Shoutout again to RottedKarma for their Beta-ing. They achieved something inhuman.

"Well then, shall we proceed with the battle analysis?"

Everyone seemed to be okay with that, though when All Might asked "So, can anyone explain the villain team's strategy?" it took a long time until someone raised their hand. Truth be told, Katsuki did have an idea of what Deku had pulled off, but he figured he didn't count since they'd mulled over siege tactics since they were ten.

Finally, it was some girl with the spikiest ponytail Katsuki had ever seen who wanted to have a try at analyzing. "Well, the most important factor in their plan obviously was to separate Todoroki-san and Hagakure-san. In order to achieve that, they prepared both the room in which Tokoyami-san waited, so that he or the bomb wouldn't be as easy to spot, and broke holes into the floors to expand their mobility. That was the only way for Midoriya-san to ambush them like that: He waited in the darkened room until the ice covered anything, likely for the purpose of lulling them into a sense of security. Then he exploited the short argument between Hagakure-san and Todoroki-san to get into a good position. As soon as Todoroki-san unfroze the room, Midoriya-san attacked him and pretended to struggle against Hagakure-san, since she, as Bakugo-san pointed out already, was the more dangerous of the two in this exercise."

Everyone watched her flawless critique with awe.

"Todoroki-san correctly concluded that he couldn't use ice attacks as long as he had an invisible comrade fighting, who would've reacted unfavorably with such a drop in temperature. He then proceeded to get up without paying any mind to their fight as it seemed to him that Hagakure-san could contain Midoriya-san."

Todoroki regarded her with the look, but she remained unfazed.

"Todoroki-san, being extremely capable in fighting, was confident that he would manage to subdue Tokoyami-san, which indicates that he didn't comprehend the villain team's strategy. Instead, he started to fight Tokoyami-san. While we were unable to watch the actual battle, he seemed weakened afterwards, by which we can deduce that the discrepancy he imagined between them was not as clear as he believed it to be."

"SERIOUSLY, WHICH OF YOU IS THE TEACHER?"

All Might himself was at a bit of a loss himself, and didn't say anything.

"Concerning the fight between Hagakure-san and Midoriya-san, I noticed that Midoriya-san's costume seemed to have a special feature. Is that correct?"

"A feature?" Ashido asked in surprise. "Okay, now I'm interested! C'mon, Midori-kun, spill it!"

"Well," Izuku said self-consciously, with all eyes suddenly being on him, "er, you see, well…" What was up with him? He just won his match! He shouldn't be this nervous!

Well… he was going to have a talk later on.

"Midoriya-san… I owe you an explanation, and an apology. I would like to request a rendezvous after school. You may bring with you whoever you'd like to, should it set your mind at ease."

"Er… you gonna tell us?" Kirishima asked good-naturedly. "I mean, I'm cool with it if you want to have it as a secret weapon or something, but…"

"Oh, no, I mean, of course, yes!" Izuku hastened to get a hold on himself. He also removed his mask because it muffled his voice somewhat. "Er… well, my Quirk works by changing my cells into a different material. The requirement for that is that I touch it – I don't have something like memory cells for it, so I can only copy the molecular makeup if I have physical contact."

Katsuki would have facepalmed like Deku got into the habit of doing, but he'd learned years before that that was a bad idea given the traits of his sweat. Still, Deku and Quirks…

"So, when I requested my Hero costume, I needed two things. Firstly, on the inner surface I have plates of nineteen different materials that directly touch my skin."

"So you have something like your personal adaptation arsenal with you?" Kaminari asked interestedly.

"I'm surprised that you were the first one who noticed that." Jiro deadpanned.

Kaminari started complaining while Izuku continued. "The second thing I applied for was that my costume would be able to mimic my Matter Adaption."

Instantly, everyone shut up. Then… "WHAT?"

"Wait, your costume has a Quirk?" Kaminari asked.

Jiro pierced him with her Earphone Jack. "Of course not, idiot."

"But how did they do that?" Tooru asked. She still had the manacle around her hand and felt pretty uncomfortable with it – seriously, it was way heavier than it looked like. "I mean, a Quirk like that has its limit. It doesn't just apply on your costume as well!"

Yaoyorozu smiled. "It's made out of your hair, right, Midoriya-san?"

Izuku nodded. "Yes."

"Wow. Kinda gross if you think about it."

"Okay, wait a sec. Did you say hair?" Hagakure asked in bewilderment. "Why hair?"

Izuku nodded, feeling a bit insecure despite having bested Todoroki with his plan. And he knew it was gross for himself, thank you, Sero. "Well… it has to do with my first Super Move. I need a costume that can adapt alongside with me if I want to use it. And it was actually easier than I thought; U.A. has a contract with a hairdresser who has a Hair Elongation Quirk. Since that hair contains my own DNA, it is able to react on Matter Adaption."

"Wow. You sure put some thought into that." Ashido stated. "Makes me sorta jealous." She grinned infectiously. "Still, you were totally awesome out there! Was the whole thing your plan?"

"E-er, no, Tokoyami also helped me a great deal…"

"I merely polished the weapon you forged, Midoriya-san. No one shall judge you for taking the credit you deserve."

Deku had slowly adapted plastic in his eyes (which didn't look creepy at all), so Katsuki waited eagerly how long he'd stand the gaff before the praise melted his brain.

Sadly, Ponytail saved him by continuing with her analysis. "As I stated, the clue to his success laid in the special feature of his costume. Midoriya-san sacrificed a small part of his body mass, likely fat or hair cells, and a tiny sample of metal which helped that part to maintain the adaptation during what I assume was his Super Move."

"Cut the shit," Katsuki snapped. "They don't have a clue anyways."

Ponytail looked at him in what could be interpreted as annoyance before explaining: "Midoriya-san seems to be able to adapt liquids."

"WHAT?" Katsuki rolled his eyes; that exaggerated reaction was starting to become ridiculous. Seriously, they lived in a world where weird mouse-rat-bear things became principals and humans could look like washing machines, and they got excited about this?

"As far as I am concerned, Midoriya-san probably transformed part of his body into water. When Hagakure's punch hit him, he quickly transformed the water surrounding her hand into metal, making her visible to him."

"Okay, that's just plain unfair. Liquids? Really? How are we supposed to stand up against that?"

"Quit the crying, Kaminari."

"I also wanted to point out that we are over thousand words into this chapter and still don't know where the bomb is. Ribbit."

Everyone looked at Asui in confusion.

"Let's just pretend you never said that, alright?"

"If it's necessary. Ribbit."

Yaoyorozu nodded. "To be honest, I don't know where they deposited the bomb either. The only thing I can say is that it wasn't in the room when Todoroki entered."

"Thanks, young Yaoyorozu. In this case, does anyone else have a clue?"

Peaceable head-shaking followed.

"Well, since I don't know either, how about our villain team explains it themselves?"

"He just boldly stated that he doesn't have a clue…"

Tokoyami sighed as Izuku had started to freeze completely while unleashing a small mumble-storm, and explained, "As we could not exclude the possibility of the Heroes besting us, we braced ourselves. For that purpose, my Quirk, Dark Shadow, hid away the object of our nefarious goal in a chamber upstairs. Hereupon we concealed the lair in which I awaited Todoroki-san, whose thoughts it never entered that the bomb might be without guard."

"Okay. What?"

"That's over my head."

"What'd he just say?"

"After Todoroki-san's first attack, he put the bomb on the fourth floor. Then he darkened the room, so Todoroki-san didn't notice its absence, and then Dark Shadow took a shape which made it appear like it was enveloped in it." Yaoyorozu explained.

"Great, so why didn't he just say it like that?"

"Now that you all know how the fight could end like it did, who do you think was the MVP in this battle?"

"Well, Midoriya-san, I'd say. It was his plan, right?" Ojiro stated.

"What?" Sato objected. "Don't you think it was Todoroki-san? He stood his ground against Midoriya-san and Tokoyami-san at the same time!"

"Though you have to keep in mind it was Todoroki-chan's misplanning that led to the whole situation in the first place," Asui pondered. "And Tokoyami-chan let himself be captured because he knew the time was almost up."

"Yeah," Mineta chimed in, "but Hagakure-chan was the only one who actually tried her best in this, right? I mean, the other three were way more careless than she was!"

"And I still say it was Midoriya-san's plan!"

"Todoroki-san's strength!"

"Tokoyami-san's foresight!"

"Hagakure's breas…thtaking concentration!" Mineta shrank under the glares he received from those around him.

"It seems we have a disagreement. In this case…"

"It was Tokoyami-san." Yaoyorozu stated.

She interrupted All Might!

"How did you come to that conclusion?"

"Simple," Yaoyorozu said, and somehow it really sounded like it was simple when she said it. "Todoroki-san was careless. He didn't take the training as seriously as he should have, and played into the villain team's hands."

Todoroki just looked at her again, impassive.

"Hagakure-san's performance was really good; she realized Todoroki-san's mistake with the ice coating almost immediately and tried to plan in advance. But she failed to recognize the villain team's strategy of dividing them and instead tried to fight Midoriya-san, who – in terms of hand-to-hand combat – was obviously superior to her."

Hagakure rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. "Yeah, that was kinda dumb…"

"Midoriya-san could have won with far more elegant tactics than the one he used. I assume that he wanted to test his manacle technique, which is effective, but takes a toll on his body. After that, he was too weakened to break through the ice wall Todoroki-san had created. Tokoyami-san on the other hand played to his strengths and occupied Todoroki-san to an extent that…"

"Er… actually that was part of the plan…"

Yaoyorozu looked at Midoriya-san in surprise. "Excuse me?"

"Well…" Izuku explained self-consciously, "in case Tokoyami-san got incapacitated before the time was up, my job would've been to get to the bomb and defend it. We didn't know how strong he was, after all, and didn't want to risk him incapacitating us both, which is why I stayed outside. Also, had I destroyed the ice wall, I might have injured Tokoyami-san or Todoroki-san."

Everyone gawked at him in shock. "That's how far you planned ahead?" Sato marveled. "That's crazy!"

"Well, in this case, the MVP badge goes to… er… hm." All Might hesitated. "Er… well, it goes to…"

"HURRY UP ALREADY!"

All Might sighed. "It probably goes to young Hagakure."

"EH?"

"WHAT? Me? B-but I didn't do anything! I was just no match for Izuku-kun!" Hagakure looked at him in… well, he couldn't place it. Invisible and all.

"True. Young Midoriya was indeed more powerful than you. But this exercise is not a strength ranking. And MVP means Most Valuable Player. I will be frank: Young Todoroki, young Midoriya and young Tokoyami are all superior to you in terms of strength. That was what young Yaoyorozu was getting at."

The girl nodded slowly, her confusion now obvious even without visible features.

"But instead of just relying on your teammate, you tried to devise a strategy on your own, after you realized that young Todoroki did not take you seriously."

All Might looked at the latter sternly, who just returned the gaze with cold anger burning in his eyes. This might evolve into a problem later on. But for now he'd focus on young Hagakure.

"And if his teammate had been someone else, they both would have been incapacitated short after entering the building – young Midoriya had the surprise effect and greater agility, which he proved in his fight against young Todoroki later on. So I daresay you were the one who exploited their potential the most, ensuring your team had the chance to win!"

Hagakure seemed overjoyed (considering the speed her arms flailed up and down while she talked to the flustered Midoriya) while Tokoyami nodded in approval.

"Oh, Izuku-kun?"

"Y-yes?" First name basis? Kacchan, help!

Of course Katsuki just stood there and watched, with a shit-eating smirk on his face.

"Could you please take off that manacle now?"

Match 2: Koda Koji and Ojiro Mashirao as the villains vs. Kaminari Denki and Bakugo Katsuki as the Heroes

"Man, Bakugo! Cool that we two are a team! You sure rock! This is totally like that one show where…"

Katsuki was really close to losing himself and blasting his idiot of a partner into the stratosphere, because he didn't know when to SHUT THE FUCK UP!

Then he thought of all the hours he and Deku had spent discussing scenarios and making plans, and calmed down again. Wouldn't do if he lost after actually praising Deku. Invisibi- Kacchan! – Hagakure wouldn't let him forget that ever again.

Wait.

Did he actually develop an Inner Deku?

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

"… let loose that grenade and then they just went BOOM! Oh yeah, speaking of grenades, what features does your costume have? Mine has two really cool staffs that carry electricity, and also this neat headgear! My clothes are insulated, so I can protect civilians with them! I also…"

Katsuki was on the verge of facepalming. Again. Instead he gave a smile and painted a rosy picture of him ripping off Dunce Face' head and shoving it up his ass.

"Start!"

Life was beautiful.

Katsuki charged straight in, having Dunce Face follow him while wailing about him being uncooperative.

"Oi, Sparky! Here's a plan, so try to not fuck it up. Can you discharge electricity through the braces?"

"Wait – you actually have a strategy? You seem more like the 'Boom, DIE, hua hua hua!' type, y'know?"

"FUCKER! CAN YOU DO THAT OR NOT? IF NOT, AT LEAST SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

"Yeah, that's what I meant. But I can try. Waitaminute."

Dunce Face laid his palm on the brace and… "Yeah, works."

"Alright. Now use that shitty head widget and hack the other team's communication."

Dunce Face looked at him in awe. Bakugo loved it when people did that. Even those like that one. "Okay. I got an idea." With that, Dunce Face fiddled with his headgear, listened for a while, and then inhaled.

That didn't bode well. "What the fuck…"

"Hey, villains. Greetings from me, the Electric Hero, Center Shock! I just wanted to inform you that it was quite nice of you to let us hear your plans over the funk! Toodles!"

That idiot! That was… actually a decent idea, now that Katsuki thought about it. Psychological warfare and all that.

Still… Center Shock? Really?

"Okay, the bomb is on the fourth floor!" Oh, well. Dunce Face wasn't completely useless, Katsuki guessed.

"Alright. You stay here. When I give the signal, you send a shock through the braces."

Dunce Face nodded.

A feral grin spread over Katsuki's face as he propelled himself upstairs.

On the fourth floor

Ojiro was exceedingly nervous. Not only did he get the violent Bakugo as an opponent, but there was also the problem that Koda's Quirk wasn't of much use in a cityscape. Not to mention that Bakugo was definitely in the Top 5 of the class judging by what he'd done at the Quirk Apprehension Test and the Entrance Exam.

"Hey, villains. Greetings from me, the Electric Hero, Center Shock!"

What?

"I just wanted to inform you that it was quite nice of you to let us hear your plans over the funk! Toodles!"

…Shit. This was really bad. That message basically meant that Kaminari had a method to intercept their communication system. Ojiro cursed under his breath.

Then the explosions came near, and he quickly hid himself by wrapping his tail around a strut on the ceiling. At least the environment was to his advantage.

The second he was in hiding, a demon disguised as a human shot out of the staircase, propelled by little explosions and rocketing forward. His speed was impressive, but Ojiro was quick to follow. In the moment Bakugo had to slow down in order to open the door at the end of the corridor, he silently leapt down and aimed a heavy hit at his head.

Unfortunately, it didn't land.

Bakugo shot around, faster than Ojiro expected anyone to be, and met his tail with an explosion that shot him down the floor.

"Alright, monkey! Let's see what you got! Better give fucking everything if you wanna be more than just a warm-up for me!"

Ojiro adopted a fighting stance, filled with determination. Prodigy or not, he'd show him that he, too, had his pride.

Bakugo rocketed towards him, an explosion already at hand. Ojiro readily intercepted him with a palm strike to the arm and swept the other boy's legs with his tail. However, Bakugo jumped over it, propelled himself behind Ojiro and blasted him in the back.

Ojiro rolled over, leaped back to his feet and decided to change his tactics. The tailed boy jumped up to the ceiling again, clung onto a strut and started to swing around the beams, effortlessly dodging Bakugo's explosions.

"Here you got it, Bakugo! This is what monkeys do!"

Bakugo smirked.

Instantly, Ojiro knew something was off. The older boy seemed to adjust his grenade-themed little bracers, before leveling his right arm at him.

"Dunce Face! Now!"

Then Ojiro screamed with pain as an electric shock shot through him, causing him to lose his grip.

As he fell, he could hear Bakugo screaming "WARHEAD PANZERFAUST!"

Then everything went black.

Target building, Basement Monitor Room

Everyone stared reverently at how fast the second match had concluded. Bakugo's blast had checkmated Ojiro as well as broken and hurled the door into Koda, who'd been caught off guard and knocked out.

"That… that was brilliant! He took out both villains with a single attack!" Sero said while the four participants of the second fight came in (Ojiro still a bit fuzzy).

"Yeah," Ashido agreed enthusiastically. "Didn't he put the bomb at risk with it though?"

"Actually, no." Yaoyorozu explained. "His blast was only strong enough to affect the door – if Koda hadn't stood in line, he wouldn't have been harmed. Otherwise, the explosion could've led to serious injuries for Ojiro."

"She is right! Young Bakugo demonstrated outstanding competence and proficiency with his Quirk as well as a quick wit! He used both his own capabilities and the specialties of his partner to the fullest, and is definitely the MVP of the second match!"

Katsuki couldn't help but smirk at Deku, who looked at him in mock sulkiness.

Three seconds later they began discussing the tank's utility and how to improve it.

Match 3: Yaoyorozu Momo and Mineta Minoru as the villains vs. Sato Rikido and Ashido Mina as the Heroes

As soon as All Might had made the signal, Mina rushed into the building with enthusiasm. Finally she'd catch a glimpse of the real Hero training herself! Though she probably wouldn't be able to top those insane strength demonstrations of the first two rounds… well, whatever! She'd give her best nonetheless!

"C'mon, Sato! We gotta rush! The longer we wait, the more difficult it'll be, right? They're both trappers, after all!"

"Take it easy." Sato tried to curb her. "I'll just have to get my strength boost ready." With that, he opened a box of candy and threw three of them into his mouth. Mina quickly snatched one, too.

"So tasty!" she exclaimed in delight. "Did you make them yourself?"

Sato nodded sheepishly.

"Alright, I know who I'm gonna call at my birthday!"

At the second floor

"What exactly do you think this is going to accomplish? Would you be so kind and stay focused?"

Mineta looked at her with as much innocence as he could muster (which wasn't much at all). "What do you mean? I just…"

Yaoyorozu pinched her nasal bridge. "Please, Mineta. Do you want to lose because you didn't even try to control yourself? You won't endear yourself to your classmates at all with that attitude!"

At the Basement Monitor Room

"Did that little squirt just…" Jiro seethed.

"It looks like it," Iida stated. "But we shouldn't be prejudiced – it could have been an accident!"

"Nah… I dunno…" Kaminari looked at the screen with somewhat of a glassy look in his eyes.

"Get a hold on yourself, Dunce Face!"

"Kacchan!"

"It's Kaminari! Kaminari Denki! What'd I even do to you?" Kaminari wailed.

"Hey, look," Sero stated, "it seems like they started to prepare themsel-… eh? Okay, wait, what's that?"

At a room on the first floor

"Whoa!" Mina exclaimed. "Look at this!"

In the back of the room was the bomb. And the floor was cluttered with suspicious-looking violet orbs.

Mina could barely dodge when suddenly Mineta lunged out from behind the bomb and started pelting them with even more of the orbs – the effect of which Mina had already seen at the Quirk Apprehension Test.

But on the bright side, Yaoyorozu wasn't here, and Mina was pretty sure the two of them could subdue their pint-sized opponent.

So she veered to the right, sliding on her acid and melting through the orbs (to Mineta's horror), while Sato had to get by with just carefully avoiding the sticky things.

Luckily, Mineta, while being a decent shot, was unable to trap Mina due to her speed (and stayed strangely focused on her, which, to be honest, made her kind of uncomfortable). It didn't take long at all before Sato jumped over the ball minefield with sugar-enhanced strength.

Mineta let out a shriek and used the spheres to jump away from him, which led to Sato reaching the bomb effortlessly. Mina laughed merrily as Sato had it secured, simultaneously feeling somewhat disappointed that a team with a recommendation student hadn't managed a better performance than this.

Then, the door slammed shut.

Now Mina was annoyed. Was Mineta really petty enough to lock them in?

"Er… Ashido-san?" Sato sounded worried. That in turn made her nervous, too. "Wasn't the bomb supposed to be made of styrofoam?"

Mina nodded. "Yeah? So what…"

Sato squeezed the bomb, which crumpled and then slowly returned to its original form.

"…a fake? They planted a fake bomb in the room?"

Mina felt betrayed. A fake? How had they… of course. Yaoyorozu had created an inflatable bomb, they brought it in here, Mineta littered the ground with sticky orbs, and…

"Oh no! Sato-kun, look at the windows!"

Sato, whose Sugar Rush slowly began to take a toll on him, turned around and could do nothing but watch as from above a purple liquid poured over the glass. At the same time, the liquid flowed towards them from underneath the door.

"Eeeh? What is this?"

Sato used the fake bomb to touch the liquid, to which it stuck.

"C-could it be..."

"… that this stuff is made of Mineta-kun's hair?"

They were screwed.

Wait, there was one option they had left!

"Sato-kun, I'll melt a hole through the floor! We're going to run a surprise attack while they think they got us!"

Sato looked at the purple goo hesitantly. "That could work, I guess. But make it quick, this stuff just doesn't stop coming."

Mina nodded and released her strongest acid through the soles of her feet, painting a small, sizzling cycle on the floor, which gave in soon after.

"Alright, the hole's done. Now c'mon!"

Both of them leaped down to the floor below – where four cannons were directed at them.

Yaoyorozu, who seemed quite proud with her accomplishment, smiled at them with the beauty of a mushroom cloud.

Sato and Mina were quick to yield.

Match 4: Sero Hanta and Uraraka Ochaco as the villains vs. Aoyama Yuga and Iida Tenya as the Heroes

Iida was a systematic and meticulous person.

Since the previous teams had lost due to underestimating their opponents, he made sure to take the threat seriously. This included thoroughly checking every room in the ground floor before moving up to the next stage. His partner, Aoyama, stayed in the main corridor of the stage they were frisking to ensure their opponents wouldn't be able to ambush them.

However, when they arrived at the fourth floor of the five-floor building without enemy contact, Iida became suspicious. They'd already lost around six minutes with sweeping the stories, which meant that slowly but surely their time got low.

After them being halfway through the fifth floor and Iida now definitely confused, Aoyama spoke up.

"Monsieur Iida, it seems like our méprisable opponents entrenched themselves up on the roof✩."

Aoyama pointed up to the skylight, which had been covered in layers upon layers of tape.

Well, that Iida called cunning. "As expected of those wrenched scoundrels! Let us enforce justice on them with all our might!"

"Oui, monsieur!" Aoyama bowed flamboyantly before shooting a laser out of his shoulder bracer, cutting through glass and tape with ease. "The path is cleared✩!"

Iida swiftly got a table from the interior of a nearby room, thus creating a makeshift platform. Since the villain team would've been alerted by Aoyama's laser either way, he didn't have to worry about subtlety.

The main problem was that their opponents knew from where to expect them, so Iida had an idea.

"Aoyama. Is it possible for you to use your Navel Laser to propel yourself through the roof hatch?"

"C'est un jeu d'enfant." Aoyama lied down on the table. Luckily, the building's skylights were quite big, so at least he wouldn't have many problems with getting on the roof.

Aoyama rather inelegantly flew through the roof hatch, Iida following immediately after (though he had to resort to climbing) only to be met with a slap to his armor.

At first he was confused, but then he understood. Uraraka's Quirk. Of course – she'd applied Zero Gravity to him. And like the name said, he now floated through the air aimlessly.

"Okay, Sero-kun! I got Iida-kun!"

The other boy nodded and quickly tried to seize Aoyama with his tape. The sparkling boy though proved himself as quite the good matchup against the two of them – his laser beams actually managed to hold Uraraka (who was only useful at close combat) and Sero's tape (which he cut through easily) at bay.

Iida on the other hand had been disabled before the fight had even begun, and to make matters worse, he couldn't see the bomb anywhere on the roof.

Then his brain suddenly produced a concept. Hm. This might work…

At the Basement Monitor Room

"Looks sorta bad for the Hero team, don't you think so? I mean, no offense, but how long do you think Aoyama-kun's gonna be able to keep this up?" Hagakure stated. "Also, is it just me or is Uraraka-san's Quirk just plain unfair in this terrain?"

"Yeah, you're right. Makes me even more pumped up to be next though! And you have to admit that it's damn manly to keep Uraraka-kun and Sero-kun covered simultaneously!"

"Could you brain-fucked idiots put your mind in gear before…"

Midoriya activated his Dark Aura of Kacchan.

"Alright, may I kindly pronounce my opinion with regard to the fact that you are all imbeciles? I mean, Four-Eyes is obviously up to something, so how 'bout you just hang tight and watch?"

At the roof of training building 4

Iida made a mental note to thank Tensei for his advice when it came to movement in difficult terrain. Though he had argued that presumably a fight in weightlessness was unlikely to ever happen, his brother had reasonably brought forward the argument that it never did any harm to be prepared. Iida was glad he had taken that to heart.

So when he was sure that Uraraka and Sero were fully focused on Aoyama – who seemed to feel the repercussions of his Quirk by now, but his dedication was most admirable – Iida stretched his legs nearly into a split, and slowly moved forward in first gear.

In the meantime Ochaco was getting increasingly weary.

While Aoyama was arguably weaker than, say, Yaoyorozu or Tokoyami, his Quirk proved to give him a serious edge against the two of them, and she just wasn't able to close in on him. She briefly considered making herself float to get to him, but decided against it – he had these pauldrons, so that move would probably make her an easy target.

Consequently she had to do it by conventional methods. And Aoyama seemed to slowly wear out in this two-on-one fight.

Sero shot another round of tape that was cut off by Aoyama's laser beams, shredding the tape into ribbons that fluttered through the air and forced her to dance around them as she attacked. Sero's attacks grew slower and unfocused, whereas Aoyama had taken to clutching his stomach; both were definitely giving into exhaustion, so Ochaco got ready.

Then she heard something behind herself. She barely had time to turn around when… WHAM!

When Iida's engine-powered kick sent her across the rooftop her concentration collapsed – leading to her releasing her Quirk.

In that moment, three things happened in quick succession. Firstly, Iida, back to being affected by gravity, ran towards Uraraka. Secondly, Aoyama, now suffering from serious stomach ache, shot a final beam out of his belt that managed to hit Sero's left elbow, who hissed in pain but seized the opportunity to wrap his now defenseless opponent in tape out of his right one.

And thirdly, the bomb suddenly dropped down and fell straight on Aoyama.

"The bomb… ahem… the bomb has been secured. The Hero team wins!"

At the Basement Monitor Room

"Wow, that was sick!" Ashido exclaimed. "I mean, did you see that! Iida-kun totally rocked!"

"His movement in zero-g was sort of metal, yeah." Jiro agreed. "Could have something to do with Sero and Uraraka having paid him no attention as soon as he was in it though."

"But the 'securing' of the bomb was funny," Kaminari stated. "I mean, it just dropped straight on Aoyama-kun – to be honest, I feel kinda sorry for him. Styrofoam or not."

"But wasn't it mainly luck?" Asui asked. "Uraraka-chan made the bomb float above the field, and in that scenario the consequences would have been pretty bad if it'd fallen on the ground. Ribbit."

"You are right, young Asui. But in Hero business, luck is important, too! Quirk advantages, coincidences, natural calamities etc. – in all of these events, luck is vital for the Heroes! So while I agree that the outcome of this battle was significantly influenced by happenstance, it won't reflect on their grades – after all, there have been stranger incidences throughout the years. I remember that one event with Ryukyu three years ago where she fought a villain while completely covered in raclette cheese."

Everyone blinked, and then chose not to ask.

Match 5: Jiro Kyoka and Kirishima Eijiro as the Heroes vs. Asui Tsuyu and Shoji Mezo as the villains

Eijiro felt pumped up. He had been mesmerized by the previous fights, but now that it was finally his turn, he could hardly wait for the whole thing to start. Also, the Quirks of their opponents were suited for direct combat, which made it even better. He knew strategizing was important, but his favorite sort of fight was still an all-out, old-fashioned brawl.

Plus, Jiro was super manly. As soon as All Might had announced the start of the battle, she had plugged her Earphone Jack into a wall and had instantly found out where Shoji and Asui were. She'd also reprimanded him quite dryly that, as Shoji had a surveillance Quirk too, he shouldn't "burst into the room like a decerebrated punk".

Eijiro had agreed, and also reminded himself to look up "decerebrated" later on.

So now they were inside, as quiet as they could possibly be with one of them being Eijiro (who thought that at least he tried his very best). Jiro checked the position of the enemy team every few seconds, but they didn't seem to move much.

As soon as they'd reached the fourth floor, they only whispered to each other – something Kyoka had proposed, though she quickly learned that Kirishima was incredibly bad at whispering. She actually wasn't sure if he was quieter than beforehand at all.

"Alright. They don't talk to each other, though I can hear them moving. They're probably using sign language or something."

Eijiro nodded and grinned in excitement. "Alright, here we go!"

He hardened his body and threw himself against the door – which gave in without resistance.

Eijiro's eyes widened in surprise, then he had to duck in order to avoid the capture tape Shoji held ready. Quickly, he made a roll to the left, shortly before being wrapped in something sticky and moist. As he was hurled up, he realized the sticky and moist thing had been Asui's tongue.

Eijiro turned while airborne, grabbed the tongue and pulled with all his might, which resulted in Asui breaking away from the wall she'd been sticking to. While she was falling down, Jiro activated her own Quirk

The effect was overwhelming. As she was standing inside the door, there was only one direction from where one could get at her, and the speakers at her legs covered that pretty effectively, letting out the most ear-shredding, brain-grinding, nerve-burning screech that Eijiro had ever heard.

Shoji, who unfortunately still had two of his Dupli-Arms transformed into ears, prostrated quickly, pressed his hands on the sides of his head and groaned in pain. Asui had been able to dodge the bulk of it, but appeared dizzy, opening her to a hardened punch that made her stagger back a few paces.

Jiro in the meantime slowly stepped forward, her boots still emitting the excruciating noise, before calmly wrapping the capture tape around Shoji's arm.

"Hero team, Shoji – captured!"

Asui leaped out of the way when Jiro directed another sound attack at her, before avoiding Eijiro's flurry of blows narrowly. She then stuck to the ceiling, snatched his ankle – not again! – and flung him straight into Jiro, who was forced to cut her attack in order to not injure her teammate, before being toppled over by said teammate.

Asui jumped towards them while Eijiro hurried to get away from Jiro, who was still slightly dazed. Had it not been for his intervention, Asui's follow-up kick would likely have knocked her out. Instead he pulled her away as the frog girl descended, who instantaneously used her tongue like a whip to slap her out of his hands.

Kirishima had to respect that girl's strength and speed. The latter especially. He just couldn't land a clean hit on her because she was so damn agile!

Kirishima was delighted. This was how he'd imagined battle training going!

As soon as Jiro had cleared her head again, Asui was on the defensive. While her skill and flexibility were great, she just stood little chance against the two of them at the same time, with the bomb still behind her. Which didn't mean that she'd ceased in her efforts, because she hadn't. Instead, she pulled out all the stops, resorting to throwing the room's furniture at them with a surprisingly high rate and occupying the two of them for quite a while.

Finally though, Jiro managed to overcome Asui's barrage and got to the bomb.

"The bomb was secured! The Hero team… wiiiins!"

"At last… the chapter… is over. Ribbit."

A/N: I'm not dead! Yay!

No, seriously. I'm haven't discontinued this story and I'm not going to do so anytime soon. To be honest, the whole damn 2 MONTH delay was due to some pretty shitty computer problems. Sorry.

Next update is going to hit a lot sooner; expect it within one or two weeks. Pinky promise.

Something about the Team Yaoyorozu strategy that I wanted to include, but didn't find a good time to do so: Yaoyorozu used her Quirk to create a dissolvent which they used to make the GrapeGlue™.

Next time: Talk to Tokoyami...

Well then: Constructive criticism is welcome, flames aren't!

Remember to go beyond…

PLUS ULTRA!

Ramses, over and out.