?

Then, a moment too late, M'gann realized she hadn't looked under where she was floating, and immediately felt Asui's presence. Looking down, she saw the girl was hopping again, straight at M'gann, feet first. This time around, the blow was quick enough that M'gann had no time to defend herself, getting slammed with the full-force of the jump-kick. She spiraled in the air, only to realize in her pain and confusion that Asui was gripping onto her. The second that became clear, M'gann shut out all other thoughts and focused on the other mind, willing the body it controlled to freeze, which it did. With Asui immobilized around her, M'gann floated down and used telekinesis to move the other girl off of her.

Once it was clear who had won, and the fight was called, M'gann let out a breath in relief and released Asui to freedom. "That was close, ribbit," Asui said as they walked back, extending a hand with oddly long fingers to be shaked by M'gann. "Are you okay?"

M'gann smiled and assured Asui that she'd be fine, but Mr. Aizawa took time to check her closer. There was no point, not really. Thanks to their shapeshifting abilities, Martians didn't really get bruises, so while this hurt now, it would fade quickly. While that was happening, M'gann observed Bakugo and Asui talking a little. The team leader was clearly not happy with how that had gone, but he wasn't yelling at her the way M'gann was expecting him to. Was there something more going on?

Now, for who to go second, M'gann made a tough call. With one win, she couldn't waste her best fighter in the event she'd lose, leaving third place for the third fight to decide it all. With that in mind, and feeling sure of who the other team would choose, M'gann selected Tara for the second round, something she seemed to appreciate, judging by the smile on her face. Of course, that was counterbalanced by the sour look on Cassie's, clearly annoyed she wasn't up yet. "You're the trump card," M'gann whispered to her, but that didn't mollify the demigoddess much.

To M'gann's confusion, Bakugo hadn't chosen himself, again. No, instead this time he'd chosen Mina Ashido, the pink-skinned girl who...what was her Quirk? M'gann couldn't remember for the life of her. Still, the fight started well enough, Tara lifting a platform of sheer rock from the ground as a floating platform, as was her style, before she started flinging boulders ripped from the rocky plateaus at her foe. But as the other girl started running forward, almost looking like she was skating on the ground somehow and leaving a trail of some sort of steam in her wake, she flung something from her hands at the projectile stones, M'gann only remembering at the last minute what it was: acid.

Whatever particular chemical it was, it ate through the rocks as they soared through the air, Ashido dodging whatever was left of them afterwards with ease. Tara seemed to notice the issue with this as well, her eyes widening as Ashido got close enough to start hurling globs of acid at her opponent, the corrosive material hitting their target and began dissolving the place where Tara was standing. Realizing what was happening, Tara jumped ship before the acid could reach her feet, only remembering after jumping to use her Quirk to try and form a new platform to save her.

But she'd been pretty high up, and she was already falling fast. Rocks weren't going to be good for a soft landing, and it was all Tara had access to. All Tara had managed to cobble together was a rocky ramp towards the ground, but she hit the stone hard anyway, stumbling around before falling to her knees, clearly in pain from the expression on her face. The fight had gone to Ashido, who looked at Tara with sympathy and who she then gave a shoulder to for walking back to the seating area.

That match-up had been awful for Tara, and M'gann suddenly started wondering if Bakugo had planned it. But the calicturn teen wasn't giving her any facial hints, still looking generically angry, as he often did with the perpetual scowl on his lips. Unable to read his mind to get a hint, M'gann settled for handing in the only card she could, knowing now for sure who Cassie would be fighting. Sure enough, Mr. Aizawa announced to all it would be a battle between her and Bakugo.

Ever since M'gann had considered her team might have even a chance to fight his, she'd wondered if Cassie could take him. M'gann had witnessed Bakugo's strength, agility, and intelligence in their sparring, and while Cassandra Sandsmark was an exemplary warrior, this boy might be her equal. Cassie started the fight off as expected, rushing in with her magic lasso to try and wrangle her opponent with it. M'gann doubted she'd use the enchanted ability of the item, as serious injuries were off the table, but it was still a great way to get her mobile opponent under control.

While it didn't look like Bakugo was expecting such an odd choice of weapon, he still managed to get out of the way of the noose by blasting himself to one side, then using his large grenade-styled gauntlets to send out an enormous explosion at Cassie, one that made the foundation of the building shudder. When the smoke cleared, Cassie looked a little singed but was otherwise okay. The more important sight, however, was Bakugo, flying through the air towards her thanks to another, smaller blast of his.

The attack hadn't knocked Cassie off-guard, and she was prepared to counterattack. But just before she could throw a punch to catch Bakugo mid-air, he fired a small explosion in front of him, just enough to slow his approach and mess up the girl's timing. Suddenly her fist went through open air, and Bakugo was landing right in front of her, trying to slip behind her and going for a grapple. It almost made M'gann laugh, because as much as it seemed like Bakugo had prepared, he must not have gotten all the info he needed. After all, Cassandra Sandsmark was somewhere around as strong as her mythical half-brother, Herakles.

Cassie no-selled the attempted pin, standing straight and solid as Bakugo was putting his all into moving her, to no effect. Then, almost casually, Cassie grabbed the hand on her arm trying to move it, and threw Bakugo across the full length of the room. Just before Bakugo hit one of the plateau's, he let out another blast to cancel the momentum and stop himself. Still, even from far away M'gann could see the young hero's plan, whatever it was, hadn't worked, and he wasn't happy about it. Hope swelled in M'gann's chest, letting herself believe that maybe, just maybe, this match would go to her after all. Cassie looked like she was thinking the same, smiling in triumph as she sprinted towards her opponent to end this.

But they were both underestimating Katsuki Bakugo. With a roar of rage and some epithet M'gann could neither properly hear or understand, he let out another sound-splitting explosion and sent himself rocketing at Cassie. They met in the middle, and Cassie was too cocky, going for style with a wide, sweeping kick that Bakugo ducked under with ease. Once under her, he raised his hands and used his Quirk to create the largest explosion so far, one that sent Cassie flying up into the air and crashing into the ceiling, where one foot looked to be caught in the rock she'd been partially embedded in. Hanging upside-down by one foot, and looking at a steep drop down to the ground, Cassie didn't look surprised when Mr. Aizawa called the fight and the match, giving the win to Bakugo. It took about half an hour for them to get Cassie down safely and repair all the damage their match had done to the room, during which M'gann felt like a failure, unable to face her team at all. Once again, she'd messed everything up, and they were going to blame her for it. Walking back to the Observation Room, it took everything M'gann had not to start sobbing.

The rest of her team dispersed once back in the room, heading to talk to friends in other teams or their assigned partners from UA. M'gann was so busy feeling sorry for herself, she almost missed Bakugo awkwardly approaching her, so they could stand together and watch the last match on the screens: Virgil going against Midoriya. Virgil was one of the best team leaders, but Bakugo said Midoriya was pretty smart, when he wasn't insulting him while swearing profusely. The first fight was going to be Grant, who had a similar Quirk to Bakugo, against Uraraka. M'gann was watching the fight go on, still feeling sullen, when someone started talking to her. "You did good."

For a moment, she almost didn't believe it was Bakugo who said it, though the words had come out in such a quiet whisper that M'gann had been the only one who could have heard what he'd said. "Thanks," she replied, her volume just as low and her voice carrying a hint of what she was still feeling. "But I don't feel like I did. If I'd trusted Cassie to go first, I could have faced you in the third round, and I might have won."

A sharp bark of clipped laughter was what she got for that observation. "Don't flatter yourself, I would have mopped the floor with you, Christmas." The Earth holiday had quickly been chosen as his nickname for her, since she was green and red and so cheerful it made him sick. M'gann liked it.

"Oh really?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "If I'm remembering right, you've still yet to beat me in a sparring match, Bakugo." Her spirits were starting to raise with the discussion, but a shout of cheer from some of the Class 1-A students shifted M'ann's focus, as Uraraka sent her opponent floating in the air, helpless and ready to surrender. It reminded her of her own crushing loss, and she let out a weary sigh. "Thanks for trying to cheer me up, Bakugo."

Those were apparently the worst words she could have said, as a fiery glint entered his eyes and he snarled, "I wasn't trying to cheer up shit. Even when you're not reading my damn mind, you still think you know what I'm thinking!" Then he stalked away, bringing M'gann's mood even lower, if that was somehow possible. With nothing else to do, M'gann turned back to the monitors, where Virgil was going electricity versus electricity against Kaminari.

It was a close fight, with Kaminari clearly having stronger firepower to his Quirk, while Virgil had far better control. Just as she was really getting engrossed in it, M'gann felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned to see Ms. Clay, her stoic face warmed with sympathy. "You okay, M'gann?" Then, before she could reply, the teacher led her out of the room, so they were alone in a hallway. "Here, now we can have more privacy."

Still overwhelmed with everything, M'gann poured out everything. Her issues with her team, her fear at her own ineptitude, the way her powers pushed others away, how she constantly got on Bakugo's bad side. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do!" M'gann finished, tears streaming down her face. Martians didn't normally have tear ducts, but she always made sure to include them when she was shifted into this much more humanoid form.

Ms. Clay had taken it all in without interrupting once, waiting until M'gann was done to offer some advice. "I think we should have regular counseling sessions. It sounds like you have quite a lot to work through." M'gann must have made a face of some kind, because Ms. Clay quickly added, "That's normal for people your age. Honestly, most high school students should be getting therapy, regardless of the weight of their particular issues." That made M'gann feel at least a little better, less like some kind of pitiful freak. "To start with, I think you need to open a better dialogue with your team. Try and clear the air, make sure everyone is comfortable, and address the issues they might have with you. It can be hard, like pulling out your own teeth, but everyone will feel better for it, in the long run."

It sounded hard, if not impossible, but M'gann thought it was worth giving a sincere try. "And...Bakugo?" she asked, wiping away the last of her tears.

That actually made Ms. Clay laugh a little, a rare sight to be sure. "We've been here less than a week, but I can already tell you that you're not the only one who struggles with that boy. Be patient, and respect his boundaries, even when they don't make sense to you." All that said, the two went back into the Observation Room. M'gann got caught up on what she'd missed, namely that Virgil had won his fight by outsmarting his opponent, so with one win each it was down to Midoriya going against Antonia. The rich girl's plasma constructs at first looked like they'd be a good defence for Midoriya's quick feet, but she soon found herself out-maneuvered, and M'gann was at least able to take solace in the fact that she wasn't the only team leader from her class to lose her match.

Once the last teams were rounded back into the Observation Room, Mr. Grayson explained the results. "Great job, everyone! We could really see how hard you all tried, and to the victors go the second round! That won't be for a while, the Saturday after this upcoming Saturday, and it will have a completely different arena to take place in. Thanks to their wins, next time the two matches will be between Tim Drake and Avery Ho, and between Katsuki Bakugo and Izuku Midoriya." The second those words left the teacher's mouth, a wave of students from 1-A sucked in their breath. M'gann guessed it had something to do with their relationship? Whatever it was, Mr. Grayson seemed to think it was funny, but maybe he was just chuckling out of politeness, it was always hard to tell with him. "The rules will also be different, in that it will be four fights per match, with a secret way to dispute ties that we're not telling you yet. Use that time to train, and even if you're not taking part in it, train harder anyway!" For a second, it looked like he was going to let them go for the day, when he added, "Oh, and Monday is going to be another Joint Training Exercise, one my students know quite well. You'll be doing Investigation Simulations!" Most of M'gann's class let out groans, while their Japanese counterparts just looked confused. Only Tim Drake looked excited, and even without telepathy M'gann knew he was the only one to be excited about this upcoming test. Still, she reflected, she'd probably do better than Bakugo for sure this time.