Authors note: Reminder that we are in the LWA OVA timeline where Akko can technically fly a broom, but like a lunatic as opposed to being unable at all. Anyway, hope you're ready for a more action-packed chapter.
Everyone gathered on the field, the witches clutching their brooms, while the heroes stood on the other side. For once it was because professor Nelson instructed them to align themselves that way, instead of self segregation.
Professor Nelson stood in between the two groups as she explained the lesson. "For the past few years, you witches have flown your brooms in the confines of a magical setting. Now, that's fine for you young ones. BUT, the world isn't mostly magical, and is populated by people whose quirks are often unpredictable and in the case of these three gentleman, highly lethal."
Deku tried to sheepishly smile and wave to reduce the stressful situation, but Bakugou wouldn't stop showing his goblin murder face no matter how many times Todoroki kept elbowing him to stop.
"Therefore!" exclaimed Nelson. "For the next month you will practice dodging these three in the sky for as long as possible. Now, most of you are not expected to last even a minute."
That did little to help the mood, but it was true.
Nelson glanced at Diana and Amanda. "Some of you however, will be able to give these three young heroes a run for their money."
"Like hell they will!" growled Bakugou.
Nelson raised an eyebrow at Bakugou, Todoroki and Deku, but wasn't mad. "Now, would you three agree with me that using the literal top three hero students in Japan is overkill for this lesson?"
"Very overkill!" noted Deku. He thought the whole thing was crazy. It seemed just like the class where someone could easily die, but he remembered that explained many of UA's ocurses too.
He couldn't believe the world once had conventions against these types of school courses, but the hero lobby probably threw them out long ago.
Nelson stood tall. "It is indeed, BUT if any of you witches can survive being blasted at for an extended period of time, you'll have no trouble avoiding any of the lesser quirks on your flights!"
"Faulty logic, but okay." whispered Todoroki.
Bakugou pointed at the witches, his mouth almost drooling from the bloodlust that concealed his normally handsome features. "I'm not gonna hold back against any of you! So don't you dare hold back against me!"
Most of the witches hid behind someone, mostly the unmoved Jasminka, Amanda and Diana.
"We are so dead!" gulped Lotte.
Akko skipped in front of them, waving her hand wildly to grab their attention. "Everyone! He's not saying that because he hates us, he's saying that because he considers us worthy of his full power!"
"Both parts are true!" roared Bakugou, whose mouth was then sealed shut by Todoroki's ice once more. Deku could only bury his face in his hands.
Akko clasped her hands. "He did this at the UA sports festival! He'll go all out because he doesn't expect any of us to hold back. Let's all show him what we're made of."
"Hell yeah!" agreed Amanda, taking the ordeal rather easily given that she was one of the top broom flyers in the class.
"So would you like to go first?" teased Diana.
Akko smiled sheepishly. "Um, I still need to warm up. I...eh...got my broom last."
Akko vanished into the crowd. She couldn't exactly fly a broom at all no matter how hard she tried. She didn't need anyone to knock her down because there was nothing to knock her down from. The last thing she wanted to do was embarrass herself in front of the heroes.
Bakugou melted the ice on his mouth. "The real world is gonna come at you with with a fiery blaze! You gotta face it or die!"
Nelson failed to notice Akko trying to slink away and continued to lecture the crowd. "Bakugou's right, while we're avoiding extremes, flying a broom is no joke. You're vulnerable whether it be against a villain with a quirk or a wicked witch or warlock...Or you could be flying over Afghanistan in the 1980s to conduct reconnaissance on the conflict where you're then attacked by a Soviet helicopter. I mean a Hind D! I thought those were just a myth! It then starts shooting at you with insane firepower and when you fail to dodge in time...Timmy...Timmy...TIMMY!"
"Wow, you broke her brain!" joked Amanda to Bakugou.
Nelson took a minute to stop shivering from her air force memories and got ahold of herself. "Right, so all of you will take off from here, fly for as long as possible until one of the heroes knocks you down or they collapse from exhaustion."
"It's not gonna be the last one!" warned Bakugou.
The witches braced themselves. The memory of the heroes slaughtering the demons like they were nothing was fresh on their minds from yesterday. Even if lethality was to be avoided, no one wanted to end up as ash, a frozen popsicle, or a human donut with a hole in their center.
"Lotte, you're up first." instructed Nelson.
Lotte's eyes widened. "But, wasn't Akko right…" She realized that Akko was no longer next to her in line as she was originally, and thus made her first.
Lotte gulped and headed to the take off point, waiting for Nelson to start the trial. She glanced at the three heroes, who all readied their quirks for an attack.
Bakugou's hands were lit with explosions, his rage clear. Todoroki had fire and ice powers blazing from either side of his body, a concentrated gaze on his face, while Deku was only charging up a small bit of his quirk as he realized how cruel the experiment was.
Nelson refrained from blowing the whistle just yet. "And just to make it fair, only one of you heroes are allowed to use your quirk in the first fifteen seconds, just to give one of the witches a chance to take off."
"That's more than enough!" growled Bakugou.
Lotte screamed at the top of her lungs.
"No whining! It gives away your position," scolded Nelson. "And go!"
Nelson blew the whistle to signal Lotte, only for Bakugou to unleash an explosion that instantly knocked Lotte off her broom the second she got off the ground.
Lotte's body flew in the direction of the witch students, alive, but smelling of smoke and covered in ash.
"Are you alright?" gasped a witch.
"That jerk!" yelled another.
Amanda tried snapping a finger in front of Lotte's expressionless face. "C'mon stay with me!"
"Blink if you're still alive." instructed Sucy, actually concerned for her friend.
Lotte blinked and stared into the sky. "My life just flashed before my eyes."
"I think that flash might have been from Bakugou's explosion." whimpered Hannah.
"Hey!" called out Bakugou. "You didn't start crying like Deku, so that's great!"
"Kaachan!" frowned Deku, ironically on the verge of tears from that insult.
Diana looked at Lotte, placing a hand on her lips in disgust regarding the situation. "I feel this is less of a course on advanced broom flying and more of an excuse to watch us get beaten up by a quirk." she said.
"There's very little difference," ignored Nelson.
The tests continued on for a while, with Sucy and Constanze having tied for lasting the longest against the heroes thanks to a mechanical broom and the use of potions. Even then those two hardly lasted for 30 seconds once all three heroes ganged up on them. The other witches went down without having to even face all three of the boys.
Nelson checked off her noteboard and noticed that the two top flyers, Amanda and Diana, had yet to take their turn. It seems fate was saving best for last.
"Diana, let's go!" commanded Nelson.
Diana elegantly nodded and made her way to the starting point. Nothing seemed to break her icy exterior no matter how much Bakugou tried to intimidate her with a scowl. In fact, it seemed even he was the little uncertain one, knowing that Diana was generally the top of her class.
For once though, Deku and Todoroki both had a somewhat antagonistic serious expression, but not from malice as much as knowledge of who they were going to face.
It was again Bakugou turn to start off, which only escalated the tension on the field. He never held back against any of his opponents, but Diana would mean trying to break new ground. The entire situation resembled a stand off in an old American western movie. And yet, there was an underlying notion of acknowledgement. The two were both highly talented in their craft and knew it. Their arguments before meant that this showdown would be used as fodder for their next confrontation, whenever that would be.
It was like time was freezing as Nelson brought the whistle to her lips. Bakugou and Diana were both locked in each other eyes, each readying their quirk and spell respectively. It was aggression as well as an odd form of respect.
Nelson blew the whistle, and Bakugou instantly shot a blast to Diana, the fastest one he could conjure up. In response, Diana quickly rose a giant rock formation from the ground, which shielded her from the blast.
The resulting explosion crumbled the tiny hill. Its shape allowed the debris to head in the direction of the heroes, prompting Todoroki to create a giant ice wall to protect them.
Diana then soared to the sky, pretty high up to avoid Bakugou. He wouldn't take it lying down however, as he quickly accelerated into the sky via explosions like a rocket. Diana then simply dashed away at a safe distance where Bakugou wouldn't be able to attack her.
By the time Bakugou did pick up speed, Deku and Todoroki were already on the prowl.
Diana witnessed Todoroki carrying Deku on a giant path of ice that was moving faster than what she had expected. Diana simply tried to keep the distance between her and the heroes, knowing none of them were used to catching a witch that could move like her on a broom.
Still, it was clear that the three heroes were well practiced as well. It was straining as quirks were physical abilities, but all three of them were keeping pace. They were effectively jets in the sky.
Todoroki finally made his way to Diana and began flaming her with his free side, but Diana simply conjured a barrier to block the flames. Now, she couldn't see who else was going to attack her, but the sound of Deku's quirk charging up filled her ears. As she expected.
She sensed Deku leaping from the ice path and trying to shatter her barrier with a kick. Of course, that would mean Todoroki needed to put out his flames for a second. And it was that second that made all the difference as Diana let go of her barrier and immediately transferred her magical power to a repulsion beam.
It hit Deku square on the chest sending him flying back while Diana was given a shove in the opposite direction. Thus, Todoroki had to waste time trying to catch Deku on his ice trail, while all Diana had to worry about at the moment was Bakugou. He had propelled himself in a way that didn't need additional explosions to send him flying straight to her like a canon.
Diana smirked. Bakugou needed one hand to blast her and another to stay afloat, which suited her technique perfectly even if she hardly had a second to react.
Diana quickly propelled herself to the side, and as expected, Bakugou used one hand to shove himself in that direction. He needed the other hand to shoot at Diana, but she quickly dashed back and avoided his attack without even needing to fire a spell.
"You're not the only one who can reorient himself in the air like that you know!" chided Diana, while Bakugou scowled at having his technique used against him.
Meanwhile, Todoroki and Deku finally managed to catch up with Diana, the trail of ice having extended quite a bit for the two to reach her.
Diana quickly flew downward and Deku followed up by diving at her position, accelerated by his own quirk. All the while, Todoroki and Bakugou were trying to snipe at her with ice and explosions.
Then, Diana did the unexpected.
She instead flew up towards Deku's position as she was being shot at with quirks. As Deku charged up his own fist to knock Diana out of her broom, Diana sped high into the sky as fast as she could, causing Deku to get hit with both of Bakugou's and Todoroki's attacks.
Diana chuckled as she continued to fly upwards, glad to see her experiment working as Deku soared down and needed Todoroki to rescue him.
As Todoroki now faced the new task of trying to pick up Deku to regain their combined offensive against her, it was then that Diana did what other witches failed to do. She immediately cast a heat blast spell, one that quickly weakened the foundations of Todoroki's giant ice path.
As Deku was rescued by him, Todoroki suddenly fell them both enter free fall once again as his ice support collapsed.
As they recovered, Bakugou caught up once more and Diana and shot out various explosions at her. Diana responded by conjuring multiple objects that upon exploding, would send debris flying in Bakugou's way, disorienting his attack pattern.
Todoroki meanwhile tried to switch it up by utilizing his flames against Diana, who responded with a jetstream of water that doused the flames and created an aura of steam around them. Todoroki of course kept shooting those flames to ensure that Diana wouldn't use the steam as cover for an escape.
Diana knew however that there was a trick, and she could see the sparks of Deku's quirk in the midst of the vapor. She just needed to time it once again.
Todoroki's flames stopped and the moment it did, Deku appeared with a kick aiming straight for Diana's face. Normally, it would take a witch or wizard a second longer to react by casting another spell before Deku could hit them, but Diana's reflexes weren't to be underestimated and she didn't need to change spells.
Instead, Diana aimed her wand up and knocked Deku back with with her water cannon like she was on riot control. She then used her repulsor spell to gain some momentum in the opposite direction before speeding on.
Diana tried to fire another heatblast at Todoroki's ice path to once again to weaken its foundation, but he had predicted such a move and used his ice to shield any weak spots. She was moving too fast and far away to hit a critical section.
Bakugou meanwhile had begun flying towards her direction, but on the other side of Todoroki, leading to Diana's fear, encirclement. She could conjure up a barrier, but the force of both Todoroki's and Bakugou's attacks would have likely shattered it.
The only option was to try and shoot Todoroki out of her way before Bakugou got too close, as the former had the best capacity for long ranged attacks.
Diana tried to get as high in the sky as she could to outpace both of her attackers, firing everything she had at Todoroki. Still, the issue of distance was biting her as Todoroki had the ability to react and dodge. Diana's spells, no matter what they were, didn't exactly move at light speeds, and all parties here had killer reflexes.
She gave it some thought, and decided to charge at Todoroki, who had seemingly abandoned Deku on a raised ice pillar which limited his mobility. He was getting a little pissed.
Bakugou would of course follow her, and he just needed to get a little closer to be in striking range for her plan to work.
Todoroki began attacking Diana with fire, but it didn't matter what quirk he used for what she had in mind. Diana countered his attack with a water spell and set herself up in a point where Todoroki's flames would unknowingly hit Bakugou behind her the moment she dodged upwards. All she needed to do was pay attention to the sound of Bakugou's explosions to time her repulsion just right.
Todoroki's flames were powerful, but so was Diana's magic as the flame quirk and water magic failed to overcome each other. Meanwhile, Bakugou's explosions were getting louder, until they suddenly stopped.
Diana darted her head in Bakugou's direction, noticing that he was using the momentum of his quirk to propel himself towards her. Perhaps it was a sneak attack, and Bakugou was dangerously close, but Diana was ready to evade.
The second after she looked at Bakugou however, he lit up what was essentially a mini flashbang or stun grenade in his palms, causing Diana to recoil and close her eyes from the bright light.
She didn't dare try to break her water spell against Todoroki even while stunned, and desperately tried to fly up to avoid Bakugou's explosion. However, her temporary blindness stopped her from doing anything.
Diana felt Bakugou's two hands grab both of her arms, which quickly threw her off her broom. The round was over.
Diana opened her eyes and witnessed her broom being engulfed in Todoroki's flames before gravity could even take effect. She wasn't paying for it.
Bakugou freed one of his hands and fired a series of explosion downwards to slow down their descent. His other arm was wrapped around Diana tightly. She had quite frankly never been this close to a guy before.
"Hey! Put me down Bakugou!" yelled Diana, a blush on her face.
Bakugou didn't respond, trying his hardest to slow their fall.
"Hello? Katsuki? Bakugou?" frowned Diana, tapping him on the head with her own to get his attention. His grip wrapped around both of her arms, which alongside the confusion of the situation, prevented Diana from properly using magic.
"Does your stupid ass want to die!" finally replied Bakugou.
"I can handle myself!" exclaimed Diana.
"I know that dumbass! But you don't have your shitty broom right now!" countered Bakugou.
Diana wiggled her wand and hoped to get an incantation out, finally managing a repulsor spell that aided Bakugou in keeping them from plummeting on the ground.
The two finally landed, conveniently in front of the other witches. At first the two were bewildered by everyone's eyes widened expression instead of the typical 'glad you're okay' mantra, until they noticed Bakugou still had his arm around Diana.
He quickly let go of her, the two still maintaining their neutral, but haughty, expressions.
Diana looked in the other direction. "Well, I appreciate your gesture."
Bakugou looked the other way too. "That's the thanks I get for saving you?"
"You technically knocked me off that broom," pointed out Diana, a little bitter at her loss. "And why may I ask, did you choose to yank me off with your hands instead of an explosion?"
Bakugou groaned like he was talking to a child. "Blinding you up close instead of using an explosion so I could use my fists isn't something you thought I'd do. I use that tactic against a bunch of people, so don't think you're special."
Diana smirked. "Huh, I thought you just wanted to get close to me."
Bakugou gritted his teeth, but a part of him looked shy. "Shut your damn mouth before I light you up." He didn't technically deny it.
Todoroki and Deku finally reached down to where the others were waiting. Todoroki had created a giant pathway of ice in the sky while chasing Diana, almost like a roller coaster. Had Diana not knocked down his initial effort, it would have been surely bigger.
Nelson and the witches that weren't Akko fired a spell that melted the ice path, clearing the skies for the next person on the list. That was the other best flier in the class.
"Alright, it's time for the real star to take control." bragged Amanda, causing Diana to glare at her.
Amanda walked on over to the starting point with the smuggest expression any witch could come up with.
"Hey prof, is it alright if all three of the guys attack me at the same time. I can handle it." requested Amanda. "There's a little experiment I need to try out."
Nelson raised an eyebrow and thought about it for a minute. "Alright, but this better be worth it."
The witches gasped amongst themselves. How could Amanda choose to have all three of the heroes attack her before she even took off? They all had their own special tactics with their quirks, and it was hard enough to shrug off just one of them before they gained an advantage in the sky.
Amanda made her way to the starting point and yelled at the heroes. "All three of you can attack me when Nelson blows the whistle! Good luck gentlemen!"
Bakugou laughed out loud. "You're an idiot with a death wish!"
Todoroki half smiled to Bakugou. "Are you admitting that we're stronger together?"
Bakugou almost blew him up before he noticed Nelson bringing the whistle to her lips. All three of the heroes charged up their quirks, creating an aura of energy around them. They considered Diana the best in class, but knew Amanda was a top broom flyer too. No chances were being taken given how tough Diana was.
Nelson blew the whistle and right as the heroes each shot an explosion, ice beam and shockwave, Amanda hopped right into the air gracefully with a big grin on her face.
Before the heroes could continue to engage her however, Amanada's wand began to play music like a speaker.
The heroes and witches were instantly dumbstruck, but Amanda smirked. Plan A was still in effect.
Amanda then pointed her broom upwards and extended one leg alongside it in the same direction, showing to the heroes how toned she kept it. Then she did the lethal move of running her hand across her lap.
In an instant, Bakugou's, Deku's and Todoroki's mouths all dropped. And so did the witches' upon seeing their expression.
Amanda snickered and proceeded to go through one of her signature broom dances. She began to spin her body around her broom by just holding herself up with her legs before spinning herself in every direction with just her arms.
She then held onto her broom close, wrapping around it in a way that highlighted her curves and then dipped her body back. She started hanging upside down, supported only by her feet clinging onto the broom, as let her hair flow to the earth.
Deku's breathing got heavier as he stared at Amanda's legs, more of which was only not revealed as she kept a hand on her skirt, while another made a naughty shush sound at the boys. Bakugou meanwhile was a mixture of confusion and awe. Todoroki on the other hand was just straight up amazed. Shy even.
"Are they blushing?" gasped Lotte.
"D-deku always b-blushes!" retorted Diana. Flustered at the heroes being flustered.
Akko's eyes twitched from envy. "Yeah, but Bakugou and Todoroki never blush like this!"
Diana tugged on Nelson's arm. "You have to stop this now!"
"Using hormonal based attacks like this is normally discouraged for a witch or wizard, but hasn't been documented against heroes, so we should let this play out." countered Nelson, who honestly was getting a thrill seeing the heroes reduced to this state.
Amanda continued on her dance as the heroes just stood there dumbstruck. Her schtick at that moment was to do a series of wild swings that were broken up with elegant poses to keep the heroes on their toes. She then even managed to get back onto the ground and began spinning her broom around like a pole twirler in the olympics.
Speaking of olympics, she began to do various acrobatic moves with her broom. Flips, cartwheels and more spinning alike. It was a simultaneous display of grace and sheer athleticism.
She then got back on her broom and flew to the heroes, getting really up close in Todoroki's face especially. He was never in such a position before and it showed. Amanda smirked and nudged forward, even placing a finger on his chin, gazing deep in his nervous eyes.
Amanda then lied her back down on her broom, still extending a knee up to ensure that the heroes would remain in their trance. She then waved to Nelson and called out to check if her experiment worked.
"Hey Professor! Did I beat Diana's time yet!?" asked Amanda.
Nelson checked a stop watch and was surprised by the result. "Wow! You just did!"
Diana's face turned an angry red, mad at Amanda's attention hogging and unfair tactic. She wasn't one that craved attention in this particular way, but she still loathed it when someone else bathed in it anyway.
Amanda got back up to a proper flying position and waved at the heroes. "Bye bye boys!"
Amanda soared into the sky, and in the instant she did, Bakugou's expression turned to rage.
"GET BACK HERE YOU BASTARD!" screamed Bakugou at the top of his lungs. He wasted no second launching himself to the sky, eager to strike down Diana and recover from his humiliation.
Deku and Todoroki glanced at each other, mutually embarrassed, and took off to the skies as well. The last thing they needed was Bakugou to be convicted for murder.
Nelson bit her lip as she watched the heroes attempt to strike down Amanda. Bakugou was so focused on getting up close and personal that he failed to shoot at Amanda when he had the opening. Not that it mattered given Todoroki's and Deku's failures to hit.
Whereas most of the witches relied on barriers, Amanda and Diana could at least rely on their skills and speed. Diana was slightly faster however and had a wider array of spells, but Amanda however was more agile and used her dance tactics to dodge every attack with only the occasional spell.
It was clear that Amanda herself also had no qualms about testing parameters in the more literal sense, as she began leading the heroes outside of campus grounds to rile them up further. Coupled with her evasions all being finished off with a dance pose, she was clearly enjoying this way too much.
Nelson groaned. "Great, now I have to get the other teachers to bring them back."
Before she could make a move however, Lotte tapped her on the arm.
"Um, Ms. Nelson...did your old air force buddies mention they were running drills today?" asked Lotte.
Nelson looked at where Lotte was pointing at as her ears filled with the all too familiar sound of jet fighters, causing her to have another Cold War flashback. Normally this would not have happened, but the presence of the three heroes and sudden cross quirk and magical training course had driven most of the teachers to madness.
The planes themselves had entered the town's air space as Amanda began flying around them, with the still attacking heroes unwittingly firing their quirks inches away from the jets.
"Delta 5 this is Delta 3 we are being fired at," radioed the pilot Delta 3, noticing the barrage of spells and magic coming at them. "My computer is getting an ID on the hostiles now."
The targeting program calculated all possible assailants to prepare the pilots, finally reading ARGENTINIAN FIGHTER JET.
"Argies again?" frowned Delta 3. "When will they ever learn? Firing anti aircraft missile."
The jet launched a missile at the targets, but since Amanda and the heroes were clearly not aircraft, the missile inadvertently ended up striking Delta 5's ship.
"Missed," muttered Delta 3. "Firing second missile."
Another missile was launched, aimlessly travelling in a straight line with no airship to lock on to. As it neared Amanda and her hero attackers, the witch shot a suspension spell at Bakugou in an effort to keep him frozen in the air, only for Bakugou to dodge the attack via explosion.
As a result, the spell inadvertently struck the missile which Delta 3's plane didn't have time to avoid, crashing right into it and exploding.
Luckily the two pilots had miraculously deployed their parachutes and ejected before each of their aircraft was struck down. Delta 5 was incredibly pissed at their situation as made it known.
"This is why the Falklands should be given back to Argentina!" pointed Delta 5.
"Those islands are British and will remain so!" argued Delta 3.
Their geopolitical argument was suddenly cut off when Amanda did a masterful turn around to catch the heroes off guard. She sped past the parachuting pilots who all parties failed to notice, which caused one of Todoroki's missed flame blasts to burn the parachutes to a crisp.
Thankfully, the pilots only fell a short distance by that point, somehow not hurt from the fall, and took their anger out on each other with a fist fight.
Back up in the sky, the heroes were throwing absolutely everything they could against Amanda in an effort to bring her down. Bakugou tried to use his blinding technique against Amanda, but she knew better than to face him even if she had a harder time outpacing him than Diana.
Amanda still used her spells, but they were primarily directed against Deku and Todoroki. Even then it was to orient themselves in a position where they would blast each other instead of her. Each success never got old for her.
However, it was clear that the heroes were picking up on her moves and patterns. It also may have been a wrong idea to use her dance moves as the basis for her dodges like when she did her burglary, as her smug aura only seemed to make Bakugou more aggressive.
Deku leaped for a kick against Amanda, who normally would have responded with a well timed dive down. Instead Deku quickly realigned himself to bring his feet under the broomstick before Amanda could dodge, and kicked it to the side.
Like it was straight out of a horror movie, Amanda was turned to face Bakugou coming straight at her with one of his slasher smiles.
Bakugou of course hit her with stun attack, but Amanda was able to keep both hands on her broom even as she felt the full impact of Bakugou's weight trying to rip her off of it. She responded by flailing her broom around in multiple directions, trying to shake him off like a loose piece of clothing.
Bakugou wasn't going to give up and kept trying to pry Amanda from her broom even if he was being tossed around. Amanda had almost succeeded in getting him off, but he managed to snap one hand backup and keep himself latched.
Much to his pleasure, he was now facing Amanda directly. Perfect for landing a series of punches to break her. Of course, Amanda was much stronger than any of the other witches, and wasn't going to be taken out so easily even if Bakugou's hits hurt. He did have to extend his hand quite a bit though, so they weren't as powerful as they could have been.
Amanda countered by kicking him in the the face, arm and chest. As if it wasn't obvious enough from her dance that she never skipped leg day, Bakugou had to endure some attacks that stinged a little more than he'd have liked to admit.
Deciding to risk it, Bakugou tried to fire off a soft explosion at point blank range, but Amana used the brief delay to whip out her wand and conjure a barrier that directed the explosion back at him, forcing Bakugou down.
Still, Amanda was hurt and her reflexes were going to deteriorate. Much to her displeasure, Todoroki and Deku were catching up to her on the former's ice path. She braced herself for what came next.
All of a sudden, Todoroki yelled "DO IT!" and the unexpected followed.
Deku grabbed Todoroki with his enhanced arms and tossed him in Amanda's direction. He had been sent flying faster than anything they had seen today.
Amanda responded by attempting to evade Todoroki, but he used his flames to propel himself in her direction. Todoroki hadn't exactly been used to using his fire to travel in the air, so movements mimicking Bakugou's were unexpected even if they were risky.
Todoroki used his icy hand to grab ahold of Amanda's broom, while he pointed his flaming one straight at her.
Amanda managed to shoot out a spell that whacked Todoroki's fiery hand, causing him to miss flaming attack. Todoroki expected that however, and his icy hand was doing all the work for him. By the time that Amanda noticed, it was too late.
Amanda's hands and broom were encased by Todoroki's ice, and the sudden feeling of cold disrupted her magical concentration.
The two were sent flying down, but Todoroki reacted quickly by melting the ice with his fire.
"Grab onto me with both of your hands NOW!" commanded Todoroki.
Amanda didn't hesitate for a second and threw her arms around Todoroki as he finally separated her from the frozen broom that went crashing down on its own.
Todoroki held Amanda close once his flaming hand was put out, and used his icy one to create an ice path for the two of them to safely slide back to the other witches. Todoroki had won. The least he could do was protect his former target.
The two were largely too concentrated on getting back down, but the awkwardness of holding onto each other much like Bakugou and Diana had previously wasn't lost to them.
"Maybe I should've stuck to my little dance." joked Amanda as they slid down.
"I wouldn't complain." noted Todoroki, who was still using his dead serious voice.
When they did reach the splendid earth, Amanda wasted no time hopping out from his grasp, but was also more positive about her rescue than Diana was.
"Hey! Nice job icy hot!" thanked Amanda, getting off from the ice path and walking back
"You did a great job yourself." replied Todoroki, with a small nod.
Bakugou and Deku finally made their way back as well. Both of them were beginning to look a little more weary. Had this been a land battle where they were allowed to be a bit more lethal, things would be looking different.
Amanda rolled her eyes at Bakugou, whose punches were likely the deciding factor in breaking up her streak.
Meanwhile, the exhausted Bakugou pointed towards the equally exhausted Diana and Amanda, the latter flipping him off for the force he used in their brawl.
"You two!" roared Bakugou, causing the witches to begin cowering while Nelson readied to break up a fight.
Bakugou smirked. "You two know how to screw me up. You got me real good in a whole lot of places by using all of your power like I wanted you to."
Bakugou then glared and Todoroki and Deku. "At least SOME PEOPLE know how to not be a wimpy asshole and treat me with the respect I deserve during a fight!"
Deku groaned while Todoroki rolled his eyes. Bakugou had clearly not gotten over Todoroki refraining from using his fire quirk against him at the sports festival. At least it seemed he had gotten over Amanda's little dance, or at least acknowledged it as a successful tactic.
Todoroki called out to the confused Amanda and Diana. "Congratulations! He likes something about you two which is one more thing than he likes about me and Deku."
Unexpectedly, both witches chuckled. They realized this was perhaps the highest compliment Bakugou could give them. Diana eyed Bakugou who was still looking at her and gave him a small nod, him doing the same as they recognized each other at least as worthy opponents.
Nelson sighed in relief at not breaking up a fight.
Amanda finally regained her strength as Todoroki approached her.
"Need any help walking back?" offered Todoroki, unsure why he just blurted that out, unable to get the image of Amanda's little broom dance out of his mind as well.
"I'm fine, but thanks anyway," chuckled Amanda. "It doesn't really hurt."
"Right." nodded Todoroki, who paused and made his way back to the hero starting point.
Nelson looked at the list of witches that flew and groaned at who the last name was. It only now dawned on her that Akko may have been deliberately trying to go last. It was either to fight off the heroes when they were too tired from facing Amanda and Diana, or simply to reduce the amount of time the other witches would mock her for her poor flying. Regardless, the end result was inevitable and some of the witches began packing up.
Akko gulped and nervously made her way to the starting point, facing the heroes who finally worked up their sweats after their debacle with Amanda and Diana. Still, they looked far from done.
Deku noticed Akko's sullen expression and called out to her. "Hey! Good luck!"
Akko sheepishly smiled. The heroes had never seen her ride a broom before, and she was about to humiliate herself without the heroes having to even lift a finger. She knew at least Deku wouldn't give her any shit for it. He was considerate.
"Let's get this over with!" commanded Bakugou, who expected little from Akko.
Akko prepared herself for the worst as Nelson blew the whistle. Before Deku could even begin to fire his attack, Akko began spinning out of control on her broom as usual.
Once again the heroes were frozen in confusion, but one more of genuine shock than ecstacy like with Amanda.
"Her time is up!" suddenly yelled Todoroki as he raised his arm and unleashed his ice shot, Bakugou and Deku firing an explosion and shockwave at her as well.
Akko was just being yanked across in the same space, so she would have normally been an easy target in a normal situation.
But this time, it was anything but normal.
Akko opened her eyes as she felt the quirks come at her, but didn't feel anything. She opened one eye to discover that she was floating above the ground like a normal witch or wizard on their broom.
Another barrage of quirks came at Akko, but she just felt an instinct take over her as she dodged the attack with Diana's speed and Amanda's technique.
The heroes were just as confused as Akko was at that point. But absolutely nothing could compare to how the other witches were reacting. Akko, the worst flyer in the class, or perhaps the history of magecraft, was dodging attacks only the top students could ever hope to.
Amanda blurted out her shock. "What the hell! You're supposed to be an idiot at this!"
"Are you sure!" countered Bakugou, annoyed at how Akko was seemingly able to predict and dodge each and every one of his attacks.
Deku tried to sprint and tackle her, but Akko's widened as she suddenly launched herself to the sky, dodging Deku's attack by a hair.
Todoroki frowned while trying to snipe Akko with ice shards. "I don't understand, she was inept just before we started attacking. And she's not even sure what's going on!"
"Well, it's pissing me off!" groaned Bakugou, who launched himself into the sky, annoyed that he had another long chase ahead him after Diana and Amanda.
Todoroki picked up Deku with his ice and shot up to the skies with him, leaving behind a dumbfounded professor Nelson and her equally shocked students.
"Children, has Akko been hiding something from me?" asked Nelson. "If so, then her grades could have been much better this year."
Diana began scratching her cheeks. "B-but h-how w-why…"
Nelson rolled her eyes. "I'll take that as a no."
Akko was screaming as she dodged each and every attack coming at her. She didn't know what the hell was going on, but she could avoid every attack as if it was coming at her like a crawling snail. She was certain she wasn't drugged or hexed before this.
The heroes couldn't believe it until around a few minutes in, but Akko was their toughest challenge. Whereas Diana and Amanda had clearly been putting effort into their evasions and tactics, Akko was unpredictable, yet she moved in a way where she could predict everything the heroes were going to do. No fancy acrobatics or spells, just avoiding the quirks like she and them were two parallel lines.
A few more minutes passed of the heroes aimlessly chasing Akko around. They could finally feel the strain. Deku didn't need another broken bone, half of Todoroki's body was freezing and boiling while Bakugou's arms began twitching to the point where he couldn't even aim properly.
They hardly broke a sweat against most of the witches, but Amanda and Diana took a lot out of them. Akko had no end in sight however.
As if they could all read each other minds, Bakugou and Deku landed on a giant ice platform Todoroki created as they all caught their breaths, although Todoroki still tried to snipe the screaming and frantic Akko in vain.
Bakugou took a deep breath. "What...the hell…"
"Man, she's really good huh." sighed Deku.
"I don't think she's ever been this good before if the other witches are just as surprised as us." noted Todoroki, who was barely putting any effort anymore.
"I hate to say it, but I think we got to our limit." hissed Bakugou, pissed at having ever uttered such a thing.
Todoroki finally gave up trying to pierce Akko with ice, every part of his body was killing him. "Yeah, I think we ought call it a day."
Suddenly, Akko's broom began to stop responding to her whims and no longer flied in a stable direction. It made a sound similar to a car's engine failing and it jerked up and down like a plane trying to stay up.
The pupils in Akko's eyes shrunk as she plummeted to the sky, her terrified scream quickly grabbing everyone's attention.
"AKKO!" cried Deku at the top of his lungs upon realizing she lost control of her broom.
Although tired, Deku managed to supercharge his legs for a giant leap as he practically flew to rescue Akko from her demise. The shock from his jump was so great that it shattered Todoroki's ice platform which forced him and Bakugou to use the last of their strength to safely land.
With tears of fear forming in his eyes, Deku finally managed to safely grab Akko mid fall as the latter managed to still hold onto her broom.
"I got you!" yelled Deku, who looked down for a safe way to land.
Akko's eyes finally opened as she gazed at her rescuer. Deku was clearly just as scared as she was, but not out of fear of his own death, but also out of fear that he would lose her. Yet, there was also a face of bravery behind the tears that Akko herself always had when she faced danger. A hope was still in both of them.
They neared the ground, but Akko was assured that Deku would protect them. She just felt that she could trust him in his arm. And worst case, there were still the other witches and Nelson to be realistic and frank.
With a loud thud on impact, Deku landed Luna Nova's courtyard safely by transferring his quirks power to his feet and legs, effectively hardening them from damage. The landing caused a small hole to appear around them.
Deku had shut his own eyes, but managed to leap out of the crater, a crater that was rather muddy given how much of Todoroki's melted ice must have covered the field by now.
The witches were relieved upon seeing him jump out of that whole with Akko alive. Nelson herself put down her broom and wand she intended to use with ease. Only Sucy looked a little ticked since she used the last of her bouncy trampoline potion on herself before using it to break Deku's fall and cause some hilarity.
"Did we make it?" gulped Deku.
"Yay! My hero!" smiled Akko, hugging Deku's head, which caused his shut eyes to quickly open.
Then Deku noticed exactly where he was holding Akko. One hand was just on her back, but the other was between her legs and thighs that he found rather attractive.
His face turned the brightest shade of red, causing most of the witches to start giggling at him. It was rather too obvious how he felt at this point.
Akko hopped out of his arms, giving off the innocent impression that she didn't know how Deku was reacting, but her smile turned into a smirk. She was aware at least.
Todoroki and Bakugou finally landed back to where everyone was, exhausted as hell. Any further uses of their quirks for the day had to be put on hold at least for two hours.
"Wow, you guys got beat." snickered Sucy.
Bakugou caught his breath. "Yeah dumbass, our quirks are physical abilities, not stupid lasers you shoot out of a wand."
Todoroki stretched and then extended his arm to Akko for a shake. "Congratulations, you officially beat us three. There was nothing we could do against you."
Bakugou didn't extend his arm, but his voice was somewhat somber. "Yeah, what the hell was that? I thought you were gonna suck, but you somehow outdid Diana and Amanda. I don't like surprises like that."
Bakugou glared at Deku, until Diana's voice caught his attention.
"Honestly, I hate that kind of thing myself." admitted Diana, which caused Bakugou to half grin at her, glad to see that someone understood.
Diana's voice turned angry. "Honestly though! How did you manage to fly like that Akko? You're literally the worst one in our class if I am being perfectly honest and blunt with you."
Akko pouted, angry that her moment was ruined. "I don't know! I was flailing around as usual until those three started shooting at me and well….I kinda just had this feeling inside of me that let me fly properly."
Deku gasped loudly, having seen the pattern. "WAIT! You said you started having control when we shot at you with our quirks right?"
Akko nodded.
Deku place a finger on his chin. "And guys, didn't Akko start falling when we STOPPED trying to take her down?"
Bakugou and Todoroki looked at each other and nodded.
Deku smiled. "Akko! I think you can fly when you're being threatened! It's like a wierd fight or flight response, and your's is literally flight!"
Nelson scoffed. "Hardly! She faced a good series worth of magical threats and could barely move around then. She always needed someone, mostly Lotte and Sucy, to bail her out."
Todoroki bit his lip and threw in his own take. "Well, those were magical threats. This is the first time Akko has had to face someone with quirks while riding a broom, so I wanna try something."
"What?" asked Akko.
"Try to fly again," commanded Todoroki. "I see where this is going."
Nelson nodded and nudged Akko to take flight again.
Akko said Tia Freyre and began levitating off the ground with her broom. Of course, she began flailing again, being jerked in every random direction and nearly falling off.
Todoroki looked to the witches. "One of you, try to hit her with some spell!"
Amanda gave a naughty smirk and quickly pulled out her wand before anyone else could. She fired a small lightning bolt square that zapped Akko lightly, causing everyone to giggle from the funny face the latter made when getting shocked.
Akko fell down from her broom, but quickly got back to fly after Todoroki gestured her to continue.
This time, Todoroki lit up his fire quirk against Akko, who gained control of her broom in that very moment and successfully evaded his attack no matter where he pointed it. Akko was still screaming of course as the phenomenon was rather subtle.
Todoroki then turned off his quirk, and as expected, Akko lost control and fell down.
"And there's our answer!" exclaimed Deku.
The witches were all dumbfounded. Somehow, by some weird force of nature, the worst flyer in the class found a rather odd loophole. No one wanted to believe it, but they all saw it up close.
Diana's eyes began twitching, conjuring a notepad and pen to write down the most absurd discovery she had ever witnessed. The image of Akko flying a broom perfectly and dodging the quirk attacks with perhaps no effort would forever haunt Diana.
"New theory," screeched Diana. "Akko can apparently fly perfectly when she's being attacked by quirks and apparently nothing else...This discovery has no scientific value whatsoever."
"Stop gritting your teeth." muttered Amanda, annoyed by Diana's own annoyance.
"Yay!" Akko meanwhile hugged all three of the heroes with glee, which enraged Bakugou, embarrassed Deku and confused Todoroki. Once again, quite of a few of the witches appeared to be a slightly jealous. Diana herself was now longing for a moment like this if only to show up Akko and Amanda who both had their moment with all three of the guys today.
Tears of joy streamed down Akko's face. She had been waiting for this moment forever. "I finally found out how I can fly a broom! All you three have to do is try and kill me with your quirks!"
"Giant done." agreed Bakugou.
