The aftermath of the second match had been much greater than the first match. Due to Fukidashi's Quirk, a large amount of the area was damaged, something Vlad had scolded both him and Kendo for. On top of that the injuries some of the students got, while not too serious, were greater than what those in the match before had sustained. Yayorozu, Sakura, and a couple others were taken to Recovery Girl for healing.

Between the damage and Komori's mushrooms, which wouldn't vanish for another couple hours, the teachers decided to take a short break while they changed locations. U.A's personal robots were currently moving the cages while the upcoming teams were using the chance to go over strategy one last time.

"Shinso's voice modifier is definitely going to be a bonus for us." Nene mentioned. "The other teams will be limited in how they can communicate without risking falling victim to Shinso's Quirk."

"Agreed. Though the other classes know about it now so they'll be more on guard." Dan pointed out. "If we're to make use of Shinso, we need to be smart."

"As much as I hate to admit it, staying in the back would probably be best for me." Shinso suggested. "That first match showed me how slow I am to adapt to the constantly changing tides of battle. And the other teams will probably try to get me out of the picture as soon as they get the chance."

Melody chimed in with another point. "Todoroki is by far going to be our biggest obstacle. If we don't find a way to deal with him, we're screwed."

"Eh, don't sweat it." Jill said, shrugging off her concern. "Whatever he throws at us, Dan can just take control of all the ice himself."

"Actually, I don't think it'll be so easy." Dan told her. "Todoroki's apparently been using his fire half a lot more often than he was back at the Sports Festival. He'll be wary about using ice around me, and even though I can control water vapor now, it's still to a much lesser degree than ice and water. If he comes at me with fire, chances are he'll evaporate my water supply faster than I can extinguish his flames."

"On top of that, Todoroki doesn't seem like the… chatty type." Nene added. "So getting him to fall for Shinso's brainwashing will be tough too."

"Our best bet will be to play it by ear when it comes to Todoroki. For now we'll focus on the others." Dan suggested. "With any luck, we can capture four people before needing to deal with Todoroki."

A couple minutes later, the cages were set in their new locations and it was time for the third match to begin. The three teams each went to their starting locations, each side determined to win. Once everyone was in place, Vlad gave the signal.

"Third match, begin!"

With that, the Class C team wasted no time springing into action as they moved out. Nene sent out a couple clones to scout things ahead. But even before they could report back, a large racket was heard in the distance near where Class B was supposed to be around.

"They couldn't have gotten into a fight with Class A already, could they? It's too soon." Melody said.

"It's obviously them using one of their members as bait." Shinso suggested.

"Regardless, we should check it out." Dan said. "Nene-"

"Already have two clones on it." Nene told him, not needing Dan to finish. About ten seconds passed before she saw something through her clones. "I can see all the members of Class B grouped together. Tetsutetsu seems to be wrecking the place on his own."

"Then let's accept their invitation." Jill said with an eager grin.

Ath Class B's base, Tetsutetsu continued to destroy everything in sight, creating as much of a racket as possible. Their team lacked anyone good for reconnaissance, so in one way it made sense to force things into a direct confrontation. However, the rest of the team couldn't help but question how much their hardheaded teammate was really thinking things through.

Tsunotori called out to her teammate. "Tetsutetsu, the other teams won't show up! They'll think it's a trap!"

"No. I'd head this way if I were them." Honenuki said. "Get Shoji or Nene to figure out what's going on, then have one of their powerhouses unleash a powerful attack. If I thought the other team was standing around out in the open…" He glanced as something caught the corner of his eyesight. "I'd go on the attack."

As if on cue, Dan and several Nenes emerged from the shadowy areas of the pipeworks and came in. They were making sure to avoid touching the ground in case Honenuki had softened it with his Quirk. Nene did this by using her clones to stay in the air. Dan however was using a different method. A membrane of water was covering his upper body from his shoulders to his waist. And several watery tentacles extended from the membrane, which he used to hang from various parts of the steelwork around them. Additionally, Melody's singing voice could be heard in the background, likely giving them a power up.

"This is my latest special move!" Dan said. "Frost Kraken!"

From the viewing area, Fiona cheered for her classmate. "Heck yeah, Dan! Get 'em!"

"Why's it called Frost Kraken though?" Kirishima asked. "I mean I get the 'Kraken' part with all those tentacles, but there's no ice in the technique so why 'Frost'?"

"Just watch." Hikari answered with a knowing smirk. "You'll see in a second."

Attacking with a series of tentacles, Dan quickly shot them at Class B. He wrapped them around Tsunotori, Tetsutetsu, and Honenuki. The instant they were bound, he froze the tentacles to further restrain them.

"Hey! Let us go, dagnabbit!" Tsunotori shouted.

"I've secured Tsunotori and Honenuki!" Dan called out to the Nenes. "Let's fall back for now and-"

Before Dan could finish, a blur sped into the fray. Dan gasped as Iida smashed through his tentacle holding Honenuki and grabbed the Class B student to bring to his own team's jail.

"You have my gratitude for restraining Honenuki." Iida told him. "However, I shall- What?"

As Iida tried to escape, he felt himself get stuck. The ground itself seemed to be melting almost. Iida soon found himself completely immobilized as he sank in.

"Heh, I softened the ground around us before you all showed up." Honenuki explained. "Couldn't let you walk all over us with your speed, Iida."

Dan grit his teeth at losing Honenuki. "Damn. Well at least I still have one of them."

The Nene clones attempted to flee as well, but as some landed on the steel pipes, they sank in. "Woah!"

"Fair warning, I also softened a bunch of random stuff around here. So it'd be smart to watch your step." Honenuki commented.

Dan continued to retreat with Tsunotori in his grip. Thankfully the Nenes with him were clones so there was no real need to worry about them. However, as he retreated, a stream of fire caught him off guard and caused him to lose his grip on Tsunotori. "No!"

Tsunotori hit the ground, the icy tentacles around her shattering upon impact. Her body ached from the crash landing slightly, but she shook it off and moved away from Dan.

Meanwhile, Dan faced the one who had shot the flames at him just now. The opponent he felt the most hesitation against fighting, but also the one deep down he had been wanting to fight against the most.

Todoroki

Back at Class B's base, Honenuki managed to move away from Iida in the softened ground created from his Quirk. Iida sank further and further into the ground as if it was quicksand. But his experience in using his Quirk had taught Honenuki how to move around softened ground a bit better than most.

"You just sit tight there, Iida." Honenuki said. "You made a mistake rushing in with your Recipro. You went and wasted your special move."

A call was soon heard from the distance. "Honenuki, I managed to escape and caught Shoji!"

Honenuki was about to respond, until he stopped himself short. The voice of a teammate coming from where he couldn't see them. He knew better than to fall for that after watching the first match.

That wasn't Tsunotori. It was Shinso.

'Nice try, Class C.' Honenuki thought silently.

From their hiding place, Nene let out a sigh. "Well, it was worth a shot."

"Looks like we're going with the direct approach then." Jill said. "Let's do this!"

The two girls leaped out from the shadows together as they descended upon Honenuki. Jill aimed her trajectory to land directly on Honenuki, who brought up his arms to defend himself. However, as Jill bounced off him, Nene was already waiting in the air above her. Jill maneuvered her body and sprang off from the soles of Nene's feet, rocketing right back into Honenuki.

"Take this! Super combo move! Jill Rocket!"

Jill's first blow had sunk Honenuki further into the ground, leaving him unable to block the second one in time. As the softened ground began to mold around them, Jill put Honenuki in a tight hold.

"I got him, Nene! Do it!"

"On it!" Nene said as she created a line of clones leading to the pipeworks. They held onto each other like a chain, with the real Nene grabbing Jill. Once she was secured, the Nene clones tugged with all their might, pulling Jill and Honenuki out of the soft ground. Before they landed, Nene had some of her clones restrain Honenuki further to be on the safe side.

"Alright, that's one." Jill said as she turned to where Iida was. "Now we just need to grab Iida. Good thing his Recipro's all used up."

Suddenly, Nene heard a faint sound. "Wait… what is that?"

"You thought my Recipro had a short time limit?" Iida said. "That was a while ago I'm afraid." The ground began to shake slightly, the softened parts of the ground that had rehardened began to crack. "Ingenium will rush anywhere at any time. That's what these legs are for. They won't be constrained!"

Nene and Jill both gasped in shock as the ground around Iida broke apart and he came free. Even more surprising was the blue flame coming from his thrusters, the sign of his Recipro.

"You see? I've been in full throttle this entire time." Iida told them. "New style. Recipro Turbo!"

"Woah, what the hell?!" Jill exclaimed. "I thought his Recipro only lasted a few seconds!"

"I've raised Recipro's horsepower. And lowered fuel consumption to the minimum." Iida explained. He sped at the two girls, spreading his arms out and knocking both them and the captured Honenuki aside. "Ten minutes! For ten minutes, nobody can stop me!"

Before the two Class C girls could recover, Iida circled around and hit them with another blow, this time knocking them both out cold. The repeated blows Honenuki took also had him unconscious. Iida skidded to a halt near them as he picked up both Jill and Nene.

"I can only carry two people at a time. I'll have to get Honenuki on a return trip." Iida muttered to himself. Reactivating his Recipro, he sped off with the two girls. "Prepare to be imprisoned, foul villains!"

After Iida had left, Melody and Shinso came out and landed near the unconscious Honenuki. "Man, who would have thought Iida had such a surprise up his sleeve." Melody said. "Even if I sang a lullaby, I doubt it would slow him down long enough before he could take me down."

"It's unfortunate, but we'll have to cut our losses and accept that we've lost those two." Shinso said. He lifted up Honenuki, restraining him with his binding cloth as well to be on the safe side. "For now, let's take this guy back."

"Agreed." Melody nodded. A large burst of steam erupted up in the distance. "We better hurry too. Something tells me Dan's gonna need backup."

Not wasting any time, Melody and Shinso hurried back to their base. They lacked any mobility Quirks so they had no way to get there faster other than simply running. Melody would be able to increase their physical abilities with a song, but doing so while running would waste far too much stamina. She needed to consider the rest of the match instead of burning herself out any further.

After a few minutes, they finally arrived at their base. Shinso hurried and threw Honenuki inside, giving their team one point. However, they were still behind Class A who had two points after capturing both Nene and Jill.

"Ok, now we should hurry over to Dan and-" Melody stopped short as she noticed something in the corner of her vision. "Incoming!"

Shinso took notice thanks to Melody's warning and the two quickly leaped and evaded the projectiles that came their way. As the debris cloud cleared, they saw the pair of horns that had crashed into the ground fly back to their owner, Pony Tsunotori.

"Looks like I ain't in time to help Honenuki." Tsunotori said. "But I can still take the two of you down and make up for it!"

Shinso readied his binding cloth. "Fukuyame, back me up."

"You sure you're up for it?" Melody asked.

"Yeah." Shinso nodded. "I want to show off what I learned from Eraser Head this time."

"Got it." Melody said. "In that case, go for it. I'll keep you buffed." Taking a step back, Melody cleared her throat and began singing. "You see the sunrise. A new day's upon you. You bite your nails and your knees start to time is upon you to show them what you can do. And soon they will know that the day has come~!"

As he heard Melody's singing, Shinso felt a sudden surge of power. With this, perhaps he stood a chance of closing the gap in experience between him and Tsunotori.

"No daw gone singing is gonna stop me!" Tsunotori said as she fired off a second pair of horns. With the other two she had fired before, the full set of four horns went flying at Shinso.

Shinso started running directly towards the Class B girl. He dodged the four horns skillfully, and as they circled around to attack from behind, Shinso shot out his binding cloth to pull himself onto the pipe works and closer to Tsunotori who was at the top.

Tsunotori attacked with another wave of horns, but Shinso dodged them all. She could tell it wasn't just Melody's singing. His combat skills had improved dramatically since the Sports Festival. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before he got in range to use his binding cloth. If that happened, she would be in serious trouble.

"You ain't gonna catch me that easily!" Tsunotori said as she leaped off. She called back two of her horns and landed on them, allowing her to use them to fly. She turned her attention to Melody. If she could take her down, then perhaps Shinso would be weakened enough to take down.

Shinso watched as Tsunotori sent her spare two horns flying at Melody with nobody to protect her. "No!"

As Melody saw the horns coming her way, she didn't let up on her singing. Instead, she reached behind her and pulled out a microphone. Pressing a switch on it, the end extended to a long pole. With a full 360 degree twirl, she knocked the horns away and sent them flying.

"No way!" Tsunotori gasped.

'I may be best for the supporting role, but that doesn't mean I ignore my physical combat skills entirely.' Melody thought to herself as she kept singing. 'Ms. Yamagori made sure to drill that lesson into me.'

Tsunotori's shock from Melody countering her attack ended up being even more detrimental, as one of the horns at her feet was swept aside, causing her to lose her balance and fall over. Looking behind her, she could see Shinso had leaped off the pipeworks and used his binding cloth to snag her horn just now.

"Time to end this!" Shinso said as he shot out another strand of the cloth, wrapping it tightly around Tsunotori. He swung her around before slamming her into the ground.

By the time Tsunotori was able to recover from the dizziness in her head, Shinso and Melody had already tossed her inside their jail. Between her and Honenuki, Class A and C were now tied with two captures each. She had managed to capture Shoji before coming here, so Class B still had one point. But things weren't looking good, especially since Class A and C each had three members left compared to their two.

"Think Hiryo is still holding his own against Todoroki?" Shinso asked.

"We can only hope." Melody said. "Come on. Let's go."

Dan flew around the field with his Hydro Angel technique as he dodged streams of flames that assaulted him one after another. As he had suspected, Todoroki was refraining from using his ice in this fight to prevent any manipulation on Dan's side.

'I have an advantage in mobility and hand-to-hand combat probably. But Todoroki has significantly better firepower than me.' Dan thought to himself. 'If I can get in close, I can probably win. But getting in close is going to be easier said than done.'

At the beginning of their fight, Dan had tried to counter Todoroki's flames with his water. But the heat of the flames managed to evaporate his water at a quick pace. And unlike Dan who had to condense the vapor in the air into water to control, Todoroki could unleash flames instantly out of thin air. In a battle of attrition, Dan was sure to lose.

As he evaded another blast of fire from Todoroki, Dan took cover behind a steel pillar. He needed a plan to get in close.

Should he try Frost Kraken? No, Todoroki would melt the ice in an instant before Dan could bind him. Fly in close with Hydro Angel? Too risky. One point blank range flame hit would be enough to take him down likely. But then what was he supposed to do if his two best moves were useless?

Or were they?

Dan took a deep breath as he pooled in all of the moisture in the air he could. He was going to need to be quick on his feet for this, but if it worked, it could swing the fight in his favor.

Todoroki stood on the other side of the pillar. He hadn't seen Dan emerge from behind it yet. Had he retreated further back? Or was he trying to buy time for something?

"I'm not just going to stand here and let you do as you please." Todoroki said as he blasted the pillar with flames. They circled around and blazed past both sides. Either Dan would come out of hiding or the pillar would be melted and fall. One way or another, Dan wouldn't keep hiding much longer.

Seconds later, Dan emerged from behind the pillar, swinging along the pipes with two watery tentacles encasing his arms. Todoroki attacked once again, but Dan pulled himself to another pipe in the distance with one of the tentacles.

The battle quickly returned to a game of tag, but Dan's water tentacles made it harder to predict which direction he would evade. He'd send them in different directions, leaving Todoroki to guess which way he'd actually go. And with each evasion, Dan was gradually closing the distance between them.

But then something even more unexpected happened.

In an instant, the water from Dan's tentacles shifted around his body and spread out from his back as the wings of Hydro Angel. Once they were formed, Dan made a straight beeline for Todoroki. The sudden shift had caught Todoroki off guard, making him unable to react as quickly.

But as Todoroki began to unleash another flame attack, Dan maneuvered his body to Todoroki's right side where he could only make ice. Before Todoroki had the chance to turn, Dan formed a fist of ice around his arm and punched him with all his might.

"Take this!"

Todoroki slid back, but he had managed to throw up his arm to block in time so the damage was minimized. And with the distance between them now, Dan wouldn't be able to follow up before Todoroki could counter.

"That was a pretty good move, Hiryo. You've gotten much better since the Sports Festival." Todoroki said. "But you're not the only one who's improved. I've increased my strengths and learned to cover my weaknesses."

Dan and Todoroki both unleashed their next attacks together, with Dan unleashing a stream of water and Todoroki attacking with fire once again. Stream erupted from the clash as they both stood in a stalemate. Dan tried to gather as much of it as he could to turn into water, but as he predicted Todoroki had the edge in this stalemate.

The steam soon turned into a thick mist, cutting off both of their vision. Dan let up on his attack and lunged to the side, Todoroki's flames blazing past him. He quickly kicked off the ground and moved towards Todoroki. With the steamy mist, he'd never be able to see him coming. But as he reached halfway there, he found Todoroki coming at him with the same idea.

Neither one had any time to attack with their Quirk. So they did the only thing they could do. They each reeled their fist back and punched with all their might. Both struck the face of the other as they stumbled back.

However, of the two, only one remained standing. Dan dug deep and managed to stay on wobbly legs while Todoroki fell back and collapsed.

"Heh… looks like I win this time." Dan said with a weak smirk. His victory didn't last long however as the rest of his strength gave out and he began to fall over. Before he could collapse completely however, Melody appeared at his side and supported him.

"Woah there. Looks like you really gave it your all, Dan." Melody said. She saw Todoroki unconscious and knew just how hard this victory must have been to earn. "Let's grab Todoroki and fall back. That'll put us in the lead with 3."

"I won't allow it!"

Melody widened her eyes as she heard Iida's voice. The speedster of Class A rushed into the area, aiming for Melody and Dan. But before he could reach them, a cloth came flying out and wrapped around Melody's arm, yanking her and Dan back.

Melody grinned as she spoke out to Iida. "Nice try, Iida. But we've still got one more than you guys."

"Not for long." Iida said as he prepared to charge again. But before he could, a sudden sensation surged throughout his body. He found himself completely imobile and his mind blank.

'No… it can't be. That was Fukuyame talking just now, I'm sure of it. I saw her speak the words.'

Melody glanced at Shinso and gave a thumbs up. "Nice job. Looks like he fell for it."

"Seems so." Shinso said.

It was no secret that everyone in the other classes were wary of Shinso. But if they saw someone verbally speaking, they might be willing to let down their guard for the briefest of moments. So by standing together, Melody had managed to lip sync the lines as Shinso said them in her voice, making it appear that Melody had been the one to say them.

And the result had been a resounding success.

With Todoroki unconscious and Iida brainwashed, Class C had little trouble securing the last two captures they needed to win. Once both were in the cage, Vlad reluctantly declared Class C the winners.

For those in the observing area though, the intensity of the past match was still taking root in their minds. Now each class had one win a piece. And only two more matches remained.

"I can't believe Todoroki lost." Kaminari said. "That Hiryo guy is one tough cookie."

"Looking at it objectively, I wouldn't really say he's necessarily stronger." Shinobu interjected. "Hiryo couldn't even stand after the fight so it was basically a draw. And even then, Hiryo had the terrain advantage. He was able to hide behind all the structures, and use them to swing around. In a more open area, he wouldn't have stood a chance against Todoroki."

"That's true." Midoriya noted, jotting down notes at a lightning fast pace. "Hiryo's water tentacles make good use of terrain with lots of stuff to grab. Meanwhile, those wings of water work well regardless of the area. He's become very versatile with his Quirk."

"Hey now that I think about it, what happened to Tetsutetsu?" Uraraka commented. "I didn't see him at all after the initial clash."

As if on cue, the monitor screen changed and showed the area near Class B's jail. A metallic figure was squirming around in the ground. As they looked closer, they saw Tetsutetsu was trapped in a double layer of Hiryo's ice and the soft ground from Honenuki.

"Get me out of here!" Tetsutetsu shouted. "Come on! Somebody?! Anybody?!"

A/N: Well that's three matches down and two to go. It was fun having some freedom with Shinso this match since he wasn't in this one for the manga and anime.

As for the next chapter, the wait may be longer than usual. I keep ending up busy, and between my multiple writing projects I'm working on keeping up an update schedule has gotten rather hard. So I'm changing the updates for my stories from "once a month" to "whenever I can finish chapters". I should still be able to get out a chapter for each story every 2-3 months or so at worst so don't worry too much.

With all that said, until next time.