Ashido skated ahead determinedly. She was using a thin layer of acid to dig her toes into the dirt, skidding through the forest as fast as she could. Koda had broken away into the woodland a minute ago in search of animals to enlist. Their plan now relied on Ashido's ability to find Midnight and lure her away from the gate.
Grinning confidently, Ashido swerved between two trees, sliding out into the clearing in front of the exit gate. Midnight was standing there, posed with one hand on her hip, and the other holding her whip.
"Hey, teach!" Ashido shouted, waving at her. "Hope you don't mind me getting past you!"
Midnight smirked, lifting her whip. "Sorry, that's not going to work out," she said, lashing the ground in front of Ashido, who slid to the side last second, eyes wide.
Ashido took a deep breath, and narrowed her eyes at Midnight. "Sorry about this, then!" she apologized, charging the teacher. Midnight smirked, reaching down to rip open her sleeve, smacking Ashido in the face with her narcotic mist. Ashido took a deep breath, cheeks puffed out, and foraged on ahead, getting right up in her teacher's face. Dancing past Midnight and dodging another lash of her whip, Ashido reached out and snatched her red glasses. She then booked it back towards the forest. "Got it!" Ashido cheered, grinning victoriously as she fled.
Midnight paused for a moment, stunned. Then her eyes narrowed on the pink blur rapidly vanishing into the woods. "YOU BRAT!" Midnight screeched, taking off after Ashido at a slower pace, whip racing through the air towards the escaping pink blob.
Ashido let out a yelp when the whip hit the back of her leg, forcing her to run faster. She narrowed her eyes, hoping that her teammates had succeeded in their parts of the plan. Looking up at the sky moments before the sun vanished behind the leaves, she started running towards the sun. Behind her, Midnight continued to pick up speed, whip waving in the air as she tried to get her glasses back.
After three minutes straight of running, Ashido started to get tired. She was sweaty, and her breathing was heavier. Midnight had only gotten faster as she grew angrier and more determined, catching up with Ashido rapidly. When the trees finally opened up into a clearing, covered in leaves with a deer standing proudly in the center, Ashido grinned in relief. Taking the glasses, she spun around, skating backwards across the ground. She held Midnight's glasses up, jumping backwards towards the deer with a smug smile. "Bet you want these back, right?" she laughed.
Midnight's eyes widened at the taunt, before she let out a growl. "You-!" she started, rushing towards Ashido. There was a loud crack, and then Midnight fell through the leaves covering the ground, vanishing into a hidden pitfall. The Pro Hero let out a shocked gasp seconds before she landed at the bottom of a roughly dug dirt hole.
Ashido stopped, wiping her forehead clean of the sweat. She gently pat the deer on the head, tucking Midnight's glasses safely in her shirt pocket. "That went well, huh?" she said breathlessly.
At that moment, Kouda came running out of the woods, eyes wide. His fingers wove out symbols rapidly, and Ashido held her hands up, chuckling.
"I don't know what you're saying!" she told him, before pointing at the pitfall trap. "Midnight is stuck in their though," she confirmed. Kouda paused, and then tiptoed over to the hole, peeking inside fearfully. Midnight was stalking back and forth at the bottom, visibly angry from being blinded. Ashido walked up beside him, peering down as well. "You did a really good job getting the animals to dig this," she complimented, before smiling nervously. "I hope Mineta is almost done already though, cause Midnight's going to kill us."
Suddenly, a loud beeping sound went off. "Group 2 passes!" Nezu's recording announced.
Kouda started signing things rapid fire, but Ashido interrupted him with a loud cheer, punching at the air. "YES!" she shouted excitedly, before whirling around and holding out her hand. Kouda stared at her for a moment, before reaching out and gently tapping his palm against hers. Ashido didn't care, letting out another loud whoop before darting over to the edge of the hole. "Midnight! Here's your glasses!" she yelled, taking the glasses and tossing them down to the captured teacher.
Midnight snatched them out of the air last second, glaring up at Ashido, who gulped. The Pro Hero calmly slipped her glasses on, taking a calming breath. "That was a good strategy," she started, and Ashido grinned. Midnight leveled her with a dark glower. "Steal my glasses again and you'll wish you had failed," she threatened ominously.
Ashido swallowed visibly. "Yes ma'am!" she squeaked, holding out her hand. Midnight reached up and grabbed it, and Ashido helped haul the woman out of the hole. With a haughty huff, Midnight stalked off. Ashido sidled over to Kouda quietly. "I feel lucky to be alive," she whispered jokingly, and he nodded. They both started towards the exit gate. As they walked, Ashido rolled her eyes. "Y'know, I can't believe that Mineta of all people came up with that strategy," she said disbelievingly. "Perverts should be stupid!"
Meanwhile, in the observation room, I bit my lip, eyes narrowed furiously. "Mineta came up with that?!" I protested, gripping the metal railings so tightly my knuckles turned white. "How does a pervy idiot create a good battle plan! That should be illegal!"
"He did come tenth in the midterm rankings," Izuku pointed out unhelpfully. "He's not stupid."
I clenched my jaw, rounding on Izuku. "Then how is he… him?!" I demanded, pointing a furious finger at the screen, where Mineta was strolling out of the field.
"You're very passionate about this," Shouto observed detachedly.
"Try being a female," Ochako deadpanned. "You'll gain 'passion' about Mineta real quick too."
Satou, Hagakure, and Tsuyu entered the battleground for their test. The fifteen minute clock had already started, but Satou and Tsuyu seemed content to take their time towards the exit gate, strolling down the paths of their mall-like battlefield.
Satou scanned the shops lining their walkway, admiring the detail. "The storefronts are very realistic," he complimented. "They put a lot of effort into this."
"Yuuei has a lot of money, kero," Tsuyu pointed out bluntly, tongue peeking out of the corner of her mouth.
Before Satou had a chance to respond, they were interrupted by Thirteen appearing at the end of the shopping rows. The Space Hero splayed his fingers, pointing at the two teens dramatically. "As heroes, you cannot be late!" he declared. "Lives rest in your hands!" As he spoke, he uncapped his pointer finger. The following black hole consumed most of the nearby storefronts, while Tsuyu and Satou barely managed to latch onto a nearby bench that hadn't been immediately upended from the ground.
"Oh no! Hagakure!" Satou shouted dramatically, reaching backwards as if the invisible girl had gotten sucked away.
Thirteen, alarmed, immediately cut off his quirk, hoping he hadn't accidentally hurt one of the students. His quirk was very dangerous, after all - a cuff latched around his wrist from behind him. Eyes wide behind his helmet, Thirteen turned to see empty space.
"Caught you!" Hagakure cheered, voice suspended in the air.
Satou and Tsuyu, from their places sprawled out on the ground, still clutching the benches, sighed in relief. Their arms felt sore from even the few seconds they'd spent resisting Thirteen's quirk.
"Group 3 passes!" The principal announced with a chime, and the exit gate lit up victoriously.
Tsuyu looked to Satou, and smiled. "Satou-kun's acting skills are very good, kero," she complimented.
Satou smiled, cheeks pink. "Thanks, Asui," he responded.
Tsuyu hopped to her feet, offering Satou her hand. "Call me Tsuyu-chan," she said.
From behind the screens of the observation deck, I nodded approvingly. "That was a clever maneuver," I commented. "They lured Thirteen into a battlefield with plenty of obstacles for his quirk, and used Hagakure's invisibility to create an ambush. Satou's distraction was a nice touch."
Izuku's fingers were twitching again. "They used Thirteen's personality and protectiveness of his students along with the well known deadliness of his quirk to predict his actions," he analyzed. "Their timing had to be perfect, for that to work out. Plus, the noise from the vacuum effect of the black hole to cover Hagakure's footsteps. I wonder if that was intentional or just a side effect…?" As he spoke, Izuku's voice slowly became quieter, until he was rapidly and unintelligibly muttering like usual.
I giggled into my hand, wondering if it was because he was anxious. "Izuku, you have five minutes until your test now," I pointed out. "Don't you want to talk to Kaminari and Sero again before facing All Might?"
Izuku flinched, muttering silenced immediately. "Right… I have to fight… All Might…" he remembered, sounding faint. He looked terrified. Then his face turned slightly green, and he appeared scared and nauseous. "E-excuse me!" Izuku said, covering his mouth with his hand and scurrying out of the room.
Ochako glanced at me, looking concerned for Izuku. "I'm going to follow him," she told me, before racing down the hallway after Izuku.
Shouto looked down at me after the door shut behind Ochako. "What's our plan?" he asked. "Do you want to attempt speaking with Bakugo again?"
I swallowed uncomfortably, shifting. "I'll try to find him in between," I said. "But I don't think I'll have any luck."
Mailbox
ZeQueenOfCards: That's good, but I'm still sorry XD And trust me, any review is a good review. Writers like talking about their stories, it's really weird. If you say ANYTHING, you are motivating them to write, trust me :) Thank you for the compliment as well. I put a lot of thought into the battle tactics for each team!
Katr5432: Thank you! To start, yes, Ichigo can heal Tenya's brother. She actually will in the future. The biggest problem for Ichigo healing people is the legality of quirk-usage. When someone becomes admitted into the hospital, or doesn't give their express permission outside of it, Ichigo isn't allowed to heal them. So once Tenya asks, after his brother has left the hospital he is undoubtedly in, Ichigo will heal him. The situation is similar for All Might, except Ichigo doesn't know he's injured and the information is classified. The only reason she hasn't healed All Might is because no one wants to, you know, actually SAY something about the #1 hero being fatally injured. Furthermore, thank you for the warning. I've been trying to be very careful about toeing the line of Mary Sue-ness. The issue is balancing a character strong enough to compete with people like Shouto or Izuku, but not being over the top. Ichigo's biggest weakness isn't exactly physical (although her lack of offensive abilities and size do have disadvantages), but rather her lack of self-confidence. Having confidence in yourself is extremely important, especially when you're expected to take on a leadership role. This arc will probably be the best example of Ichigo's failings, and where she needs to improve if she wants to move forward as a hero. Also: Don't worry, I don't hang a gun on the wall and not fire it. Ichigo's lies, the creep on the bus, and everything else will have applications in the future. I've been waiting for the perfect moment for the fallout. And there will be many opportunities for awesome fight scenes in the future. Finally, I don't mind long reviews, I love 'em, really. I'm glad you're enjoying the story! :)
pinkdoughnuts: Okay, I've been getting comments about this and I feel the need to explain. Why is Ichigo's name "Ichigo Kurosaki"? Am I really that lacking in creativity? Why can't I come up with a name that's original? *inhales deeply* IT IS CANON TO THE STORY THAT ICHIGO STOLE HER NAME! Thank you. Ichigo copied her name from Bleach intentionally, because it's an alias. Her paperwork for Yuuei Academy is fake. She didn't know what to call herself when she applied, since she couldn't use her actual name, and because she was living in a library she wandered into the fantasy section and stole her "new" name from a manga character. Sorry if that seems overly aggressive - it isn't meant to be - because it's my fault I haven't specified it before (should I have a disclaimer in the first chapter?), but that question has been annoying me a bit.
Lone-Wolf-Ranger: Thank you so much! I'm glad you've been enjoying the story, and I hope you continue to do so! I'm sitting on so many chapters right now. I would've updated sooner, but I went on an unexpected 2-week vacation and couldn't bring my computer with me :( I'll be updating every other day now until I catch up to where I wanted to be before.
xenocanaan: Heh heh. That's what YOU think. But yeah, you're right. Shouto is willing to work with Ichigo now, so if Bakugo choses to play along, the team should have a chance of success. The bigger issue is getting Ichigo to speak up and actually make a plan, instead of anxiously twiddling her thumbs. Also, I have posted this story on another website, and Shouto x Ichigo is a popular ship there as well XD I have been duly informed the ship name is "Shouchigo". I laughed my ass off when I read that in the comments. So you are not alone!
GreenDrkness: Thanks, I'm glad you appreciate the strategies. I honestly feel like I should explain my thought processes more when I write this, but then I'd have an extra page attached to every chapter XD I'm happy the effort and thought I put behind the battles is appreciated though. I actually rate the characters power-levels based on a scale I use. It helps determine their strengths, weaknesses, and overall team contributions. It's how I made the teams for the exams, and decided who will pass or fail. It was REALLY useful during the Sports Festival Arc as well.