"Denki, can you please take this seriously?" Ayumu pleaded as Denki pulled his soda out of the vending machine.
Kaminari laughed, "Come on, lighten up. This is great! The teachers are obviously going to go easy on us. Plus, there's three of us, we have a really good advantage."
Mina shrugged, "Besides, we just have to run away."
Ayumu crossed her arms and looked at them. She wasn't sure what kind of strategy they should go with. She wasn't the best at creating plans or strategies and she wasn't really familiar with the principal's quirk, if he really had one at all. Kaminari watched her for a moment before offering her an encouraging smile.
"Hey, you're overthinking this. Just wait, Kirishima is going to come out any minute and let us know how easy the test was."
Ayumu felt a weight fall off her shoulders for a moment, "Yeah, you're probably right."
As if to prove them wrong, an announcer's voice echoed through the speakers, "Sato and Kirishima have been knocked out. Exam over."
The three of them gasped in horror. Ayumu felt her heart stop.
"Seriously?"
Denki sounded far away as the blood rushed to Ayumu's ears. She could hear her heart pounding. This was not good. They needed a plan and they needed it now. Ayumu sat in one of the chairs and looked around for a moment, thinking about the principal and the little she knew about him. Finally she spoke.
"Okay." The other two looked up at her. "I have a plan, we're going to run away and make it to the exit gate."
Kaminari gave her a confused look, "Uh, yeah."
"No, I have an idea." Ayumu drummed her fingers on the table. "If we can avoid Principal Nezu and just get to the end that'll be great, but he's not going to let us off easy right?"
"Right…" Mina trailed off, hoping this plan would actually work.
Ayumu picked through her words carefully, "Well, I think we might have a shot if I use illusions on him. I'm a little out of practice and I'd have to get really close to him, but I think we could try it. It could let me distract him while you two made it through the gate."
Mina and Kaminari looked at one another, evidently thinking over my plan. Ayumu waited expectantly for an answer. Finally Mina spoke. "What if we don't find him?"
Kaminari shrugged, "I think that's the best we could hope for, but what if he can attack us from a distance?"
Ayumu frowned, she hadn't thought about that. "I don't think he can? What is his quirk anyways?"
"I think he's just a really smart mouse." Mina guessed, not sounding at all sure.
Kaminari gave her a look of disbelief, "A mouse? He's not a mouse, he's a really small bear."
"He's definitely not a bear, bear's don't have tails like that." Ayumu chimed in.
Mina scoffed, "Well if he's not a mouse and he's not a bear, then what is he?"
Ayumu thought for a second before shaking her head, "I don't think it matters, what matters is that we have a plan. So what do you guys think?"
Mina shrugged, "I guess it's fine. We can probably just avoid him and get to the exit."
Ayumu smiled lightly, "That's what we're hoping for, my plan is a just in case kind of thing. I'll hit him with an illusion so he doesn't know where he is and can't find us."
Kaminari gave a bright smile and took a sip from his soda, "Sounds like we have a plan, now to sit back and relax before our turn."
He dropped into the seat beside me and put his feet up on the table. Ayumu looked at Mina who was smiling brightly, pulling up a seat on the other side of Kaminari. She felt a weight being lifted from her shoulders. Kaminari was right, we had a plan. They were ready… as ready as they could be anyways.
After a little while, the announcer came over the speaker to let everyone know that Tsyu and Tokoyami had passed. The three of them passed the time talking and drinking soda. Finally, the time had come for them to report to the arena.
Tall buildings were erected on all sides, pipes everywhere. Lots of places to hide. All they had to do was run. They just needed to find the exit. Ayumu reminded herself of the plan as the buzzer sounded.
"Team Ashido, Kaminari, and Ayumu. Practical exam. Ready, go!" The announcers voice sounded.
The three students started jogging toward what they assumed to be the direction on the exit.
"Okay, so, what do you wanna do?" Mina asked.
Ayumu thought for a second, "Do you think we should split up? Make it harder for him to get us all?"
"Nah. Let's just run." Kaminari sounded confident, "even if he does find us, he's tiny. I can take care of him with my electricity. Maybe you shouldn't even use your powers. It might look bad if you melt the principal." He looked at Mina and then Ayumu, "And I don't think hypnotizing him is a good look either."
Ayumu rolled her eyes, "And shocking the hell out of him is?"
Kaminari grinned, "I'm just saying we have options, plus you'd have to get close to him and we want to avoid that, right?"
"Yeah, I guess that" Ayumu was cut off by a loud sound in the distance and the trio slowed to a halt.
"Hey, what's that noise?" Mina questioned as a loud banging of metal rang out around them.
"It couldn't be the principal… could it?" Kaminari asked as the three of them looked around for the sound.
Ayumu shook her head, "I don't know, but I don't really want to stick around to find out."
Ayumu took a step forward before the banging turned to a creak. She turned to see a pipe falling directly above Kaminari.
"Look out!" He shouted and they took off running again.
The pipes and buildings began crashing around them, barely missing them as the sprinted in what they now prayed was the way to the exit.
"Guys, what the crap is going on?" Mina asked as they ran.
Kaminari don't slow down as he replied, "I don't know, but it's bad for us and I'm guessing our opponent is behind it!"
"Is there any way we can get higher to see the exit?" Ayumu asked, dodging another pipe falling toward her.
Mina shook her head as they hit another dead end and changed directions again, "I don't think so! Not with everything falling."
Finally the three stopped and another dead end panicked. They looked around, trying to find the principal or a new route to take.
"Kaminari," Mina started, worry evident in her voice, "can't you just zap him or something?"
"I have no idea where he's hiding and I don't wanna waste all my shots yet. Do you want me to end up brain dead?"
Ayumu laughed despite herself, "And have to drag you out of here? No thanks."
Kaminari shot her a look, "Let's just make for the exit."
"Sure, but where is that even?" Mina asked.
Kaminari turned desperately, "Uh, this way!"
They three headed in the direction Kaminari indicated only to run into yet another dead end.
"That's not good." Kaminari voiced.
Ayumu turned around, "Maybe we should try this way?" Suddenly, a shadow fell over them. Ayumu looked up just in time to see more debris falling from the sky. "Look out!"
The debris barely missed the trio as they all ended up on the ground. "Man! He's seriously trying to kill us!"
"I didn't think it would be easy, but I didn't think he'd actually be this serious!" Ayumu scanned the sky for more falling objects.
"Over here! This way!" Mina had burned a hole in the wall while the other two were distracted.
The three scrambled into the hole that led them into a storage room. Relieved that the principal could no longer drop things on them, they slowed to a walk. Shelves were as high as the ceiling all around them cluttered with random supplies.
"This will be a bit of a detour, but we might make it to the other side of the gate!" Kaminari barely finished his thought when a loud bang rang out over them.
They all looked up to see the ceiling cracking.
"Are you kidding me?" Ayumu complained as the ceilings cracked more before falling in on them.
There were screams and dust filling the air. Ayumu tried to sit up. She peered through the dust clouds as they began to settle. Kaminari and Mina were pulling themselves up into sitting positions, coughing.
Kaminari wiped the back of his hand over his eyes, trying to get the dust out. "There is no way he's allowed to do that!"
"He could have killed us!" Mina accused.
Ayumu looked up at the collapsed debris, "Well it looks like we're stuck." She looked back to her friends, "Are you guys okay?"
"I'm alright," Mina moved carefully away from rubble.
Kaminari pushed himself up to stand as best he could with the low ceiling, "Me too, what about you?"
"I'm fine, how do we get out of here?" Ayumu questioned. They didn't have a lot of time left in the exam, but maybe they could still pass if they worked fast.
Mina pulled at a loose piece of concrete, "We dig, I guess."
They started working, pulling piece by piece away from the pile. Ayumu felt nervousness creep up on her. This was too slow. "Mina, can't you just melt it?"
"That's a good idea! Try it!" Kaminari encouraged.
Mina pressed her hands to the rocks and melted some away. After only a moment though, more rocks slid into the melted spaces, causing a small avalanche. They three jumped back out of the way. Melting wouldn't work.
"Sorry, guys," Mina apologized before pulling another rock away.
Piece by piece they moved the rocks and rubble, finally they pulled themselves up out of the collapsed debris. Ayumu took a deep breath of fresh air as Mina pushed over the last rock.
"Guys! Let's hurry and-!" The buzzer cut off Ayumu's excitement.
The announcer's voice filled the arena. "Team, Ashido, Kaminari, and Suzuki have failed due to the time expiring."
They all sunk in defeat. "Damn it!" Kaminari shouted, slamming his fist onto a fallen beam.
"Oh, man, that sucks!" Mina agreed.
Ayumu coughed, the dust still bothering her lungs. She pushed herself up and frowned deeply. "Come on, guys. Let's go see Recovery Girl."
"Hey, what did I miss?" Ayumu asked as she walked into the screening room.
Tsyu glanced back at her before returning her attention to the screen, "Not much. Bakugo has been trying to fight All Might head on. Midoriya has been trying to run."
Ayumu felt her heart skip a beat, "How has that been going?"
Uraraka shrugged, "As well as you would think." She looked fully at Ayumu and gave her a sympathetic smile, "Sorry about your exam."
Ayumu gave her a smile back, "It's okay. It was a lot more difficult than we thought it would be."
Ayumu looked back at the screen and frowned. She wished she could hear them. She watched as Bakugo jumped out of an alleyway behind All Might before shooting an explosion directly into his face. He followed up with three more blasts. Ayumu studied him for a moment, something was different. She didn't realize that Bakugo was missing his second gauntlet until he lept into the air, avoiding the blast Midoryia sent All Might's way.
"That was clever." She mumbled as the two boys made toward the exit.
Tsyu hummed beside her, "You sound surprised."
"I kind of am." Ayumu felt a smile pull at the corners of her mouth, "I didn't think he'd work with him."
Ayumu didn't have to clarify what she meant, everyone knew how Bakugo felt about Midoriya. She watched as the two got in view of the gate. Suddenly, All Might was beside them. He hit Bakugo's gauntlet with his fist, shattering it before doing the same to the one Midoryia was holding. All Might then turned back to Bakugo and hit him hard causing him to fly into the building. Ayumu let out a squeak and felt her blood run cold.
Relief filled her for a moment when Bakugo came flying back, but it was quickly replaced with more concern as All Might used Midoriya as a weapon. Both boys fell to the ground at All Might's feet in a cloud of dust.. Everyone in the room was stunned. The battles had been difficult, but this was ridiculous.
Bakugi was on his hands and knees under All Might's foot, while Midoryia hung limp from his hand. All Might stepped harder, knocking Bakugo onto his stomach. All Might threw Midoriya to the side, obviously unconcerned. Suddenly, a huge explosion came from where All Might stood. A cloud of black smoke surrounded them making it impossible to see what was going on. Midoryia came flying out of the smoke. All Might used a smash to clear the smoke and ran directly into Midoryia. Bakugo came up behind him, using his blasts to fly through midair before releasing a powerful blast directly at All Might.
Ayumu studied him and he fell to the ground, landing easily. He was hurt. He wasn't going to show it, but he was injured. He let out a third powerful explosion as black smoke filled the arena once again. All Might appeared out of the smoke, but Bakugo forced himself in front of him. All Might grabbed him by the face before slamming him into the ground. The dust from him hitting the ground made it difficult to see what was going on for a moment, but as it settled, Midoryia could be seen carrying Bakugo through the gate.
Uraraka and Tsyu cheered. Ayumu just felt relieved that it was over. She took a deep breath and rubbed her hands over her face. She turned to the others in the watch room and smiled.
"No one tell Bakugo that Midoryia saved him."
A/N: sorry for the wait! I just moved states so things have been a little hectic. Updates will now be every other Thursday. :)