This chapter pulls no punches. If you have seen the manga/anime you know what what is up next, except a little different.
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Comments:
Dsman: He would leave a lot of evidence behind though. I wonder if the sticky balls have dna in them.
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Proofread by 3DPhantom
Chapter 21: Battle Training Part 1
Izuku yawned as he walked through the UA gate, still stunned that he actually went to school there. Thoughts of his awe drifted away quickly though as he fell deep in thought. The previous evening's encounter with the new Nomu had reminded him of how far he still had to go to have the power to change the world, or even just his own country. Hell, in terms of speed Izuku couldn't even keep up with Bakugo in the entrance exam combat, and worse, had been too slow to stop him from attacking Hitoshi the previous day. If Eraserhead hadn't stopped him…
Izuku didn't like Eraserhead after the previous day, but he could still be grateful. Even if the man was obviously made his teacher for his ability to erase quirks, including his All For One. Though the man wasn't too subtle about it, having admitted to being specifically briefed on Izuku. Izuku wondered if the man even knew the whole story with Izuku's father. Maybe Nezu and All Might hadn't told him everything. The hobo looking man hadn't exactly focused on him, except for the softball throw, but entrance exam results were as good an excuse as any. If he just hadn't messed that up because of…
Bakugo!
Both Izuku and Bakugo froze still as Izuku stepped out of the stairwell right next to the walking dynamite stick. Actually, that was unfair to dynamite. That stuff is not actually that easy to set off. He was more like a bottle of warm nitro-glycerine.
Bakugo hopped back from Izuku and raised his hands, ready for battle with tiny explosions crackling on his palms. After the previous day Izuku didn't have any doubts about Bakugo's readiness to use violence. Izuku's expression fell blank, but within he had tensed throughout, feeling something in his throat. He shifted into a more defensive position, hands open, ready to use either All For One or Vibration. Were things really going to be like this his whole time at UA? Briefly Izuku wondered if it would be easier to get away with stealing Bakugo's quirk.
Eventually Bakugo broke his stare and, still ready to strike, stepped towards the class. As he came closest to Izuku he whispered under his breath.
"I will destroy you."
"A year ago you might have been able to," Izuku whispered back.
Bakugo scowled but kept walking, never completely turning his back to Izuku. Izuku kept several meters distance until they got into the class and he slipped into his seat between Tenya and Hitoshi. They kept the same sitting order in every class and Bakugo settled to sitting at the opposite side of the room in every class too. Hitoshi didn't even need to use his brainwashing. Other students generally didn't bother them.
Many of them seemed more awkward or hesitant than afraid or hostile, but Izuku mostly kept Tenya and Hitoshi between himself and them whenever they left the classroom. Tenya especially made for a good barricade.
When their lunch hour rolled around the trio stood and departed the classroom quickly. As they left the classroom Tenya spoke up.
"Izuku, I know yesterday didn't end well but you shouldn't avoid our classmates. You should at least try talking to the ones that seemed to accept you. That goes for you too Hitoshi."
Izuku sighed and looked at Hitoshi.
"He is probably right," Hitoshi said, and both looked around. They had already walked away from their classmates and the corridor was full of other students. Izuku could spot only one familiar person, mostly because Shoji towered above the other students, and some walking behind him snickered while one of them pointed at him. Another waved her hands stupidly. Izuku scowled and walked towards his six-armed classmate.
"Hey Shoji," he called loud enough for the snickering group to also hear, "want to have lunch with us before today's hero training?"
He made sure to emphasize the "hero" part. The snickering group's faces dropped. It was difficult to tell how Shoji felt under his mask. What was the point of that anyway? A mouth that formed in the end of one of his arm-tentacles was smiling however. Even Izuku had to admit that it could be startling to witness the first time.
"Sure," Shoji answered and looked at the trio as Hitoshi and Tenya had caught up to Izuku, "if you'll have me. I don't want to intrude."
"It's… okay. You seem decent enough as a person to spend time with," Izuku said, "also I think we have something in common."
"Oh, what is it?"
"Yesterday when you asked if Bakugo's behaviour was because of my quirk, I got the impression you were familiar with that kind of stuff, and mutant type quirks are the ones people most often discriminate against," Izuku said and glanced where the snickering students' backs were getting further away from them.
"You aren't wrong. I... "
"You don't need to explain," Izuku said. "All of us understand. Let's get some food."
They went to the cafeteria and got a four-person table. Izuku froze for a moment, seeing Shoji eat with a mouth he formed at the end of one of his arms rather than take away the mask he seemed to always wear. He blinked a couple of times until his thoughts moved to wondering how Shoji's intestines worked with that. After giving up he focused on his own food. Shoji had his own reasons for eating like that and Izuku wasn't going to complain about it or push him to talk.
"So," Shoji started carefully, "why did you want to become a hero?"
"My entire family are heroes and I want to continue the Ida name in heroics," Tenya said. "Also, someone taught me I should always stand up against what is wrong."
"I want to prove to people my quirk can be used to help people," Hitoshi said. "That it doesn't make me a villain."
Shoji nodded to both of them.
"I came here because these two came here," Izuku said between mouthfuls with a totally neutral face.
Shoji actually made more eyes to stare at Izuku after that answer. "Really?"
"Really," Izuku said and ate some more.
"It is true, at least partially," Tenya confirmed. "Personally, I think he is and wants to be a hero more than he admits to. He never turns away from injustice."
"Already saved me," Hitoshi added, "and my chances of being here."
"It... was too much of a hassle going to different schools," Izuku said, holding the back of his neck in a Hitoshi-like way. "How about you Shoji?"
"Part wanting to help people, part the same as Shinso."
"Welcome to the club," Izuku said.
Lunch passed quickly without a hassle and next up was the start of their hero training. Izuku was sitting on his seat, nervous of who would be teaching them. Aizawa he could handle unless the man was going for some stupid deception or other stupid ideas, but All Might taught at UA now. Chatter in the room revealed that others were wondering the same question though with more excitement. At least Tenya and Hitoshi knew better than to talk about the number one hero next to him.
"I AM..."
Izuku's blood froze. His mother's corpse laying on the ground flashed in his eyes. His father's eyeless disfigured face stared at him after years apart.
"HERE. COMING THROUGH THE DOOR, LIKE A HERO," All Might shouted and came through the door in a stupid pose, leaning forward and hanging from the doorframe.
"Toshi," Izuku hissed through his teeth, "really, don't hesitate to use your quirks on me if you have to."
Hitoshi nodded slowly without turning to face Izuku, who was grasping the sides of his desk with all his strength to hold himself back. The rest of the class were too busy gasping and whooping in disbelief to notice his opposite reaction.
"I can't believe it's really All Might," the blonde Izuku didn't like said; the other blonde, not Bakugo.
"Sweet! He IS a teacher! This year is going to be totally awesome," Kirishima declared, so blind to the realities of the hero world. As All Might did a stupid exaggerated walk to the front of the class some other students commented on his hero costume. All Might stopped next to the teacher's desk and looked around the room. His eyes stopped on Izuku, who was in no mood to play around and responded with his most murderous stare. The number one hero quickly averted his eyes.
"Wel…Welcome to the most important class of UA high!" All Might's signature grin never faltered.
'A class that only like two out of eleven students in the school gets to attend,' Izuku thought.
"Think of it as heroing 101. Here you will learn the basics of being a pro and what it means to fight for the name of good!"
'Depending on what you considered good...' Izuku continued to glare as the man was posing again, as if they were there to look at his muscles. He showed a piece of paper or a sign that said a single word: 'Battle.'
"Let's get into it! Today's lesson will pull no punches!"
Izuku had to look away from the obnoxious man but that only made him spot Bakugo, whose face was twisted in a dangerous mix of excitement and deranged joy.
"But one of the keys to being a hero is," All Might continued.
'Saving people,' Izuku thought.
"Looking good!"
Yep, it had been too much to hope from the number one hero. Punch things and try to look good were the two things he had also done a year earlier, when Izuku's mother was lying dead at his feet.
All Might continued, unaware of Izuku's objections. "These were designed for you based on your quirk registration forms and designs you sent in before school started!"
A bunch of lockers extended from the opposite wall with numbered suitcases in each of them. That got everyone excited again. After a few more instructions All Might left the room and the students rushed to find their suits. Hitoshi turned to face Izuku, who stayed tightly on his seat, breathing heavily. If One For All had not been so resistant to All For One…
Izuku's thought were interrupted when one of the suitcases was placed on his desk. Tenya handed another one to Hitoshi and gave Izuku a concerned look. He glanced back until the last of other students had left.
"Are you okay?"
"Ya, I'm-" Izuku started.
"No," Hitoshi finished. Izuku slumped. When he spoke next, he spoke quietly.
"True. I'm not sure if I want to cry because of mom or attack All Might for her."
"I would not recommend the second one, you might get expelled," Tenya said. With someone else it would have been a joking remark, but for Tenya it was just his usual strictness and good understanding of Izuku. Izuku smiled, sniffed, and wiped a tear from his eye.
"Thanks guys," Izuku said and got up. "We should go. I don't want to make you late from the training."
The duo nodded slowly, and they followed their classmates to the dressing rooms and settled near Shoji on the opposite end of the room from Bakugo. Others seemed to have at least partially the same idea as Bakugo had the most empty space around him in the crowded room. Izuku opened his suitcase, hoping for the best. There wasn't really much that could be done to design a suit for All For One so his requests had been mostly focused on not hindering his mobility in combat while surviving his use of the Dragon Blade and Hellfire Arrow. Besides that, it was supposed to be plain. Whatever All Might said, the looks were the least important part of being a hero, a real hero, not a showman cashing in on the fame.
He pulled out a simple one-piece jumpsuit. At first he wanted to make it black for stealth purposes, but that could have resembled his 'villain costume' too much. White would have worked with his hair but that would have been a blatant opposite of his black suit and Kurogiri had been strictly opposed to the colour.
The nomu had just finished doing laundry for his white shirts that day.
In the end Izuku had picked his second favourite colour and had the jumpsuit made dark green. The designers had also added some black details and feet reinforcements he didn't mind. More importantly he had gotten red shoes this time, along with an equipment belt and gloves that had holes on their palms for All For One and some kind of protective layer covering the backs of his hands, though not hard metal like his other gloves. Naturally the equipment belt had a holder for notebooks, and everything was stronger and more fire resistant than regular fabrics.
Finally, the costume had nothing for his head. It wasn't like he needed to hide his face in this world of superstar heroes and the next winter was far away. Some kind of gas masks might have been useful though.
Changing to the simple costume didn't take long, especially compared to Tenya's costume that made him look like a mix of a medieval knight and a sports car. The larger teen had barely put half of his costume on by the time Izuku started turning around and flexing his limbs to test if the costume would hurt his mobility. It definitely was not as accurately measured as the costume his father had gotten him. The material was flexible and didn't hinder his movements significantly, but the jumpsuit felt a bit too tight, fitting him a bit too snuggly and skin-tight.
Then again, maybe the designers had done that on purpose. Tight costumes did help heroes show off and get more pictures taken of them, All Might being a prime example. Izuku sighed, but it wasn't really something that mattered now. He turned to Hitoshi.
If anything, Hitoshi's costume was even simpler than Izuku's. Instead of a jumpsuit he had a tight black t-shirt. Gray pants that were a bit baggier but would not get in his way and black boots that looked a bit like those of Izuku's villain costume, but perhaps a bit lighter. For Izuku, the most interesting part of the costume was black armguards on both his arms, wider than the arm itself, reaching from the edges of his gloves to the elbows. Izuku tapped one with a finger. It was hard, though didn't seem metallic, carbon fibres maybe.
"What do you think?" Hitoshi asked. "I got the idea from how you use your flame shields. I thought something similar might improve my defence even if they are narrower. I also made sure to ask for fireproof gloves."
"That's a great idea," Izuku said with a wide grin. "We have to train with them after school.
"Yeah, I was going to ask your help with that. My new apartment is close to a nice sports field. We could go there."
"Oh right, you moved closer for school," Izuku said, exited.
"Closer than you," Hitoshi said, "unless you bought a new mansion and didn't tell us."
"No but, if you'd like one," Izuku shrugged, forcing a thoughtful expression onto his face.
They stayed quiet for a moment, as did those closest to them. Then both burst out laughing. It took them a moment to calm down.
"Unfortunately, that might be a little too much to convince dad on."
"Understandable," Hitoshi agreed.
They waited for Tenya to finish putting on his overly complex armour and headed to the training site, they were the last of their class to exit the changing areas. The training site was another one of the mini cities UA maintained for the hero classes. All Might was standing in the middle of the street at the end of the corridor they entered through. Izuku could already feel his blood pressure rising at the sight of the man. He fell a few steps behind Hitoshi and Tenya.
"You look so cool," All Might said with a thumbs up to the students, finishing something the late comers didn't hear. "Now shall we get started you bunch of newbies? Now that you are ready, it's time for combat training!"
"Sir," Tenya said, raising his hand, "this is the fake city from the entrance exams. Does that mean we will be conducting urban battles again?"
"Not quite. I am going to move you two steps ahead. Most of the villain fights you see on the news take place outside. However, statistically speaking, run-ins with the most dastardly evildoers take place indoors. Think about it: backroom deals, home invasions, secret underground lairs. Truly intelligent criminals stay in the shadows."
All Might's explanation caught Izuku by surprise, mostly because he was making sensible points for once.
"For this training exercise you will be split into teams of good guys and bad guys and fight two on two indoor battles."
The brief explanation was followed by a series of questions from the students. Izuku squeezed his hands into fists when the first question Bakugo was able to come up with was how much they were allowed to hurt their opponents, since obviously the question didn't come from concern over his fellow students. Uraraka on the other hand was concerned over a possible threat of expulsions thanks to Eraserhead.
All Might moved on to explain the training scenario. Unfortunately, he had already forgotten the mostly sensible examples he used before and the training scenario sounded more like an action movie battle with villains guarding a nuclear weapon inside an office building for… some reason, and heroes trying to get the bomb or defeat the villains in time, not like a real situation which would require them to do both. Well, if the point was just to learn to fight it might be adequate, except neither All Might or UA had yet to actually teach them anything about fighting.
Maybe they wanted to test them like the first time Izuku faced a Nomu.
"Time is limited, and we'll choose teams by drawing lots."
"The traditional 'you have to be able to work with anyone' approach," Izuku muttered just loud enough for Tenya and Hitoshi to hear.
"It isn't completely wrong you know," Tenya whispered back. "Heroes often have to work together and may not have any options in an emergency."
"What's that?!" All Might called. Tenya instantly bowed.
"Nothing sir. Please excuse my rudeness."
Next they had the team selection. Even the ever polite and dedicated Tenya groaned when he was paired with Bakugo. Izuku placed his hand on Tenya's shoulder.
"My condolences. He's not going to cooperate with you, so your best chance is just letting him go and using him as a distraction."
"Izuku Midoriya and Fumikage Tokoyami," All Might declared another team and Izuku started searching for his new ally. He hadn't yet talked with Tokoyami, but the bird-headed classmate in an all-black cloak was easy to recognize. He might also understand what it was like to be discriminated against for his quirk, so Izuku wasn't completely pessimistic about the potential teamwork. Izuku decided to test his theory and offered his hand for a hand shake. Tokoyami reacted slowly, but still did respond in kind. Izuku was just about to grab his hand when a dark, distinctly bird-shaped mass emerged from within Tokoyami and blocked Izuku from approaching.
Also, much to Izuku's surprize, it could talk.
"Don't come any closer. I won't let you touch Fumi."
Izuku took a step back in surprise and looked at Tokoyami, a question in his wide eyes. Tokoyami however was already in action, trying to hold down the shadow creature.
"What are you doing Dark Shadow. He is our ally."
"That doesn't mean I am going to trust him. If he tries anything I won't hesitate to deal with him."
"Stop this foolishness Dark Shadow.
"Don't trust him Fumi!"
"The quirk has the right idea," Bakugo commented from nearby.
"Is there something wrong?" All Might asked.
"I am sorry," Tokoyami said. "Dark shadow is acting out. He's a sentient quirk."
While it had already been pretty obvious, the words 'sentient quirk' lit a glint in Izuku's eyes and he pulled out one of his notebooks. He barely noticed All Might speaking, which was no low bar.
"That is quite rare. Can you participate in the training?" All Might asked.
"Yes. This isn't too unusual."
"With that guy?" Dark Shadow asked, shocked. Izuku felt as if it was glaring at him.
"Yes," Tokoyami said more forcefully. "Now go back inside until we start."
"Don't let him touch you," the quirk said just before it disappeared into Tokoyami's body.
All Might looked at him for a moment, glancing at Izuku several times, nodded, and went back to randomly choosing teams. Tokoyami turned back to Izuku only to meet an intense stare over an open notebook and rapidly moving pen.
" ?Howfarcanhereachfromyou?Whatifyoudisagreeonsometh-"
"IZUKU!"
Izuku jumped at the booming voice, it echoed in his head but felt like Hitoshi was screaming next to both his ears with a voice amplifier.
"Wha…" he responded reflexively and fell under the brainwashing. It didn't last long as Hitoshi came to him and flicked his forehead with a finger, breaking the brainwashing.
"His quirk already doesn't seem to like you. Try not to agitate him by pushing too much," Hitoshi advised.
"You're right. Sorry Tokoyami. I got too excited."
"I should be the one apologising. Dark Shadow has his own opinions on people, but he has never been so hostile to someone new before. I hope you will still fight alongside me."
"If you were acting like Dark Shadow I wouldn't, whatever that brick house says, but so far you seem decent."
Tokoyami stared at him, not commenting anything until Hitoshi spoke to him.
"Don't let him scare you. He can be the best friend you ever hoped for, if you earn it, and the bar isn't as high as he makes it seem."
Hitoshi went to find his teammate for the exercise and All Might, having finished making the teams, went on to selecting who was fighting who.
"I declare the first teams to fight will be," All Might plunged his hands in the boxes with marked balls and pulled two out, "these guys! Team A will be the heroes. Team D will be the villains. Everyone else can head to the monitoring room to watch."
Izuku barely listened to the last sentences. He and Tokoyami were team A, and team D was… He turned to look at Tenya and Bakugo, who was sending a murderous glare at him while explosions sparked on the thick gloves of his new costume. The thing even had gauntlets that looked like large grenades.
Actually, there was nothing surprising there. The real question was, what was their purpose? Even in all his cockiness Bakugo wasn't stupid enough to slow himself down with useless wrist weights.
Izuku blinked, realizing he was going to battle with Bakugo and he was calmy evaluating his long time enemy's clothes. He looked down at his hand. He wasn't shaking, not in the least bit. Actually going up against Bakugo didn't feel any different than starting his regular daily training, though of course those tended to include Nomus. Bakugo was going to be in for a surprise. Things were going to be different than in the past.
All Might handed everyone earpieces to communicate with and sent the 'villains' inside the building while Izuku and Tokoyami waited to enter.
"So, you know both our opponents. What shall we expect from them?" Tokoyami asked. Izuku brushed his chin, thinking.
"Bakugo will leave Tenya behind and come after me. He won't care about you or the training scenario and both of them know that. Tenya is more difficult to predict. I think he will probably stay near the bomb after Bakugo leaves, but I did suggest he could use that as a distraction so there is a chance he might surprise us while we are focused on Bakugo. I don't know how fast Dark Shadow is but if he can circle around you for all around protection that is probably your best chance to stop a surprise attack. Our options are to either fight Bakugo together or split up when he comes for me. You could use that time to find the bomb and we could meet again to attack together if you can't get past Tenya. I recommend we split up."
"That only works if you can beat Bakugo."
"I have to beat him, and not for the exercise."
Izuku stared forward with a rare level of determination.
"I can see you are on a quest you must complete alone. I shall find the bomb while you exact the justice you seek."
Izuku looked at his teammate, not saying a word.
"I too find him quite annoying and heard what you said about him yesterday," Tokoyami added. "Show him the terror of the darkness he has inflicted on you."
Izuku smiled. "I will."
They spent the remaining time going through the building floorplans and mentally marking the best routs for faster movement and evasion.
"ALL RIGHT!" All Might's voice boomed from hidden speakers. Considering the time it would take for him to come from the monitoring room, there would be essentially no teacher interruption if Bakugo decided to go too far, or Izuku for that matter. "LET'S BEGIN THE INDOOR COMBAT TRAINING. TEAM A AND TEAM D, YOUR TIME STARTS NOW!"
Trying to avoid the most obvious paths, Izuku and Tokoyami climbed in through a window and started quietly proceeding through the building with Izuku leading the way. His hands twitched, ready to strike, be it by cutting with Flaming Blade or tearing away the quirk of his opponent.
One moment they were approaching a crossing of corridors. The next, with no warning, Bakugo flew around the corner and launched a large explosion at them.
Izuku reacted in a split second, both jumping out of the way and pushing Tokoyami away at the same time. Izuku managed to stay on his feet after the impact and explosive shockwave, but Tokoyami fell on Dark Shadow who appeared to catch him.
"Hey, watch it!" The shadow creature shouted. "Didn't I tell…"
Bakugo charged at Izuku. If he hadn't changed too much during the past year his first move was going to be…
Bakugo charged at Izuku and with a scream swung his right arm in a big right hook, just like he always started a fight. Izuku was ready for it and caught his arm, spun around, and threw Bakugo on his back on the floor.
"Bind him Dark Shadow."
"No."
"What!? Cease this foolishness and help Midoriya!"
"Not going anywhere close to that guy."
While they argued, Izuku shifted to bring his foot down on Bakugo in a big axe kick. Bakugo let out an explosion from one of his hands and spun out of the way just in time and flew back into a standing position. The two faced each other again, neither yielding a millimetre or bothering with any pointless words to each other.
"Go, Tokoyami!" Izuku shouted. Bakugo took advantage of the distraction, propelled himself at Izuku with explosions and sunk his foot into Izuku's stomach. The impact felt like he was hit by a car and wasn't sure if it tore something inside his guts. The pain was certainly strong enough. They both flew several meters down the corridor from the impact before Bakugo halted his own momentum with small explosions and let Izuku crash on the floor in front of him.
Still reeling from the impact, Izuku took advantage of his remaining momentum and managed a backflip to get back on his feet. That caught Bakugo off guard as he was charging again, expecting to attack someone already on the floor and not a fist heading for his chin. Part of Izuku wanted to activate the Dragon Blade at that moment and be done with all of this, forever, but punching Bakugo hard enough to knock him back was satisfying regardless. Unsurprisingly it wasn't enough to knock out the exploding boy. Izuku had figured out long ago that Bakugo's quirk had to have some level of hidden durability enhancement or shock resistance to not maim or kill himself every time he set off explosions.
Bakugo released explosions from one of his hands to spin around and hit Izuku with his grenade gauntlet. Izuku held back a yelp. He wasn't going to show weakness now, and Nomus could hit even harder, at least the new one. Bakugo tried to follow up with an explosive punch but even he wasn't as fast as Izuku's father's air blasts. Izuku twisted out of the way, grabbed the extended arm, and tried to throw Bakugo on the ground again. Of course, it wasn't that easy. This time Bakugo was ready and the fight degraded into a mix of wrestling and punching on the floor where both were hammering each other.
Izuku could feel something breaking and healing when Bakugo punched him in the face, but being on top for the moment Izuku could deliver equal responses as blood splatter from both stained the floor.
"ENOUGH!" Bakugo screamed. "DIE!"
Realizing what was coming, Izuku barely had time to bring both his arm in front of his face and light Dragon Blades in the shape of shields, as dense as he could make them. He leaned back to not take the explosion head on, but the shockwave still threw him off Bakugo and left him groaning on his back on the floor.
Steps and heavy breathing approached Izuku, who briefly squeezed his eyes shut to fake more incapacitating pain than he was actually experiencing. There was pain, plenty of it, but he had had his arms broken too many times to let this shock him out of the battle. Without changing his expression, he drew on the calm mind to ignore even that as he only focused on his enemy with every other sense.
The heavy breathing was right above him. He could even tell roughly where Bakugo's head was from the sound of his breathing. The consistent breathing was interrupted by a huff laced with the arrogance of an overconfident person thinking he had won. New steps and feet dragging against the floor revealed Bakugo turning around.
"You were never going to beat me. Even with a villain quirk you're just useless Dekuuuuuh-!"
With a single quick motion Izuku had swiped Bakugo's feet from under him. Bakugo caught himself with his hands and used explosions to push against the ground and return to his feet, but it was already too late. Izuku jumped up and at Bakugo's back, slamming him on his stomach. Having had enough of the battle, Izuku without hesitation slammed his hand on the back of Bakugo's head. The other snaked around Bakugo's neck. Izuku could have choked him from that position, but he was more concerned with holding on at any cost until his deed was done.
"Don't you dare Deku!"
Bakugo was thrashing hard, a set of another explosions strong enough to lift them both off the floor and slam Izuku against the wall fired off, but Izuku only squeezed harder, refusing to let go. He could feel the explosion quirk inside Bakugo and grabbed it with none of the carefulness he usually applied. Soon Bakugo literally roared like an animal, but his movements slowed as his body tensed. He was gasping for air with whimpers of pain in between.
"You shouldn't have resisted," Izuku whispered his words cold as ice.
He released his grip and pushed a whimpering Bakugo off him. The formerly explosive blonde fell on the floor and simply stared up at the ceiling as Izuku rose to his feet. He took off one of his gloves and held open the hand, making sure it was visible to a nearby monitoring camera. He already had a little experience with this quirk from when his All For One first appeared, so after a brief moment of focus small explosions sparkled on his palm. He looked straight at the camera, closed his hand into a fist and turned around.
Only at the last moment he remembered the rules of the fight and pulled a capture tape from his belt. It only took a few seconds to wrap it around Bakugo's arms. There wasn't a word in response to him taking down an opponent. Considering All Might's taste for theatrics and unnecessarily loud shouting, he was either smart enough to not give away intel to the training students or the man was having flashbacks to his previous meetings with Izuku's father.
Izuku turned again to leave, but he only took a few steps before Bakugo spoke, just whispers at first but getting louder with every repeat.
"Give it back. Give it back. Give it Back. Give it back. Give it back! GIVE IT BACK!"
Bakugo had already risen to a sitting position with a stare that still looked, well, empty, for the lack of a better word, but his face was twisting in rage. His arms bulged, tensed and shook against the capture tape.
"You already lost," Izuku said. "Get out while I go fight Tenya and maybe I'll give your quirk back."
"YOU WILL GIVE IT BACK NOW!" Bakugo screamed. The capture tape snapped in two and he charged at Izuku. Of course, he started with a right hook again. Izuku stepped aside and instead of throwing Bakugo like before, he detonated a small explosion next to Bakugo's face. It was more like a smoke bomb but to Bakugo the shock of being hit by his own quirk was like a nuke going off outside. He barely avoided falling on the floor again.
"YOUNG BAKUGO, YOU'VE LOST, STOP FIGHTING!" All Might's voice came from speakers. Neither of them cared.
"I WILL KILL YOU!"
"You didn't even beat me with your quirk that is supposedly so great. You think you can kill me now as a quirkless?"
"Oh, you might have stolen my quirk, but don't think I can't kill little useless Deku. I may not be able to produce explosive sweat now, but these gauntlets are not just for show. They have been storing up my sweat since I put them on for one monster blast."
Bakugo raised his arm and pointed one of the gauntlets. He pulled a literal pin out of it.
"YOUNG BAKUGO DON'T DO IT!" All Might shouted. "YOU'LL KILL HIM!"
Izuku was pretty sure he'd survive the blast, but not without having to explain his regeneration quirk. The nearest side corridor was too far, and the reinforced walls didn't have as much as a door anywhere near. He could see a glow of death sparking inside the gauntlet with Bakugo's near insane stare behind it.
Izuku ran at Bakugo. In a last desperate try he reached forward and slapped the gauntlet just to move it a little bit as he dove in the opposite direction.
The entire world turned into light and ear rupturing noise. Izuku could feel burning heat through his supposedly fire-resistant suit as the flash blinded him.