Morning came far too quickly for class 1-A. The UA teachers had everyone up at dawn on the dot and everyone was looking especially sluggish after breakfast. The majority of the class drug their feet as the teachers had them line up outside the mess hall, the heat of the day was already beginning to set in as the sun began peeking over the mountains.

"I AM HERE!" All Might presented himself, crash landing before the students. The surprise of his entrance jump started everyone and brought them out of their reverie. "Good morning Class 1-A! Today, you will train with your previously assigned partner and your goal is to combine your quirks in order to defeat an opposing team! Battles will take place at the end of the day. Good luck!" All Might gave the class an enthusiastic thumbs-up before dismissing them.

'Okay, I just have to hold my ground and make Bakugo listen to me,' Uraraka began hyping herself up for the inevitable confrontation with her teammate. She took a deep breath and turned her head side to side, looking for Bakugo. 'What? Where did he go?'

She caught a glimpse of angry blonde hair making its way into the treeline. 'He didn't even wait for me? What a jerk!' Uraraka started after him, angry for being left behind. 'So he really does think that little of me..'

"Bakugo! Wait up!" Uraraka shouted as she bordered the treeline. He didn't even acknowledge her as he continued walking through the trees, his arms swaying beside him purposefully.

"This isn't funny!" Uraraka leapt into a sprint to try and catch up, "We're partners, so we have to work together."

Bakugo scoffed at her, "Leave me alone, airhead." A scornful look rested onto his face.

Uraraka came up behind him, anger written all over her face, "No can do, Bakugo. We won't win if we don't work together."

"Win?" Bakugo tensed rigidly, "I can win on my own! I don't need help from you or anybody else!" His palms began to spark at his resilience and his growing irritation of the foolish brunette.

"Oh?" Uraraka snapped back, "So you want to fight the other team all on your own, then? Well, what are you going to do if we get paired up with Deku and Yaoyorozu or Todoroki and Ojiro? Do you honestly think you can take them on all by yourself?"

That was the wrong thing to say.

Bakugo stopped dead in his tracks, his jaw clenched, and his eyes burned with a menacing fury. "What did you say to me?" He kept his eyes ahead, but he could sense her recoiling back slightly.

Uraraka breathed out softly before continuing, "I'm just trying to get us to work together. I'm on this team, which means I am fifty percent, so I want a fifty percent say."

Bakugo growled audibly, a deep undertone of hatred laced in. "Shut-up right now or I swear I will kill you."

"But-" Uraraka started exasperatedly.

"SHUT UP!" Bakugo bellowed and reeled to his left, sparks lighting up his palms. As he turned toward her, all he saw was an absence of brown hair.

"I'm not going to fight you, Bakugo! I'm your teammate, your equal!" Uraraka shouted, her voice strained pleadingly as she perched from a nearby tree branch.

Bakugo narrowed his eyes dangerously as he caught her sight, "So you're going to run away? Fuckin' fight me! I beat you once and I'll do it again!"

"No." Uraraka replied, forceful and dry. 'This is not working out how I hoped it would,' Uraraka inwardly groaned. 'I'm just making him more mad. How do I calm him down and get him to listen?'

Bakugo gritted his teeth, not even attempting to tame his rage, "I don't need your help! Your stupid quirk is nowhere near my level, at least not anymore. Instead of getting stronger, you've been too busy kissing Deku's ass. I don't have respect for anybody who isn't focused on being the best!"

Hurt flashed across Uraraka's face at Bakugo's words. "You jerk!" She leapt down from the tree, angry tears welling up in her eyes. "You have no idea what I'm aiming for! I don't need your respect, Bakugo. It means nothing to me!" Uraraka's fist balled up as she made purposeful steps toward the explosive blonde, "For you information, I am aiming for the top because I have to become a pro-hero too. I don't have the option to fail, so I've been working to get stronger every day. Yes, I've made friends, but that doesn't make me weak!" Uraraka was a few feet away from him now, stopping and gritting her teeth through her watery eyes. "If I have to fight you to prove that, then bring it! Just don't be surprised when I beat you!"

Bakugo's determined expression didn't waiver as he stared down the brunette. She met his gaze ferociously, but he could see her fists trembling slightly. 'She's afraid to fight me, but will do it anyway? She's more like Deku than I give her credit for.'

Bakugo grunted pointedly and released himself from his fighting stance. "Fine, dumb-shit, we can work together."

Shock was written all over Uraraka's face. 'What? He doesn't want to fight now?'

Bakugo turned back around and kept walking, "Hurry the hell up or I'm going to leave you here, airhead!"

Uraraka dropped her fists and started following him, her mind going crazy. 'Why the sudden change of heart? Was it because I agreed to fight him? That was pretty unlike me. Man, am I glad he changed his mind!'

Bakugo led her through the trees for a while longer, an awkward silence hanging in the air. As they came across a small clearing, Bakugo stopped. "This will work fine. I won't be able to catch anything on fire."

Uraraka glanced at their new training spot. The area was surrounded by new tree saplings and the earth was devoid of grass. There were plenty of rocks and boulders around, which was a plus for Uraraka. The dewy morning made the dirt damp and somewhat slick.

"So…" Uraraka started awkwardly. "What now?"

Bakugo huffed in annoyance, "You lift stuff and I blow stuff up."

Unsure of how to respond, Uraraka laughed airily. "Shouldn't we strategize first?"

"We don't know who we're fighting, dumb-shit." Bakugo rolled his eyes.

"Well duh," Uraraka tapped her chin. "But we could tell each other what our strengths and weaknesses are, right?"

Bakugo growled inwardly at her new-found cheeriness. Nothing annoyed him more. "Then start talking. We don't have all day, you know?"

"Well…" Uraraka sat down on a boulder, "You already know that I can lift a lot because of the sports festival, but I get really sick when I lift too much or I lift myself. Gunhead did teach me a lot about martial arts, though! I can hold my own in hand to hand combat."

"That's lame." Bakugo responded dryly.

"Speak for yourself," Uraraka shot back. "Your big attack? You can only perform that move a handful of times before your body can't take it."

She was quick to notice that he was visibly irked by her point, so she moved on, "Maybe we should just start training?"

Bakugo silently agreed, his irritation growing. He knew he had matured miles since he started at UA and he was getting sick of being served humble pie. To say he was scornful about working with Uraraka was an understatement because he knew he worked so much better alone. However, if he didn't at least try to work with her, he would look like he hadn't improved at all in the eyes of his instructors. Things just never went his way.

Uraraka slammed a closed fist into her other palm. "Great! Let's get to it!"

…..

As the day fell into early afternoon, everyone broke for lunch. As Uraraka entered the mess hall, she pulled her sweat-sticky hair up into a ponytail. A blast of cold air rushed her face and she sighed in relief. "I don't think I have ever been more thankful for air conditioning in my life…"

Yaoyorozu fell in beside her as they lined up for their lunch. "You look like you've been having quite a day. Midoriya and I have been worried about you."

Uraraka breathed out, still relishing in the cool air of the building. "Yeah, Bakugo and I have been trying to get along all morning and we have gotten absolutely nowhere."

Concern washed onto Yaoyorozu's face. "I can't say I'm not surprised. He won't work with you at all?"

Uraraka groaned hopelessly, "We started off alright, but it seems like we take one step forward and then two steps back. He obviously doesn't work well with others, especially me. Everything I say just annoys him more…"

"That sucks," Yaoyorozu replied as they were handed paper lunch bags. "Want to come sit with us? I bet you could use a break from explosion-face over there."

Uraraka's eyes fell on Bakugo leaving the mess hall with his lunch in hand. Kirishima and Kaminari waved at him as he walked by, inviting him to join them, but Bakugo coldly ignored them and walked out of the mess hall.

"I could definitely use a break," Uraraka grieved for herself, "But it looks like Bakugo is not wasting any training time, so I better go with him. I feel like he'd be mad if I didn't go too."

Yaoyorozu patted the brunette on the head, "Alright then. Just call us if you need anything, okay?"

Uraraka nodded at her friend before going after Bakugo, "I'll see you guys later!"

Grimly, Uraraka left the mess hall. She missed the air conditioned environment the moment she walked out the door but trudged her way back to their training spot. As she came up on the clearing, she panted at seeing Bakugo's relaxed position. He was leaning his back on the boulder he sat beside, covered by a twinge of shade. He was gulping down some water that was still chilled and he held his sandwich in his other hand.

Uraraka plopped down across from him, happy to have some shade. She dug into her lunch sack and saw the same sandwich that Bakugo had, some carrots, a tub of rice, and a cold water bottle. She looked back at her partner only for him to ignore her gaze.

"Why couldn't we eat at the mess hall?" She suddenly asked. "It's hot out here and cool in there."

Bakugo swallowed his bite from his sandwich and gave her a perturbed look. "I didn't want to be around those idiots."

Uraraka unwrapped her sandwich as she snacked on her carrots, "Don't you ever get tired of being so rude?"

Bakugo narrowed his red eyes at her, "Don't you ever get tired of being a nosy, air-brained moron?"

Uraraka huffed in exasperation. "Bakugo, we've been trying to work together all day and we've gotten a whole lot of nowhere. I'm trying to get along with you, but you keep saying things like that."

"So?" Bakugo finished the last bite of his sandwich and reached for his carrots, "This is just a camp, so we're not getting graded. I'm more interested in getting stronger by myself."

"Ahhh!" Uraraka pulled her hair frustratedly, "Why are you so difficult? I ought you punch you for being such a piece of work!"

Bakugo smirked, "I'd like to see you try."

Uraraka squinted at him and raised a fist at him, "Is that a challenge?"

Bakugo set his lunch aside, grabbing a single carrot from the remainder of his lunch. He stood up and twirled it in his fingers. "Tell you what, if you can take this carrot from me, I will try to work with you."

Uraraka laughed lightly as she stood up herself, "Quirks or no?"

Bakugo thought about it momentarily, "No quirks. It's too hot outside to be blasting stuff."

"Deal," Uraraka smiled, an evil and confident glint in her eye. 'This will be easy."

Bakugo gripped the carrot in his left hand as he maintained a defensive stance, watching as Uraraka took up an offensive one. She started to circle around him slowly and he matched her movements. She dared a step forward, but Bakugo held his position

Uraraka smiled behind her fists, a gleam of cockiness in her eyes. She knew she was up against a maniac and a damn good fighter, but she knew she had what it took to simply grab a carrot from him. She hopped a little back and forth before lunging at him.

Bakugo threw his right arm up in defense as she tried to distract him with her attack and threw his left arm closer to his chest. He turned on his left foot and put his back to her to separate them. Not staying exposed for too long, he swung his right foot back around to face her, taking back his defensive stance. "That was gutsy, but I could see right through it. I could have taken you out right then and there if I wanted to."

Uraraka gritted her teeth, 'This might be harder than I thought.'

She took a pause to think before lunging again, this time anticipating his right arm. She knew he wasn't going to pull the same move again and was pleasantly surprised when he went low this time, just as she was hoping. Before he could reach her legs and knock her off balance, she grabbed his wrist on the outside and put her other hand on his shoulder. He continued with his maneuver regardless of her tactic, and moved to swing his left leg under her.

Just as his move was about to knock her off balance, she put all her weight on her left hand that rested on his shoulder and leapt up, cartwheeling over him. Her eyes fell on the hand holding the carrot and she lunged again for the win.

"You missed something!" Bakugo cackled, smiling devilishly. He exited the maneuver he was executing a moment earlier and swung full-circle. Just as she reached for the carrot, he was already responding to her attack. He grabbed her right wrist, attempting to twist her arm behind her back.

Uraraka knew what he was trying to do immediately, as it was the first thing that Gunhead had taught her. Now that she was on the defensive, she threw the weight of her body into his chest, trying to force him to release her before he could get her into a surrendering position.

His first response to her defense, he threw a left jab to try and knock her off balance, but she was ready. She threw herself around, her back now to him, and blocked the move. Just as she blocked the move, she reached for his left fist.

Bakugo realized in that second that he could lose this, so he jerked the carrot to the only place she couldn't reach it. He pulled his hand to his mount and bit down on the carrot, chewing it up quickly.

Uraraka twirled back around to face him, anger and defeat on her face. "You cheated!"

Bakugo smirked back, "I don't think so. We can call it a draw."

Uraraka huffed in dissatisfaction before she realized she was no more than a few inches away from the tall blonde teen. Both were drenched with sweat as the afternoon sun beat down on them. She watched as he used the back of his right hand to wipe the beads from his forehead.

"Ahh!" Uraraka squealed and tripped backwards, falling on the ground.

Bakugo didn't understand her reaction as began heading for his water bottle. "Are you ready to get back to training?"

Uraraka stood up and made her way to her own drink, disappointed to find that it was no longer ice cold. "Yeah I guess…"

Bakugo looked up at the sun, "We have maybe another 2 hours before they call it and we start the matches."

"We have a lot of ground to cover.." Uraraka said dejectedly.

Bakugo let sparks light up in his hands, "I'm going to make sure I win."

Uraraka felt a sudden lift in her spirits at his confidence. "Me too."