Crap! I'm going to be late! Izuku thought as he ran up the hill towards UA. I must've been more tired than usual from the training yesterday! And sore as well! I think I should make it with a few minutes to spare, but I gotta be qui-

CRASH!

Izuku grunted in surprise as he ran into someone coming out from a side street and knocked both of them over. He shook himself, glancing up to see a girl rubbing her head as she sat up.

"I'm so sorry!" Izuku stood quickly, holding out his hand to help her up. "Are you okay miss!?"

"I should be the one apologizing," she said, groaning with her eyes closed. "I wasn't watching where I was going either." She accepted his hand and stood. Long red hair poked out from beneath a gray beanie she fixed upon her head. As she dusted off her dark gray hoodie, she began to say, "Sorry about-" she stopped mid-sentence, her electric blue eyes widened a little upon getting a better look at Izuku. "You're- you're a UA student!" She yelped, before going slightly red in the face. "You must be on your way to school! Sorry about keeping you! I should get going as well, bye!"

And with that she quickly hurried off down the hill. Izuku watched her go for a couple seconds before realizing if he dawdled any longer he'd be late.

Gotta get moving! He thought, his panic returning as he sprinted towards UA.

He had briefly wondered why a girl his age wasn't wearing a school uniform, much less in school right now. But with more pressing concerns taking precedence, such as not being late, his encounter with the redheaded girl was already fading from his mind. So he never looked back.

Nor did he notice the gaze boring into his back.

Lunch was… interesting. Kacchan hadn't started anything, only glaring in his general direction. He could practically feel holes being burned into the back of his head. But his stare was matched with ones from both Tokage and Monoma, as well as a few others from his class as they had elected to join his, Tokage, Kendo, and Monoma's table. It was almost like they were his personal guard. It felt both nice and weird.

Awase was stabbing at his food, eyeing members of Class 1A as if daring them to start something. Honenuki seemed focused on his plate, but the way his foot tapped restlessly showed he was on edge. Komori and Yanagi were here as well, sitting near the far left together. The former looked nervous, head down as she ate, while the latter would glance occasionally at 1A. Shiozaki sat opposite of them, seemingly unbothered by the tension in the air as she elegantly ate. And to cap things off, both Tetsutetsu and Kamakiri sat together at the far right. Tetsutetsu kept his sharp teeth in a scowl while Kamakiri cracked his knuckles as both of them glared specifically at Kacchan and his group. Of which, the same people Izuku had seen sitting with Kacchan before continued to sit with him, though Izuku had noticed that they looked a bit uncomfortable at Kacchan's barely controlled anger.

Neito sat next to Izuku, with both Setsuna and Itsuka sitting opposite, all three surprised by how many of their classmates had joined them. Itsuka had started to open her mouth to start a conversation, when two people from one of 1A's tables stood and began making their way over. This prompted Izuku's entire table to stop eating as most of them became wary. Izuku recognized the glasses-wearing boy with the engine quirk alongside a black haired girl.

"Can we help you?" Monoma asked coolly before they could say anything.

Awase pointed his chopsticks at them. "Yeah, the fuck you want?"

"Hey now, I hardly believe such crude language is necessary!" The student with glasses objected.

"Yes, Awase, please watch your mouth," Shiozaki scolded the boy, who merely scowled deeper.

The black haired girl cleared her throat. "As the Representatives for Class 1A, we'd like to formally apologize for our behavior yesterday regarding the incident that occurred."

"Oh?" Neito crossed his arms. "And you think we'll-"

"Neito," Itsuka interrupted him. She stood. She wasn't glaring like some of her classmates, but she kept a leveled gaze on the two 1A students. "Ignore my friend here. Go on."

Looking increasingly uncomfortable, the girl bowed her head. "For the way we acted yesterday, ignoring the truth, we humbly apologize. And for the inexcusable actions of our classmate, we also deeply apologize."

"Yes," the boy bowed as well. "It was highly inappropriate of us to not listen to the facts told by those who witnessed it. For that, I also deeply apologize."

Itsuka nodded. "Okay."

"Okay?" Neito interjected. "If they're going to apologize, they might as well do it right."

The black haired girl lifted her head, looking uneasily at the blond. "Do it right? What do you mean?"

Ignoring Itsuka's look, Neito glared at both the students. "It's all fine and good to apologize to us for acting the way you did, but that also affected the one on the receiving end of your class' accusations, whether or not he was here to have heard you all. So apologize to Midoriya." He wasn't asking.

The bespectacled boy began to turn red with indignation, but as he opened his mouth, his companion turned to Midoriya, who sat straight upright. She bowed again. "Midoriya, we are sincerely sorry for doubting what happened and for Bakugou's behavior. I hope you can forgive us."

"N-no i-it's, um, i-it's-" Izuku was stammering, shaking his hands frantically as the engine quirk boy bowed his head as well.

"I apologize as well," he said. "Our actions were inexcusable."

Izuku's mouth moved, but no words came. Finally he managed to speak. "I-it's fine, really. It's in the past now."

Neito groaned quietly next to him. Midoriya was way too nice for his own good.

Setsuna had crossed her arms. It rubbed her the wrong way with how Midoriya was trying to make peace. It wasn't wrong to make up with their sister class by any means, and none of them really had done anything particularly wrong, but all the same…

A huff from Itsuka drew Setsuna from her thoughts and she was surprised to see her friend smiling. "It was good of you two to come and apologize." She got out from behind the table. "I'm Itsuka Kendo, Class Representative of Class 1B." She held out her hand.

The black haired girl sighed in relief, hand on her chest before extending it and grasping Itsuka's hand. "Momo Yaoyorozu, Vice Class Representative for Class 1A. Pleasure."

"And I'm Tenya Iida," her companion said, shaking Itsuka's hand after Yaoyorozu had backed up. "Class Representative."

"And I'm Class 1B's Vice Representative," Neito spoke from his seat, making no move to stand nor extend his hand.

Yaoyorozu coughed uncomfortably into her fist. "Anyway, we've tried talking to Bakugou to come and apologize, but he… he refused."

"I imagine quite adamantly," Neito said dryly, which prompted Itsuka to chop him on the head.

She offered the two Class 1A students an apologetic smile. "Sorry about him."

"Oh no, it's alright," Yaoyorozu chuckled. "Anyway, it was nice making your acquaintance, Kendo."

"Likewise."

Izuku watched the two students leave, but when they passed by Kacchan's table, he found their eyes meeting once again. Kacchan's glare was the most dangerous he'd ever seen on his childhood friend's face. Izuku quickly glanced away, trying to ignore it and focus on his food, but even Lunch Rush's cooking tasted bland now. He wanted to tell Kacchan that he hadn't been hiding his quirk from him all these years, but with the way things were, it wasn't looking like he could do it safely anytime soon.

"Midoriya, what was that?" Monoma sighed.

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked. "What do you mean?"

"You were too nice," Tokage said, plopping some rice into her mouth and said something else, but the meaning was lost due to her chewing.

"Set, I swear to all that is holy-"

"Kendo!"

"Sorry Shiozaki. Set, don't talk with your mouth full."

Tokage swallowed. "It's good and all to forgive, Midoriya, but you have to make them work a bit for it, y'know? You were getting beat up, they took that blond shithead's side, so you shouldn't just be so willing to forgive is all we're trying to get at."

"We're?" Kendo repeated dryly.

"The Lord looks highly upon those who forgive those who have sinned against them," Shiozaki spoke. "Midoriya, you have my respect."

"U-uh, th-thank you?"

"You're one manly man is all I'm saying," Tetsutetsu said before scarfing down some food.

"Midoriya," Awase swallowed and pointed at him with his chopsticks. "Don't let the bastards walk over you- OW! What the hell Shiozaki!? Hey, watch it-" He ducked beneath one of her vines. "Fine fine! I won't swear. Jesus chr-OW!"

"Do not say the Lord's name in vain," Shiozaki growled at him, her vines rising around her menacingly.

"Okay, geez!" Awase rubbed where he was hit on the back of the head. "As I was saying, Midoriya, don't let them walk all over you." He stabbed at some rice. "If you let them off so easily all the time, they're gonna see that as a weakness."

"Honestly, all of you," Itsuka sighed. "I think you're all taking this way too seriously. They came to apologize for their rude behavior, so I think it's good that we're all on good terms now."

"What about Bakugou?" Yanagi asked, her one visible eyebrow raised curiously.

"Okay, good terms minus Bakugou," Itsuka rectified with a wry smile at the reserved girl. "Moving on, who do you think Kan-sensei meant by a "special teacher" earlier?"

"Ohhh right, he did say that," Setsuna tapped her chin. "They're gonna oversee the Battle Trials."

"Every teacher here so far has been a pro hero," Neito reminded them. "So definitely a pro. Maybe even a well-known one."

"Probably a pretty powerful one," Kamakiri said with a savage grin.

"I bet they're so manly!"

"What if they're a woman, Tetsutetsu?" Reiko asked in a monotone, her one visible eyebrow raised questioningly.

"Uh, does that make a difference?" Tetsutetsu asked, scratching the back of his head. "Women can be manly as well!"

"...Forget I asked."

Izuku watched as his table discussed what pro hero might have been hired at UA to teach their quirk lessons. He kept quiet, knowing full well who it would be. Sure, he may not have told Izuku directly, but he had a gut feeling it would be Toshinori. He smiled into his food. He'd keep that a secret. Toshinori loved making an entrance as All Might.

"I AM HERE!" The door to Class 1B slid open with a bang as All Might posed in the doorway in one of his old costumes. " WALKING IN LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!" He marched proudly to the front of class before reverting back to his normal form, still grinning. His costume fit to his skeletal frame, having it modified since his retirement since there was no need to keep his identity a secret. His grin widened as the class went into an uproar at the sight of the former number 1 hero.

"It's All Might!"

"He's a teacher!?"

"He's going to be our teacher!?"

"Is that his silver age costume!?"

"HOLY JESUS CHRI-OW!"

"As great as All Might is, he is not Jesus Christ, Awase!"

"That's not what I meant!"

"Now now, settle down everyone," Toshinori said as Kan-sensei made room for the former pro to take front and center. "And please, call me Toshinori. And today I'll be overseeing your battle trials." He held up a remote, hitting a button on it. Sections of the side wall opened up, revealing suitcases with numbers on them. "And you can't act like heroes without looking the part. These costumes were created in mind with the ideas you sent in. So gear up and meet me at Training Ground Beta!"

Izuku gripped his fists. This was it.

Izuku was the last to leave the changing rooms, caught up in his memories as he pulled on his suit. The suit that his mom had gone out and bought for him. He smiled softly. It wasn't much in terms of quality and he fully expected it to not be usable after today, but it was the act that made him want to use it at least this once. His whole life his mom hadn't thought it was possible that he could become a hero. But now she was supporting him, even if she had been horrified by the state of his arm after the entrance exam.

The light at the end of the tunnel grew brighter and suddenly he was back out in the sunlight, standing before Training Ground Beta. Izuku only noticed that it was the same setup as the entrance exam before finding his attention otherwise attracted to his classmates. Or rather, their hero costumes.

"Yo, that you Mumbles?" Tokage popped up beside him. "Huh, neato, you went for a skintight suit as well. If only my suit were green, then we'd be green skintight buddies!"

Izuku yelped and backed up quickly, glad his mask covered his blushing cheeks.

"I may not be able to see it, but I can guess the color of your face," Tokage laughed, dashing his last hope.

Tokage's hero suit was indeed skintight. It was a purple bodysuit made up of scales with a matching mask, and a belt clasped by a yellow jewel around her waist. Additionally she wore black knee-high boots and fingerless gloves with three-piece wrist guards on each arm.

Izuku's notebook was out in less than a second as he began scribbling. "It has to be skintight because of the nature of your quirk, and I'm guessing the belt is necessary for when you have to split yourself at the waist. And the scales must be a reference to your quirk's name, Lizard Tail Splitter, but they must have combat functionality. It would hurt to have a piece of you scrape someone at fast speeds-"

"Heyyyy," Tokage was right by him again, looking down at the sketch of her in hero costume. "Checking me out, eh?"

Izuku snapped the notebook closed and stuttered, "N-n-n-o, I-I w-was j-just-"

"Set, stop teasing him," Kendo sighed as she walked over. Her hero costume, Izuku noted, was much in line with her martial arts background. A knee-length turquoise qipao with a double-breasted black corset with a brown utility belt wrapped around her hips. A black domino mask wrapped around her eyes and for footwear she wore white-heeled navy blue boots with wide vamps filled in with white slips.

She nodded at Midoriya. "Simple and doesn't stand out too much. It looks nice, Midoriya."

As Izuku continued to blush harder, Monoma's voiced, "My only complaint would be that it's not entirely suited for the role of a main character." He sauntered over, examining Izuku's costume. He frowned. "Is there a reason as to why it's a bit too simple looking?"

"Neito!" Kendo slapped him on the head.

"N-no, it's alright," Midoriya laughed. "It's, well, a gift from my mom. When she found out I had been accepted into UA, she went out and had it made for me. It's not practical and won't last, but I wanted to wear it at least once, y'know?"

Monoma wore a small smile. "Ah, yes, I do apologize. If it is from your mother, Midoriya, wear it with pride! And anyone who thinks ill of it, just punch them with all your strength!"

"Need we remind you that you were the one who made a comment about it first?" Kendo told him dryly. "And he can't punch like that! He'll hurt himself! Not to mention what would happen to whoever he punched!"

"Wasn't your theory that he would hold back if he punched someone?" Tokage pointed out.

"That's- He should still be careful! Plus he shouldn't put everything he has into just a punch! Remember what yesterday's training was for?!"

A laugh escaped Izuku's lips. It was still new and exciting for him, having three friends like Tokage, Monoma, and Kendo. Nothing like what he and Kacchan have. While they bickered, Izuku took a closer look at Monoma's costume. He wore a double breasted black tuxedo with two long tails that almost reached down to his white dress shoes. His white shirt collar remained upturned while a blue and black dotted die was stuffed down the front of his tuxedo. And to top it off he wore two belts, the white one having three stopwatches clipped to it.

"All right everyone, pay attention now!" Toshinori called out, clapping his hands for attention. Izuku had to force himself from studying everyone's hero costumes and hypothesizing their functionalities relative to the wearer's quirk and focused all his attention on Toshinori. "Many of you may recognize this as the place where your entrance exam was conducted. However, this time we are not conducting urban combat, but indoor combat. To be specific," he grinned. "It'll be heroes vs villains."

The class murmured amongst themselves as Toshinori explained further. "You all will be randomly divided into teams of two as either heroes or villains. Then two teams, one hero and one villain, will be randomly selected to face off against one another."

"So what, is it just a brawl inside a building?" Awase asked.

"I'm glad you asked, young Awase," Toshinori nodded. "The scenario for this battle trial is a simple one. The villains have hidden a nuclear bomb somewhere on one of the five floors of their hideout. The heroes' objective is to either locate and retrieve the bomb, or capture the villains with this capture tape." He held up a roll of white tape. "Just touching the bomb or wrapping this completely around the villains will be enough for the heroes to secure a victory. As for the villains, you must protect the bomb or capture the heroes."

"There is a time limit of 30 minutes," He continued. "10 of those minutes will be for the villains to make the necessary preparations for placing the bomb and its defenses before the heroes are allowed inside. I might add that you must look at this as it was the real thing. Causing damage to the bomb or messing with it in any way that may potentially set it off will result in the offending team's loss. And doing too much damage to the building is not advised. Points will be taken off for the severity of the damage done. However, some damage is to be expected, so minor structural damage will be overlooked."

He shook his head. "I had failed to properly impress that on Class 1A yesterday, and the result was… destructive. Which is why you all are going to be operating in a different building than theirs. Now, do any of you have questions?"

"Yeah," Neito raised his hand. "Why are we going to be randomly put into groups?"

"Think about it," Midoriya answered before Toshinori could. "Pro have to team up with whoever is available at any given time, so that's probably why we're seeing it here."

"Well put, young Midoriya," Toshinori praised the boy, who smiled warmly beneath his mask. He had long since noticed the young man's costume, particularly the mouthguard and ears, and chose to ignore it for the time being. Although, I would prefer if he chose his own design instead of simply copying my style. You need to make your own mark, young Midoriya.

Aloud, he said, "To clarify the choice of random selection, young Midoriya is right. Pro Heroes have to team up with other hero agencies on the fly should an emergency occur. And sometimes these heroes could be not well known. Take our own Shouta Aizawa, otherwise known as Eraserhead. Who here has heard of him?"

Only Midoriya, Kuroiro, and Yanagi raised their hands. Toshinori arched an eyebrow. That many, huh? Well, of course young Midoriya knew of him already. And Kuroiro's quirk may have had him look into becoming an underground hero one day, so research into that may have led him to hearing about Eraserhead. As for Yanagi… hm… That's a mystery.

Meanwhile, Reiko Yanagi was thinking back to all the urban legend sites she follows. More specifically the ones about the quirk-erasing hero, which had naturally led her to finding as much information as she could.

"So few of you raised your hands," Toshinori said. "Which proves my point. There are many pro heroes out there that don't get much media attention, but that doesn't mean they are any worse of a hero than those who are more popular. So it's very likely that one day one of you could end up partnering up with a hero you know next to nothing about. So it'll be all about learning what you can about your partner and figuring out a plan in a short amount of time that takes into account your strengths and weaknesses."

Class 1B all nodded their heads in understanding, a few of them looking more pumped than before. Internally, Toshinori gripped his fists and cheered. All those teaching lessons were really paying off!

"Now without further ado," Toshinori produced a box. "Line up and take a ball from the box, then find whoever has a ball matching the letter on it."

Team A: Jurota Shishida & Manga Fukidashi

Team B: Setsuna Tokage & Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu

Team C: Neito Monoma & Izuku Midoriya

Team D: Kinoko Komori & Kosei Tsuburaba

Team E: Kojiro Bondo & Hiryu Rin

Team F: Ibara Shiozaki & Nirengeki Shoda

Team G: Togaru Kamakiri & Yui Kodai

Team H: Juzo Honenuki & Itsuka Kendo

Team I: Sen Kaibara & Yosetsu Awase

Team J: Reiko Yanagi & Shihai Kuroiro

"Oh hey," Neito glanced at Midoriya's ball. "We're teamed up together." He gave the greenette a happy grin, but inside he was wilting. It's not that he didn't want to team up with Midoriya, quite the opposite, but he didn't like their chances. The control Midoriya had pulled off against that bastard Bakugou was simply a fluke, a miracle that occurred in the heat of the moment. Now that Midoriya was more aware of it, he wondered if he would have a harder time reining in his incredible strength. And while he had a feeling Itsuka was onto something with her special training, he wasn't going to bet everything on Izuku mastering control of Superpower with just yesterday's one hour training session. So unless he was intending on breaking himself, he was probably going into this fight essentially quirkless. Not to mention that unless Neito was willing to copy and break himself with Midoriya's quirk, he was also essentially going to be quirkless.

Dammit, He cursed mentally, running his hand through his hair. What to do then? A straight up fight against whoever is going to be our opponents is going to be an uphill battle at best. I'll have to be quick and copy one of our opponent's quirks. If we're the heroes, then simply touching the bomb will guarantee our victory, but if we are chosen as the villains…

"Is something wrong, Monoma?" Midoriya asked.

Neito quickly shook himself out of his thoughts. Whatever issues they may have in their upcoming battle trial, it would be best to not focus entirely on the negatives and come up with a plan to overcome their weaknesses. Together.

"I'll be straight with you, Midoriya," Neito spread out his hands. "We might just be royally fucked in our match. Unless we both plan on breaking ourselves, I'm gonna have to rely upon copying our enemies' quirks. And that's hoping they're good quirks. But if they are, then that means we'll be in for an even rougher time."

"You're right," Midoriya nodded, not at all looking down about the situation as Neito had feared he might. "Even with the training Kendo put us through yesterday, I don't know if I would fully trust myself to attempt using, er, using Superpower. At least not directly against someone else. A-and I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself when using my quirk either."

Neito nodded. "If we're lucky, we'll be the heroes, but if not…" He trailed off as he saw Toshinori produce two boxes.

"And now!" Toshinori called out, gathering everyone's attention again as he plunged his hands into the boxes, rummaging around inside. "The first match-up is-" He paused for dramatic effect, then pulled out two balls. He glanced at them. "Teams I and J! With Team J being the heroes and Team I being the villains!"

"Oh hell yeah!" Yosetsu Awase grinned and turned to his partner. "You ready for this, Kaibara!?"

A smirk graced Kaibara's features. "This scenario is perfect for us," he agreed.

"Heh, knew you would finally come to appreciate me," Yosetsu went to clasp Kaibara's hand, only for the other teen to quickly withdraw his.

"Don't get me wrong," Kaibara rolled his eyes. "We're not buddies."

"Yet," Yosetsu shrugged. "Give it time my friend. Now, I have a few interesting strategies."

"Awase, Kaibara," Toshinori called out to them. "You can make your way into the building now. The bomb is currently located on the 3rd floor. Feel free to move it wherever you please. Don't worry, it's lighter than it looks. Once you reach it, your countdown of 10 minutes will start, so best hurry with whatever strategy you have in mind. Hero team, you will wait outside the main entrance of the building and come up with your strategy there. The rest of us will watch the proceedings happen in the basement. Best of luck to the four of you!"

"So what's your plan?" Sen Kaibara asked as they set down the bomb. It was taller than All Might in his prime, but it weighed very little as promised. He smoothed out his white trench coat. It wasn't lengthy like normal trenches, only being as long as a jacket. He wore a windbreaker beneath it, ideal for all the gyrating that came with his quirk. But the best parts of his hero outfit were his drill patterned rings that covered his neck, arms, fingers, and legs. All in all, his costume was designed for him to move fast and hit hard. He would call it sleek. His partner on the other hand had an outfit that was rather bulky in nature.

"Well my first plan was to cover the thing in metal with my quirk," Yosetsu rapped on the bomb. "But All Might said we couldn't mess with the bomb, which I assume includes fusing stuff with it on an atomic level." His hero outfit was something akin to what you might see welders wear in their workshops. A burgundy, baggy, full body suit covered his entire body from feet to above his chin. Additionally, he wore three breastplate welding shields that could be lifted up to protect his face as defense. He also wore thick shoulder pads and several bags on his belt in which he stores items ranging from blocks of wood to metal cylinders. To top off his outfit, he switched out his zigzagged headband with a striped one.

"Oh yeah, that would be a great idea if it were a real bomb," Kaibara said sarcastically. "Fusing metal into an atomic bomb on an atomic level would be a totally good idea."

"Hey now, I don't think I like your tone." Yosetsu glanced around the room he had directed them to. There was a lot of miscellaneous stuff in here, from a table to some chairs and cabinets. And there was only one door. He grinned. "So my new plan is to fortify the hell out of our defenses and wait out the time. I mean, Yanagi can move shit, right? Well, let's just bolt down everything and cover the door and we're good."

"What about Kuroiro?" Kaibara shook his head. "He'll be able to just slip through the shadows into this room. "Hell, if he gets into the shadow of our bomb, he can just jump right out and grab it."

"..."

"..."

"Well shit." Yosetsu tapped his chin as he scanned the room again, focusing on the window. More accurately, the light shining through. With no electric lights working, it was the only thing they had to work with. "Let's move the bomb so where its shadow is minimized and isn't touching any other shadows. Including ours, we don't want Kuroiro hijacking our shadows. And then we just make sure he can't get in close should he somehow get in here. I can try to bolt him into the ground, but you'll need to take him out for me to do that."

"That," Kaibara spun his hands as he smirked. "I can do."

Shihai stared silently at the building beside Yanagi. It was a comfortable silence, not at all awkward compared to if he had been paired up with anyone else. Maybe it was because Yanagi shared his nature. Quiet, mysterious, and quite possibly harbors a taste for the taboo. Indeed, her hero costume appeared to be modeled after the Yuki-onna. Her knee-length kimono was colored a pale purple and had a white furred collar. She wore black knee-high socks that Shihai assumed had padding for her feet as well as a black face mask. And her arms, as usual, stayed aloft with her hands draped down, another sign that she modeled herself as a ghost.

Ah, truly she must have her own darkness within, Shihai mused. Should I breach her silence or shall I wait until she has found it necessary to do so herself?

Yanagi tilted her head slightly. "Query."

"Y-yes," Shihai nearly jumped out of his skin. He cursed himself silently. It seems he wasn't entirely comfortable around her. She was, in fact, still a girl.

Reiko turned to face him, hands still outstretched in front of her as she examined her hero partner. His costume was simple, but it worked. A pure black jumpsuit with white shoes and silver wrist guards. His skin was the same deep black as his costume, so it was hard to tell if he was wearing gloves or not.

"Are you capable of scouting out the building without being detected?" She asked.

Shihai quickly looked away from her to stare at the building, glad for the excuse not to look directly at her. It wasn't good for his heart, no matter how similar they may be in personalities. "Yes."

She nodded. "Good. With Awase's Welding quirk, he might stay in one place with tight defenses. I can't move around objects if they're tightly stuck in place. So we need to get you in close."

"Indeed," Shihai thought for a moment. "I just need a crack and I can infiltrate their defenses with ease."

"A crack…" Yanagi hummed softly. "We'll wait for the time to start then, and make a plan once you scope things out."

Shihai nodded and the two fell into another silence. It was quite pleasant.

"All right, let the first battle trial begin!"

As soon as Shihai and Yanagi stepped inside, the white haired teen melted away into the shadows and zoomed his way through the building. After doing a quick check of the first floor, he went on upwards. He figured Awase and Kaibara might be holding out on the top floor, but with his speed it didn't hurt to be thorough.

He found them when he realized there was a barrier welded into the door and walls. He peeked into the fairly large room, seeing both boys circling the bomb. He noticed that none of their shadows touched any other darkness. He could maybe pop out and dive into their shadows, then grab the bomb, but there was a risk they'd capture him before he could do that. So he backed out and zoomed back to Yanagi.

His head popped out from the wall beside her and she didn't so much as flinch, just merely glanced at him. "Top floor, they've barricaded themselves in a room with one door. I can't get in close to touch the bomb. Too much light from the window."

Yanagi nodded slowly. "A window you say?"

"Yes, there's…" Shihai trailed off, grinning madly, which was quite the sight. Pure white teeth, courtesy of his religious oral care routine, shone in stark contrast to his all pure black color scheme.

A ghost of a smile appeared on Yanagi's features. "Exactly. We'll have to get up to the fourth floor, however. I can't lift people up for too long."

Shihai watched her back as she started walking down the hall, before he spoke again. "I have a devious plan, something that would only work with your quirk." When Yanagi glanced back at him curiously, he grinned again. "So let us become partners in darkness."

"Seven minutes so far and nothing," Kaibara was getting anxious, clearly itching to fight.

"They might just be searching around for us," Yosetsu pointed out.

The other boy snorted. "Yeah, no. With Kuroiro's quirk, he probably already found us from the start. They're probably making some sort of plan."

"They can't get in," Yosetsu argued, rapping on the barrier welded to the door. His handiwork consisted of the table, two filing cabinets, and a couple of chairs. "They're not getting through this."

Kaibara frowned. "Yeah, but…" he blinked, glancing at the window. "What if they try to come through there?"

"If they do, then we can easily deal with them," Yosetsu waved a hand in dismissal as he strode towards the window. "I would've blocked it, but we need the light or else it would've been an instant loss for us. These rooms don't have working lights." He stopped by the large pane of glass and peered through it. "We'll be able to see them coming in an-" His eyes widened as he backed up suddenly, pulling up his welding shield as a chair crashed through the glass.

"Oh fuck!" Awase gasped out as Sen lunged forwards on rotating legs and grabbed the chair and flung it out the window. But suddenly small pieces of debris, nuts and bolts, and other miscellaneous items began flinging themselves through the hole, all surrounded by a purple, almost paranormal, energy. Sen jabbed at whatever he could with his fingers, shredding the larger pieces, but the smaller pieces fell into the room and lay still upon the ground.

"That all you got!?" Awase shouted as he lowered his shield.

"Careful," Sen growled as he turned to look at the barricaded door. "It could just be a distraction."

And a distraction it was, but it also served another key purpose. In their blind spot, one of the objects that had flown into the room floated softly to the ground on the opposite side of the room from them. It was a piece of dark cloth, torn from Kuroiro's costume. The boy in question rose from the fabric, grinning. All was going according to plan. His diabolical scheme had worked!

Of course, that's where he slipped up. Almost quite literally, as he began to sneak towards the bomb, grateful for the other boys' backs being to him and their focus on the window. Then his foot stepped on a piece of paper that had fallen from one of the filing cabinets during Awase and Kaibara's frantic barricading earlier.

The crinkling of paper alerted both Awase and Kaibara that something was amiss. Kaibara immediately spun around and after getting over his quick shock at the boy in the room, shot towards Shihai, who had begun running towards the bomb. Shihai dived for it, only for Kaibara to swing his rotating leg up and slam it into the boy's middle, slamming him into the far wall.

Groaning, Shihai pressed his earpiece. "Plan B," he muttered before lifting himself up and diving away as Kaibara slammed his hand into the wall where he'd just been. He ran for the barricaded door where the shadows were greater, only for Awase to fling himself in his way, hands reaching into his blue bags on his waist. Shihai tried to backpedal, but Kaibara slammed into him, and as he tumbled to the ground, Awase pressed down some wooden blocks onto his legs, then his arms, welding him to the floor.

"Hah, thought you could get the drop on us!" Awase backed up from Shihai so his shadow wouldn't fall over the white haired teen. "Well we're just one hell of a team, aren't we Kaibara!?" He held up his hand for a high five and Kaibara returned it, a grin on his face. Then something slammed into the window from the outside and held in place, casting the room in darkness.

"Oh shit!"

Cackling madly, Shihai slipped into the floor, the wooden blocks clattering to the ground. Below on the ground floor, Reiko let her concentration falter as the small table she and Kuroiro had carried out from the building fell to the ground and smashed to pieces. But the few seconds it had been blocking the sunlight was all her partner needed. Because once the light filtered back in, Shihai was standing next to the bomb, palm pressed against it.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Awase yelled, sinking to his knees as Toshinori's voice came over the intercom system.

"And Team J has recovered the bomb! Congratulations hero team!"

"FUUUUUUUU-!"

Back in the viewing room, Izuku was furiously writing. "I thought Kuroiro's quirk only allowed him to travel in shadows, but if he can merge into ANY dark object, then that opens up a world of possibilities compared to being just limited to shadows. And imagine if he found a way to control the movement of those objects!? Or can he already do that!?"

"He must've been keeping that little tidbit a secret so he could have an edge," Setsuna commented, nodding her approval. "Ingenious."

Once the four students joined the rest of their class, Izuku hurried over to Kuroiro. "Kuroiro! Your quirk is amazing. Tell me, are you able to move the objects you merge with!?"

Kuroiro looked taken aback. "H-huh? I, well, no…"

"Oh," Izuku's face dropped a bit, before it brightened again. "But still, what you can do merging with anything black is amazing! And maybe with training you could potentially move around in the things you merge with!"

"Alright, settle down now young Midoriya," Toshinori chuckled. "Welcome back, Kuroiro, Yanagi, Awase, and Kaibara. Later we'll go over your battle trial with Kan and myself, so for now think about how you might've done things differently or improved on what you did. With that said," he returned to the two boxes. "Let's see who'll be facing each other for the second round."

Once he pulled out two new balls, he announced, "Team B as the hero team will be facing Team G as the villains!"

"ALRIGHT!" Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu shouted, pumping his fist. "LET'S GO SHOW THEM HOW MANLY US HEROES CAN BE, TOKAGE!"

"Uh, dude, I'm a girl."

"DOES THAT MATTER?!"

"Heh," Togaru Kamakiri slammed his fists together as he stared at Tetsutetsu. "Let's see how well my blades fare against your steel."

Yui Kodai just watched silently with her head tilted. She already had an idea to win, and if she were one to be expressive, she would've smirked.

"We should just charge in! The best way to catch them off guard would be to take them head-on!"

"And I say that's a hare-brained idea," Setsuna retorted as she paced the front entrance of the five-story building. "Look, let's think about this for a moment. I haven't known the guy for long, but Kamakiri seems like you, a hot blooded fighting machine. He's gonna want the same thing as you."

"That's why we should-"

"But!" Tokage floated her hand up to Tetsutetsu's face to stop him. "It's a horrible strategy. And if they're foolish enough to go with it, then we need to counter them. Kodai is quiet, so she might just go with whatever Kamakiri says. However…" She thought back to Kodai's quirk. "Kodai can change the size of an object. If she decides to shrink the bomb, we're likely to never find it."

"Then we just beat them up and capture them!"

Setsuna sighed. "You know, I hate to say it, but that's our best bet. But we are not just running in there without a plan," she reminded him. "While you're our best bet in taking Kamakiri down, I'm going to help. So we should plan to draw Kamakiri away. You rough him up and I'll look for an opening to tie him up. Then we take on Kodai."

She frowned. "But that might be an issue of itself. If we follow the assumption that Kamakiri will go for a head-on assault and leave Kodai to her own devices, I'm sure she could make some decent traps with her Size quirk. Might make cornering her a bit difficult." She glanced at Tetsutetsu. "You can join in at any time and contribute your own ideas, as long as they're not the usual run in and beat them up."

"Nah, I'll leave the planning up to you," Tetsutetsu said, shaking his head. He grinned proudly, hands on his hips. With the way his dark green jumpsuit cut off just below his chest, leaving it exposed led her to believe he was the type to not feel the cold even in winter. The jumpsuit itself was held up by metal straps that wrapped around beneath his armpits and around his back and back up around to connect to a red oval in the center of his chest. He had more steel bands wrapped around his upper arms, his waist, and even had a metal jaw-guard around his face, with the elemental symbol Fe for iron printed in bold letters on both sides. "I'm more prone to rush headlong in and beat up my problems face-to-face."

Setsuna blinked. "Clearly."

"No arguments? Good." Kamakiri grinned, pacing the third floor hallway, his ragged dark green cloak billowing around him as his steel toed boots echoed off the walls.

Yui just merely turned around and wandered over to their bomb and squatted to examine it. While Awase may have been unable to use his quirk on the bomb, her quirk didn't change an object's interior or outside structure, just its size. So changing the size of a bomb wouldn't have any consequences.

With that decided, Yui touched the bomb with five fingers, shrinking it down to the smallest size she could make it. As thick as her pinky and almost as long as it too.

"Hey now, that's pretty interesting," Togaru said behind her. He'd hoped to startle her, and was rewarded when she flinched ever so slightly. While his costume was simple and effective for his quirk, Kodai's seemed over the top in comparison. A red bodysuit with a white collared trim and a color matching V shape pattern running over her chest and around her upper arms. The suit also has a white skirt and vambraces. Her hat resembled a baseball cap, but included a metal piece in the shape of a fin attached on the back of it.

She also wore a belt clasped together by an oval yellow gemstone, carrying a small pouch situated on the front of her waist. A similar gemstone, silver this time, sat atop her chest just below her collar. Trying to make heads or tails of the outfit and how it related to Kodai's quirk was headache inducing for Togaru, so he gave up trying quickly.

"So you can make the bomb smaller. Heh, while they're busy looking for it, I'll beat them up. Perfect."

Yui only nodded as he went back to pacing. Truth be told, she knew that their opponents like would suspect her of this ploy, and in turn might abandon the idea of looking for the bomb altogether and focus on capturing them. With that in mind, she should focus on supporting Kamakiri. Unless…

"Second match START!"

"HELL YEAH!" Tetsutetsu charged into the building, Setsuna following behind, her body separated into several pieces. He made a beeline down the hall, looking for the stairs. Once found, he bounded up them. Setsuna kept an eye out for Kodai, knowing that Kamakiri would make his presence known, while the black haired girl would stay her usual quiet self. Sure enough, Kamakiri turned the corner of the hallway at a run, bouncing off the wall as he lunged towards Tetsutetsu, who hardened his body in steel.

"BRING IT!" Tetsutetsu hollered, swinging a right hook.

"HAHAHAHA!" Kamakiri ducked beneath the blow, slashing upwards with his arm, a blade shooting out from the side. With a metal klang, it slammed into Tetsutetsu's other arm, who forced the blade away as he brought his right fist down. The stone floor cracked as Kamakiri dodged in a roll, hitting the wall and bouncing off it as he slashed his arm blades in an x-motion, forcing Tetsutetsu back a step.

"HRRRAAAAH!" Tetsutetsu roared, his fist connecting with Kamakiri's raised blades, snapping them in half as the mantis-faced boy flew backwards and crashed through the wall. Tetsutetsu leaped through after him and as Setsuna flew after him in turn, Kodai appeared from around the corner, tossing several objects in her direction.

"Shit!" Setsuna reversed course as several filing cabinets enlarged midair and crashed down upon her. She just barely avoided having her limbs crushed as she flew back, her head separating from her body.

She has almost no time to retaliate as Kodai flung several bolts, enlarging as they shot towards her like darts. Her head soared over them as her left arm darted close to the left wall and her lower body flew beneath the bolts. A foot disconnected and shot towards Kodai's knee. She tried to dodge, but the foot slammed into her, making her stumble back.

"Perfect!" Setsuna shot her head forwards, sporting a wide grin as she maneuvered her arm to get behind Kodai. As her other leg zoomed towards her, Kodai swerved out of the way, turning as she went as Setsuna's left hand went to grab her. A snapping sound and suddenly Kodai had a piece of capture tape in her grasp. Setsuna's eyes widened as it enlarged, her arm slamming right into. Like a spider ensnaring its prey, Kodai wrapped the large tape around her arm, immobilizing it.

"Well crap," Setsuna flew back out of range. "All Might-sensei, is this allowed!?"

"Perfectly so, young Tokage. Additionally, taking your quirk into account, I'd say at least three fourths of your body needs to be captured in order to be considered captured."

"Forget I asked," Setsuna muttered as Kodai ran forwards, capture tape in hand as she threw more nuts and bolts her way. Setsuna's head and lower body retreated as she swerved to avoid the projectiles. Kodai had gotten much closer now and Setsuna had almost reached the end of the hallway.

A smirk crossed her features. Perfect.

"HRRRAAAAH!"

Togaru had raised his arms to defend himself, but Tetsutetsu's steel fist broke his blades and slammed him backwards through the wall. He ended up in a large room with pillars and had to roll back to avoid Tetsutetsu's landing punch as the steel-toned boy leaped through the hole in the wall. During that brief moment of rolling, he missed two pieces of Setsuna's body fly through the hole, narrowly avoiding the filing cabinets. While he hadn't bothered to look, Tetsutetsu was well aware of the plan.

"So here's the plan," Tokage had told him. "You and Kamakiri both want a straight out fight, right? Well, go ahead with that. Kodai is likely to draw me into a fight, and turn what could be a two-on-one against Kamakiri into two one-on-one fights. Better odds to beat us. However," She grinned. "I don't plan on playing that game. So while most of me is figuring out how to best lay a trap to capture her, I'll leave just enough of me with you to trap Kamakiri as well."

"And all you gotta do is fight to your heart's content and wait for my signal."

Then I'll go ahead and create that opening for you! Tetsutetsu's thoughts mimicked what he had said then before the battle trial had begun. His fist slammed into the ground, cracking the cement as Kamakiri rolled away and flipped onto all fours. I'll make sure your plan succeeds!

"C'mon!" Tetsutetsu slammed his fists together with a loud clang. "Let's fight to our heart's content, Kamakiri!"

"This is what I've been looking forward to!" Kamakiri laughed with glee as long, curved blades formed along his arms. Both boys ran for one another, Kamakiri ducking beneath Tetsutetsu's right hook, but Tetsutetsu wasn't going to let that happen a second time. His leg came swinging up, crashing into Kamakiri's stomach. Something snapped and the boy went flying. Small blades formed along his legs as he used all four limbs to slow himself down to a stop. A large blade had formed on his chest, broken in half from where Tetsutetsu had struck.

The Steel quirked boy glanced down at his leg. A small cut had appeared just above his knee. He grinned, flexing his body as he forced the steel to harden. "ALRIGHT! NOW THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" He bounded forward, fist pulled back for another punch.

This time Togaru leaped aside, bouncing off one of the pillars and slashing at Tetsutetsu's side. He kept up the assault, putting Tetsutetsu on the defensive as he kept his arms raised. The clang of metal filled the air as blades crashed against metal. Togaru was refusing to let up, hell bent on drawing more blood from his sparring partner's steel skin.

Suddenly Tetsutetsu grabbed onto Kamakiri's right blade, yanking him forwards as he drove his knee upwards into his gut. Spit flew from Kamakiri's mouth as Tetsutetsu followed up by swinging him around into the nearest pillar, the blade cracking from the force. With a yell, his left fist slammed into the cement where Kamakiri's head had been for just a moment before he had dropped to the ground, swinging his leg towards Tetsutetsu's. A wide blade shot out, crashing into Tetsutetsu and making him fall onto his side.

He rolled away as Kamakiri lunged after him, blades carving grooves into the floor. A solid punch sent the bug faced teen flying, but he recovered quickly as he shot back towards his foe. Tetsutetsu had leapt back to his feet and flung his fist, only for Kamakiri to zoom to the side and slash at his side before leaping over him, blades shooting from his feet to give him an extra foot of height in the jump. He landed on Tetsutetsu's right as the boy had turned left to retaliate and swung a heavy cleaver into his back. Tetsutetsu went flying, skidding along the ground until he lay on his back. He blinked, staring up at Setsuna's eye near the ceiling. It blinked. Tetsutetsu grinned.

Setsuna had kept her eye and arm on the move, trying to stay in Kamakiri's blind spots, which was hard enough with having to keep her attention on Kodai in the hallway, but Kamakiri bouncing off the walls added a new degree of difficulty to the challenge. Thankfully he only had eyes for Tetsutetsu, something Setsuna was going to take full advantage of.

While All Might relayed some unfortunate news to her in the hallway, she put both of her plans into motion. While she played Kodai right into her hands outside, she flew her right hand forwards as Tetsutetsu leapt forwards, batting aside Kamakiri's blade from his arm as he crushed the boy into a hug.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Togaru yelled, struggling to break free.

"NUH-UH!" Tetsutetsu yelled, ignoring the blades from Kamakiri's stomach pushing against him.

Togaru was preparing to put all he had into his next blade formation, only to have something slip over his eyes. "WHA-!?"

WHAM!

Tetsutetsu headbutted the teen hard, forcing him back a couple of steps. Small blades appeared all around Kamakiri's head, slicing at the capture tape. But as he backpedaled, Setsuna placed her arm behind his feet. Just as he tore away at the remaining tape covering his eyes, he tripped backwards over the limb.

As Setsuna's hand pulled up on the tape she'd laid on the floor, blades protruded from Togaru's back, slicing away at it. "That trick ain't going to work on me!" He shouted as he swung, a blade shooting from his palm and drawing blood from the back of her hand.

His eyes widened as he realized something very important. The roll of capture tape wasn't in her hand!

"GOT YOU NOW!" Tetsutetsu shouted, slamming into Togaru 's back and slammed him into a pillar. As he bounced off it, he felt something being quickly wrapped around him and pulled taut. "AND THAT'S A WRAP!"

One of Setsuna's legs shot forwards just as her back was about to hit the wall, aiming for Kodai's gut. The black haired girl let herself get hit before slapping some oversized capture tape over her limb. Her other leg came in from the right, and when she went to intercept it, Setsuna's foot shot down from above, beaning Kodai on the head. Her classmate disoriented, Setsuna took her chance and shot her head forwards, slamming it into Kodai's middle and forcing her back.

"!" Yui blinked in surprise as she stumbled back and something caught against her back.

"No hard feelings, yeah?" Her classmate said from above, face set in a grimace, feeling the pain from her right hand getting slashed in the next room as Yui glanced around to see a long piece of capture tape stuck against the wall and stretching across the width of the hallway. Tokage's left hand, having disconnected before her arm had been captured, had stayed behind Yui, setting up the trap. Now her hand zoomed around Yui, tape trailing behind, before yanking it tight, closing it around her, binding her arms to her side. She fell on her back with a grunt, wiggling for a second before giving up with a defeated sigh, her face once again neutral.

"Set and match," Setsuna reconnected her head to her body. "Gotta admit, that stunt with the tape was unexpected." She flicked her hair out of her face, and Yui suddenly realized her bangs had been hiding a crucial detail. Her right eye was missing!

"Oh, just realized, huh?" Setsuna chuckled. "You should probably know that my right arm isn't here either. Now I wonder where they could have been-"

"And that's the match! Team B has captured the villains!"

Izuku watched the battle trial unfold with wide eyes. Tokage was unbelievable. She put together a strategy that best suited her and Tetsutetsu in almost no time flat, and even when things looked like they may have gone awry, she bounced back with amazing on the fly decisions and bested both Kodai and Kamakiri by turning their own plans against them. In the end, their battle trial had been completed in just over two minutes. She was smart, incredibly so. Izuku couldn't help but admire that.

Alright, he decided, gripping a fist. Even if I can't control One For All, winning is still an option. He thought back to his hero notebooks. I just need the right strategy…

I'd like to remind people once more. This story will end up heavily featuring a cast of OC characters (hero or villain guess which side) who I intend to integrate into the story's plot as good as I can. So don't be surprised when we get several chapters that feature only them. That isn't me "drawing people into a MHA story only to turn it into an OC-only driven story". No, this story will still heavily focus on Izuku and co. even when the story shifts perspectives to the OCs. So again, if that isn't your thing, might be best to step away now. But I hope to create a great story here and I've taken the time to personally craft almost each and every OC that will show up, so if all goes according to plan they will be what helps drive this story along and not hinder it.

There, I've said my peace. Constructive criticism will always be appreciated, but please don't be rude. I'm a sensitive guy y'know.

...

Okay, maybe not that sensitive, but hey, just don't be rude and we won't have a problem. Until next week's update where the battle trials continue. Toodles~