After three grueling battles, everyone was feeling anxious for the fourth mock battle between the three first year hero classes. The second match had completely wrecked the area, resulting in a relocation. The third match had caused both Dan and Todoroki to pass out from exhaustion.

And the fourth match included not only Class A's biggest hothead Bakugo, but also one of Class C's top students Shinobu, and Fujino who had gotten significantly more skilled with her Quirk in recent months. Class B even had some of their more skilled members in their lineup, such as Tokage. Needless to say, it was going to be a close match.

That was what everyone had thought at least. But as the match progressed, it had quickly turned into a one-sided massacre with Bakugo decimating the students of both Class B and C.

Sarah had been their scouter, but she quickly was blindsided by a sound wave from Jiro throwing her off balance before Bakugo blasted her. Once Sero blinded her with his tape, her Quirk became virtually useless. Shinobu and Fujino had both tried to take down Bakugo, but his skill was just too great for either of them. Even when they attempted to go after Jiro and the others, Bakugo defended them flawlessly.

The situation hadn't been much different with Class B. With Bakugo taking the lead, every plan the enemy class had come up with was overcome with relative ease. The only one left was Tokage, but just as she was retreating, Bakugo appeared right beside her with an explosion already charged up.

"Y-You changed too much!" Tokageo exclaimed as she was blasted and taken out of commission.

The result had certainly been unexpected as everyone had first thought. But not due to a close match. The surprise had been Bakugo's huge improvement in skill as well as his newfound willingness to work with his teammates, to an extent at least.

And now there was only one match left. The final round, in which Shinso would be working alongside the Class B team. Everyone knew by now just how much of a threat Shinso had become. At the same time however, Class A had Midoriya on their side while Class C had Hyde. Perhaps, unlike the previous round, the result of this one really would be up in the air.

At the sound of the starting horn, all three teams moved out from their starting positions. Those watching from the monitors could see them all moving. In their own formations. For Class A, Deku was taking the lead to act as a scout. Class B had Monoma and Shinso moving as one group, while the remaining three members acted as a separate group. Class C however had a rather unexpected plan from Hyde.

"You want to sit on the sidelines for now?" Shiro questioned. "I never thought I'd hear that from you of all people, Hyde."

"It's not as if I like the idea." Hyde told his classmate. "But right now Class A has two wins, while we and Class C each have one. This last match will decide it all. And against threats like Midoriya and Shinso, even the slightest mistake could prove fatal."

Satoshi nodded in agreement. "He's right. None of us have Quirks powerful enough to deal with Midoriya. It would be best to let Class B take him out first, or at least wear him down a bit."

Shiro let out a grumble. "I hate to admit it, but you're right. Midoriya's just too strong to take in a head on fight. Shinso's brainwashing is our best shot."

As Hyde and the others kept running, Hikari jumped down and landed near them, having returned from scouting. "Looks like Midoriya's off on his own. He encountered Monoma. There's a lot of flying objects around too, but I wasn't able to confirm if it was Yanagi or just Monoma copying her Quirk."

"How's the rest of Class A acting?" Hyde questioned.

"I heard a commotion a bit of a distance away, towards the direction of Class A's start point. I'm guessing the rest of Class B is attacking them currently."

"Hmmm…" Hyde thought to himself briefly. "Midoriya was our main issue for the Class A team. If we act now, we can take Class A and maybe some of B out in one fell swoop. Lead the way, Hikari."

Hikari frowned. "I'm still not on board with having you as leader of the team, but fine. Follow me!"

Back at the viewing area, everyone watched the early encounters of the match play out. Monoma was managing to keep Midoriya's attention, while Yanagi, Shoda, and Kodai were attacking the rest of Class A from a distance. Ashido was doing her best to defend her team with walls of acid, but it was clear it was anything but easy for her.

"Class B really isn't pulling any punches." Kaminari commented. "They've got Uraraka and the others on the defensive."

"Not having a proper scout on the team forced Midoriya to act as an impromptu scout for them." Jiro added. "That made it easier to separate him from the rest of the team."

"And with Shinso in the mix, they can't communicate as effectively." Tsu pointed out.

The image on Uraraka's group continued to show them desperately defending against the flying objects created from a clever combination of Yanagi, Shoda, and Kodai's Quirks. Ashido's acid finally managed to melt the last bit of them. After staying on guard for a few seconds to make sure there were no other projectiles incoming, the trio relaxed slightly.

Unfortunately, that moment allowed them to fall victim to a different threat.

In an instant, the ground beneath them softened. Their feet began to sink into the floor. Ashido and Urara were quick to react, with one spraying acid out from her feet to escape while the other shot a line of wire to a nearby structure to pull herself out. Mineta however had been unable to escape like his companions and soon found himself buried up to his neck.

"Oh no! Mineta!" Uraraka exclaimed.

A warning shout came from Ashido. "Uraraka, look out!"

Uraraka glanced and saw Satoshi flying straight at her. She managed to maneuver herself and evade the winged student. But now both she and Ashido were cut off from Mineta as Hyde, Hikari, and Shiro stood between them to guard their captured prey. Deciding not to risk further losses, the two Class A girls retreated for the time being.

"Well we managed to get one of them at least." Shiro shrugged. "Not the result we were hoping for, but it's still a plus for our side."

Using his Quirk, Hyde lifted up the part of the ground Mineta's body was buried under to keep him restrained. "Satoshi, think you can fly him over?"

"No need. I won't put up a fight." Mineta told them. He glanced towards the one girl on the Class C team. "As long as Akabane is the one to bring me back and hold me nice and close."

Mineta didn't get a chance to make another comment after that as Hikari swiftly kicked him across the head, knocking him out. Afterwards, Satoshi began carrying Mineta back towards their jail. Hyde led Shiro and Hikari as they chased after Uraraka and Ashido. The two of them were not to be underestimated, but Class C couldn't pass up the chance to keep the momentum going and grab them while they were still regrouping after their loss of Mineta.

Hikari used her speed and jumping prowess to chase after the two girls. Hyde flew on a slab of the ground he carved out. Shiro ran right behind them. It wasn't long before the figures of Uraraka and Ashido came into view in the distance.

Before the battle could resume however, something none of the teams expected occurred.

A loud crashing sound was heard in the distance. When everyone looked towards the direction it was coming from, they saw a series of black energy whips thrashing about violently.

"The hell?!" Hyde exclaimed. "Who's Quirk is that?!"

Hikari narrowed her eyes. "I think it's coming out of… Midoriya?"

Uraraka quickly took off towards the rampaging black whips. "Deku!"

As the testing field was thrown into chaos, those from the monitoring area were equally stunned by what was going on. The exact nature of Midoriya's power was still somewhat of a mystery to them, but it had always seemed like an enhancement to his physical abilities. This was far too different from what they had seen up until now.

"Has Midoriya's Quirk shown anything like this before now?" Yamagori asked Aizawa.

The homeroom teacher of Class 1-A answered in a worried tone. "No. I've never seen him use anything like this in the past."

"Vlad! Aizawa! Yamagori!" All Might exclaimed as he rushed over to them. "You have to stop this match! Something's wrong!"

The three teachers glanced at each other and collectively nodded before hurrying off to where the students were, followed by All Might. Vlad spoke to the other students, who seemed equally concerned. "All of you, stay here!"

The four teachers moved through the training field as fast as they could. Despite no longer having his iconic physical prowess, All Might was able to somewhat keep up with the other teachers. After a few minutes, they arrived at the outskirts of the battle. Just as they were about to act however, the violent black energy whips subsided. Taking a look at the situation, the cause seemed to have been Midoriya falling under Shinso's brainwashing.

Despite the unexpected rampage however, none of the three teams had stopped. They were all going at it with their full power as if nothing had happened. Uraraka and Midoriya were facing off against Monoma with Shinso hanging back for now. Meanwhile, the rest of Class B was up against Class C in a 3 on 3 brawl. Ashido was also attacking when she could, acting especially careful due to being on her own for now with Mineta captured.

"All Might…" Aizawa said as the former hero finally caught up to them. "Let's wait and see what happens."

"What?! But Aizawa-"

Aizawa observed the match closely. "This is far from over. The match continues."

"You sure about that?" Vlad questioned. "Midoriya's acting weird. We don't know what that was earlier."

"If it happens again, I'll stop the match at once. I can take him to a safe place." Aizawa explained. "Shinso was able to subdue him with Brainwashing before. And if this power stems from his Quirk, then I can always erase it."

Yamagori interjected her concerns next. "It still seems risky. Why chance it?"

"Because they're still determined." Aizawa answered simply. "Midoriya and Shinso… no, it's not just those two. Everyone is trying their hardest to win this round."

Vlad let out a chuckle. "Heh, deep down, you're a big softy, huh?"

"Yeah, yeah."

Yamagori sighed, but had a small smile of her own. "Well it would kill the mood a bit if we interrupted now. Fine then. Let's watch for now."

Back in the match, Hikari used her feline agility to hop around and confuse the enemy team. Of them all, Yamagi was the biggest threat with her Poltergeist Quirk allowing her to send objects flying telepathically. Taking advantage of an opening, Hikari lunged right for the Class B girl. If they could restrain her, then Class B would be severely weakened. Yanagi noticed Hikari coming and sent a large bolt flying her way. Hikari nimbly maneuvered her body and dove right through the center of the bolt. However, just as she was passing through, the bolt shrank back down to its original size. It stopped halfway in its shrinking, trapping Hikari's upper body in it.

"What the?!"

"Now, Shoda!" Kodai shouted.

Shoda wasted no time as he triggered his Quirk. "Twin Impact, fire!"

Behind Hikari, a container came flying at her with a large amount of force. Her bound state left her with no way to dodge as the cylindrical object slammed into her and sent her flying towards Class B's base.

"Let's fall back for now." Shoda suggested. "We can imprison Akabane before she recovers."

As the Class B trio retreated, Shiro and Hyde quickly gave chase. The crocodile student shouted as he ran. "Like hell we're just letting you get away! Get back here!"

It went without saying, but Class B did not stop. They continued to run, with Yanagi using her Quirk to lift up Hikari as they passed by her. Before long, they reached their jail. By that point however, Hyde and Shiro were right on their tail.

"Hurry and throw her in!" Kodai told Yanagi as she opened the jail cell.

Yanagi quickly maneuvered the floating bloating holding Hikari, hooking her in for a curve shot towards the open door. However, before any of them could notice, Shiro sprang forward, having been catapulted off the ground with help from Hyde's Quirk. He lunged forward and caught Hikari just before she could be thrown in. With a swing of his tail, he then knocked Kodai away from them as well.

"Thanks, Shiro." Hikari told her teammate.

"No problem." Shiro said as he used his crocodile strength to rip apart the enlarged bolt restraining Hikari.

Before either of them could rejoin the fight however, a shout was heard from Satoshi in the air, who had just returned from throwing Mineta in their jail. "Look out!"

Shiro and Hikari glanced up at Satoshi as they heard his warning. A second later, Hikari caught sight of a small object to their side, having been sent there via Yanagi's Quirk. But it was too late.

"Twin Impact, fire."

The activation of Shoda's Quirk sent the object rocketing into Shiro and Hikari with great force, knocking them both into the jail cell. Kodai hurried and shut the door, designating the two of them as captured.

"Dammit." Hyde cursed. Now he and Satochi were outnumbered two to three. And there were still the other members of Class A and B to deal with after this.

"Keep the pressure on them!" Shoda said as Yanagi sent all of her projectiles flying at Hyde and Satoshi.

Hyde threw up a wall with his Quirk. Yanagi attempted to curve the objects she was controlling, but Hyde reacted to those as well and threw up more walls, creating a full box around himself. But while it had protected him for the moment, Yanagi and her teammates knew full well that Hyde had quite literally boxed himself in and as such had nowhere to go.

"Got you now!" Shoda smirked. "Twin Impact, fire all!"

In that instant, all of the objects Yanagi was controlling that Shoda had hit earlier plowed into Hyde's defensive barrier. Combined with the force that Poltergeist was applying on them, they shattered the barricade in an instant. When the box of concrete crumbled away however, all three of them gasped in shock. Hyde wasn't there. And in his place was a large hole leading underground.

The group realized Hyde's ploy too late as they sank beneath the ground. Just like that, all three of them had been trapped.

Hyde rose out from the ground with his Quirk. "King's Tomb. How do you like it?"

"Impressive work." Satoshi said as he landed beside his classmate. "I wasn't aware you had mastered underground travel."

"It's hard as hell to do, I admit. Takes almost all my focus." Hyde explained. "Displacing the earth below me to let me make a tunnel takes precise control. Thankfully my practice with King's Tomb came in handy for getting the feel of it."

Satoshi looked at the trapped Class B students. "With all of them plus Mineta, that will give us the four we need to win. Let's hurry before the other altercation ends."

Hyde nodded his head. "Agreed. Let's-"

It only took a second. But in that brief moment, Hyde and Satoshi knew they had lost.

They had just noticed Uraraka's presence behind them when she touched Hyde's back and made him weightless with her Quirk. Hyde levitated into the air, completely helpless and unable to use his Quirk since he was not touching the ground. Uraraka managed to touch Satoshi's leg just as the winged student began taking off into the air. Unlike Hyde however, being weightless did not affect Satoshi as much due to his wings. Moving his body midair felt strange while weightless, but Satoshi quickly adapted and moved to grab Hyde so they could fall back.

"I don't think so!" Uraraka shouted. She shot out a wire from her gauntlet, wrapping it around Satoshi's leg and dragging him towards her with a forceful tug. In one swift motion, she got behind Satoshi and pinned him to the ground. "Gunhead Martial Arts!"

"Ugh!" Satoshi grunted as his body slammed against the floor.

Uraraka wasted no time in quickly restraining Satoshi. She wrapped both him and Hyde up and began dragging them to her base. Elsewhere, Midoriya had already apprehended Shinso. With those three, as well as Monoma who was already sitting in their jail, Class A had their four captures.

And with that, they had won.

"Things looked awfully dangerous for a second there. But the fifth match has now concluded." Midnight spoke over the intercom. "This marks the end of today's training. You've learned about your enemies and yourselves. You fought bravely, and showed your pro potential."

Going through the results of the mock battles, Class A had won the first match. The second match had gone to Class B, while Class C won the third match. And matches four and five had been another victory for Class A. So in the end, Class A had come out on top with three wins, while Class B and C tied with one win apiece.

"In the end we couldn't pull off a total victory." Reika sighed. "Our bonds of friendship are lacking."

"Class A really showed what they're made of." Daiki noted. "We've got a lot of work to do if we want to catch up."

"What really impressed me was how skilled Shinso was." Alicia added. "He was incredible in all three matches he participated in."

It was true. No one could deny how impressive Shinso had been during the training exercise. Despite not having any participation in the hero courses up until now, he had been able to hold his own with all of them. It truly went to show how much he had improved since the Sports Festival.

With the final match concluded, everyone returned to the monitor area. The three homeroom teachers went over their critiques of each of their class's teams. They had all done well, but each of them had areas where they could have performed better. And nobody knew that better than each of them.

Once the critiques were over, Vlad addressed the students. "We still have much to analyze with these fights. But I'd say in all probability Shinso will join the hero course in your second year. Just make sure you don't let him outshine you."

"Which class will he join?!" Kaminari asked eagerly.

"Class A is where it's at." Kirishima grinned.

"No way! He should join Class B!" Tetsutetsu argued.

Shiro waved off the two. "As if. Class C's clearly the best fit for him."

"No way! You guys already got Fujino!"

Before things could go further, Vlad interjected. "The particulars will come later. The training critiques are far from over."

With that, the joint exercise had come to an end. All five battles had been intense, with a strong showing from all three classes. And there was no doubt that they would only progress further as time went on.

They would need to improve as much as possible for what was coming.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait readers, but here you are. The latest chapter of HeroiC Tale and the final chapter for the Joint Training Arc. For those that missed my initial update that this is replacing, due to various reasons including the original file being corrupted and lost, I decided to skip through the fourth match and move straight onto the fifth and final match for this arc. Additionally, as I've stated recently in my other fics, life has just gotten too busy for me to have any kind of consistent update schedule, especially with the new job I started last month. As such, chapter updates will come on a simple basis of "when I finish them". Please be patient as they come.

Next arc will move onto the My Villain Academia arc, where you'll see a bit more of a look at the two OCs for this fic in the League of Villains, Cougar and Death Metal. I hope you are all looking forward to it.

Lastly, for anyone interested, I recently finished the first volume of my first full original story, Genesis Game. It is currently up on Wattpad, as well as the original fiction sister site to this one, Fiction Press. Feel free to give it a look. I'm eager to hear your feedback.