Katsuki glanced up at Midori as they left for the training ground, stepping out into the sun. His own costume was black and dark green, orange accents on his tank top and mask adding to the look. "The hag did alright with the suit," he grunted.

Midori nodded, eyes sparkling. "Yeah, it's - I know she said she could make a suit that I could fight in, but this is-" she rolled her shoulders, the fabric not bunching or catching.

Katsuki grunted. "Yeah, she's pretty good at designing clothes. And she has your measurements."

Ever since Midori's growth spurt, the hag had kept dragging her off to model clothes. In exchange for a fair chunk of extra pocket money, she'd been put into a wide variety of outfits the hag was working on, helping Midori get proper measurements for her clothing and also getting a leg up on the competition. She had also seen it as a way to try and get Midori to wear something that wasn't Hero merch or those T-shirts that said 'shirt,' to limited success.

Though some of their classmates had frankly shit taste when it came to costumes. He glared at two of the biggest offenders - Thick Lips and Grape Bitch. Thick Lips' costume was boring as hell and a frankly hideous mustard yellow, and the Grape wore what looked like a diaper. If his parents saw them, then the pair of them would be stuck in their studio for a week while they got a fashion overhaul.

But their classmates' terrible taste couldn't take away that they were going to have actual Hero Training today. Katsuki's lips peeled back in a savage grin.

—

All Might took a deep breath as the students came through. He only had a small amount of experience teaching young Ashido, but she had managed to master One for All pretty easily, hadn't she? And he had spent all of last night and his free time furiously flipping through Teaching for Complete Idiots to help prepare his lesson.

As the students lined up in front of him he couldn't help but feel confident about the future ahead. In only a couple of years they would be Heroes in their own right - and a couple like Ashido and Midoriya had already been a Hero in one way or another. He shook himself slightly. Time to start them off with a basic exercise.

A young man in body armour - an Ingenium, it was good to see the family tradition had continued - raised a hand. "All Might sensei! This appears to be the same field that we used for the entrance exam! Will we be performing cityscape manoeuvres?"

All Might shook his head. "Nope! Today's focus will be indoor fights!" His smile shifted slightly to a more serious one. "Now, the flashiest battles happen outdoors, but statistically the worst Villains are found indoors. After all, things like black market deals don't happen out in the open!"

The class seemed to pick up on his words and he smiled. "So today, you'll be split into teams of two and face off against each other!"

For a second, everybody was quiet. Then, a flurry of questions came from various students.

"Are we not having any basic training beforehand, kero?"

Bakugou's face split into a feral grin. "Can I just blast everybody away?"

Yaoyorozu raised her hand. "What determines victory in this exercise?"

Uraraka gave him an anxious look, her question obviously on the minds of a couple of other students. "Are… Are you going to threaten to expel the lowest performer like Aizawa-sensei did?"

Iida's hand blurred through the air. "How are we going to divide ourselves into teams, All Might sensei?"

"Isn't my cape fabulous?"

All Might winced. It was almost worse than dealing with the press. "Slow down a bit, kids! I haven't even gone over the scenario!"

As they calmed down, he took a deep breath, pulling out his cheat sheet and rapidly scanning it once more. "Now, the scenario is a simple one: the Villains have holed up with a nuclear bomb, and the Heroes have to stop them! You have a limited time to either capture both Villains or secure the bomb. Villains must either incapacitate the Heroes or wait until the bomb goes off in fifteen minutes!"

He took a deep breath. "Regarding the questions that I didn't answer by describing the scenario, I am not going to make the same threat that Eraserhead did. Using your Quirks is obviously permitted, but try not to send your classmates to Recovery Girl. And teams will be determined by drawing lots!"

Young Iida gasped. "Drawing lots?! Isn't that a bit haphazard?"

Midoriya got a look of sudden understanding. "It makes sense - during emergencies Heroes often have to team up with Heroes from other agencies on the spot. Or a Villain attack happens when you have a new Hero at your agency…"

Iida nodded rapidly. "I see! My greatest apologies, All Might-sensei!"

"No harm done, young man! Let's get to it!"

Soon enough, everybody had their teams.

A: Midoriya Ikumi and Shoji Mezo

B: Kaminari Denki and Uraraka Ochako

C: Mineta Minoru and Yaoyorozu Momo

D: Bakugou Katsuki and Todoroki Shouto

E: Ashido Mina and Iida Tenya

F: Aoyama Yuga and Koda Koji

G: Asui Tsuyu and Satou Rikido

H: Jirou Kyoka and Tokoyami Fumikage

I: Tohru Hagakure and Kirishima Eijirou

J: Hanta Sero and Ojiro Mashirao

All Might swept a careful eye over them, then plunged his hands into each box. The class leaned in slightly, eager to get started. "Now then, the first matchup is…"

He pulled out the balls dramatically. "Team A as the Villains, and Team C as the Heroes! The Villain team goes in first and gets five minutes of prep time!" His gaze swept over Midoriya and Shoji, who seemed a bit downcast at being cast as a Villain. Still, it was valuable experience in dealing with a more defensive fight.

"Shoji, Midoriya. For this exercise you need to adopt a Villainous mindset! Go all out, don't hold back! Though if you go too far I will have to stop you."

"Um…O-okay, All Might sensei!" she squeaked.

"Let's get ready, Ikumi." Shoji looked up at the taller girl, and then they went off.

"If you lose this, Midori, I'm gonna kick your ass," Bakugou growled.

Kirishima looked over at Bakugou with a slightly weirded out look on his face. "Uh…"

Midoriya managed a faint smile, before looking at the door. All Might looked over and winced when he saw it. For a person who was in the Japanese average it was right sized.

For somebody like him or Midoriya, it was an obstacle that would have to be ducked under. And the ceiling was definitely too low for a person of Midoriya's height. He looked over at the tall girl. "...Do you want to change buildings, or-"

"No, no! This is… fine."

All Might raised an eyebrow but her face was set in a determined expression. "Very well! Now Villains, make your preparations! The Heroes will be attacking after five minutes!"

—

After awkwardly ducking through the door into the building, Ikumi sighed, ears flattened against the ceiling. After only a couple of days at U.A, she'd grown used to a school where she could stand up properly indoors. About the only small mercy was that the room with the bomb was just barely big enough for her to stand upright. "I-I know it's just an exercise and it was random, but… I just feel awkward being cast as a Villain."

Shoji paused, considering. "...It's similar for me. But at the end of the day, it's just one exercise."

Ikumi managed a nod. Just like old playground games, except less hurtful since it was randomly determined. "W-well, let's be the best Villains we can!"

"Do you have any insights in fighting our opponents? Or any particular observations about their Quirks?"

She tapped her chin. "Well, Yaoyorozu's the biggest threat… Her Quirk's so versatile, and combining it with that reference book on her belt means she's even more dangerous! She potentially has the answer to anything we can do."

Shoji nodded. "She's a recommended student as well. From what I've heard that exam is even tougher than what we went through."

Ikumi nodded, tugging her lip. "Still, it takes her some time to create what she needs, and she has to think about its composition. Plus she's limited by surface area and lipids in her body and I haven't seen her create more than one object at a time. Can she affect the temperature of what she creates, or the speed with which it leaves her body? She made a cannon so she has to know how every part works, but does she make the parts individually or -"

She cut herself off when she saw Shoji's stare. "O-oh! S-sorry, I-I just like analysing Quirks and-and Yaoyorozu's Quirk is really cool, and I-I didn't mean to get distracted-"

He shook his head. "No, that was pretty informative. What about Mineta's Quirk?"

"Oh, that one's not as interesting, but it's still cool! Those balls on his head stick to things that aren't him, and he can bounce off them - though I'd say that when they're on his head they aren't sticky, otherwise he'd have to peel his pillow off his head every time he slept." Tugging on her lip, she thought about how she would use those Quirks together. "I-I think I have a plan for how to deal with them. Are you okay with going patrolling in the building?"

He gave a thumbs up. "I'll keep several eyes and ears out for our opponents. Given how much you've figured out from their Quirks after seeing them a couple of times, it seems like you've got a good plan."

Ikumi nodded. Well, if they were supposed to act as Villains… "I do, uh… Mwa-hahaha!" It felt right for some odd reason. "Okay, here's the plan…"

—

In the basement below, Katsuki watched the screens intensely. In front, All Might grinned. "Seems like they're getting into it!"

"Yeah, this is gonna be tough!" Pinky cheered. Katsuki weighed it up and had to agree.

Much as he knew Midori would kick ass, he had to admit that Ponytail was something else. Girl was smart and pretty fit even without her Quirk. He knew Midori was going to win but Ponytail was gonna make Midori fight for it.

Though he had to admit, being paired up with the Grape was a major handicap. The little jerk looked like he was trying to be serious, but Katsuki could catch him sneaking glimpses at Ponytail's chest.

All Might leaned into the microphone. "HERO TEAM… BEGIN!"

"Good luck Ikumi!" Round Cheeks shouted.

Katsuki snorted. As if Midori needed luck.

—

Minoru took a deep breath. "You ready, Yaoyorozu?"

What happiness he'd gained from being paired up with the most attractive girl with the skimpiest costume in class had been squashed when they were going up against the two tallest people in the class. Still, at least All Might had included the clause that getting the bomb was a win. It meant that they could aim to rush the bomb rather than fight. Minoru had no illusions about his combat ability relative to Shoji and his ridiculous grip strength or Midoriya's sheer size compared to him.

His partner nodded, pulling on a pair of dark glasses and ear protection. "Yes." She paused as she pulled out similarly sized equipment for him along with a metallic cylinder. "Though I must admit, you're taking this more seriously than I thought you would."

He let out a bitter chuckle. "Aizawa'll probably actually expel me if I don't get a good enough grade in this class. That and I'm pretty sure either Shoji or Midoriya could throw me through a wall." Maybe yesterday he would have stared at Yaoyorozu's cleavage the whole time, but not now!

…Well, he'd only been looking at it half the time. Not like he could help it if they got in the way of direct eye contact.

Yaoyorozu turned around, opening her costume. Minoru stood rooted to the spot, gaping as a light show went on. "I-uh-wha-huh-"

Zipping her costume back up, Yaoyorozu handed him a controller. "I needed a bit more surface area to make this," she explained. Minoru shook himself before he saw the drone on the ground, its sleek body shining in the light. "Scout ahead with this, please."

Shakily, Minoru moved the sticks, letting the drone fly up. "...Can I keep this after the exercise?"

"Technically I'm not supposed to, since it could potentially destabilise the economy…"

He shook his head, looking through the cameras. "Anyway, I think I found Shoji… Wait, he can grow eyes and ears on his arms?! That's…" the phrase 'I kinda wish I had that Quirk so I could peek on girls' crossed through his mind and buried itself.

"Keep looking. It'll probably be in one of the bigger rooms," Yaoyorozu urged. He made it fly a bit higher, up further.

Minoru grinned as he saw a familiar oblong shape in the fourth floor window. "Okay, I found the bomb-"

A gout of flame shot from the window, and the camera feed turned to static, the smoking remains of the drone crashing to the ground. Minoru gaped. "...And Midoriya's guarding it," he weakly muttered.

Yaoyorozu nodded, more light sparking from her stomach. "I thought as much. I would say that Midoriya or Shoji might move the bomb now that it's discovered, so we need to act fast." It blossomed into a grappling hook. "Mineta?"

He sighed, pulling balls from his head. "Got it!" Pulling a couple of balls from his head, he ran over to the wall. Taking a moment to imagine Midoriya in Yaoyorozu's costume, he found the energy within to clamber up like a monkey. Meanwhile, Yaoyorozu threw her grappling line up and started climbing with him.

Minoru felt pretty proud of himself when he made it to the top at the same time as Yaoyorozu, opening the window further and clambering inside. Minoru sighed, taking some deep breaths while Yaoyorozu looked around, making a staff. "Okay. Let's hope Shoji didn't hear us-"

"Well, well. The Heroes are here to thwart our evil deeds. How unexpected."

Slowly, Minoru turned around. There stood Shoji, arms crossed. "...I hate my life," he muttered, before pulling out the flashbang Yaoyorozu had made and tossing it at him. If they could take out Shoji, they would have a much easier time with this exercise.

—

Mezo had barely a second of warning before the grenade went off in a burst of intense sound and light. For a moment he flailed blindly, then felt a pair of sticky balls impact his chest. Forming new eyes and ears on his arms, he got to see the look of panic on Mineta's face before the shorter boy shot around the corridor, throwing his balls around with a frantic battle cry. Yaoyorozu backed him up, swinging her staff to try and sweep his legs.

"They're a couple of corridors away from the bomb!" He shouted into the mic as he fought. Any reservations he had about trying to hit a girl went out the window when her staff rattled his arms. Grunting, he grabbed it and bent it into a right angle, causing her to immediately retreat, light sparking as she pulled out another staff.

"Got it, I'll be right there!" As she cut the communications short, he heard her start to run.

"Take this!" The shorter boy cried, pegging a ball at him. Mezo grunted as Mineta threw more balls in his direction that he narrowly dodged, scampering around a corner with Yaoyorozu. He almost charged after them, but stopped. Bending an eye around the corner, he saw Momo pull another grenade from her midriff.

"Fire in the hole!" She yelled.

Hurriedly he pulled his eye back and dismissed his extra eyes. The grenade rolled around the corner and he winced. He backed up and clapped his hands to his ears and shut his eyes to try and block the worst of the flashbang, ready to form new eyes and ears. Then he could try and deal with the pair of them - !

Rather than a loud bang and flash he dimly heard somebody running at him. He opened his eyes just as Yaoyorozu swung her quarterstaff at his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. As he folded up, MIneta bounced through the air and latched onto his back, frantically wrapping capture tape around his shoulders even as he tried to throw the shorter boy off.

All Might's voice came crackling over the intercom. "Shoji Mezo, I'm afraid you've been captured."

Yaoyorozu bowed politely. "Sorry about this Shoji. That was a dummy flashbang."

Mezo sighed. "No, it was a good strategy. But you won't be able to defeat my partner in crime so easily!"

Mineta grinned. "O-okay! Now we just need to take on Midoriya-"

Suddenly, Mineta and Yaoyorozu were covered in a familiar shadow. Mezo couldn't help but smile.

—

Momo felt rather than heard the impact behind her. Turning slightly, she stood, stunned for a second.

In the two days she had known her, Midoriya had been quiet and reserved. Her height had been noted but it wasn't something that had been especially prominent. Midoriya held herself tightly, her body language restrained and non threatening. That had gone out of the window.

Now, Midoriya loomed.

To Momo, Midoriya filled the corridor, towering over her and Mineta with her fangs half bared and a growl coming from her throat - it was easy to forget that she had fangs since she acted so meek. The claws on her fingers seemed more pronounced as well.

"Uh… surrender?" Midoriya managed, before attacking. She tried to throw a hook punch, only to have to stop that attack when she realised she would hit the wall. Yaoyorozu tried to recover but Midoriya changed strategy.

Rather than try punching again she kicked at Momo, and she barely dodged as the massive boot shot through where she was standing. Pulling her leg back, Midoriya came forwards to press her advantage, her near impossible speed hampered by the tight conditions and the balls stuck around the roof and floor.

Despite her reservations, Momo felt slightly excited. Mineta had come up with the idea to try and bait Midoriya away from the bomb by fighting Shoji if he was patrolling, or rushing the bomb as quickly as possible. The balls from his fight before were scattered around, and Midoriya was doing her best to avoid them but all it would take was one careless move and she'd be caught.

"S-surrender, Villain!" Momo managed, trying to hold herself like she'd seen heroines act on the street.

Midoriya tried to keep a straight face. "I'm afraid I, uh, can't do that, Hero! Um… Mwa-hahaha?" That done, she kicked again.

It wasn't entirely an act when she backed up, trying to make something to deal with her. Midoriya slowly stepped forwards, Mineta trying to get back up and readying a ball. Quickly she threw her shield at Midoriya to slow her down, which Midoriya swatted out of the air like a fly. Momo's eyes widened when she saw Midoriya suck in a breath.

Quickly reaching for a wooden shield, Momo winced when the heat poured over her from that attack, the flames rolling off her shield and scorching the floor. Despite Midoriya's lack of formal skill, she was simply too big to fight properly. Momo tried to pull out a flashbang but Midoriya didn't let up, launching a quick kick that felt more like a sledgehammer.

Momo was knocked to the ground, the wind knocked out of her. Midoriya came closer, a spool of capture tape held in hands far too large for it. Just as she wrapped Yaoyorozu's hands in the tape, Mineta's hairball flew into the gap between Midoriya's hands, sticking them together.

"Hah! Got you!" Mineta yelled. As Midoriya straightened up, another ball came careening towards her head, then another aimed at her retreating foot. She managed to duck the first hairball, only to get her foot stuck on an existing one.

"Yaoyorozu has been captured!" All Might announced. "Also, Heroes have five minutes to secure the bomb or capture both Villains!"

"What?!" Mineta yelped.

Momo took a deep breath, then winced when she saw Midoriya take a deep breath, setting her face in a determined look. "S-sorry about this," she muttered.

With those words, Momo had a bad feeling. A feeling that intensified when Midoriya's fur seemed to ruffle with an invisible wind. Then, impossibly, Midoriya came unstuck from Mineta's hairball. The purple sphere plopped off her wrists at the same time as she pushed off the ball that was keeping her shoe pinned.

Mineta gaped at this, which was enough time for Midoriya to lunge forwards and picked him up with a massive clawed hand. "Give up, Hero," she growled. Then her face turned back to her normal worried look, shrinking in on herself. "S-sorry, Mineta-"

He struggled in her grip, then flopped back. "I… I give!"

"VILLAINS WIN!"

Momo sighed at that. Then Midoriya came up to her, a concerned expression on her face. "S-sorry, Yaoyorozu. You were really cool there! Um… N-no hard feelings?"

She smiled, taking Midoriya's huge hand. "No hard feelings."

After this, she had a lot to think about.

—

In the control room, there was silence as Midoriya carefully put Mineta down and reached for Momo to untie her. Then, Kaminari opened his mouth. "Holy shit," he said.

All Might shook a finger. "Language, Kaminari!"

That had been an exciting first match - both Hero and Villain teams had acted in great fashions. Acting like a Villain was a good way to try and get into their head, an act that was encouraged by some of the more underground Heroes he associated with.

Yaoyorozu and Mineta shuffled back in, looking bruised but otherwise alright, Shoji bringing up the rear. Midoriya was last, coming in with her head bowed low and body language more restrained than ever.

Ashido came over to her, grinning excitedly. "Holy cow, Midoriya, that was so cool!"

She blinked, obviously startled. "Um… What?"

"Yeah! You guys were really leaning into that whole Villain thing, and you just took out Yaoyorozu and Mineta like it was nothing!" Ashido's eyes glittered as she looked up at Midoriya. "Plus you just… loomed-"

She winced when Midorioya seemed to tighten her posture. "S-sorry, Midoriya! Still cool though!"

"...I don't really like doing it though…" Midoriya muttered. "I-I just feel mean when I loom over people, even if it's an accident."

"You did pretty good, Midori," Bakugou growled, earning a surprised look from Midoriya. Todoroki gave his partner an odd look, one All Might had seen on Endeavour's face a few times when he teamed up with the man.

Well, hopefully they would work as well together as he had with his father. Even if he took different patrols than All Might. If All Might hadn't known better he might have thought that Endeavour was trying to avoid him.

Meanwhile, Mineta was also being praised for his actions, something that seemed to surprise the shorter boy. "When you tackled Shoji, that was manly as hell!" Kirishima crowed, slapping Mineta on the back. He winced when it nearly knocked the shorter boy down. "Whoops…"

"I-I'm fine…" Mineta managed.

"I have to say, you're a surprisingly fast climber," Asui noted. Mineta flushed at the praise.

All Might coughed into his fist, the class turning back to him. "Well, you can congratulate your classmates later. For now, it's time to judge who was the MVP of this round!"

He grinned at the class. "So, who do you feel made the greatest contribution to their team?" The class muttered between each other and his smile widened. It was a close thing, but being honest he had a choice already made.

Yaoyorozu spoke up. "Reflecting on my performance and the Villains, I feel that it comes down to Midoriya."

Midoriya spluttered. "W-what? No way, that should be you! Your team was more coordinated and you stayed together rather than split like we did! Not to mention you took the time to scout ahead and found an ideal entry point!"

Yaoyorozu shook her head. "While we did that, our approach wasn't as flexible as yours. When you went on the offensive, we weren't able to respond in a meaningful way."

"T-that was just what I figured out about your Quirk - I-I thought that putting pressure on you would stop you from being able to make dangerous items with Creation-"

Iida suddenly raised his hand. "That is what I think was the deciding factor! Midoriya, you had a better idea of how your opponents' Quirks worked, based on your plan!" His hand chopped the air robotically. "Not just that, you kept a secondary aspect of your Quirk a secret until it became relevant and the Hero team wasn't able to meaningfully respond!"

All Might's smile twitched. Kind of the point he'd wanted to make, except a bit blunter. Still, not inaccurate.

"Speaking of, Midoriya, how'd that work?!" Mineta yelled. "I had an amazing dump this morning, so that should have held you in place for hours! Or you should have torn your sleeves getting that ball off!"

"Too much information, kero." Asui shook her head at the shorter boy.

Midoriya squirmed a bit. "Ah, well… I, uh… kind of have both my parents' Quirks? W-well, a mutated version of my mother's and a stronger version of my dad's, technically."

The other students stared at her, wide eyed. Todoroki in particular had a curiously intense look on his face. "Wait, you've got two Quirks?!" Uraraka yelled.

Midoriya shook her head. "Um… yes, but actually no? They're two different parts of the same thing- I got my fire breath and my, uh…" she waved her hands around her vaguely, "appearance from my dad, and my mother's Quirk… changed a bit? I have a telekinetic force field around my body almost constantly? It goes into my fire and makes it hotter, and… I used it to stop the balls from hitting my fur."

Yaoyorozu's hand flew to her mouth. "T-that's right! You briefly mentioned having two parts to your Quirk in the assessment but didn't go into detail! " She looked down sheepishly. "I just assumed it was your height you were referring to."

All Might grinned. "Indeed! Being able to figure out your opponents' Quirk on the fly is a valuable skill to cultivate! Know your enemy and you come one step closer to beating them! Ultimately it's a close call but I have to give Midoriya the MVP role since she was able to adapt the best to her plan going awry."

"I have to agree!" Iida boomed. "Mineta' while you worked with Yaoyorozu well, there were a couple of times where you froze up rather than acted, especially when Midoriya freed herself from your Quirk! Shoji performed well and detected the Heroes early but made an understandable tactical error in dismissing his extra eyes and ears before the fake flashbang! As future Heroes we have to be careful to preserve our own well being but keeping temporary eyes and ears up would have prevented you from being attacked like that!"

Shoji nodded stoically. "I would also like to point out that Midoriya was the one who came up with our plan while I felt I didn't contribute much."

All Might smiled. "Don't put yourself down too much, Shoji. You asked questions and made suggestions to the plan that improved it. Sometimes it helps to have a second opinion."

He smiled. A good first match like this set the benchmark for the other students to aspire to. "That being said, let's determine the next matchup!"

AN: Sorry this took so long! I got distracted with video games and other matters. That, and I rewrote who got paired with who and the fight itself like a dozen times.

Honestly this chapter was a huge bottleneck for me. The Battle Trial and some other school events feel like that when writing - how different do we make it? How similar? In the end I went with this and I'm still not completely satisfied but it'll have to do.

Hopefully this fight was interesting.

So! Ikumi's fought in the combat trials! Regarding some comments, Ikumi is not a very technical fighter since she has never needed to be. When you're in a superhuman weight class of your own, any brawl you get into is your own way. She can control her strength and has trained beyond a normal athletic teen, but that's it.

And now the class knows about her secondary Quirk. Even Todoroki is interested. Probably because he's no longer a super special boyo.

As always, thank you Banchoking for editing.

AND ANOTHER THING… In my other story I mentioned setting up a for some small financial support. Well… It has been realised, among other things.

First of all, I've set up a crude Discord. /BBVa2xFsTf Since becoming its only moderator a week ago I've put on fifty kilos and gained an appreciation for Genshin Impact. There is a general chat. Pretty much my big rule is, don't be a dick or say anything you wouldn't want your mother to hear.

Secondly, I now have a . Due to the site rules on Ao3 and I will not be directly linking on there. However, I will add a link to it in my description on Spacebattles. Think of it as a tip jar more than anything. About the most I can offer is a private channel on Discord that is for subscribers to .

I'm new to this stuff and my writing style doesn't really lend itself to any exclusive content. Whether you subscribe or not I will continue to write.

Don't forget to comment! Comments and likes keep my engine going.

Next time… School Fight Club 2: Explosions on Ice!