My Hero Academia – Under Pressure – Season 3 – Episode 4 – The Ballroom Blitz

With the third day's activities now over, the students of Class 1-B did as they had done the night before, they ate a good meal, and then went to the hot spring in order to unwind and relax. The mood was much lighter than the previous day, mainly because while they did have a very physical confrontation with the other teams, they were allowed to stop before exhaustion had set in.

Thus, the conversations were abound by the students who happily talked about all that happened that day, and when they relaxed in the hot springs, they took it more as a reward for their hard day's work, and less as a healing session.

One of the first to depart the hot springs was Chuya, who promptly went back to the girls' lodge and changed back into her regular attire so that she could go on a walk through the area as she now had time to do so.

The day's events had given her a lot to think about, both in terms of herself and her mission. At one point she just stopped in an open area and looked at the night sky, which was full of stars, and wondered if her father had wanted her to grow like this.

Chuya knew that her father was supportive of her goal to bring honor back to their family, but even when he was harping on her certain disciplines and beliefs of a soldier, she could tell that he wanted more from her, she just didn't know what.

"Something on your mind, Soldier?" came a voice from behind her.

She turned to see Tonen, also in his regular attire, approach with a soft smile on his face. She gave an amused grunt then turned back to the stars, "Just lost in thought."

"I don't think I've ever seen you that way before," Tonen noted as he joined her in stargazing.

"I don't pretend to hide who I am, Tonen. I'm the daughter of a soldier, a proud man, a good man, and one who was betrayed. I dedicated everything I am to being worthy of his name and to bring back what was taken from us. And yet…"

"And yet…?"

"Ever since you…got through to me…my vision on things have changed. My internship wasn't…as productive as I'd have liked. I actually…kind of like talking with you and others about things. Then this training camp…I…liked being a good leader."

"Did you really think you couldn't be one?"

"It was never my goal. I was going to be a soldier in Pro-Hero form, or a one-woman army like Athena. Anything else…just didn't see like it was worth my time and effort."

Tonen nodded in understanding at this, "People change, goals change. I came to UA thinking that I'd be the only one who had the mindset I had. To be a 'different kind of hero', and then I met people like Kuroda, like Azujima, and I met Sparky, who's the literal embodiment of who I wanted to be as a Pro-Hero. To be honest, I was scared before I found everyone here."

This took Chuya aback, "You? Scared?"

"You forget, you don't know me that well. Not yet. We all have fears, and we all have moments that change us and our lines of thinking. You're having that kind of moment now, don't run from it."

"I don't intend to. I'll keep going and see where this path leads me. Maybe…maybe I'll surprise myself by where I end up."

Tonen smiled at Chuya and patted her on the shoulder, "There's hope for you yet, Soldier."

He laughed a little and left her be. Chuya watched as he departed, a small smile graced her lips, but she soon shook it off and went back on her walk, thoughts of the future abound in her head.

The others went about their own little ways and then eventually turned in for the night. They each made guesses about what would be the fourth days challenge. But each of them admitted that more than likely…they wouldn't be able to guess it correctly.

The morning arose, and the challenges began anew.

And those challenges at first were very familiar ones. Mainly because for now the fourth day in a row, they entered their individual training courses and did their best to overcome their limits in order to become better users of their Quirks.

Much like one would expect with a whole class, some excelled faster than others in terms of the tests. Eri, for example, shined in her tests, and by day 4 she was so good at switching up her abilities that the robots had to be cranked up in difficulty just to be on the level of Eri's adaptability.

Others, like Anno and Kanagita's Brick Break form, lavished the challenge, and gave their all 100% of the time because they wanted to prove how good they were no matter what.

Some of the challenges that were a bit more technical or overwhelming in nature got a variety of results from the students. Such as with Kuroda's two-part challenge where she had to think about situations with her Quirk versus just using it. While she got better at answering the questions, there were ones she did struggle with., and having to recognize certain elements by touch alone was not easy.

Azujima was another who struggled. His "sensory chamber" nearly brought him to the breaking point every day. It was true he got more used to it all, but as he told Tonen every night…it still hurt him.

Tonen himself was having a "peaks and valleys" kind of run. Because while he was able to exert more and more pressure over time, the intake of it all was slower than he desired. He was getting better day by day, and could feel the air now coming into him, but it wasn't enough in his mind. Especially when it would come to things like a battle situation when he would want to use his new technique to help him never "run out of fuel."

Even still, with all of their highs and lows, the class pushed onward, and when the time came to stop their individual tests, they were ready for whatever might come next.

As per usual, they had a brief respite and recharge session in terms of energy drinks and snacks. Then The Trainer and their two teachers called them over for their next team exercise.

"Hello and welcome to Day 4 of your camp, Class 1-B!" boomed The Trainer with his usual enthusiasm.

The class had mixed reactions to him, but he ignored it as he was used to them not wanting to hear it.

"Today, your third team exercise is going to be another that should be very familiar to some of you, depending on if you went to other camps, that is. Your test today will be multiple rounds…of Capture The Flag."

This got another reaction from the class, but a more curious one overall.

"No offense, sir," stated Anno as he scratched his shark head, "but while that does sound fun, that hardly feels like a worthy use of our time. A team-building exercise, maybe, but you said that this would be a more Quirk-focused test this time around."

The Trainer did his best to resist a smile, "I did, and I meant it. Because unlike yesterday's paintball exercise…you all will be using your Quirks in this particular challenge."

"But that'll be pure madness, chaos even" called out Fenella, but with a laugh that showed she was very much up for said madness.

"Precisely," noted Armed Guard as he stepped forward. "Yesterday was about a 'controlled yet chaotic setting' if you will. THIS time however, it's all about the chaos, and how your teams can handle it."

Angel Wings saw the uncertainty in some of their faces and jumped in to calm them down, "In our work, there are times when there will be dangers all around you. Yesterday was one form of that. But this time, it'll be about seeing all the dangers, and wondering how you can handle them as they're going on all at once."

"Leaders, this will be arguably your toughest challenge yet. Yesterday you could be easily forgiven for not having a strategy working due to the concealment of others. But now, nearly everything is on display and you must adapt on the fly with your team…or fail."

"Where's the other twist?" asked Ueno, head wobble, as always, in full effect, "There's always more than one with these…"

"Right you are, Mr. Ueno," acknowledged The Trainer, "the twist here is a spin on the paintball challenge. In that test, only one of you could use your Quirk. This time, all of you can use your Quirk, but only one of you can defend your flag. So you'll need to choose who you think can defend it best while four other people are coming for it."

Eri raised her hand, "Can you define, 'defend your flag'? It would seem odd that we can't intercept other players."

"Also right, so I'll clarify. On the field we'll go to are clear lines marked for the 'flag box'. One of you must be in that box to defend the flag. No one else can be in that box unless they're trying to steal the flag. Anything outside of it? Is anything goes."

"So we can interfere with others, so long as they're outside of the box?"

"Correct."

The class immediately talked amongst one another as they tried to fully grasp the parameters of the fight.

This goes Azujima to also raise his hand, "I have two questions. Can we move the flag while we're in the box? Also, who dictates a win?"

"Very good questions, Azujima," noted Angel Wings with a smile to him. "The flag can move, but only by the person stealing it, or defending it. What's more, you can't do something like say…levitate it up into the air where no one can get it…or bury it underground so that they have to work extra hard to obtain it."

"And like before we WILL be watching to make sure none of you bend the rules!" roared Armed Guard. "As for the other question, victory is obtained when a person from one team plants the enemy flag in their own teams' box. Even if their own flag is missing at the time, they can still win if they plant the enemy flag first."

Again, the class talked with one another about rules and strategy, but The Trainer blew his whistle to get their attention, "One more thing before we start, and this is important, especially for you leaders."

The class went silent to listen.

"Like I said, we'll be doing this for multiple rounds today. Every team will face off against the other three at least twice depending on how much time we have. So even with the chaos going on, be mindful of your energy reserves, you're going to need them as the day goes on."

Class 1-B grew very solemn at this, as they could sense that this would be more like their first day of the team exercises and not like the second.

The Trainer checked his clipboard for the lineups, "Alright, our first matchup will be Team Chuya vs. Team Tonen, and then after that will be Team Kuroda vs. Team Eri."

"Once you get to the field," started Armed Guard, "the teams will go to their flag area to plan. You'll have team minutes, and then the match will start. Alright, everyone UP!"

With his shout, everyone sprang to their feet, and quickly marched behind the teachers as they went to their new "battlefield".

They went in a different direction from the first two days, and this time they got led to a more barren part of the area. One that had been clearly touched upon by human hands more thoroughly. It was a flat rock-like area, and there were chalk marks that outlined a massive "play area". Not unlike a basketball court, but with greater scale.

The teachers directed Chuya's team to the far side near a blue flag, and Tonen's team went the shorter distance to a red flag.

Once both teams were in place, The Trainer blew his whistle and let them know their ten minutes had begun.

Tonen spun around at his team and looked upon them with unusual energy, "Hello everyone! I'm Tonen Keitomo, and I'll be your guide for this Ballroom Blitz."

Kanagita failed to contain a laugh at the joke and reference, "We're not in a ballroom, TK."

"Oh, I know, Kana, but it's fun to think of it as one. Because it's a 4v4 matchup with someone playing defense. By the way, that's you, Kana."

"Really?"

"Of course! Brick Break is the perfect defender. What's more, Goya is over there, and Brick Break is one of the few who can truly resist his psychic field."

Though brief, Kana started to shift to her other form, she held back though, "Sorry, she really wants payback for the Sports Festival."

"As do I," pointed out Hana with a very serious look on her face, "but to get true revenge, we need to win."

"And do we have a plan for that?" asked Ueno, head spinning.

"Yeah, we got a good team for this," Doza admitted as he motioned to everyone, "but so they got a good offensive force too."

Tonen nodded in acknowledgement of this, "Precisely, and given how I think they'll play things, we're going to pull off a magic trick…or two…"

Over on Chuya's side, their leader tried to ponder the best way to victory, which, not surprisingly, made Goya impatient, "Can you really not see the easiest way to victory here?"

"Can you really not hear how much of a dick you are?" countered Anno as he bared his shark teeth.

"Enough," cut off Chuya with intensity. "I appreciate the support, Anno. As for you, Goya, did you forget how it was my strategies that got us many victories yesterday? If you really think it's going to be easy taking down Tonen with who he has on his side, you're still underestimating everyone."

"Fine, whatever," he said with a scoff.

"I'm guessing a blitzing plan isn't on the table?" wondered Oshbiu as he eyed the other team over his shades.

Chuya shook her head, "If we've learned anything over our time together, it's that Tonen takes into account everyone and tries to plan for it, even if only on a moment's notice. He knows that you and Goya are our ringers in terms of getting the flag to our area, so he'll plan for that."

Anno looked over at Kanagita, who was intently listening to Tonen, "If I was trying to counter either, I'd put Kanagita as their defense player. She can hold onto the flag and ensure that Goya and Oshibu don't take it from her."

"Her bulk form would be problematic even with all of us attacking her…" said Wasuke wisely.

"My thoughts exactly. We'd have but a moment to reach her before she transforms, and that might not be enough."

"…it still could be though," suggested Oshibu with a smirk, "all I need is the right angle…"

This intrigued Chuya, "Go on…"

The ten minutes wound down, and eventually both teams were told to get into their starting positions. Chuya's team went for a more offensive position, though they left a gap to ensure Goya, their defender, was able to see the other team.

Tonen's squad meanwhile stood side by side, with Kanagita behind them, essentially putting a wall between them and her.

"Remember," said the trainer as he put his whistle to his lips, "this is an all out battle. It doesn't end until the enemy flag is planted in your zone. Use your powers wisely, but don't be afraid to go all out if you feel you can. Ready…set…go!"

With a loud blow of the whistle, the match began.

Goya immediately went to work, and tried to focus his psychic field on the enemy flag, but Tonen was ready for this, and exhaled sharply. A wall of air shot out in front of his team and towards the other side. While Goya stood in place and endured, the others had to get out of the way.

Oshibu took his shot and blitzed to a spot just adjacent to the enemy's "wall" and tried to blitz in, but this time, it was Ueno who was able to block him, and sent him flying backward via his Quirk.

Undeterred, Oshibu tried again but from the other side so Ueno would have a harder time catching him. It seemed to work, until a layered brick hand grabbed his other body.

Oshibu realized too late that Kanagita had already transformed. The "wall" of teammates was to hide that she changed, and by the time they got to her, she was already Brick Break.

"Too slow," Brick Break said mockingly, and showed that her other hand had the flag clenched tightly.

With a roar, she tossed Oshibu across the field and toward his own team, who were shocked momentarily by the shift in momentum.

"And that is how you do a magic trick, everybody!" boasted Tonen with a cheesy grin. "Now let's see how they like it when we're coming at them. Attack!"

With a point, him, Doza and Ueno all went forward. Hana meanwhile touched the ground and merged with it, which allowed her to go undetected until she wanted to come back up.

The teams now fully engaged, the true "Ballroom Blitz" began. As both teams knew that a charge straight to the flag wouldn't do anything. Thus, they focused more on the task of removing the others from the field of play.

For example, Oshibu tried to use his blitz Quirk to try some sneak attacks. But no matter where he tried to go, the others were ready for him in one form or another. Whether it was Ueno redirecting him, Tonen doing an air blast to push him back, or Doza using his resonance to break up the ground so the speedster would be tripped up, they were ready for him. Even Hana popped out of the ground at times in order to tackle him to the dirt before she merged back.

Anno had similar problems, because despite his bulk form, Ueno and Doza kept him on the defensive. He knew he could at least attempt to break the grip of Kanagita, but it wouldn't matter if he couldn't reach her.

Wasuke did his best to shield the others from attacks, but this wasn't a battle of defense, but of offense, so he instead shifted and formed his mega-shield and charged right at Kanagita with a battle cry pushing him on. Brick Break was amused by this and let it happen. Right up until he got close enough for her to knock him clear out of the arena with a single wind-up punch.

"Brick breaks shield," her alter ego joked, and realized the pun and snorted, "I'm funny."

Her revelry stopped though when she felt a tug on her body. She looked up to see Goya focusing his psychic field at her. She roared angrily and clenched ever tighter at the flag to ensure it didn't go anywhere.

Even though Goya had power to spare, it didn't matter as he wasn't able to focus it all due to her resistance, and that left him wide open to an air blast from Tonen.

"You got more than one person to worry about!" he teased with his tongue stuck out at his foe.

This time, it was Chuya who broke up the laugh session, and the two began a short rematch of the Sports Festival before some of the others got involved in the contest.

For minutes on end, both sides of the contest fought hard to try and get to the flag and claim it. Sometimes, they got close. Such as when Anno finally got through their lines of defense and was able to squabble with Kanagita. But she held firm long enough for others to back her up from afar.

Likewise, Ueno and Tonen made multiple attempts to get to Goya, but his psychic powers were able to keep them at bay.

Tonen kept at it though, and used his increased air pressure to break Goya's hold repeatedly, which frustrated his foe to no end.

Seeing the opportunity before him, he pelted Goya with blast after blast after blast. This forced the psychic to take back parts of the field in order to defend himself, but Tonen kept pushing through. Ueno and Doza did their best to handle the others, and Kanagita kept her post to defend the flag. Even with Anno and Oshibu blitzing her, she held strong.

Tonen's attacks though started to break the mental state of Goya, until eventually, he cracked, "ENOUGH!"

With a shout, he sent his psychic field out in all directions, and though it took him great effort, he held the six people on the field within his Quirk's power.

"I should've done this from the start. Sorry, Chuya, but the noise got to me. I'll put you down once I know that Tonen and his crew are…are…"

He looked up and saw that Tonen was smiling at her from his frozen state, this irked Goya to no end, "What are you so happy about?"

Tonen's lips wobbled, but no sound came out. With a scoff, Goya lessened his field so his foe could talk, "I'm smiling because you can't count."

"Excuse me?"

"You can't count. Also, aren't you supposed to be guarding something?"

Puzzled at first, Goya quickly realized what he meant and spun around. Sure enough, the flag was gone, and as he turned to where Kanagita was across the field, Hana now stood next to her and spiked the enemy flag into the ground.

"We win," she said happily.

The other two teams cheered happily at the finish, and The Trainer blew his whistle, "Team Tonen is the winner!"

The other teams cheered again, and Goya, in clear misery, dropped his fields to free everyone. Both Tonen and Chuya checked on the others to see if they were alright.

Chuya eventually approached her rival leader and extended her hand, "Well fought, Tonen."

Tonen smiled and shook it, "Same to you, soldier."

"I'll admit, I didn't expect that strategy."

"Well, you honestly should've, I told you we were going to do it."

"You did?"

"Yeah, at the beginning, I told you we did a 'magic trick', remember? It was all about distraction. You focused on us and that made you think that Kanagita wasn't transforming yet. For Hana, the plan was always to have her steal the flag, but if we did it too early, you'd be expecting it every time after. So…"

"You distracted us," Chuya figured out with a sigh.

He tapped his nose to show she got it, "Hana kept popping up to screw with you all, and then would disappear again. Eventually, I gave her a signal to stay down and then got Goya to lose his cool, giving her plenty of time to sneak away with the flag, and thus, we won."

"I have to learn to get creative like that."

"One step at a time, Soldier. Now come on, let's go watch the others perform."

With a nod, the two joined their teams then went to the sidelines. The Trainer called up Team Eri and Team Kuroda and put them in their positions…after the field was fixed by some of the attendants.

He blew a quick whistle once everything was fixed and the planning session began anew.

Kuroda went right to work with her team, as she already had a "winning strategy" in mind for them, "I know this is going to sound arrogant, but I already have a plan in mind that'll ensure that we win."

"Really?" asked Iha bluntly.

Fenella built off this, "Yeah, usually I'm the one brimming with confidence."

"What do you know that we don't, Kuorda?" wondered Ryo.

"Who the defender is," she answered before she held her arms out wide, "it's me! Which gives me plenty of options to defend the flag."

"I think I get it…" started Sanda as he tried to put it all together. "Your Quirk can change the whole area around the flag, making it hard for them to get to the flag and then get back out…plus like Goya showed you can be in the defender box and yet affect the rest of the field so you could go full-tilt and just change the whole—"

"SANDA!" the rest of the group shouted.

"Right, sorry, sorry! Point is, I'm fine with this."

"Good to know," Kuroda said with a smile and a pat to his shoulder, "and you are partly right on things, but regardless of me, you four need to get the flag and bring it back to my position."

Fenella stole a quick gaze at the other team, "To that end, they are a bit underpowered overall, between me and Sanda we could wipe them out and get the flag without issue."

"See, that's the difference between you and me, Fenella. When I show confidence…I know I can back it up."

"Something to say, lass?"

"Don't underestimate Eri, or any of them. Plus, your BFF is over there and she can literally bog us down if we give a clean shot."

"I don't want gum in my hair…" stated Eri as she tugged on her hair out of reflex.

Ryo laughed slightly before she chimed in, "Plus, my brother is very powerful, and if he's the defender, that will cause problems. Plus, my Quirk is limited here without my gear, so technically the only thing I can affect is my brother, and that's only in parts due to how his Quirk works."

"Thanks for the insight," said Kuroda before she looked at the enemy team herself. "Ok, our defense is rock solid, but we have some wild cards on offense, so here's what we'll do…"

Eri meanwhile drew a map on the ground with her finger to outline the plan to her team, "I won't lie to you, compared to Kuroda's team, we're at a bit of a disadvantage."

"Because we don't have any ringers?" put out Ikaim with a crossing of his arms.

"Not exactly, we have one in Ebirima."

"Me?" she replied with surprise.

"Of course, if you get the ability to ensnare them with your Quirk, they can't move, and that would make it an easier win for us. But obviously, Kuroda will plan for that, and of course with Iha…"

"She can just power down her Quirk," finished Ryu, then he had his own realization. "Come to think of it, wasn't her training to be able to depower more than one person?"

Eri nodded, "Now you see our problem. Iha is arguably our worst threat, she must be our focus at first."

Azujima grimaced at this slightly, "Won't they expect that, though? Kuroda is just as smart as you or Tonen, or even Chuya. She'll know how to use what she has, and that means using Iha to lower our Quirks power.

"More than likely that is her opening gambit, but if we play it the right way, we'll make it through. Plus, there are other ways to make this go in our direction."

"Such as what, exactly?" asked Ikaim, now very curious.

"Well," said Eri with a smile, "as Azujima said, I'm as smart as Tonen, if not smarter, and as a wise man once said. 'A smart man borrows an idea, a genius steals it…"

Their plans now in place, both sides lined up to go and face the others. Ryu stood as the defender for Eri's team, while Kuroda looked confident in her own box.

The Trainer looked at both teams and raised his whistle, "Both sides ready? And…go!"

He blew the whistle and the match began.

Immediately, Eri's team went to work, Ikaim utilized his training to pour out a large amount of ink at Kuroda's team and the field itself. The ink missed all of them except for Iha, who just took the hit and looked at Ikaim angrily afterward.

"Yuck," she said simply.

The others on the field of play had dodged, but that was what Eri had counted on.

"Ebirima, now!" she ordered.

"Special Move: Bubble Gum Web!" cried out Ebirima as she launched a massive web at Iha, who once again didn't dodge, but mainly because she knew she wouldn't be able to in time.

"…I'm stuck."

Kuroda noticed that not only was Iha pinned, but her eyes were covered as well, which meant even though she could still use her Quirk in theory, it would be risky as she wouldn't know who was next to her at the time.

"Well played, Eri!" she shouted to her rival from her box. "You took out one of my ringers. But you still have to get the flag back to your area, and that won't be easy to do, especially with you slicking up my side of the field."

Eri shrugged playfully, "Then clearly you have nothing to worry about."

The two smiled competitively at one another and the fight resumed.

With Iha now literally stuck, Kuroda only had three people left for offense. Thankfully for her, two of those three were powerhouses in this setting, as both Fenella and Sanda would be able to use their Quirks in full here.

But, the same could be said for Eri's team, and indeed, with Iha now down, Eri, Ebirima, Ikaim went after Sanda and Fenella and started some fierce combat between them.

Sanda moved mighty mounds of earth in order to trip up the other team, but the others made it by through various means. Eri's acrobatics, Ikaim using his ink jets to lift him up or around, and Ebirima getting bouncy in order to leap above Sanda.

If anything, Ebirima was Sanda's rival now (battling-wise) after what happened in the Sports Festival, and she unleashed a myriad of new techniques that relied on how she pushed herself in her own training in order to get to him.

Eri meanwhile squared off with Fenella. Fenella remained silent this time, but grinned wildly as she unleashed her runes and sent them at the team leader. Eri moved and dodged with incredible speed and reaction time, and even used the runes as footholds at points in order to do more impressive dodges.

While this all went on, Azujima and Ryo tried their best to just stay out of the line of fire. This worked, until they literally ran into each other and fell to the ground as a result.

"Sorry," Azujima said as he rubbed his head.

"I'm sorry too, was just trying to get out of the…way…" added Ryo until the situation dawned on her.

The two looked at the other dead in the eye, but not with determination or resolve, but rather…uncertainty. Because just feet away, their teammates were going all out in their fights, and yet, because of their Quirks, these two couldn't really do anything to one another.

Azujima and Ryo slowly got up and tried to figure out what to do next.

"Um..." started Azujima

"Yeah…" admitted Ryo with a small smile.

"Do you just wanna…let each other pass? See if we can make it to the flag…?"

"Probably for the best."

The two nodded, then carefully circled around until they swapped positions. Then with a final smile and awkward shrug, they ran off towards the other teams' flag.

This quickly led to another problem, because these two, arguably the weakest on their teams, now had to deal with the defenders. For Azujima, that meant having to deal with Kuroda.

She smiled widely as he approached, "Hey Azujima, trying to take the flag?"

"Uh, yeah…" he said nervously, as he just realized he didn't really think this through, "I was…you know…free and all that…"

"Totally understand, here you go!"

Kuroda sidestepped and showed him the flag, which shined in the sunlight as he gazed upon it.

"I don't remember it being that shiny before…wait, you're just giving me it?"

"I don't want to hurt you, Azujima. The others will try to, so you'll need to grab the flag and go fast, ok?"

"Uh, ok…thank you."

Kuroda motioned to the flag again, and Azujima cautiously went over to it, and with both hands he tried to lift it up…

…but it didn't budge even a fraction of an inch.

"What in the world?" wondered Azujima as he tried to lift it up.

"Bad form, Azujima," advised Kuroda as she restrained a laugh, "grab with both hands and lift with your legs!"

Not getting the joke she was teasing, he did that, but again, the flag didn't move. To the point where he actually lost his grip and fell back down to the ground.

"What is that made of?"

"Osmium."

"Oh, ok…wait, what's Osmium?"

"The densest natural material on Earth," answered Kuroda with her confidence now on full display. "A cubic inch of the stuff is just under a pound, so now imagine that weight across an entire flagpole rooted in the ground."

"We're not lifting that, are we?" Azujima asked out loud, though the answer was clear.

"Not without a certain shark or brick here to help you."

"Great…can I just sit here then?"

"By all means, Azujima."

On the other side, Ryo and Ryu also had an "awkward moment", as neither were really sure what to do.

"Are you going to fight me, brother?" asked Ryo to her sibling.

"No," Ryu responded to his sibling, "but we need to do something."

"Yeah…we don't usually go up against one another like this."

"It's usually small stuff like regular games."

"It's more fun that way," they said in unison, which got the two to laugh.

They paused and thought it over, and Ryo had a light bulb moment, "We could…use the old ways?"

Ryu lit up at this as well, "I see…best two out of three?"

"Deal!"

They raised a fist to one another, and then started a series of rock, paper, scissors matches, all of which ended…in a tie.

In the melee on the main field, Eri, Ebirima, Ikaim, Sanda, and Fenella were still very much going at it. Eri though noticed that Azujima was on the ground next to Kuroda not moving a muscle, so she kicked Fenella away so that she could get over to him and her.

"Hi, Eri!" Kuroda said with a Cheshire grin.

Eri was suspicious, "Why aren't you doing anything to me or Azujima?"

Azujima answered by pointing at the flag, "She changed it to Osmium, it's…really heavy."

"You can't augment the flag like that!"

"Yes I can," Kuroda corrected with the wag of a finger, "the rules said we could make the flag unobtainable by putting it into the air or underground. You can get the flag out of the ground…you just need the strength to move it. Your mech might've done that…but he's defending your flag…poorly I might add. Right, Fenella?"

Eri turned around to see Fenella behind her, and Fenella pointed up above them. As they all looked up, the flag of Eri's team was being held in place by a couple of Fenella's runes.

"Special delivery," the rune master said mockingly. Then she moved the runes and the flag dropped into the ground next to Kuroda's flag.

"That's game."

The whistle blew, and the match ended. Eri rubbed her face in frustration, "Dang it. You did what I did, used a distraction like Tonen."

"Geniuses steal," mimicked Kuroda, though only Eri got the joke at that moment.

"Indeed. Well played."

"You're get me next time I'm sure, as my trick won't work again, right?"

"You know it."

The two knocked fists in appreciation of one another, and they walked away, but an odd look came across Kuroda's face, "Why do I feel as though I forgot something?"

"Little help here?" called out Iha, still very much stuck to the ground.

"Oh, right, sorry! On my way."

The battlefield eventually cleared. The four teams sat next to one another while the teachers and The Trainer recapped things.

"That was two very entertaining matches," praised The Trainer, "the use of Quirks, both for offense and defense, was well handled. Oh, and those distraction tactics? Beautiful."

"Some might point out that two of the teams had unfair disadvantages based on Quirk powers," noted Armed Guard as he gazed at the class. "BUT, in real battle, that might happen, and it's up to you and those around you to make due. Tonen's team did that, Eri's team did not. Learn from that as these rounds continue and the results MIGHT surprise you."

Angel Wings stepped forward after this, "As we said, you'll now go and fight the other teams, but we'll give you a 15-minute break after each set of rounds to help you recharge and balance things out. You can talk amongst yourselves while you rest."

The teams did just that, and they huddled closely together to see what they could come up with going forward.

When the matches resumed, each round was more intense than the last. As they each went harder, smarter, and arguably more aggressive at points to try and get the win.

And true to Tonen's joke, the "Ballroom Blitz" happened many a time across the fights. Such as when Tonen's team went up against Kuroda's. The mixture of rather explosive powers made it so that projectiles and blasts and bodies were flying all over the place.

During that fight, Sanda tried to bury Ueno with his earth, but Ueno redirected it in all directions, including one direction which had Tonen and Fenella duking it out. Seeing that they were both in danger, Tonen lunged at Fenella, tackling her to ground in order for her not to get knocked out by the projectiles.

She smiled somewhat flirtingly at him when she realized what he did, "How chivalrous, didn't know you cared, boyo."

Tonen got up and dusted himself off, "Shows what you know, I care about you a lot."

Before she could react, another set of projectiles came his way and he had to dodge again.

Chuya and Eri's teams had a very interesting fight. Goya refused to be on the sidelines again, and tried to use his psychic powers to overwhelm Eri's squad. Same with Oshibu, But per Armed Guard's advice, they got creative in how they dealt with them.

They had Ebirima and Sanda distract and blind Goya temporarily, and then Eri got in close and pressure point combated him into submission. As for Oshibu, Eri had Azujima on defense, and then had Ikaim, while outside the box, spray the area around the flag with ink, so if Oshibu rushed in, he'd go flying.

The matches continued on into the evening, and only after three full rotations of matchups did the Trainer call everything to an end.

"Ok, that's all for today," he said after a final blow of the whistle, to which the class let out a mighty collective groan.

"You all did well, and your adaptability was on display in various ways, you all should be impressed."

"And sore," called out Fenella like she did the previous day.

"Yes, and sore. Now, for the team scores. Everything honestly kind of balanced out. You all got wins, but you all got losses. The team with the most wins was team Kuroda, who through their victories now is in first place. The rest of the teams traded so many wins and loses to each other that you're all…within three points of second place, so let's just say you're all tied."

The reaction from the teams was very much one of surprise. As yet again the rankings shifted in such a way that it made it impossible to know who would come out on top at the end.

The Trainer cleared his throat to stop them, "Your fourth day is almost done, which means you only have a few days left. I won't tease what's coming next outside of Quirks being used, but it will be your toughest team challenge yet. So be ready. You're dismissed, go eat and rest up."

The teams arose and departed, but whether by design or intention, the four leaders brought up the back.

"This camp is something, isn't it?" put out Tonen with a small grin.

"It's certain different from UA," noted Kuroda with a shrug.

"I find these tasks refreshing," admitted Eri, "they're unique, special, and not what we'd do at school."

Chuya nodded in acknowledgement of this, "We're getting better, and that's the point. Let's keep doing that."

They looked at each other and nodded and rejoined their classmates so that they could enjoy the night once more.

*credits*