And here we are, Chapter 5.

Thank you all for the continued support while it's been a difficult time writing. Some good news though, I have figured out what the next chapter of Bearer of the Light is going to be, and start the set up for the End Game :)

For those expecting a big duke out with Bakugo, I'm sorry, but we know how that song and dance goes, given this is the POWER OF THE LITERAL STRONGEST MAN IN THE UNIVERSE... thankfully, Izuku would go easy on the Pomeranian...

Unlike me, who would feed him to the woodchipper. :)

Anyway, enjoy this chapter and look forward to next time.

Review time:

Typomaniacal: Honestly, I am a sucker for it too and it's nice to just focus on it for a bit before the all out fights begin, you know?

Apedreitor: Oh there will be some absurd feats... like in this chapter :)

Hunt1103: Getting the help I need and have many in my corner, but thank you for the kind words :)

Groggarioth: Good guesses for who can wield the Magic Sword are. the first two are right, of course :) The last one is technically Todoroki, as he's purposely holding back his fire powers because of spite... which isn't very heroic.

Wally991: She is our Alien Queen and must be treated with the respect she deserves. Thank you for the kind words.

[MHA and "He-man and the Masters of the Universe" all belong to their copyright owners, as I do not own any of them.]


Chapter 5

One's lack of Potential


The distant sounds of explosions echoed off the stone walls of the alleyway that Koji Koda was currently huddled in, wincing and whimpering slightly as he swore he could hear the shouts of 'DIE!' mixed in. He knew that becoming a Pro Hero would be hard, and more often than not, he would be placed into dangerous and scary situations, but to consider that one of his classmates to BE that scary intentionally?

At least Koda could rely on Midoriya to not be as scary as Bakugo; though the often undressed young man was intimidating in his own right, it was surprising to the animal controller how timid and nervous his green-headed classmate was outside of when he used his quirk, almost as if he was entirely a different person. Honestly, Koda wished his quirk allowed him to go through that sort of magical change of personality, allowing him to face the pressure and stress he was going through right now, maybe even helping him be more confident in his abilities, as it wasn't always easy talking to some animals.

The less said about talking to insects, the better.

Whatever musings Koji had were quickly dismissed as the sounds of the incoming explosions kept getting louder and louder. Curling up into a ball with his back against the wall at the end of the alleyway, he wished this exercise was over so he could go home and talk with his bunny.


"Bakugo's certainly… enthusiastic?" Kaminari spoke in a half-joking tone as he and the rest of the class watched on with shock at how violent the explosive boy was.

"Sure, some of us had to take out a few robots to reach the target… but that is just going overboard." Sero crossed his arms in front of his chest while his ever-present smile was more subdued.

"It's almost like he's … hunting them down?" Mina spoke up worriedly, though her attention was split between watching Midoriya and Bakugo; the former took a much more subtle approach, only taking out the robots when needed and in ways that didn't encourage more to seek him out.

Unlike Bakugo, who was tearing through the alleyways and side lanes, destroying everything that moved, he looked like an utter maniac. Though there seemed to be a reason for what he was doing, she and the others couldn't wrap their heads around what it was.

All Might had been watching the monitors closely at this point as well; while keeping his trademark smile on his lips, he was watching the monitors both above him and the ones on the control board that had a layout of the faux city with blips to show who was present in the labyrinth.

Bakugo's behavior was extremely odd, and how he carried himself was so unlike what was written in his student records that All Might had studied during the week to better understand how to train all the students in the first-year hero course. When his blue eyes slowly shifted upwards to a monitor that had Bakugo paused his onslaught to look at his gauntlets for a moment before running off to the next pack of robots, All Might's mind began to think back to what exactly was special about them for Bakugo to stop and look at them.

And why did he feel a sinking pit in his non-existent gut?


"FUCKIN' DIE!" Bakugo shouted as he took down another set of robots that thought they could sneak up on him while he was dealing with another set that had met an explosive end. The blond young man grunted as he looked about, trying to see if he could spot any more, and snarled out a sigh before bringing up one of his gauntlets, his red irises looking over the gauge showing how full it was.

A manic smile grew across his lips as he saw that the gauges were filled, meaning they were ready for the final part of his plan. Sure, Bakugo knew he needed to find that cowardly extra to win this exercise, but if anyone thought that the explosive blond could pass up the chance to show the pathetic 'Deku' his place, now was the best time.

He was glad the new redesigns of his gauntlets were approved before the start of the year, where once he would need to pull a pin to release one of the stored canisters, he could lock them into place together and fire both at once. Some would think that was overkill, but Bakugo didn't care, he was going to be the next number one, and he was going to prove it to all these extras who would dare think they could ever be better than him.

Especially that liar, Deku.

Making a mad dash down an alleyway, the hero student, with a vendetta, was now avoiding most of the robots coming out of the woodwork to harass him, appearing from behind the metal 'trash bins' to startle the young man to no avail. He was on a mission for a specific green-haired scantily-clad worthless extra who dared think he could ever pull a fast one on Bakugo Fuckin' Katsuki.

As if the universe was trying to prove himself he was right in his thinking, after turning one corner, Bakugo spotted his target, who was looking around, and turned his back towards the alleyway where the blond stood on the opposite side of him. Grinning like a madman, he brought his arms together, hearing the audible 'click' sound as Bakugo raised his arms towards the still-unaware Midoriya.


Izuku had to hand it to UA, despite how unrealistic it may have been for a city to have so many different branching paths of alleyways between its streets. It wasn't something he had seen, but perhaps they were designed based on a foreign city? Granted, the fact that the faux ceiling was painted to mimic a bright sunny sky was a bit off-putting; why wasn't this built outside anyway? And also, how much did it cost to build?

Whatever the case, even with the power of Greyskull flowing through him, it was still a decent workout trying to navigate the pseudo-giant maze of stone; it didn't pose that much of a hindrance for him.

Truthfully, if the buildings hadn't been connected to the ceiling, then he could have used the rooftops to simply jump across to find Koda, but with that roof over their heads, it prevented such measures.

Didn't stop some of the others from using it to their advantage, like Sero and his tape quirk or Asui with her tongue.

'Could she taste anything when she did that? Maybe it would be best to ask her later….'

Slapping his cheeks to focus on the mission, Izuku moved around a corner and swiftly took out another pack of robots meant to impede his way, which was obviously nothing of consequence to someone like him. Although he had used distractions and tricks mostly to avoid the robots, as not to give away his position and call out more of the mechanical beings towards him. It was nice for Izuku to use his brain and some garbage falling out of the dumpsters to lure the robots away.

The distant explosions allowed him to avoid the one obstacle he knew he would eventually face. While Izuku knew that he would have to come face to face with his former friend turned tormentor at some point, thankfully, the maze was a great way to prevent Bakugo from just bee-lining straight to him.

Honestly, he had hoped that All Might would have made it a rule that the students couldn't fight one another, but such a thing was unrealistic and would be hard to prevent, so allowing it made more sense though not the focus of the exercise.

Stopping in front of an alleyway from the corner of his eye, he spotted the bright yellow boot of his classmate, who was currently huddling behind one of the dumpsters placed down the alley. Izuku smiled as he turned to face and call out to Koda, only for another voice to be heard instead.

"OI! DEKU!"

Turning his head to the source of the shout, Izuku's eyes widened to see the combined raised gauntlets pointed directly at him, along with the somewhat unhinged laughter coming from its wielder. His emerald eyes took in the sight of the literal grenades on the blond student's hands and arms, remembering the design from one of his early notebooks when the two would still hang out, but these looked far more different than what he remembered, and while it had been many years since he even looked at the crude drawing of his younger self. He distinctly remembered the design only allowing one grenade to be 'set off' at a time, "Ka-Bakugo?! What are-"

"You think you could lie to me this entire time?" Bakugo interrupted, the palms of his hands beginning to glow slightly, "I'm going to show you your place, you pathetic DEKU!"

Within a mere few moments, the shout from the speakers from All Might telling Bakugo to stand down, along with the buzzer sounding off to end the match was soon drowned out by the mighty 'swoosh' of explosive fire barreling towards the barely costumed hero in training. What was worse was that Izuku knew he could easily smash through one of the walls to avoid the fire, considering that moving into an adjacent alleyway wouldn't do much considering how closed off the area around them was.

Not to mention that Koda was behind him.

With no other option and using his mind to think of a very clever but equally risky plan, Izuku moved to a wall closest to him, punching the side of it to form some cracks along the cement, before jumping to the center of where the cracks had formed around, quickly taking hold of the surface with his fingers digging in and pulling the literal slab of cement out, facing the inferno heading towards him and angling it up.

Izuku grunted as he could feel the heat and concussion of the blast hit his makeshift ramp, angling it upwards where he could hear the cracks and eventually bursting out of the ceiling above.

A few moments passed, and the crumbling of burnt stone could be heard before Izuku hefted the block of burnt cement down an alleyway to his side, panting slightly and sweaty from the heat of the attack as Izuku's bright emerald eyes shot a look to Bakugo, who's smile had all but faded when he took notice of how 'undamaged' he was, "BAKUGO!? What are you doing?! That could have killed me; hell, that could have killed Koda!"

Turning his head to the side and calling out to the animal whisperer, "Koda, are you alright?"

The only response he got from Koda was a very shaky thumbs up from behind the dumpster, which Izuku figured would be better than nothing. Turning his gaze back to Bakugo only to get a right hook to his face that was followed up by an explosive left hook to his gut, causing the green-haired student to be launched several feet back from the sucker punches and making him land on his back with a heavy grunt, a few feet away from the dumpster Koda was looking out from, the small 'Midoriya!' escaping the rock-headed boy's lips as Izuku groaned slightly.

"Don't think this is over, Deku! I will win and show you how much of a pathetic loser you really are!" Bakugo shouted, panting heavily and flexing his fingers to regain some of the feeling, considering how powerful his last explosion was, "I'm going to end this here and now!" Dashing and leaping down the alleyway towards his fallen adversary, only to stop mid-leap when a large hand suddenly chopped Bakugo on the back of the neck from the side alley, causing the blond bomber to land facedown on the ground with a heavy thud as All Might sighed softly and shook his head.

Silent and not smiling for once before turning his attention towards the other two students, where at this point, Koda had been helping Izuku get back on his feet, a silent conversation being spoken between the pair, "Young Koda, Young Midoriya, are the both of you alright?"

"I'm fine, a little winded mostly…." Izuku spoke, coughing slightly, "Might have swallowed some ash by mistake."

Koda gave All Might a thumbs up as he and Izuku slowly made their way towards their teacher, who at this point had taken off both of the gauntlets of the unconscious student before them and crushed them under his mighty strength, "I have no idea how anyone at a design studio would approve such destructive weapons for a first year." Turning towards the students, his trademark smile returned, "Regardless, you both did very well!"

"Now, I'm going to take Young Bakugo to Recovery Girl, you both return to your classmates and let them know that classes are done for today, and we will review the footage on Monday. You can return quickly by using the side exit just down the alleyway behind me." All Might spoke with authority as both boys nodded and slowly walked down the alley, passing the number one hero and focusing on the unconscious student before him.

Once the other students were gone from his sight and within hearing range, All Might moved one of his large hands to his ear, pressed the button on his communication device, and began to speak in a low tone, "Dean Nezu, I have subdued young Bakugo and neutralized his gauntlets."

"Excellent; I am currently reviewing the footage now, as well as looking into some other issues that have come up surrounding Katsuki Bakugo's student file. I'll have Aizawa escort him to my office after Recovery Girl gives him a good clean bill of health."

"Understood, sir, and let me just say that I apologize ahead of time for not seeing his plan before the incident."

"It's alright, Toshinori," Nezu said with a bright and cheerful tone over the communicator as All Might picked Bakugo up into his arms with a 'Princess Carry' and began to move towards the infirmary at a quickened pace, "While we will be having a conversation about this, you are still a new teacher and are still adjusting to this sort of profession, you will need help from time to time, but like always, you'll get the hang of it. Also, I would postpone talking with Midoriya after classes today; considering what he just experienced, I doubt he needs a few more 'bombs' dropped on him today, wouldn't you say?"

"...Y-yes, thank you, sir; I shall do my best to learn from your example! I am almost to the infirmary." All Might said as the communicator turned off as he arrived at the door to the infirmary where Recovery Girl was already waiting for him, possibly angry at him for some reason or another.

The larger-than-life pro hero gulped as one of his hands reached out to open the door, dreading how much his shins would hurt after everything was said and done.


Everyone in the class watched the screens as after All Might had suddenly dashed out of the monitor room to end the match, their eyes widened in shock and awe at the way Midoriya had just ripped a wall out and used it as a makeshift ramp. To say the feat was incredibly lucky was an understatement considering the almost comedically cartoonish way the muscle-bound student had done so. Many more scientifically-knowledgeable students were dumbstruck at how such a thing was possible.

But then Bakugo struck, yelling something muted for them while he ambushed Midoriya after checking on Koda before being put down by their teacher unceremoniously like a typical villain you see on the evening news. As the monitors had turned off at this point, once the two students had begun to make their way back, leaving the remaining eighteen to mull over everything.

"I still can't believe that was Bakugo's plan! You'd think he'd just blast past the robots to find Koda more quickly." Sero sighed as he spoke, his hands on his hips, "It just boggles the mind, considering he was faster than Midoriya."

"It was totally unmanly." Kirishima said while crossing his arms over his bare chest, "The point was to get to the civilian, not to tear into one another." the red-haired man huffed gently, "I like a good scrap as much as the next person, but there is a time and a place."

"But did you see what Midoriya did to block that massive explosion?!" Kaminari exclaimed, with a bright smile on his lips, "He just pulled that wall out like it was a cartoon or something."

"It doesn't make sense…" Yaoyorozu spoke up as she and a few other girls joined the conversation, "One cannot just punch a wall and then simply pull a part of it out by just the cracks that formed without it collapsing in on itself. It just doesn't make any logical sense!"

"Well, it happened! So maybe it's part of his quirk?" Kaminari suggested, where everyone simply just gave him a dead-panned look.

"Quirks can be ridiculous at times, but even what Green did pushed it far out of the scope of reality." Jiro spoke up while twirling her jack around her finger, "Gotta admit that it was pretty cool, though."

"Kero, doesn't mean that what Bakugo did was justified, and then to keep attacking after the buzzer had gone off, not very heroic if you ask me." Tsuyu said before turning her attention to the person beside her, "What do you think, Ashido? You've been quiet."

The question had knocked the pink-skinned woman out of her thoughts, blinking a few times before looking towards her classmate, who had tilted her head slightly and brought her finger up to her chin. "You alright, Ashido?"

"Y-yes, sorry about that, and yea, I agree what Baka-go did was awful…." Mina said as her focus returned to the door, which caught the notice of several other students, mainly those closest to her, at how she was acting. Before one of them could ask if she was alright, the door to the monitoring room opened, with both Koda and Midoriya walking in, chatting about something, or at least the latter asking questions while Koda just nodded along.

"- So, as long as any animals can hear you within a certain distance, they fall under the power of your quirk? That's amazing Ko-" Midoriya said with a bright smile, back to wearing his hero costume, only to freeze when he saw the various looks being given to the pair, though more were looking in the area of slightly shorter student's direction, "U-Um, hi guys?"

Chaos erupted as most of the class ran up to the two, with the cacophony of voices being hard to make out any of their worries or allow the two students to reassure their classmates. Thankfully, Iida had come to the rescue once more.

"Everyone! I know you are all worried about Koda and Midoriya, but you are all acting like children! Please give them some room to speak!" The armored suit student scolded with his arm chopping the air.

"I-It's alright! And thank you, Iida… Um… if it's alright with everyone, I would rather not talk about it until we review the footage in the next class, where it would be better to s-show off our thinking during the exercise…." Midoriya spoke up, his left arm across his chest where his hand held onto his right, "P-plus, All Might wanted me to tell you all that classes are over for today, and Monday is when we will be going over the footage."

Koda's gentle but quick-paced nodding as the confirmation needed for most of the students to begin to file out, apologizing to both Midoriya and Koda as they did so, who merely gave smiles and acceptance to each one.

Just as Koda had left the monitoring room and with his hand on the door handle, Izuku blinked, realizing that not everyone had walked past and turned around to see Ashido staring at him, her eyes searching over him for something he couldn't quite figure out before she slowly began to walk towards him… wait, was she limping?

"A-ash-Ashido? Is something wrong?" Izuku asked as the door shut behind him while the pink-skinned woman moved before him, where she could easily pin the boy.

Mina remained silent as she raised her hand up to Izuku's face, turning it slightly and looking over his cheek, ignoring the bright red hue it was turning from her relatively soft touch, while Izuku was mentally trying to figure out what was causing her to act this way.

"You're not hurt?"

The sudden proclamation halted Izuku's thought process before her hand had let go of his cheek, suddenly putting a slight pressure on his abdominal area with her staring straight into his eyes, watching for him to wince from her prodding.

He didn't, and Mina's expression soon morphed from deadset worry to genuine shock, "H-How are you not hurt?!" She stuttered while feeling up his stomach and chest more, trying to feel for any tender spots and not trying to hurt Izuku more.

"M-My quirk?" Izuku answered with his face entirely red again in embarrassment, considering a girl was essentially groping over his body.

"You took a literal explosion to the gut, Midori! That would leave some kind of damage!" Mina stared hard into his eyes, the evident worry returning, "Not to mention that huge ass fireball! You could have died!"

"I wouldn't have been able to dodge it, plus Koda was behind me; I didn't think the trash container would have protected him from that either." Izuku said with a furrowed brow and his voice calmer and almost stoic in his tone while also clearly having enough of her hands roaming his upper body and taking hold of her wrists with the utmost care but holding them up by her shoulders, "What about you? I noticed you limping over to me just now. Why haven't you gone to see Recovery Girl yet?"

Seeing the purple hue on Mina's cheeks begin to appear and the sort of way he was holding her hands up, Izuku quickly let go, blushing up a storm as both teenagers looked off to the side in silence for a few moments.

"S-sorry… just wanted you to s-stop checking me over, is all…." Izuku said quietly, still not looking at his friend as he could hear her clearing her throat and taking a few deep breaths before her turning towards him again made him look at her as well.

"I-I get it, and I'm sorry… but you have to admit that no one could tank a hit like that and not even be a little tender… your quirk is something else, Midori." The pink-skinned woman gently tapped her index fingers together, swaying a little as she spoke, "Plus… I wanted to see your match, and if I had gone to the infirmary, I don't think I would have made it back in time."

Izuku watched the way Mina was looking at him as she spoke, somewhat flustered at the revolution as to why she didn't go and get treated for her injury, the pieces of her being given a piggyback ride after the end of her civilian turn falling into place and now making more sense. But, of course, she had remained behind because of him, and who knows how uncomfortable it must have been while waiting for his turn. Taking a deep breath, Izuku turned around and opened the door, placing his mask over his mouth, bending down in front of his surprised friend with his right knee holding the door open.

"I-I'll give you a lift to the change rooms, and if it still hurts after you change, then I can take you to Recovery Girl… I-I don't want you to agitate it more."

Silence once again filled the room for a few moments before Mina gently replied with an 'alright', carefully getting onto his back and wrapping her arms around his neck, which was now more accessible thanks to Izuku putting on the mask to make room and for it to be more comfortable for her.

As Izuku rose up, his hands firmly taking hold of her legs, and began to head towards the main building and the entrance to the changing rooms, all the while doing his best to ignore the way that Mina seemed to cling to his body, while resting her head against his own, with neither of them saying a single word.


Nezu sipped his tea as he had watched the entire last match of the first-year heroics class of 1-A, his beady little eyes watching the chaos for the umpteenth time already as beside the footage playing on screen was the profile of the student who he had requested to see once they were taken care in the infirmary. A knocking on his door made Nezu turn his head towards the interruption, pausing the footage as he moved his paw towards a button to open the door.

Walking in was the student in question, a grimace on his face, followed behind by his homeroom teacher who, while looking aloof, was actually glaring hard at the student before him as Nezu brought his paws together, the ever-present smile on his fuzzy face never faulting as he spoke aloud.

"Am I a bear, dog, or mouse? It doesn't matter; I'm Dean Nezu." The dean brought his hands out like a performer on a tv show before settling them back down on the desk before him.

Mahogany, for those who would often ask.

"Now, Mr. Bakugo, I believe it's time we chat about your future here at UA."