Hello again, everyone. Well, after the last two chapters had been relatively short by comparison, I decided to pull all the stops in order to further the overall plot instead of spending so much time each week re-witnessing events we're all already familiar with. After this will be a return to something wholly original, that can help keep the overall plot and character developments moving at full speed again. Thank you all for your continued readership and patience.
I hope you all enjoy what you read here this week, and if so, feel free to leave a review sharing your thoughts and feelings on how you feel my take on the MHA story has been panning out so far. Feedback is crucial for writers to develop.
Once again, I'd like to give a grateful shout-out to my loyal beta reader Miku Hikikomori, for all the efforts they make to help me in figuring out how to make this story the best it can be (outside of the actual manga itself, of course), even with all the demands of real life going on at the same time. That kind of dedication and support goes a long way and is far from unappreciated.
My Hero Academia is the property of Kouhei Horikoshi and Shonen Jump. I only own my original characters, the original events surrounding them, and the alterations of established events that occur as a direct result of their existence in this universe.
A/N: [[]] denotes that characters are contextually speaking Russian.
Chapter 34
Practical Test – Part Three
(Практический Испытание - Часть Третья)
Team Midoriya/ Bakugos' Side; less than a minute ago…
Ever since their surprise two-front attack on All Might, neither Izuku nor Bakugo had dared to hesitate one step on their way to the exit gate. All they knew they could do was rush through the wreckage of their training area, left behind from their opponents' initial attack, and just hope they would somehow, by some miracle, get through in time.
"We're almost there! It's right there! The escape gate!" Izuku declared the moment they could spot the gate just on the other end of the street they turned on to. It was a literal straight shot now; standing at the end was a completely out of place-looking colorful gate with a sign above depicting Headmaster Nezu in a running posture, encouraging the two boys of their impending victory. "The gate's…really aimlessly cute-looking, but if even just one of us passes through, then we clear the exam!"
Just seeing the finish line sent both boys into an even greater rush, but while Izukus' face could only show his typical nervousness alongside his determination, Bakugo only looked as frustrated as he ever did. All he could focus on in their rush was the sheer scale of the destruction around them, and how it had reached them all the way at their starting point, while All Might had been all the way by the gate when he made that single attack. Was that supposed to simply be some kind of bragging display of his power, or had he legitimately been trying to take them out then? The answer didn't matter, not to him. Just the mere thought of it at all had him gritting his teeth once more as he continued to run: "That bastards' just toying with us."
"I don't see All Might chasing after us…there's no way he could've fainted, is there?" Izuku asked upon looking back over his shoulder, but the idea of someone usually so observant and tactical asking something so ludicrous just fired Bakugo up like the flip of a switch.
"No, you dumbass, you're the one who said there's no way we could beat him! What the hell are you thinking, asking something so stupid, dammit? There ain't a chance in hell that love tap made him go down and you know it!" Bakugo never took his eyes off the gate while Izuku, despite at once looking embarrassed for even asking before, managed to keep with his sprinting pace. "If he catches up to us, Deku, then I'll launch you using my bracer!"
"Hmm, I see!" The moment that powerful voice suddenly reached both boys' ears, All Might himself practically seemed to phase in between them with a faster-than-light dash, staring Bakugo down the moment he made himself visible. "And? Then what?"
Bakugos' resultant aiming of his right grenade bracer was downright muscle memory in action as he didn't miss a step doing so. Nevertheless, it was all for naught, as All Might shattered the blonde boys' one remaining bracer with a punch that was faster than the speed of light, leaving Bakugo at a complete disadvantage. "Why so surprised?!"
"H-he's too fast!" Izuku exclaimed the moment he saw the pieces come crumbling, and couldn't even follow the punch that did it, even with his own powers of observation.
"Oh? But thanks to these weights, this isn't even close to my top gear speed, I hope you know. Now…BITE THE DUST, 'HEROES'!" The moment that declaration had been made, the resultant beat down came in less than two seconds, as despite their attempt to try and counterattack, Izuku and Bakugo found themselves completely at the former Symbol of Peaces' mercy, with the hotheaded boy now firmly pinned underfoot, and Izuku hanging helplessly in the grip of one hand like a freshly caught fish. All Mights' speed was terrifyingly fast as it was, but to think of just what he would've been capable of if not for those weights was the kind of thing that left Izuku visibly shaking as he dangled. How on earth were they supposed to find a way to victory from a situation like this?
Team Ashido/ Bezpalov/ Kaminaris' Side, a minute ago…
"For crying out loud, how much rubble did Sensei pile up here?!" Mina exclaimed in frustration after having been throwing a non-stop barrage of her acid at the rubble blocking the storm drain entrance for what felt like a solid five minutes, and still had no sign of having gotten to the other side. The thought of the whole thing destabilizing and coming down on her head if she tried melting her way upward was the only thing stopping her from doing just that.
The fact that there still had been no announcement made as to whether Nikolay and Denki had managed to actually capture Headmaster Nezu or not, was not helping with her nerves, either. They all knew they were heavily outmatched from the first move their opponent had made, so she was their single greatest hope, but that didn't make the fact she couldn't go back to help them if they got in trouble any easier for her to handle.
With yet another handful of acid tossed into a slab of concrete, Mina instinctively flinched and covered her eyes when the first beam of daylight suddenly pierced through the sizzling melting stone. As soon as her eyes were able to adjust to there now being light, her anxiety was swiftly replaced with excitement. "Oh God, I did it! I got through!"
Coating her hands in the stuff, Mina proceeded to quickly make the breakthrough hole just big enough for her to crawl out of, and she couldn't help but jump up and down with cheer once she was back on her feet and in the warmth of daylight again. Once she actually took a look at her surroundings, she immediately spotted a single gate just barely a dozen yards away from where she now stood, adorned with a cartoonish sign of Headmaster Nezu saying 'You Can Do It' above.
Minas' already racing heart caught in her throat at the sight of the exit gate. Nikolay was right! This was it! Her teams' emergency plan was actually going to pay off! She was going to win them this test, and they would officially pass, and then they would have a whole summer at that forest lodge together, and all the precious memories that would come with it. She was already beginning to build up an acid slick through her boots, ready to end this thing in a matter of seconds.
"ADVISORY: THE FIRST TEAM TO CLEAR THE EXAM IS TEAM TODOROKI/ YAOYOROZU!"
The sound of Recovery Girls' voice echoing across the entire training area, and announcing the passing of two of her classmates, filled Mina with the kind of happiness and excitement that words couldn't do justice for. Of course, she had no doubts the likes of Momo and Shoto would be able to pass, even if it was against their homeroom teacher, but just the fact that her classmates were (so far) managing to win, made her feel an all new wave of encouragement and confidence that she could pull this off, just like Nikolay and Denki believed she could.
BOOOM!
The distant yet deafening boom and resultant rumbling of something large and heavy freefalling and colliding with the ground nearly made Mina stumble and instinctively look back the way it had come from. What she saw made her pink hair nearly stand on end, as a multitude of sizeable pieces of debris came flying through the air from left to right, like they'd been fired from a multitude of catapults, and more than half of them went on to collide with the arm of the single tallest crane in their entire section, the crane Nikolay had theorized Nezu to be in.
The whole arm went swinging in a full circle on impact, and even amid all the now plummeting debris, Mina could barely make out a speck falling among them that looked distinctly different…human shaped!
The once overpowering feelings of confidence and eagerness in Minas' chest descended into a stomach-twisting sensation of worry. She couldn't shake the feeling that her two friends were in serious danger, while she was, for all intents and purposes, perfectly safe and sound here. That just wasn't right! They were putting themselves on the line for her sake; what kind of Hero and friend would she be if she wasn't willing to do the same for them?
She was already preparing herself to go racing right back into those ruins and getting Nikolay and Denki out of there, but the echo of the Russian boys' voice made her stop just before starting her first stride. The reminder that Nezu would have easily been able to take all three of them out at once if they were together was once again ringing painfully loud in her head. That was the whole reason the two boys had gone on this ill-planned-out strategy in the first place.
Mina found herself repeatedly looking back and forth from the site of the battle to the exit gate and back again. Every instinct she had was yelling for her to do something to save her friends and end this fight. However, her own internal sense of logic kept reminding her that simply going for the exit would do just that.
'Dammit…I know what I should do…but I can't just turn my back on them and leave them to get hurt! But what can I really do if I go back? God, this really sucks! Why does the smart thing to do, and the right thing to do, never just end up being the same thing?'
As this battle kept raging in her head each time she looked between her two possible destinations, Mina bit her lip, clenching her fists tight with frustration as to what the right thing for her to do now really was.
Nikolay had finally managed to climb his way out of the punctured water tower that had broken his fall from atop the crane. He was still silently thanking his lucky stars for that. He had been caught so unaware from that debris sneak attack, that he hadn't even managed to correct himself on the way down. He very easily could've ended up a grease stain among the wreckage if not for that tower.
The continuous rumbling of metal on metal brought his eyes back up to the crane itself. Contrary to what he'd expected from its rotation having been forced from the outside, the arm was showing no sign of stopping its circular swing. It honestly looked like it could have just kept going indefinitely. Ignoring the frigid cold and added weight of his now soaking wet clothes, all Nikolay could think at the sight was: 'Damn. Nezu-sensei must've already made it back to the controls. He's making sure I don't get the chance to get back up to him again…or he's at least keeping the momentum going like he's trying to dissuade me from going back up. Yeah, that has to be it.'
Suddenly, a nearby sound of struggled grunting snapped Nikolay out of his focus, turning in time to find Denki trying to squeeze his way out from underneath some rubble atop two crushed vehicles, with him caught in between them. "Ugh…h-hey, Kolya-san, you mind giving me a hand here?"
Nikolay hurried over and grabbed onto Denkis' hands, puling with all his strength in his legs, until the blonde boy was finally able to kick himself the rest of the way out from under. "Man, that was way too close. I thought I was gonna end up a street pizza back there. Sensei's really taking this thing way too seriously, I don't care what he says."
In all honesty, Nikolay couldn't help but nod in full agreement, already looking back up to the crane as it spun. "Yeah. He may have lost his wrecking ball and the means for his chain reaction attacks…but he still got the better of us. The wind friction alone would make trying to fight him up there right now a fools' errand, never mind the vertigo."
As much as Nikolay clearly voiced his annoyance at the persistent advantage their headmaster continued to have over them, Denki surprisingly didn't sound the slightest bit bothered, even despite having nearly gotten crushed less than a minute ago. "Well, it's not like we really have to do anything else. I mean, us getting rid of those cranes and that wrecking ball, that's already pretty much bought Ashido a free ticket to the exit gate. I'm sure all we have to do now is just wait."
To his (disappointed) surprise, however, Nikolays' immediate response was a negating shaking of his head. "We all heard the announcement when Todoroki-san and Yaoyorozu-san passed. Until we hear it for our own team, we can't just leave Mina getting through the gate uninterrupted to chance. Until we know for certain that she made it, or until we somehow get our cuffs on Nezu-sensei ourselves, we can't just sit here and do nothing."
The Russian boy began to look across their surroundings, before his green eyes went wide with delight, spotting the glistening handle of the large tuning fork he'd sacrificed earlier to get rid of the wrecking ball. He immediately proceeded to pry it out from between some concrete chunks, before re-fastening it to the empty sheath at his right side. With both weapons now once again available, he turned to address his sparkplug of a partner once more.
"We've already secured a major advantage for ourselves and Mina. Without that wrecking ball, Nezu-sensei can't pull another surprise projectile attack like that. All you have to do now is just go in and short out the generator, and make it so he can't use that crane at all anymore. Once we do that, I can go back up and take the fight back to him."
"Sounding a lot more confident right now, aren't you?" Denki suddenly asked, not with sarcasm, but discouragement. Nikolay looked back to find his partner looking unusually serious. "You're the one who first said Sensei had to be a lot more powerful than he looks to be our headmaster, didn't you? He pretty much handed our asses to us from the beginning, and even if you take his crane out of the picture, you really think you'll be able to handle him all by yourself?
"Look, I get you wanting to prove yourself to be a real badass and cool Hero, believe me, I do. But if you really want to improve Ashidos' chances of getting through that gate, without getting ourselves put up in the nurses' office in the process, then you're gonna need help; my help."
There was a surprising sincerity in Denkis' claim; Nikolay could hear it clear as day. More importantly, he could see his point. His plan was still hinging on a very big if, and with Nezu having already proven the far more superior fighter in terms of intelligence, to assume he wouldn't somehow manage to be just as much of a powerhouse physically was just plain reckless. Having Denki along to provide a helping hand in the upcoming fight was really the only sane choice in these circumstances. And if he was going to make sure Denki would actually be helpful, then he had to make sure he didn't overcharge and short-circuit himself right out the gate.
Nikolays' perception was already working at full speed as he began taking in their surroundings, quickly focusing on the generator, and then looking down to his still soaked clothes, before finally settling on the nearby water tower. Instantly, his body flinched with the realization of an idea. "Alright, Kaminari-san, we need to be fast about this. I'll take care of the generator, and once I do, you get ready to act when I say, understand?"
He didn't even wait for Denki to give him the obligatory confirming nod, as he quickly drew out his recently retrieved tuning fork and rushed back to the prone water tower. The Russian boy hurriedly tried to steady his breathing while focusing as much of his energy through his arms, out his hands and into his weapon as he could afford. He was only going to have one shot at this.
Once he could practically hear the ringing of the kinetic energy collected into the steel tool in his hands, Nikolay finally stabbed its single-pointed end into the ground just beneath the water towers' body, dispersing all that energy into one directionally-focused shockwave that practically kicked the entire water tower up from the ground and into the air like it had been sitting on a loaded spring.
As soon as it was in the air, Nikolay hurriedly reeled one arm back, focused all the energy he could into that one hand, and hurriedly threw that arm forward like a genuine prize fighter, firing all that energy out through his entire hand the moment he felt the suspended water tower against his palm. The collected energy being fired point-blank against its side was thankfully enough to send the momentarily suspended structure flying forward away from Nikolay and Denki, before ultimately exploding against the side of the generator, spreading its remaining volume of water all over the large device, which almost immediately began smoking, sputtering, sparking, and ultimately exploding from inside, with flames beginning to emit from it, finally bringing its continuous humming to an end, with the crane itself ultimately coming to a dead stop up above just as quickly.
Up in the control cabin, Nezu had been understandably surprised when the power to the crane suddenly came to a stop, and despite his numerous attempts to try and keep the arm moving, or any part of the blasted machine for that matter, he was only met with dead silence and no mechanical response. However, his brief confusion was soon replaced with realization; the kind that once again brought a deeply amused chuckle out of the Yuuei headmaster. "Ah, I see what you kids must have done. I suppose that's what I get for not taking one extra precaution in protecting my power source. Very well done, boys. Good show for not giving up so easily."
Simply wanting to confirm with his own eyes, Nezu proceeded to climb out of the cabin and back onto the now motionless crane arm, looking straight down to see what had happened down below. However, instead of the flaming mess that was the generator, Nezu was instead met with the rapidly approaching form of Nikolay Bezpalov, with Denki Kaminari clutching onto his back, as the two boys skyrocketed up the height of the crane, nearly overshooting Nezu himself, before the two finally came to a semi-clean landing on their feet before him.
Despite their visible shakiness being this high up off the ground, both Nikolay and Denki didn't take their eyes off their headmaster, and the clearly serious posture they both shared, in body and expression, once again couldn't help but make him chuckle with delight. "I must say, I had my worries about how this test would turn out at first. Bezpalov-kun has proven to be so much more of an observant and strategic kind of Hero, while you, Kaminari-kun, and Ashido-chan have so far proven to be much more impulsive and reactionary by comparison. I feared your vastly differing ways of approaching your goals would prove to be your undoing.
"And yet, here we are, with you students still standing strong in this battle, and managing to combine your reactionary and strategic mindsets into one surprisingly effective force. My commendations to you, at least for not giving up so soon, even if your collective abilities for multi-faceted long-term planning does leave a considerable amount to be desired." After extending his genuine support to his two young students, Nezu proceeded to loosen up his arms and legs and pop a few joints in his neck before getting himself into a clearly combative pose, all offset by the disarming smile on his face. "You've also done well to remove all facets of my primary means of attack in this scenario. However, you would be wise to remember that just because you take away your opponents outward means of attack and defense through their environment doesn't mean they are completely defenseless when left on their own. Now then, let me see how you two fare in a much more personal confrontation."
Without a moment wasted, Nezu suddenly kicked himself forward, forcing Nikolay and Denki back as he suddenly kicked himself upwards off the metal beams the moment he was less than a foot away from Nikolay, meeting the boy with a lightning-fast upwards kick, which the young Russian barely managed to deflect with one of his large tuning forks. However, his attack being deflected did nothing to slow the bipedal mouse down, as he immediately followed up with a sweeping kick the moment he reunited with the floor, knocking Nikolay onto his back.
He hurriedly rolled himself backwards to get back onto his feet, while Denki took the chance to jump over his partner and start meeting Nezu with a rapid series of thrown punches, swinging kicks, all interspersed with the occasional stun gun-level of electricity emanating from his fingertips. However, no matter how hard he tried to hit or how carefully he aimed, Denki could not lay a finger on the headmaster. Every single time, Nezu simply ducked, bobbed and weaved over every single one, never looking even remotely shaken or nervous the entire time, which only served to frustrate the blonde sparkplug more and more.
At one point, after attempting a stomping kick, Nezu simply scurried right between Denkis' legs, much to the boys' surprise; a surprise that quickly turned to petrified fear when Nezu immediately followed up with a hopping backwards kick straight into Denkis' lower back, sending him stumbling forward before face-planting. Such a violent landing nearly led into Denki instinctively rolling onto his back, which would have resulted in him rolling himself right over the edge of the cranes' arm. Once he realized how close he had come to nearly throwing himself to his own death, Denki clung onto the nearest beam for dear life, trying to keep his racing heart from exploding out of his chest.
All the while, Nikolay and Nezu were once again going at it, with the boy trying to carefully and precisely alternate between punches, elbow and knee throws, kicks, grabs and minor blasts from his hands or through his tuning forks, which he by now had decided to start wielding in each hand, akimbo-style.
Alas, though, it made no difference. Nezu would either simply hop up and land on the tips of his shoes on Nikolays' weapons, immediately following with yet more kicks, or he would actually jump over the side of the arm, only to catch himself by his paws, and simply swing himself under and over to the other side to catch Nikolay off guard. His defenses were impenetrable, and his reaction times and ability to counter every kind of attack was perfection.
At one point, Nikolay finally decided to try faking Nezu out by tossing one of his tuning forks up in order to catch the sunlight and hopefully stun the headmaster for a moment, before immediately firing a blast through one foot into it with a kick, and hopefully it would either knock Nezu down long enough for Nikolay to capture him, or its two-pointed end would pin him to the arm, and therefore lead to the same result. He had even already started pulling out one of the capturing cords from his belt in the split second his weapon hung in the air between them.
Unfortunately, once Nikolays' guard had started to lower when he heard the singing sound of his kinetic energy emanating from his tuning fork at the moment of impact after the kick, he started to rush in for the capture, only to find Nezu already leaping right for him, none the worse for wear, before planting one of his paws on the back of the Russian boys' head, and suddenly pushing down with such force that he caused Nikolays' feet to slip out from under him, and his face instantly met with the metal mesh of the arm walkway, leaving Nikolays' head ringing something fierce.
"This…this is freakin' impossible! We can't touch this guy! He's too small, and too damn fast! One wrong move and we just end up a grease stain on the concrete, man! This is insane!" Denki finally exclaimed once he saw Nikolay go down, and Nezu standing triumphantly between them, simply brushing a little dust from the shoulder of his sweater vest.
"'Insane' is an inherently subjective term, Kaminari-kun. This is the daily life of a Pro Hero, after all. I told you both at the very start that I would be approaching you all as a legitimate Villain, one who wouldn't think twice about genuinely taking your lives. The only way for you to emerge victorious is to come at me with just as much intensity. Don't think of this as your end-of-term exam; think of it as though you were back at USJ, or back in Erubi City battling Vukodlak. Come at me with the fire you had then. Show me what it is you've truly learned thus far, my students."
Nikolay finally started to get back to his feet, with Denki very hesitantly doing the same. Surprisingly, Nezu didn't make the first move, thus allowing his two young opponents to actually speak. "Try not to worry, Kaminari-san. Just remember, we made sure he can't attack from a distance anymore, so as long as we buy Mina enough time to get through the exit gate, then we've already got this test won."
Unfortunately, Nikolays' deep-seeded confidence in their one absent partner was actually not reflected by Denki, who only looked that much more worried. "How much time could she possibly need though, Kolya-san? There's no way she couldn't have managed to get through all that wreckage by now. If her getting through the gate is our only hope, then what the hell's taking her so long?"
Before Nikolay could open his mouth to answer, both boys were instead met with a deeply unsettling chuckle from their headmaster, who proceeded to clear his throat as his gaze shifted between them as he spoke: "As you've all no doubt realized by now, I've had plenty of time to go over every single detail of this area being built to accommodate our battle. Granted, there were some details I decided to overlook for the sake of actually giving you students a fighting chance. I suppose I'm a touch over-sentimental that way.
"Anyway, given your differing mental approaches, and more importantly, the aspects in which all three of you are very similar, I took into consideration the idea you would all attempt to run once I started attacking you. I figured the resultant panic and desire to escape that comes with it, would become your primary strategy to try and salvage a victory for yourselves. As such, I had the area leading up to the exit gate booby trapped. Granted, you two surprised me when you actually decided to take the fight to me instead, but Ashido-chan still sticking with the fleeing option, even if you might have told her to, was still a distinct possibility. If you haven't heard the announcement of her escaping, and therefore your team passing the practical test, by now, it's because she's already been captured. As such, it's simply down to both of you against me if you still want to have a chance at winning."
While his tone gave off no such impression, Nikolay couldn't help but honestly feel as though Nezu were simply mocking them for having thought they had a fool proof plan on their side. His eyes sank to his feet and the ground far, far below, as he let the gravity of Nezus' explanation sink in, not just about Minas' condition, but this entire test as a whole. Every single step of the way, every time the Russian boy thought he'd had a solid plan to get around every obstacle Nezu threw their way, the headmaster simply proved to be multiple steps ahead, time and time again.
It honestly couldn't help but make Nikolay start thinking back to all the weeks he'd spent up till now, racking his brain to try and get the hang of planning so many alternating strategies, only for all that stress to have proven to be for nothing. No matter how hard he tried, he ultimately kept falling back to relying on one single plan, and failing to smoothly transition to a backup plan every time one thing went awry that put him in a spot of vulnerability all over again.
Truly, the only reason he had even managed to survive USJ or the battle with Vukodlak, was because he had so many other people alongside him to aid in the fight. But if Nikolay couldn't mentally fortify himself to where he could never be caught off guard, even when things went against his plans, against an opponent like his own school headmaster, then what hope did he really have if he ever found himself all alone against a genuine Villain, or any other kind of opponent he had the potential of running into who wanted nothing more than to kick his ass?
"ADVISORY: THE SECOND TEAM TO PASS THE EXAM IS TEAM MIDORIYA/ BAKUGO!"
This sudden announcement caught Nikolay, Denki, and even Nezu himself, by complete surprise, as they all three instinctively turned to the nearest intercom in the area, as though it would somehow prove they actually heard what they had, and they weren't simply imagining it.
As the fact of the announcement became all too apparent in his head, all Nikolay could feel was complete astonishment, perhaps even a sense of genuine disbelief. For as powerful a he'd seen and believed Izuku to be, he'd simply been unable to imagine how he could come out victorious, not just because his opponent was the single most powerful Hero alive, but also for just how volatile and all-around awful his assigned partner was. And yet, here he now was, with the knowledge that, despite those ungodly odds, his green-haired friend had managed to pull off the impossible. Even knowing it had actually happened, Nikolay could not even begin to imagine just how on earth it had happened.
Team Midoriya/ Bakugos' Side, a couple minutes ago…
"ADVISORY: THE FIRST TEAM TO PASS THE EXAM IS TEAM TODOROKI/ YAOYOROZU!"
Even as Bakugo and Izuku remained helpless beneath his boot and within his grip, All Mights' attention was momentarily pulled away from the moment, stricken with surprise at the sudden announcement, even if his smile indicated no such thing. "Wow, I'm stunned…this must mean you actually got taken down, Aizawa-san! This truly is no time to let your guard down. Well…shall I proceed to bury you two, then?"
Even from under All Mights' boot, Bakugo was still trying to get back up, at least onto his elbows and knees, gritting his teeth with pain and frustration the entire time…only for that very same boot to come crushing down on his lower back all over again, keeping the hotheaded boy down like a lowly insect. In truth, however, even through that raging inferno of anger…that was exactly what Bakugo felt like in that moment, deep in his gut.
'That blistering speed…and that stamina, that power…he's too much! He's just simply that strong! Pure and simple strength! Squaring off against him, I once again understand: oh yeah…this man really is the strongest Hero…the most skyscraping wall!'
"DAMMIT!" The frustrated and desperate exclamation from Izuku drew All Mights' attention, spotting the boy trying to force his way out of his grip, with his arm starting to emanate the sparks of his power. He was trying to activate the new extension of his Quirk, even when as helpless as a trapped rabbit.
"What's that face about, Midoriya-shonen?" The moment he'd likewise grabbed Izukus' surprised attention, All Might proceeded to throw the curly-haired boy to the ground like a human wet noodle, flopping helplessly from the momentum of even his most minuscule strength. "Using your maximum-power flame to repel me away while slipping off to the escape gate. It seems that was your response, your answer, but now your maximum flame is gone. IT'S THE END OF THE LINE FOR BOTH OF YOU!"
"SHUT UP…!" The sound of Bakugos' strained voice from underfoot forced All Might to look down, just to find that, even flat on his stomach and under his boot, the boy below had his right open hand facing backwards, directly up at the former Symbol of Peace himself. Before he could act upon what he realized was about to happen—
BOOOOM!
The raging explosion that emanated from his hand was enough to force All Might to shield his eyes as he recoiled, and that was inherently enough for Bakugo to act on the next step of his most desperate strategy yet. While All Might was distracted, Bakugo forced himself to fight through the pain emanating from all over his body, as he grabbed onto the still prone Izukus' wrist. "I'm flinging you."
Despite the instinctive sounds of confusion from his green-haired partner, Bakugo continued trudging forward; preparing all the throwing strength he could muster in his right arm. "It ain't gonna be smooth, but with the strength gap between us and him now…once again, there's no other way to win!" "W-wait, you can't mean…!"
Before Izuku could even finish his sentence, he felt himself being flung and blasted forward with another deafening explosion, a sound that paled in comparison to Bakugos' instinctive shrieking of "DIE" as he threw Izuku toward the escape gate with as much power as he could handle. That still didn't make the fact that Izukus' left arm and shoulder were now smoldering with fire and smoke any less excruciating. 'GOD, THAT HURTS! For real, Kacchan! But…All Might flinched! And it's only one or two seconds until I land! Now, if I…if I reac-!'
"NEW HAMPSHIRE…!"
As Izuku had his eyes laser focused on the gate ahead, to suddenly hear the boom of All Mights' voice sent his heart rate off the charts with surprise and worry, especially since, being the lifelong fan of the Symbol of Peace he always had been, hearing those upcoming words made him realize just what exactly was coming his way.
"…SMASH!" without even a second to react, Izuku suddenly felt the entire weight of All Might come plowing straight into his back with his own, via a full-body backwards launch fired through the power of his own fist punching forward, as a result nearly folding the poor boy in half under such sheer physical power, while Bakugo could only look on in infuriated shock at their opponents' last minute disruption of their own last second plan.
Izuku couldn't even breathe, every last ounce of air had gotten knocked right the hell out of him, as his body crumpled back down to the ground like a wet paper sack, bouncing multiple times along the way. "My, my, how naive, Heroes!"
As All Might began to make his descent back to the ground, another roaring explosion suddenly drew his attention back the way he came, to find Bakugo actually launching himself right for him. "The bracer is to fire off my maximum-power flame with no risk. But I was an idiot." With that declaration, just as soon as he was on the same level as All Might, Bakugo suddenly aimed his other hand right for his center mass, a focused and driven grin on his manic-looking face. "There was no way I could ever beat your ass…WITHOUT TAKING ANY RISKS! GO, DEKU!"
With the firing of another devastating explosion like his display at the Sports Festival, point-blank into All Might, Izuku tried to get back onto his feet, even if the pain still rippling through his whole body made him want to just fall over and curl up into a ball of physical agony. Soon enough, Bakugo finally landed back on the ground. "GO, QUICK, RUN! YOU'RE A RECENT STUDY, THIS IS STILL MY DOMAIN!MAKE YOURSELF USEFUL, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" With that, Bakugo practically spun on his heels to throw another barrage of the same insane explosions right into the smoking mass where All Might had to have landed.
As Bakugo continued with his onslaught, Izuku clawed his way through the pain, focusing on the so-close-yet-so-far exit gate straight ahead. 'At this distance, it'll take just over one leap in Full Cowl to make it! Run! That's right, of course! All Might can't ignore me, I'm closer to the goal! And from there, Kacchan will definitely…!'
As he began hobbling his way forward, all the while trying to emanate One For All from his whole body with each step, he never realized All Might had finally emerged from the haze of smoke, looking absolutely no worse for wear, and was about to descend right on top of him like a giant boot upon an insect…at least until Bakugo suddenly came flying through the air, putting himself between his partner and opponent.
Alas, all that earned Katsuki Bakugo was a fist driving him head-first through the asphalt right on Izukus' heels.
In the field tent, the recent unfolding of events between the three had left Tunguska and Recovery Girl understandably surprised, but especially the old Sun of Justice, as he kept his hands folded, leaning forward in observation.
"I honestly was beginning to wonder if malenkii Bakugo had it in him to do something that selfless. So far, he's exhibited virtually nothing but ego, impulsive aggression and anger, and next-to-no respect for his fellows and elders. Yet with this, he's shown there's the kind of Hero willing to put himself in harms' way for the sake of others when pushed hard enough. If he truly believed in and lived the way his attitude would make it seem, he would never have done such a thing. Perhaps being placed alongside a classmate that's grown so quickly, and against an opponent so much stronger than him, is forcing him to reevaluate his own strength and capability."
From there, his observant gaze once again fell upon Izuku, still visibly in the process of trying to activate the extension he called 'Full Cowl', even as he instinctively looked back to see his partner get manhandled once again. "Now with his partner out of commission, the question is what malenkii Midoriya will do. He's proven to be the kind of person who puts himself through the wringer to save others. But if his partner is doing the same thing in order for him to escape, then that leaves him with quite the conundrum. Does he abandon his partner for the sake of escaping and winning their test for them, or does he go back and try to save his partner at the risk of their failing? Will he actually put malenkii Bakugos' foregoing of his own pride to waste? What will he do?"
"Sleep, Bakugo-shonen. And put those self-wrecking ways of yours to sleep, too. Personally, as your sensei, I'm afraid this is a little traumatic." As All Might spoke in full honesty while holding Bakugo down, he didn't even realize the boy was still conscious, until he suddenly felt his smaller hand grip onto his forearm with surprising intensity and strength, actually catching him by genuine surprise.
"QUICK…GO, YOU GODDAMN NERD…IF I BEND AND FOLD…AND CHOOSE TO TWIST MYSELF INTO A PRETZEL TO WIN-!" The equal amounts of determination and rage in Bakugos' words were utterly foundation-shaking for Izuku and All Might alike, especially for the latter when, to his astonishment, Bakugo continued to carry on fighting by legitimately biting down onto the Symbol of Peaces' hand as hard as he could, with desperate tears welling in his driven red eyes. "—IF EVEN THAT MUCH WAS OUTSIDE OF MY POWER…THEN I COULDN'T STAND IT!"
That raw emotion in his old friends' voice struck Izuku like a jolt of pure electricity, finally allowing the full power of Full Cowl to encapsulate his entire body. In that moment, all Izuku could think of was doing everything it took to live up to his partners' desire, and prove himself and gain them both their victory.
Nonetheless, even as Bakugo continued to bite down on his hand with what strength he could still muster, All Might simply ignored it, focusing like a hawk upon his one remaining young opponent. "I won't let you get away, Midoriya-shonen!"
However, instead of the sight of his young disciple shrinking away from him in an attempt to escape, All Might was met with the intense and driven expression on Izukus' face, as he launched himself right for his mentor and opponent, practically aglow with power and a reared back fist. The entire time, All Mights' words of advice all the way back in the Sports Festival were echoing through every fiber of his being. 'It's when things are scary and times are uncertain…THAT YOU FACE IT ALL WITH A BIG OL' SMILE!'
"PLEASE MOVE ASIDE, ALL MIGHT!" Izuku proclaimed this last second instruction with that very kind of smile now adorning his bruised freckled face, just as he finally threw that charged fist with every ounce of power he could spare.
SMAAAAASH!
Izuku could feel every rippling vibration go through every inch of his body as his fist fully connected with All Mights' face, actually causing the Symbol of Peace to genuinely reel back from the sheer force of the impact, enough to finally free Bakugo from underneath his mass.
In that one biblical-level moment, both All Might and Tunguska alike were rendered utterly speechless with surprise, both at Izukus' selfless courage, and the sheer boldness of his actions, let alone having actually been able to pull it off with complete success.
In that singular moment of All Might reeling back, Izuku hurriedly picked Bakugo up, only to realize upon seeing the nearly lifeless expression on his face: 'He's completely out cold…I'm sorry, Kacchan. A guy like me…'
Izuku knew he couldn't waste a single moment longer with his thoughts, instead focusing the power he had left into his legs as he turned with Bakugo in tow, rushing for the exit gate while All Might had finally rode out the effects of that lucky punch, looking back to his now escaping targets.
'At a time like this…dammit, what am I doing?! If I'd taken one more stride, I might have cleared the gate!'
However, even as Izukus' face twisted with self-deprecating frustration, at the same time, All Might for once didn't chase after him. Instead, he only looked upon his student with an unspoken yet immeasurable pride. "Midoriya-shonen…you clocked me with all your heart." 'That's you, all right. You've been that way from the very beginning…always saving others, even despite yourself. And whenever it comes that time…THERE'S NEVER A SINGLE WALL IN YOUR WAY! That's just…the kind of man you are.'
With that declaration of a mentors' pride resonating through the air, Izuku finally threw himself and Bakugo that last stretch past the exit gate, inducing a cacophony of electric alarms from the display above, before Recovery Girls' voice finally broke through the intercoms: "ADVISORY: THE SECOND TEAM TO PASS THE EXAM IS TEAM MIDORIYA/ BAKUGO!"
Team Ashido/ Bezpalov/ Kaminaris' Side
The first handful of seconds after the announcement of Izuku and Bakugos' victory were deathly silent, as Nikolay, Denki and Nezu alike struggled to process just what this meant on both sides. Nezu didn't want to give his students the impression that his guard had been broken, but inside he was filled with an overwhelming sense of pride in the two youngsters for managing to actually come out victorious over the single most powerful teacher Yuuei had. If there had ever been a fragment of doubt in their capabilities, then they were nonexistent now. All Mights' choice of Izuku Midoriya as his successor only continued to prove wiser and wiser.
At the same time, Nikolays' brain was awhirl, for just as he had started to let himself become consumed with defeat and self-deprecation before, now the knowledge that his friend had actually managed to win despite terrible odds in both opponent and partner alike, had ignited a veritable ammo dump explosion of reinvigorated confidence in the pit of his chest.
Nikolay finally lifted his head back up, and even from a distance, Nezu and Denki could both see a whole new fire of determination behind the Russian boys' goggles as he stood tall and ready, with the light of the sun shining behind his head, unknowingly leaving him looking almost identical to Tunguskas' own old poses.
"We can't give up, Kaminari-san; no matter how hopeless it looks. I won't. Midoriya-san had nothing going for him in his test…and look how it turned out! If he could win with a hothead like Bakugo as a partner, and against the damn Symbol of Peace himself…then there's no reason we can't pull ourselves up and fight our way to victory, either."
To his unspoken delight, he could see his newfound confidence was starting to reflect in Denkis' eyes as well, and as such, he lowered his gaze to the expectant-looking Nezu. "Sensei…even if you're right, and Mina has been captured trying to escape…I'm not going to let that stop me from fighting. Even if we don't have a chance in hell…a Hero never gives up fighting, even if every single plan of theirs goes belly-up. That's why I'll keep going, even if I'm almost definitely going to lose…because that's just what Heroes do…what we'll do."
Nezu couldn't even hide the proud smile on his face as he looked back and forth to see Nikolay and Denki both getting back into combat-ready postures, just waiting to see if they, or he, would be the ones to make the first move. Recognizing both their newly-regained determination and courage, Nezu proceeded to clap his paws in approval. "I would expect no less from my students. It truly makes me proud to see you both consistently pick yourselves back up despite every setback I've thrown at you. You've truly proven yourselves to have the hearts of real Heroes, at the very least. Now then, what do you say we conduct our second round and see just how far that Heroes' spirit is able to take you in a fight?"
Much like the headmaster, all the way in the field tent, Tunguska likewise felt an intense flame of pride spark in his chest to hear his son speak with such fervor, such dedication. "I knew you could pull yourself back up, Kolya, no matter how many times you got your plans slapped right back in your face. You've even managed to inspire your allies back from the pit of defeat, just like true Heroes must be able to. You've already proven your spirit, now how are you going to prove you and your teams' skills?"
As he began to lean in to observe more closely, the sound of the tent flaps suddenly being opened drew his gaze, only to find All Might filling the entire doorway, with the frankly limp forms of Izuku and Bakugo under both his arms. "I apologize for the intrusion, you two. Recovery Girl, these boys are in need of your assistance."
A minute later…
It thankfully took no time at all for Recovery Girl to apply her healing kisses to both boys once she'd had All Might lay them on the available medical cots. Of course, Bakugo was still out cold, while Izuku looked to barely be maintaining his own consciousness. Both All Might and Tunguska could only look upon both young students with an air of regret that they had to have been put through so much physical hell at such an age as theirs. "Thank you very much, Recovery Girl."
However, despite his gratitude, All Might was only met with that same disapproving glare from the tiny old woman that made a giant like him instinctively flinch. "You really don't know the meaning of the word 'restraint', do you?! If you'd hit them just a little harder, then it would've become something there's no taking back! And especially Midoriya-kuns' lumbar region! For goodness' sakes, it was this close to breaking! You came that close to straight-up crippling the poor boy!
"As for Bakugo-kun, he won't be coming to for a while. For the time being, I want both these boys to sleep in the beds within my normal office back at school. If it weren't for the grading instructions requiring all able students to gather at the eleventh section after passing their tests, I'd be having Yaoyorozu-chan and Todoroki-kun resting up there right now as well." As the nurse clearly was reaching the end of her scolding, All Might had already picked up Bakugo and was reaching for Izuku, before the freckled boy suddenly lifted his head.
"Umm…Recovery Girl-sensei…is it…is it not okay if I stay and watch?" Needless to say, the boys' sudden request caught all three of the attending faculty to look upon each other with surprise.
"You surely must still be feeling quite woozy right now, malenkii Midoriya. You really should get some more sleep while you can." Tunguska tried to instruct, only for Izuku to actually try and resist his large hands' grip, even despite his utterly bedridden condition.
"N-no, I'm…I'm alright, Tunguska-sensei, really. It's just that…there aren't usually many chances to watch and analyze fights involving Pros and the others, so…" Tunguska and Recovery Girl simultaneously let out an exasperated sigh, signaling to Izuku there was no need to finish his train of thought. There could've only been one way he was going with it.
Finally, the nurse turned her back on him as she returned to her chair, with Tunguska quickly following suit, while All Might, taking the silent cue from his fellows, began stepping out the door with Bakugo still in tow. "Well, I won't say it's not okay, but do try not to over-exert yourself, you hear? Besides, there'll actually be a fair few chances for you to observe just that throughout your time here."
Even with their backs turned, both of them could just feel the gratitude radiating off of Izuku as he tried to force himself out of his bed and to the third chair Tunguska handily planted in between him and Recovery Girl for their surprise third viewer. "Thank you both so much! If I'm being honest, it's also partly just a hobby of mine."
Listening to his disciple express such childlike excitement as he left, drove All Might to let out a wry chuckle of amusement as he continued on his way back to Yuuei, all the while thinking confidently to himself: 'Good grief, you'll be a strong one, you will, Midoriya-shonen. And this youngster, even more so; Bakugo-shonen! For when there's a wall before you, you simply laugh. I can only wonder just how many of your classmates will prove to have the same kind of strength and heart as you two.'
Izukus' anticipation and excitement was awhirl in his mind as he took his seat between Recovery Girl and Tunguska, but not so much that he didn't suddenly realize a considerable oddity in his surroundings. "Wait, Tunguska-sensei, why exactly are you here? Nezu-sensei said you were helping class 1-B with their final exams. Did they seriously already finish that fast?"
Tunguska couldn't think up a story nearly thorough enough to try and hide the truth, especially when he saw the imploring look in Izukus' green eyes, and finally let out a heavy sigh. "Forgive me, malenkii Midoriya, but I…I actually asked Nezu-san to tell you and your class a little white lie in that regard. I wanted to observe how you all fared today, but I didn't want the pressure of knowing I was watching to adversely effect any of your classmates, so that they could perform as naturally as possible."
Izukus' surprise at the fact he'd actually been that effectively deceived was clear as day, but his eyes also thankfully showed a sense of understanding. "I can't say your worries were unfounded, Sensei. Guys like Kolya-san and Kirishima-san no doubt would've been mentally affected if they'd known you were watching, so in that circumstance, I can get why you didn't want us to know."
Tunguskas' eyes reflected pure relief as he leaned back in his chair, only for another glance to show that just like a flash, something else was now visibly weighing on the young boys' mind. "I understand if you aren't able to tell me, Sensei, but I should at least just ask so it's out there: once the final exams are over, what'll happen to the students that either fail, or are too injured to stay in the central area like we were told to?"
Thankfully, his question was neither met with silence or any kind of answer he was actually dreading. Instead, the actually reassuring smile on Tunguskas' face began to lift his spirits already. "Well, obviously if they're too injured, but not to the extent malenkii Bakugo was, they'll simply be brought here to rest up and be given their final grades when all is said and done and they're back on their feet. As for the rest of the students, even the ones that fail will stay there with the ones that pass so they can all receive their final grades equally."
Izuku looked visibly relieved by this, much to Tunguskas' silent delight, until he saw a sideways discerning glance from Recovery Girl. The large Russian could only give her the slightest shaking of his head in answer to just what that glance was communicating to him.
Thankfully, Izuku didn't notice this silent exchange between them, as he was now looking over all the different screens and all the different tests with exceptional enthusiasm. "They're calling today's exercise a 'test', but it's more like everyone's facing individual challenges intentionally made for them, right?"
"That's exactly right, dearie." Recovery Girl immediately answered as she likewise leaned back, signaling for Tunguska to do the same, lest his visible tension rouse Izukus' further curiosity or confusion.
"We decided to formulate these specific matchups, both to help your classmates conquer obstacles we had noticed they've been struggling with, and also to test the strength of either their future team-up potential, or those that have already been established, in order to see just how well their mentalities and abilities work together when placed under pressure." Tunguska explained, while Izuku already had his hand to his mouth with that intensely thoughtful look in his eyes.
"Oh, I think I get what you're saying. That's why I was paired up with Kacchan, to see if we could actually manage to work together despite his abrasive attitude and mentality. That's why Kolya-san got teamed up with Ashido-san and Kaminari-san again, too, isn't it? They'd already fought a genuine Villain with lots of other help, so it'll be important to see how well they fare when their numbers are reduced, force them to be even more on their toes."
Mentioning this, Izuku went to the screen displaying Nikolay and Denki against Nezu on the arm of a massive crane, only for his excitement to briefly change to confusion. "Wait, where's Ashido-san? If they're doing something as dangerous as fighting on top of such a tall crane, I would've thought she wouldn't want to let Kolya-san out of her sight."
"You'd be absolutely right in that regard, malenkii Midoriya, and that's precisely another reason why this specific kind of fight was chosen for them. Everyone can see the tight-knit partnership potential for Kolya and malenkaya Ashido, and even with the likes of malenkii Kaminari. However, even for as naturally adept as their teamwork capabilities are when they're together, we need to see how well they can work together in scenarios where they need to split up, for the sake of completing their mission. Plus, their mentalities when approaching obstacles and opponents is too vastly different individually, so we need to see if they're somehow able to compensate between Kolyas' more observant and strategic mindset, and malenkie Ashido and Kaminaris' more impulsive and brash, reactionary approaches. There has to be some kind of distinct middle ground."
Izuku could hear, see and feel that his own curiosity and anticipation for the results of this fight in particular, were perfectly mirrored by Tunguska himself, as the towering Slav leaned in on his elbows, watching the screen with silent intensity, quickly joined by Izuku in kind.
Team Ashido/ Bezpalov/ Kaminaris' Side
From the moment Nezu had invited both boys to come at him with everything they had, the fight had been non-stop. Without a word spoken between them, almost as though some freakish kind of mental link had been established between them, Nikolay and Denki had been laying a joint assault on their headmaster with exceptional fluidity.
Between combined attempts at roundhouse and sweeping kicks to try and trip Nezu up, followed by split-second shots from Nikolays' hands to try and knock him over the edge or into Denkis' grip; or the occasional moment where they would swap places on their headmasters' sides, only for Nikolay to have handed one of his larger tuning forks to his partner so he could discharge his electricity through it like a makeshift taser, they were actually managing to keep their bipedal mouse of an opponent on his toes, even if they still weren't managing to actually land a clean hit on him.
"If you've got something cooking in that head of yours, Kolya-san; now would be the time to bring it out! I can only shoot these stun gun-like volts so many times before I fizzle out, you know?" Denki ultimately exclaimed once he tossed one of the tuning forks back to his partner after he tried jabbing it into the beams of the crane and discharging through that, hoping it would result in a larger area of effect; only for Nezu to ultimately prove him the fool once more by not only jumping at the opportune moment, but also adding insult to injury by using Denkis' head like a stepping stone with an exceptionally hard step atop his skull.
Nikolay looked no less frustrated as he helped Denki back to his feet, both boys looking back to see Nezu once more standing none the worse for wear further down the arm, simply straightening one of the cufflinks of his shirt. "Congratulations, you two. Without having to even say a word, you've not only managed to sharpen your fighting skills to the point you've actually managed to keep me on my toes, but you've even found a way to properly combine Bezpalov-kuns' grappling-based martial arts, with Kaminari-kuns' much more abrasive street fighting style of attack, as well as finding a way to combine the tools and effects of your respective Quirks in the process.
"However, now I feel I must honestly ask just how long you boys really think you can keep up this constant assault of yours. After all, no announcement has been made of Ashido-chan making it through the exit gate, and there's now just under ten minutes left of the test. So how exactly do you plan on securing victory at this point?"
Through the screen, Izuku simply watched with impressed fascination as Nikolay and Denki continued their coordinated attack pattern on their tiny headmaster, even despite his constant weaving through their attacks. Throughout, Nikolay was showing an increased intensity in his assault, at multiple points actually using carefully timed backwards-aimed blasts from his hands and feet to add momentum and power to specific punches, kicks, or elbow and knee drives.
At one point, another desperate swing of one of his tuning forks for Nezus' head, simply resulted in the mouse headmaster sweeping Nikolays' feet out from under him with a carefully aimed kick for his right knee, and before everyones' eyes, it resulted in the Russian boy going over the edge of the crane arm, plummeting down to the ground below.
Izuku was actually on the verge of exclaiming his worry for his Slavic friend, when he suddenly saw Nikolays' plummeting momentum come to a sudden stop, as though he were momentarily just hanging in mid-air, before another deafening boom sounded out, and his body shot straight back up like a bottle rocket, flying right underneath the arm itself, before another boom broke the air, and Nikolays' body shot up and back, landing safely on the arm once more behind a visibly impressed Nezus' back.
"I understand exactly what you were looking to see here, Sensei. Both Kolya-san and Kaminari-san have been forced to really measure the power output of their Quirks so they maintain their balance and advantage, as well as figuring out how best to utilize their vastly different fighting styles to compliment each others'. They're actually finding a balance between precision-based martial arts and straight-up street brawling.
"And Kolya-sans' offensive and evasive abilities are really improving, too. He's already managed to get the hang of using his blasts from his feet in order to keep his advantage in the air, even when he's caught completely by surprise. His sense of environmental awareness and how he can use it to his advantage is really getting up there with some of the other more observant students."
As much as it warmed Tunguskas' heart to hear his and All Mights' shared student say so in regards to his son, he still couldn't help but give a dry chuckle at that last particular comment. "You're right, malenkii Midoriya. With a bit more practice and experience, he might soon be able to stand on equal footing with you when it comes to being the observant, strategizing type in a situation."
He couldn't even hide the smile on his bearded face as Izuku began flailing his hands in embarrassment, all the while trying to assure his teacher he wasn't trying to put himself on such a pedestal.
"Settle down and observe, you two. I think Bezpalov-kun is about to put an end to this fight." Recovery Girl suddenly interrupted, thankfully silencing Izuku and Tunguska both, as they all focused in on the screen to see Nikolay was actually aiming the large tuning fork gripped tightly in his hand like he was about to throw it like a spear while Nezu still had his back turned to him.
Upon further inspection, Izuku and Tunguska both realized, by the glint from the sun, that Nikolay actually had one end of his capturing cord gripped in his free hand, while the other end was tied firmly to the tuning fork itself. Izukus' eyes practically lit up the moment he saw a momentary glance exchanged between the Russian boy and Denki. "I see what he's trying to do! They're going to try a fake-out attack in order to make Nezu-sensei react in a way they can close the distance and tie him up!"
The moment he had seen the look of agreement in Denkis' yellow eyes, Nikolay focused as much energy as he felt was necessary into his hand and into the metal tool in his hand, never taking his eyes off Nezu between them. If he could at least throw it close enough to make the headmaster react instinctively, that would be all they would need. And so it was with that objective in mind that he finally threw his arm forward, firing through his fingers at the last second before fully releasing his grip, firing the tuning fork forward like a harpoon.
However, instead of the duck for cover they had been expecting, the moment his ears picked up even the beginning of Nikolays' firing sound, Nezu instead dashed forward towards Denki, catching the blonde boy by surprise as he leaped up and met his chin with the toe of his right shoe, stunning Denki long enough to keep him from dodging the still oncoming tuning fork, which met his torso with full force; not only knocking all the wind out of him, but also knocking him flat on his back.
The moment he saw just how royally this plan had backfired, Nikolay already began try to reel the capture cord, and subsequently the tuning fork, back to himself. However, Nezu was once more on a roll, as while he was still in the air mid-back-flip from his kicking Denki in the face, he quickly grabbed onto the cord with his paw, pulling with the surprising strength his little form managed to have, forcing Nikolay to stumble forward in kind.
The moment he saw the Russian boy helplessly approaching via his pull, Nezu proceeded to kick himself back towards Nikolay, off the side of his still tied up tuning fork, and he flew gracefully over the boys' head, before giving yet another tug, and bringing the tuning fork back the rest of the way to where it smacked Nikolay dead center in his face, shattering one of the lenses to his goggles.
For the second Nikolay was stunned, Nezu proceeded to grab the rest of the capture cord in his now loosened left hand, and proceeded to pull on both ends now in his paws, tightening the cords around Nikolays' center mass, before leaping over his head to his front, looping more of the cord around him, and then subsequently sliding his way between his legs to where he was behind him once more.
By this point, he had nearly the entire cord strategically tied around Nikolays' body, forcing his arms to his sides, and his legs tied together, leaving the Russian Hero-in-training well and truly hogtied.
Nezu didn't loosen his grip on the cord still in his paws, pulling with only the slightest bit of pressure, slowly but surely forcing Nikolays' body to lean further and further back, completely at the headmasters' mercy. "Honestly, this is truly the main problem with so many people in this profession, on either side. No matter their intentions when they first step into a fight…in the end, they always underestimate the opponent, simply for the fact that they're physically smaller than them. Oh, the innocence and foolishness of such naiveté."
The sensation of both their stomachs dropping when they saw Nikolay get completely wrangled up by his own capturing tool, left Izuku and Tunguska momentarily surprised and confused by Nezus' out-of-nowhere commentary. However, Recovery Girls' resultant sigh in response left both her guests to look to her for an explanation.
"I suppose there's no real harm in letting you know. Years and years ago, Nezu-san used to actually be experimented on by human scientists in his youth. As a result of those experiences, I suppose you could say it's left him with an exceptional bitterness deep beneath the smiles and pleasantries. So, on the very rare occurrences he gets to participate in tests like this, that's when that real aspect to his personality finally comes out."
The elderly nurse returned her attention to the screen, with Izuku soon doing the same, while still looking as visibly shocked as Tunguska was at this surprising piece of the headmasters' story.
As for Tunguska, on one hand, he couldn't help but clench fists and grind teeth at the thought of someone he respected so deeply being mistreated with such cruelty at any point to any degree. On the other hand, it was at least enlightening to finally understand the reason for those rare but very unsettling instances in the past when Nezu would break out into those sudden fits of hysterical (or, more accurately, maniacal) laughter.
Nikolay didn't even have to try to fight back to tell that Nezu had him well and truly tangled up tight. It was a stroke of good fortune this cord wasn't made fine enough to where fighting back would risk cutting through his clothes and into his hide; but at the same time it was still made specifically to where it couldn't hope to be broken. For all intents and purposes, Nikolay was well and truly captured by his own capture tool. He couldn't even try to throw himself and Nezu off the side of the crane, in the hopes the headmaster would let go and he could get himself free. His hands and feet were fastened to him in a way where he'd never be able to correct himself and break his own fall. For once, he found himself genuinely short on ideas, and judging by Nezus' resultant chuckling, the headmaster knew it as well.
GRRRRRRRROAN!
All of a sudden, the entire crane began to tilt off of its straight structure, and Nikolay, Nezu and Denki could suddenly feel their center of gravity start to go off center, and the level scenery around them begin to go at an increasing angle.
CRACK! SNAP! GROOOAN!
With two sudden piercing sounds of metal warping, twisting and snapping, the entire crane suddenly began to freefall to its side, to all three riders' intense surprise. From the moment it began to plummet and collapse, they all went flying off the arm, falling helplessly through the air after it.
Contrary to what Nikolay had only just seconds ago convinced himself of, Nezu almost immediately ended up letting go of the cord around the Russian boys' body. With that joyous realization, Nikolay hurriedly began squirming and fighting his way out of his confines, all while making sure to grab onto it as soon as he was truly free. With the seconds just counting down in his head the further they fell, Nikolay focused his eyes on the freefalling Nezu nearby, and hurriedly threw his cord toward the headmaster, securely wrapping the lasso he had swiftly fashioned out of it around Nezus' midsection, pinning his little arms to his sides in kind, before hurriedly reeling him in and taking him securely under his arm.
The crane had long since collided with the ground below, creating an overwhelming cloud of dust and debris rapidly approaching. Nikolay hurriedly looked for and spotted a shrieking Denki just mere feet away. Nikolay didn't even waste time trying to measure the amount of power he sent to his legs before firing himself forward through his feet, swiftly grabbing onto the collar of Denkis' jacket before getting his free arm around his partners' waist. By now, the blonde boy had stopped screaming, having clearly blacked out from the sheer panic alone.
It was all ultimately down to Nikolay, as he could see the clouds of impact rapidly approaching. Nikolay tried to even his body out to where his feet would be level with the rapidly approaching ground, and he could hopefully fire enough kinetic energy to break their momentum and potentially lessen the impact of their landing.
Unfortunately, the overall added weight of Nezu and Denki made little to no difference in what energy Nikolay could actually fire from his feet. They were still plummeting way too fast, and unless a miracle were to show up in the next three seconds, Nikolay, Nezu and Denki were going to be looking at countless broken bones upon landing.
WRAM!
Ask and ye shall receive. This was the one subconscious thought that occurred to Nikolay when he felt something big, and with considerable momentum behind it, come plowing right into his side from out of sight, knocking him and his two passengers off their straight downward course, and now instead ricocheting to their right. The dust was so thick and obscuring, Nikolay couldn't even see just where they were about to land. It wouldn't have made any difference, surely. All there was to look forward to, was a wasteland of jagged concrete and poles of rebar.
At least, that was what Nikolay believed, until he suddenly felt his upright posture get knocked right out from under his feet by tripping over a sudden obstruction from below, and he almost immediately after felt himself not painfully bouncing off of concrete and metal, but instead sliding along a downward incline; sliding, because the texture of the surface they had all landed on was slick and slimy, of all things.
Nikolay couldn't even instinctively react with unease as his whole body nearly got coated in the stuff that was, miraculously, saving all three of them from debilitating, crippling injuries, as the level of the ground they were sliding on went from a downward slope, to actually ascending an upward slope, before just as quickly going back to sliding downward, before, at long last, their momentum finally came to a stop, and Nikolay, Denki and Nezu ultimately stopped sliding, and instead remained motionless and, most importantly, safe in the aftermath of the crane collapsing.
Honestly, the sheer anticipation and anxiety of those last few seconds ultimately proved too much with the capping off of such a close call, as Nikolay momentarily let all that stress take over, and he found himself blacking out in relief and disbelief alike.
Team Tokoyami/ Asuis' Side
From the beginning of their test all the way to this point, Ectoplasm and his continuously growing and relentlessly pursuing number of clones had forced Fumikage and Tsuyu to continuously be on the move, with barely any time or chance to actually mount an offensive. After a short while, it had been decided they would at least try to split up, divide their teachers' attention in the hopes it would provide the other a chance for the exit gate. So far it had managed to help them get through a few floors, but now Fumikage found himself growing quickly encircled by more and more clones.
Taking in his current odds, the crow-headed boy couldn't help but mentally grimace with frustrated realization. Only now had he finally realized the true reason for this team-up, this opponent. 'Damn…they knew that I've yet to master using my Quirk against multiple opponents at once, and especially if they get too close!' "DARK SHADOW!"
The moment he began to draw out his Quirk, one of the clones began to make its move for him. Fumikage caught sight of it and prepared to react accordingly, before it was suddenly smacked aside by a now very familiar prehensile tongue, as Tsuyu was barely more than a stride away, already starting to make a leaping run for it, driving Fumikage to do the same. "There's no end to them."
Despite the urgency such words would normally convey when spoken by anybody else, Tsuyu said it with all the typical calmness that she typically did. The fact that she was still managing to exude such an attitude in these circumstances left Fumikage feeling more than a bit introspective…perhaps even a bit self-critical. 'Asui-san really is the one better suited for a situation like this…perhaps any situation the teachers could have formulated. She always remains focused and calm, even when under pressure; especially if Midoriya-sans' recollection of the USJ incident is truly to be believed.
'Perhaps they're simply testing to see how well she handles herself in any kind of situation, since she doesn't seem to have any targeted topic she struggles in…but in regards to myself, it's quite clear. Despite the strength of Dark Shadow, I always start to falter when the pressure begins to mount, just like back at the tournament. I can't afford to let that happen now, for either of our sake. My ally will be depending on me, just as I will have to depend on them, and for that, I need to mount up! If Asui-sans' coolness has the potential of making her the kind of Hero that is the emotional support pillar of the people…then I must follow her example in order to overcome my own pressure, and become the kind of Hero that is their protective shield! That's how I'll be able to lend my full strength!'
As Fumikage came to this foundation-shaking epiphany and self-affirmation of how he wanted to grow, Tsuyu was continuing to serve as the defensive vanguard in their latest attempt at escape, using her amphibian reflexes and tongue as a means to deflect any clones that managed to get ahead of her and her partner. Before long, the two students managed to emerge from the hallways joining the two circular courtyards of their training area together, finding themselves now in a thankfully emptier area, and as soon as Tsuyu looked down from the railing of their floor, she felt awash with relief, even if her expression conveyed no such thing. "Tokoyami. They're in sight. The goal, and what's most likely Sensei's original."
Fumikage followed suit, and sure enough, just across the courtyard from them was the decorative exit gate, and standing vigilantly in the middle was only Ectoplasm himself, who clearly had them spotted from the moment they came out the doorway. "You two did good to best those sheer numbers…however…I wonder how you will deal with this!"
With that, Ectoplasm opened his mouth wide, and as his namesake began to emanate out, before Fumikage and Tsuyus' eyes, a gigantic version of their teacher quickly took physical form between them and the original; mouth wide open and at the ready as Ectoplasm gave his move announcement to add punctuality to the gravity of their new situation: "GIANT BITE DETENTION!"
"DODGE IT!" Fumikage exclaimed, and for once, even Tsuyus' body language displayed pure shock, perhaps even a twinge of fear.
Alas, Ectoplasms' speed, especially at this towering size, dwarfed theirs, as the giant clone lunged forward and bit down on their portion of the balcony, consuming Fumikage and Tsuyu whole at once, with their bodies soon emerging partially submerged in the clones' material, well and truly trapped like bugs in a spiders' web.
"I may become unable to summon more in large numbers, but if I can make visual contact with my enemy, then this one clone will suffice. I can dispel my clones with only a thought…now then, what will you do, I wonder?"
Despite both their best attempts to try and fight their way out of captivity, the titular ectoplasm of the giant clone was simply too strong. However, Fumikage was quick to realize the advantage he still had, despite their predicament, especially since it was already out and by his side. "Dark Shadow, pass through the gate! Even if it's just you!"
The shadowy being emanating from his side hurriedly shot for the exit gate, only to immediately be met with a single swift kick to the head from Ectoplasm, sending it reeling back in reaction, much to Fumikages' own surprise. "Is it not actually able to take a Pro head on?"
"Doesn't look like it, but if it can at least reach that far, then we'll still have a chance. Give this to Lil' Shadow, Tokoyami." Tsuyu suddenly piped in, looking too focused on something else to notice the confused look on her partners' normally scowling face. "Give what to it?"
"Don't—kero—don't look, okay? Sensei will notice if you do. Plus…it's pretty ugly." The moment she said this, her cheeks started to puff out, and once Fumikage realized what she was essentially doing, hurriedly averted his gaze for her sake.
All the while, Dark Shadow was still trying to get past Ectoplasm, but the mathematics teacher was in full focus, expertly swatting it away with every move it made. "There's under ten minutes left. Can you keep this up? What I desire is the blink, the moment Heroes thoroughly demolish adversity."
At that moment, Dark Shadow actually seemed to become that much more emboldened, charging Ectoplasm with even greater fervor, as Fumikage and Tsuyu simply observed, the frog-like girl catching her breath from her most recent unknown tactic that had inspired Dark Shadows' sudden boldness. "Calm down. It'll be all right…because you and Lil' Shadow…are strong, Tokoyami."
With a fierce battle cry, Dark Shadow lunged for Ectoplasm, who once more shot a leg out to intercept, only for the shadowy entity to suddenly intercept likewise with a single hand.
CLICK!
For a moment, the intensity of battle had been rendered utterly silent. Fumikage couldn't rightly make out what had just happened, while the expression on Ectoplasms' face was unreadable. All the while, Tsuyu was finally getting her energy back as she spoke up: "If he's sealed our movements, then…this becomes our only shot at winning. I gulped it down at once, since my stomach can store and eject stuff."
"I see." This was Ectoplasms' only response as, to his and Fumikages' surprise, Dark Shadow had slapped a pair of their handcuffs around the teachers' ankle. Fumikage had been so focused on respecting his partners' privacy, he hadn't even realized Tsuyu had slipped her pair into Dark Shadow from the point it still joined at his side, thus allowing the creature to transfer it up to its hand without Ectoplasm even noticing.
With the realization that he had essentially been captured, Ectoplasm proceeded to recall his massive clone, at last setting his two students free, which was all the observing party needed to see in order to make the announcement:
"ADVISORY: THE THIRD TEAM TO PASS THE EXAM IS TEAM TOKOYAMI/ ASUI!"
Team Jirou/ Koudas' Side
From the start, Kyouka and the rock-esque-headed boy, Kouji Kouda, had been forced to try and find a roundabout way through the woods of their training area to try and find a way around Present Mic. Alas, this had been the only strategy they could act on for the past twenty minutes, as their English teacher had quickly proven himself to be an absolute powerhouse with his Quirk, no matter how far away he was, stationed directly in front of their exit gate.
Every single time he'd even caught so much as a glimpse of his two students, he immediately hammered them down with the sheer power of his voice; and each time it left Kyouka silently cursing the sheer difficulty curve this test was giving them. 'The sense behind putting the two of us against someone like him is just plain sadistic! They knew our Quirks both revolve around sound, so who better to pick as our opponent than someone with the power to completely cancel ours out?'
It had essentially been Kyouka taking the reins of hers and Koujis' strategy from the beginning, as her partner continuously proved far too quiet and timid to take charge. Alas, even for as partially confident as she felt that staying out of sight was their best course of action, it still didn't provide an actual answer as to how they were going to deal with Present Mic in the end. There was no way he was actually going to leave the exit unguarded just for the sake of hunting them down. Hell, his Quirk made it so he honestly didn't even have to.
'Dammit…if only they'd partnered me up with Bezpalov-san for this. At least his Quirk has more facets to it than just sound, that'd at least give us something more to work with.' However, the moment that thought ran through her head, the purple-haired girl came to a sudden stop, her whole body fidgeting with shock just for a moment. 'Wait, why the hell am I thinking that now? Why's he the first person I think of in this mess?'
Her embarrassment at that realization, however, was only compounded when she glanced and saw Kouji looking at her with that same nervous expression, before silently motioning towards his cheeks, as if indicating that she was actually blushing, even behind the little red triangles she'd painted on her cheeks.
Kyouka proceeded to furiously shake her head in denial before lightly slapping her palms to her cheeks to get her head back in the game, before she started proceeding further. 'C'mon, Jirou, FOCUS! There's no point dwelling on hypotheticals, especially past ones! He's not here, and you need to figure out how to work with Kouda-san. There's gotta be a way we can win this thing.'
"Okay, so by going the long way around, we managed to get a little closer, but whether we go for slapping the cuffs on him, or for simply passing through the gate, either way, he'll most likely stay right in front of it, making a standoff inevitable. But c'mon, with this crap! With a Quirk like this, there's just no way we—"YOU STILL NOT HERE YET?!"
The hurricane-level wind current of Present Mics' voice tore through the trees, forcing Kyouka and Kouji to take cover behind some rocks to ride it out. Once all had fallen silent and safe, they finally took the risk of poking their heads up to scout ahead. Still no sign of him, at least for now.
"God, he's just too much to take head on. Any closer than this and my eardrums will pop. What do we do?" Of course, the worried look on Koujis' face made it clear to her that he was at just as much of a loss for ideas.
However, before Kyoukas' frustration could mount much further, a passing glance downward to think, suddenly brought her attention to a single unassuming ant crawling from the top of the rock to her hand. What had once been something practically the definition of mundane and not worth a second thought, suddenly sparked a light bulb of an idea in her head when remembering just who her partner was.
"Hey, Kouda-san, your Quirk lets you give commands to animals and control them, right?!" To her relief, and probably for the first time she'd ever seen, the rocky-headed boys' worrisome expression lit up with eagerness, energetically nodding his head. Without a second thought, Kyouka lifted her hand, revealing the singular ant standing comfortably atop it. "Look, a bug! Can you control bugs, too?"
Her brain couldn't even immediately process it when she was instantly answered with a piercing, almost girly scream of terror as Kouji took off into a mad sprint as far away from her and further into the forest as possible. Once she finally figured it out, she could only speak up as bluntly as possible, racked with further disappointment. "So…bad with bugs, huh?"
"COME ON OOOOUT!" The sudden echoing boom of Present Mics' voice kept Kyouka from immediately following after her fleeing partner. She tried to fight through the incessant ringing in her head as she dared to look back. 'Dammit…if Kouda-san isn't able to work with bugs…then that's our last possible ace-in-the-hole out the window. There's no other choice…his voice is so damn loud, I can't take it! But if I have to…then I've gotta try and…counter-balance!'
Covering her ears with her hands, Kyouka proceeded to jab her earphone jacks into her boots, with small speakers built into them facing forward. Focusing as much power as she could through her jacks, she proceeded to let loose a multitude of likewise deafening blasts in Present Mics' direction, only able to keep hoping it would somehow be enough.
Alas, for as powerful as her counterattack was, even from a distance, Present Mic didn't even flinch from his spot, that constant snarky grin on his face the whole while. "Please, you call that noise?"
From the moment Kyoukas' attack had run its course, she and Kouji were immediately met with yet another deafening wave of further noise from their teacher, powerful enough to render even Kyouka covering her ears completely worthless. "Kouda-san, do you have any kind of plan or anything?" she could barely even fight through the ringing pain to look back, but was still able to make out her partner regretfully shaking his head in denial. 'We have no time for this! We need a plan to turn things around! Because at this rate, we're just putzing around without even being able to get near him!'
Gritting her teeth through the pain, she barely managed to glance back. "Kouda-san, just tell me whether it's possible for you to control bugs or not, please!" Through her wincing eyes, she could tell that even through suffering his own pain, Kouji was able to at least give her an affirming thumb up.
'So it is. Good.' "In that case…!" Kyouka then proceeded to jab one of her jacks into another nearby rock, sending a pulse into it strong enough to blow the whole thing up from the inside out. Among the pieces were a crawling mass of numerous different insects, the sight of which drew another tearful, terrified howl from Kouji, practically on a dime. "I'm sorry! I know it must be scary! But Sensei's too strong! I can't think of anything else!"
As soon as those words were out, the echoing fury of Present Mics' voice had finally come to an end, and Kyouka could finally hear herself think again…that, and the sound of Kouji whimpering with tears running down his face. With no other idea how to get him to go through with her on this last ditch attempt, she tried to put on as confident a smile as she could. "Hey, if you can do it, then we might just win. We don't have much time left. You can do it, Kouda-san. I mean, you're aiming to become a Hero, too, right? If you are, then let's clear this test with everything we've got!"
What Kyouka either didn't notice, or pretended not to, was that her ears were visibly bleeding; something that Kouji could see clear as day. The sight of it, despite the encouraging look on her face, sparked an awful twisting sensation of worry and guilt in the pit of his stomach. 'Jirou-san…your ears…does she even notice? Or is she just trying to fight through it for my sake? Dammit, I just keep retreating when things get to be too much! Jirou-san, I'm so sorry! I make for a terrible partner!'
Koujis' mind was a maelstrom of panic and guilt as he kept looking back and forth between Kyouka, and the numerous bugs crawling below, the sight of which still instinctively made him shudder. However, at that moment, a memory came back to him: the day he'd gotten his acceptance to Yuuei. It was by far the happiest day of his life, not just for the fact that he would be going to the single most prestigious Hero school in Japan, but more for just how happy the news had made his mother. She had been so proud of him that day, even more so than he was of himself, which was saying something.
Why was he suddenly thinking back on that instance now? He knew the answer didn't matter. The fact was that he had put in the effort to make it into this school to begin with, and right now his lifelong fears and anxiety were putting him at risk of wasting all those dreams and days of effort. He'd be letting himself and his classmates down…he'd be letting his mother down. 'That's right…I got into Yuuei, my dream school, and you can only be at Yuuei by moving forward! Yes! When things are at their hardest, ones' heart must always shout: PLUS ULTRA!'
With his adrenaline racing through his veins and his heart hammering at his ribs, Kouji choked his way through his frightened tears as he finally forced himself to get down on his hands and knees, putting his Quirk to use as he spoke unto the numerous insects before him, all while Kyouka could only watch in silent amazement that he was actually going through with it: "Please go forth, oh band of creatures small, the time to vanquish the source of that cacophony is now, if that's all right…!"
"Unbelievable! For the longest time you barely say so much as a word, and now when you actually get going, you go and talk up a storm!" However, despite the intensity of Kyoukas' commentary, she could still feel an anticipation building in her chest to watch the countless insects suddenly go forth and burrow in unison at her partners' command.
"It's almost time, kiddies! If you've got a master plan, now would be the time to start doing it!" Present Mic called out in as restrained a voice as he could, swaying where he stood in front of the gate in a manner one would instinctively describe as mockingly.
However, as soon as he had said so, he suddenly felt a distinct tingling sensation start forming on his left foot, and start quickly making its way up his leg. The closest way he could describe it was like something akin to the 'pins and needles' sensation. However, when he looked down in surprise, that confusion was quickly (specifically INSTANTLY) replaced with shock and horror, for he was greeted with the sight of his pant legs quickly being overtaken by countless different insects burrowing their way up from the ground beneath his feet.
The Yuuei English teacher could barely formulate coherent words or even find the wherewithal to use his Quirk as the creepy crawlies were now making their way up to his chest. His whole body broke out into uncontrollable tremors and a frigid sweat as it became clear to him how this happened. 'I can't believe it! Kouda-kun…h-he actually had these things crawl underground, where sound can't travel! Things like this…ARE WHY I HATE FORESTS!'
With that, the forest rang with the single girliest scream a man like Present Mic could ever produce, and with it, he collapsed to the ground like a human tree, foaming at the mouth with comatose horror, at last allowing Kouji to run past with Kyouka in his arms, right through the exit gate with no further trouble; their victory ultimately capped off with the same cheerful electric ringing, and Recovery Girls' echoing voice: "ADVISORY: THE FOURTH TEAM TO PASS THE EXAM IS TEAM JIROU/ KOUDA!"
In the field tent, even from a distance and through a screen, Izuku could feel his skin crawling, having just witnessed what Kouji had done to Present Mic when pushed hard enough. "Wow…Kouda-san is…considerably harsh." He could catch a glimpse of Tunguska likewise giving an involuntary shudder at the thought of it, before setting himself back in his chair, watching the latest duo to pass on the screen.
"Indeed. I must admit I'm surprised; malenkii Kouda has been so quiet, so…milquetoast, for lack of a better word, so far this year, I honestly wasn't sure if he'd be able to do anything when put under direct pressure. Still, that Quirk of his is truly something special, and endlessly versatile when you think about the situations it could be used in. Given the proper guidance, he could become a real jack of all trades in the Hero business. And malenkaya Jirou is nothing to scoff at either. Even when faced with an opponent she knew she would be at a disadvantage against, she never backed down, and when incapacitated, still gave her all to inspire her ally through a crippling personal fear. That kind of spirit and charisma is just as important to a successful Hero as any practical skill."
Izuku smiled and nodded with total enthusiastic agreement as he kept watching all the different ongoing tests. "It really is incredible…they're all clearing the exam, one by one! Everyone's an outstanding student of Yuuei, never giving up, never surrendering—"Not quite; that kid is on the verge of giving up any second now."
Recovery Girls' sudden interruption and pointing finger of judgment drew both her companions' attention to the screen displaying the test between Minoru Mineta and Hanta Sero, against Midnight. Only instead of a duo of overwhelmed yet stalwart adolescent boys, they were instead met with the sight of the diminutive grape-haired boy fleeing for his life, bawling uncontrollably the entire way as he screamed in total panic: "LIKEICOULDPASSSUCHASHITTYTEST!"
Needless to say, the sight of one of the students actually going the total cowards' route, not in an attempt at a fake-out, but in complete and total defeat, was enough to send a deflating chill down both Izuku and Tunguskas' backs, especially the latter. Despite being outmatched, Minoru had still soldiered through helping Nikolay and his schoolmates fight Vukodlak, knowing full well they were all at risk of dying, and yet this was the challenge to finally prove too much and send him fleeing with his proverbial tail between his legs?
Izuku now found himself frantically dividing his attention between that test and Nikolays' specifically, with both screens thankfully being next to each other. So far, those two tests were proving to be the most unpredictable, among numerous remaining tests that could easily have gone either way for all his classmates.
Team Ashido/ Bezpalov/ Kaminaris' Side
There was no way for Nikolay to know exactly how much time had passed between his blacking out, and his senses returning him to a fully aware and alert state of consciousness. It couldn't have been long at all, as he could just feel his body now finally coming to the end of its sliding momentum. He immediately began rolling over onto his stomach, feeling for the closest thing to a wall so he could pull himself out of this ceaselessly slippery fluid that had miraculously saved him from breaking both of his legs.
"ADVISORY: THE THIRD TEAM TO PASS THE EXAM IS TEAM TOKOYAMI/ ASUI!"
The echoing announcement over the intercom barely even registered in Nikolays' still-ringing head. Honestly, his mind was still reeling from the adrenaline and subsequent relief of the last minute save, which was what kept him from immediately realizing just what it was he was still essentially covered in, and by deduction, where exactly it had come from. However, that momentary ignorance was replaced with relief when Nikolay was finally able to get a grip on a corner to pull himself out of the incline, and he could finally get enough of a bead on exactly where he was to see that, thankfully, Denki had likewise done the same, just then pulling himself up and out to the edge, struggling to either catch his breath, or calm down enough to where his own heart wasn't at risk of shattering his ribs.
"Oh, good, you two are already back up! I really wasn't looking forward to having to force you both awake." The unmistakable sound of Mina Ashidos' voice snapped both boys to surprised attention, to find their beaming pink partner standing tall between them, before reaching down so they could both take her hands and finally get back onto their feet.
Once she had pulled them both out, she ended up letting out an immensely exhausted yet relieved sigh, nearly hunching over with her hands on her knees, while Nikolay and Denki were in the process of trying to wipe their faces clean of the slimy liquid. "I gotta admit, I wasn't entirely sure how this would go, at least timing-wise. I tried to plan ahead, melting down a lot of the rubble to make for a smoother landing, then coating the spot with the same acid I use for my slide to try and help your landing. I also tried to figure where you guys would be falling once I melted the supports for the crane, so I had to make sure I melted the right ones so both of you, and it, would fall in the right direction, just in case I'd need to try and catch you, which…well, yeah." Mina honestly couldn't help but look a bit embarrassed to be choosing now of all times to suddenly become such an analytical kind of chatterbox, in the wake of her two allies and friends nearly getting splattered, crushed, or both.
Frankly, a lot of her more detailed explanation of just what exactly she'd done to save them was landing on deaf ears, as Nikolay and Denki were simply just amazed that they'd survived such an insane previously perceived accident, and they had their precious pink teammate to thank for it all. Of course, Nikolay couldn't help but feel a deep sense of pride in his chest once it registered to him, to think that Mina had actually taken his own struggle for planning ahead, and put it to her own use, and pulled it off as close to perfectly as anyone could have guessed.
As soon as he was sure that he and Denki both were fully back to being alert and in the present, he finally let his tension go, stepped forward to Mina with a deeply relieved smile on his face, earning a nearly identical smile from her in return. "I'm really glad to see you're still okay, Mina. Nezu-sensei said he had the path to the exit gate booby-trapped, just in case of the very plan we came up with. Ever since I'd been worried you'd gotten captured."
However, instead of the typical cheeky smirk and accompanying words of reassuring confidence, Minas' reaction was instead that of complete and total shock. "Wait, for real?! Whoa, good thing I didn't even bother going for the gate once I got through all that rubble, then. You guys would've been totally screwed, then."
"Whoa, hold up, are you seriously saying you didn't even bother going for the gate, period?!" Denki asked incredulously, to which Mina chuckled in slight embarrassment, before just as quickly straightening herself back up, looking as sure of her own decision as she could be.
"Well, yeah. I know we said we should do it the way we said just to better our chances. But c'mon, I just felt in my gut you guys were in trouble. I couldn't just run away while you guys were doing all the dangerous stuff, not like at USJ. I mean, we're supposed to be proving ourselves with this test; right? Right? Well, regardless what we did to take down that Vukodlak guy before, I'm tired of being a wannabe Hero who runs when things get dangerous or tough. Real Heroes rush into danger to save everyone, especially the people they care about."
As always, neither Nikolay nor Denki could deny the heartfelt sincerity in Minas' actions and words, but that didn't make the cold hard truth of just what they were looking at from this point on any more pleasant. "Mina…it means so much that you came back to help us, but…you realize what a disadvantage we're at now, right? I don't even know if we'll be able to make it to the exit gate now, traps or no traps. You know what'll happen if we end up failing."
Minas' determined look slightly lowered into one of regretful acknowledgment with an equally heavy sigh. However, even despite that, there was also an unspoken warmth in her golden irises, accentuated against the deep blackness of her eyes as she never broke eye contact, looking between her two teammates. "Yeah…yeah, I know. But hey, we've already managed to slog our way through a month's worth of detention together already, Kolya-kun. If we could do that, then how bad could going through remedial school together honestly be? Hey, with Kaminari-kun around, it'll just be that much more fun, right?"
Nikolay couldn't believe what he was hearing, mainly because she was turning what sounded like a miserable experience into something to strangely look forward to, simply for the fact they'd go through it together. Such a sentiment coming from her left the Russian boy feeling particularly warm in the face; a visible reaction far from reflected by Denki, who could only look at Mina with a suspecting eye. "No way, I don't buy you actually meaning that, Ashido; not after what a big deal you've been making about going to the lodge together up until now."
Mina could only answer Denki with yet another embarrassed grin and chuckle, putting her palms together in a pretend show of penance for being called out. "Okay, yeah, you caught me. But hey, it sounded like the kind of thing a super cool Hero would say, didn't it?"
Of course, even with her own deflecting words, neither Nikolay nor Denki realized that, in the end, there was a part deep inside of Mina Ashido that meant every word of those sentiments from the bottom of her heart, even if she was too embarrassed to ever admit it.
As the three of them were able to thankfully laugh the rest of the awkwardness of the moment away, Denki chanced a momentary glance back down the ramp from which they came, and his whole body nearly jumped in surprise, catching the attention of his two partners. "Guys, Nezu-sensei's gone!"
Indeed, as they both looked down, all that was left in the slickened incline was a now empty pile of Nikolays' capture cord, with not even a trail of paw prints in the acid slick to give any idea where their headmaster had gone. Denki was already anxiously running his fingers repeatedly through his now matted down hair, panic in his yellow eyes. "Just cut us a break, would you?! I would've thought nearly getting flattened in a freefall would've wiped the guy out and we could just cuff him and end it there!"
"Alright, we've spent enough time worrying about fighting and nearly getting ourselves killed; we need to act, and we need to do it fast! I suggest we just take our chances and make a break for the exit gate and try to avoid those traps Nezu-sensei mentioned. Without the cranes to work with, surely he must be at as much of a disadvantage. If we hurry, we might be able to get there before he does." Nikolay explained as succinctly as possible, officially stepping forward to take charge for their final push to victory, with Mina already one step ahead, both figuratively and literally, as she pointed both boys in a single direction through the rubble, before the buzz of the intercoms suddenly rang out again: "ADVISORY, THE FOURTH TEAM TO PASS THE EXAM IS TEAM JIROU/ KOUDA! THERE ARE OFFICIALLY FIVE MINUTES OF THE PRACTICAL TEST LEFT!"
This added bonus left all three students with a new surge of adrenaline and desperation in their chests before Mina once again picked up where she left off, pointing out a single trail through the wreckage reflecting off the sunlight. "I left that trail behind for us to take back to the gate, just in case! If you guys just stay close to me and jump when I do, we might still be able to make it!"
Nikolay suddenly snapped his fingers in realization before hurriedly digging through one of the pouches of his belt, pulling out one last spool of his capture cord. "It's not as surefire as that rope with the clip Setsuna-san lent us at the Sports Festival, but it's better than nothing. Kaminari-san, stay close behind me. As long as we just stay holding on and move in tandem, we'll have a better chance."
Denki had no better ideas on what to do, and thus did as his Russian teammate suggest. Thankfully, Mina was able to figure out exactly what Nikolay was picturing, and was already positioning herself at the lead of their three-person line, while Nikolay hurriedly tied the cord around all three of their waists, tying it together tight so they were pretty much sandwiched against each other, all three youths focusing solely on the exit instead of how awkward this setup was.
"Alright, guys, just jump when I say, cause that's when I'll be doing it, too. We do that, and passing this test will be a cinch!" Mina instructed, before just as quickly breaking into her first sliding stride, quickly reconnecting with her old path, giving the call for her partners to jump every two or three seconds while maintaining their momentum and sense of direction on her own. Nikolay and Denki thankfully had their ears wide open and did as their temporary team leader ordered, and thankfully with each landing, their land speed only seemed to increase, thanks to Minas' masterful sense of steering and balance.
The trio could only silently hope that this would be enough. It seemed to certainly feel that way after about thirty seconds, where their sense of motion, no matter how many times they jumped from spot to spot, never broke its smoothness, and soon they could even spot the distant sight of the exit gate ahead. "Oh, thank God, this crap's almost over!" Denki exclaimed in relief, only for Nikolay to give him a slight tap to the ribs with his elbow, reminding the blonde sparkplug to remain focused.
"ADVISORY: THE FIFTH TEAM TO PASS THE EXAM IS TEAM IIDA/ OJIRO! THERE ARE LESS THAN FIVE MINUTES REMAINING!"
"Oh, come on, Ashido, can't you go any faster?" Denki instinctively asked upon their hearing the latest announcement, but Mina couldn't risk taking her eyes off the trail.
"No can do! I'm just letting our momentum and gravity do the work! I go any faster and you guys aren't ready, we're just gonna crash and burn!" It was admirable in the heat of the moment that Mina wasn't letting her own panic show, even if Nikolay could barely make it out on the edges of her tone. However, there was no denying that with the amount of terrain they still had to cover, regardless how fast they were going, they were still cutting it way too close.
"Mina, maybe I can give us a boost, same way I did in the Obstacle Race! If you can send us flying off a ramp, I can fire us forward and practically land us at the doorstep to the exit gate!" Fortunately, Mina heard her Russian partner loud and clear, and soon her focus landed on a nearby ramp of a slab of concrete, luckily aimed right in the direction of the gate.
"Okay, hang on tight, guys! We're going airborne! Be our wings, Kolya-kun!" With that, Mina suddenly diverted their course towards the ramp, and the moment Nikolay felt the level ground beneath their sliding feet take an upwards turn, he focused all the energy he could spare into his backwards-aiming hands, and let it fire out with all his strength, sending the tied up trio soaring over the edge and up and over with surprising accuracy, as they could all see the exit gate slowly but surely coming close as they finally began to descend.
All three teens felt their hearts light up with anticipation and hope as they began to see just how close their landing was about to take them. "Alright, tuck in your legs, guys. I'm gonna have us sliding over that damn finish line, no matter what! Don't wanna go breaking anybody's legs on the way!" Minas' excited tone betrayed the morbid attempt at humor, as they all three did as she suggested, while the pink girl already began secreting a healthy flow of her non-corrosive acid slick through the holes in the soles of her boots, laying down the start of another trail on the ground below. The idea of just what a graceful exit this was going to be momentarily left Nikolay hoping they had cameras set up at the gates to capture the moments of victory.
THWACK!
The sudden sound of snapping wood and creaking gears drew Nikolay and his teammates' attention directly downwards, only to find a multitude of rope nets and snares come erupting out of the ground with a series of leveraged wooden beams pulling them along up.
Nikolays' heart leapt into his throat and his hair stood on end with a sudden jolt of sheer animalistic panic; a reaction that resulted in an instinctive evasive blast from his feet without forewarning to his teammates, resulting in their formation being completely broken with no hope of recovery. The three were spinning and twirling this way and that through the air the rest of the way, with Mina even still in the middle of secreting her acid slick through her feet as she fell, before the three ultimately came crashing and rolling on the ground, only by some god-given miracle managing to avoid getting caught in the multitude of snares and nets along the way.
Nikolay grit his teeth as he tried to fight through the aching and stinging pain from such a rough landing emanating all over his body. His vision was only slightly spinning once he finally opened his eyes. He couldn't see either Mina or Denki, but he could at least hear them, having clearly landed behind him in the end. However, one bit of movement he was able to make out, was the steadily approaching little form of Nezu, simply looking upon his three grounded students with that always unreadable expression with a little smile on his snout.
"Well, this is quite the desperate little situation we find ourselves in now, isn't it, my students? There's only three minutes of the practical test to go, and we've all essentially been deprived of our tools and ideas to act upon thus far. Your decision to make a run for the gate instead of pursuing me, forced me to take a rather desperate measure to try and stop you, but your little divergent tactic to overshoot my traps even forced me to activate them prematurely. I dare say, if it weren't for Bezpalov-kuns' remaining tendencies to let his emotions drive his reactions, you might have actually managed to have passed through that gate and passed your test by now. Alas, what could have been.
"Now we all see exactly where we stand in the grand scheme of this little battle. If you students wish to have any remaining real chance at winning, you're going to have to leave one of your own behind in order to make it through the gate. Some of you have more of a head start, and I'm quite far. You might be able to make it through before I have a chance to catch up and stop you. You could go for it right now, and you're all well aware of it, I'm sure.
"However, I suppose I'm just wasting my breath now. Your actions have already proven beyond a shadow of a doubt you're not the kind of Heroes who would leave someone behind, especially your allies and friends. Bezpalov-kun, Kaminari-kun; you both proved just as much by choosing to take the fight back to me, even after I had already scared the three of you witless with my initial attacks, all for the sake of taking the pressure off of Ashido-chan and buying her a chance to escape. And Ashido-chan, as well, has proven herself to be the kind of Hero that runs headlong into danger in order to save others; not the kind that runs, even when her teammates tell her to.
"Such selfless personalities and mindsets are undeniably admirable in the world of Heroes, but when it comes to being in the heat of battle, it can be just as detrimental when the situation is serious enough. Yes, you three may have proven your teamwork capabilities and your ability to combine the effectiveness of your Quirks in your battle against Vukodlak, but you must surely know you won't always find yourselves so lucky to be face only opponents that would be defeated by such simplistic strategizing. You need to be a formidable force in both power and mind if you truly want to be an unbeatable defender of the innocent."
Nikolay tried to get back up, but his landing had been especially hard on his arms and legs, while behind him, Mina and Denki were actually managing to, albeit dizzily, get back on their feet. As Nikolay sucked in yet another breath through his teeth to try and get back up in kind, the intercom suddenly went off again: "ADVISORY: THE SIXTH TEAM TO PASS THE EXAM IS TEAM HAGAKURE/ SHOJI!"
Nezu once again began chuckling in bemusement, while the Russian boy before him still struggled to get to his feet through the aching pain. "Well now, you three only have two-and-a-half minutes left to either make your escape, or capture me. That much time is all you have to still somehow pass, and either way, you'll have to be ready, willing and able to fight tooth and nail for victory. What, I wonder, do you have in mind, exactly, to pull yourselves the rest of the way across the finish line. You already know what you'll have to do if you want to make it across the gate in time to keep me from stopping you. Are you really willing to go for the goal that way, though?"
Team Kirishima/ Satos' Side
The continuous announcements of the subsequent teams passing their tests only kept serving to light the fire under Eijirou and Rikidos' respective tails that much hotter, especially since the two powerhouses of 1-A had found themselves in a continuous stalemate virtually from the start against their opponent, Cementoss.
From the very beginning, he had continuously encased the boys in a seemingly endless dome of cement, and no matter how many walls they powered their way through, they would only continuously be met with another, with no end in sight. And unfortunately, the lasting time of Eijirous' Hardening, and the time limit to Rikidos' sugar-powered Quirk were leaving them at an only ever-growing disadvantage; one that said teacher was able to sum up quite succinctly as he watched the two continue pointlessly struggling in the last minutes of their test.
"You boys are undeniably strong, but you're far from suited for battles of attrition. Your advantages truly lie in situations where you need to finish a fight fast. However, for as hopeless as your situation may seem, at least take this lesson to heart in your future struggles: to push yourselves to the limits of your strength, and then further beyond that, is not only the ideology of Yuuei, but is one of the very cornerstones of becoming a truly powerful Hero. You two simply need to figure out how exactly you can go about reaching those levels so you don't get ensnared in a trap like this again."
Back in the field tent, Tunguska, Izuku and Recovery Girl were continuously going from one screen to the next between the four remaining tests, almost resembling a trio of meerkats as every trace of movement on each screen drew their attention simultaneously, over and over again.
Tunguska of course felt a deep sense of concern for all the remaining students, but outside of Nikolay and his friends, his biggest sense of worry, in terms of not being able to tell if they would be able to win or not, was going towards Eijirou in his and Rikidos' seemingly endless stalemate against Cementoss, and as he and his companions quickly spotted, Ochako in hers and Aoyamas' test against Thirteen, who now had the duo caught in a corner of their own.
Team Aoyama/ Urarakas' Side
Nearly the entirety of Ochako and Yugas' test, set in an amusement park-like setting, had consisted of their trying to evade a slow yet consistently pursuing Thirteen, since they both knew full well that if they got caught in the open and drawn into one of their teachers' black holes, that would be it for them and this test.
Somehow, they had managed to prove considerably lucky as far as staying out of combat had been concerned, mostly thanks to Ochako carefully timing when to use her Zero Gravity to help herself and Yuga float from cover to cover out of ground level. After a short while, including some instances where they were forced to backtrack and take the roundabout way in order to avoid Thirteen, the two students ultimately found themselves just outside the exit gate, almost a literal hop, skip and a jump away from victory…
…only to find that Thirteen had long since gotten wise to their evasive strategy, and was simply lying in wait for their two students to make their ultimate move, and spring on them like a snake.
Now, Ochako and Yuga found themselves at their teachers' mercy, hanging onto a nearby guardrail for dear life, while Thirteen summoned up a sizeable black hole before their hand, sucking in everything in sight without mercy. "Phew…I must say, that was a real pickle you two had me in, trying to chase after you all over the place…but I won't let you get away! Admittedly, I'm not keen on battling, but I have a very different stance when it comes to capturing!"
Even while hanging on with all her strength, Ochako dared to glance back over her shoulder, feeling her already mounting anxiety intensify. "Oh, this is bad! Sensei's getting closer while trying to suck us up!"
However, her panic was only answered with a barely audible chuckle from her twinkling partner, whose expression still showed that indiscernible elegant grin, even when in the very face of danger. It was honestly hard for Ochako to tell if Yuga actually had a plan in mind, or if his face was legitimately just stuck that way. "A unique Quirk, whose suction power does not change based on the distance or positioning of its user—"IF YOU WANNA SAY SOMETHING, THEN JUST SAY IT, AOYAMA! WE'RE IN A PINCH HERE!"
Ochakos' panicked shouting aside, Yuga remained unperturbed, instead lifting the lower halves of his legs so that his kneecaps were facing Thirteen. "Behold, my costume! It transmits lasers from my navel to whichever part I so choose! In other words…even a pinch of this caliber is nothing to me!"
THOOOM!
Like that, a dual set of powerful blue lasers suddenly shot from the kneecaps of Yugas' costume, flying directly for Thirteen…and directly into their black hole. Frankly, the teacher didn't even flinch, let alone try to get out of the way, even in the face of such admittedly impressive power. "Hate to break it to you, but my Black Hole swallows light, too."
That sudden reality check finally drew Yuga to look back, only for the orange winged visor he wore over his eyes to come flying off and disintegrate into dust within the mouth of the black hole. "And it deconstructs matter at the atomic level."
Once more, the continuous pointed shape of Yugas' mouth didn't change, making his expressions impossible to read, but there was now a considerable lack of that twinkling sheen in his blue eyes as he hung his head in regretful acceptance while still hanging on. "How markedly uncool."
"WHAT IS WITH YOU, AOYAMA?! YOU'RE WORRIED ABOUT LOOKING COOL IN A MESS LIKE THIS?!" Ochakos' panic, once more, did nothing to effect her partner, who simply answered "I am me" with not a sense of indignant or insulted self-defense, but rather a very quiet self-assurance, even in the face of his own powerlessness. Had it not been for the fact they were in danger of being swallowed up in a black hole, she almost would've wanted to call that kind of quiet dignified attitude cool in its own right.
Watching this recent turn of events within the tent, both Tunguska and Izuku felt a considerable impression with Ochakos' twinkling partner. "It is a considerable means of improving the versatility of his Quirk that malenkii Aoyama designs his costume in such a way. Granted, it clearly does no good against a Quirk like Thirteen's, but with enough practice for certain situations, I'm confident he could be able to master its use to a point where he could be impossible to get the jump on."
"Yeah, but that still doesn't remove the fact that he still has that severe time limit before his Laser takes its toll on him. Maybe he's ultimately better suited to ending battles more quickly, just like Kirishima-san and Sato-san." Tunguska couldn't argue with Izukus' reasoning as he turned back to the screen, now intently focused on Ochako.
'I know you can figure out a way around this, malenkaya Uraraka. Yes, it seems scary and overwhelming, but you dealt with that kind of opposition before and came out on top. I know you can figure it out'
'Oh, man, this is no good! We're gonna get captured at this rate! Think, girl, think! Think! In a pinch like this…at a time like this…what would Deku-kun do?' This was all Ochako could think through her state of panic, to the point she almost didn't hear Yuga actually speaking up to her in an attempt to get her attention. Almost.
"WOULD YOU QUIT IT?! RIGHT NOW I'M—"Were you, perhaps, thinking 'what would Midoriya Izuku do'?" The fact that he had managed to read her mind so thoroughly snapped Ochako out of her panic, looking to her partner in shocked disbelief. "Tell me, mademoiselle Uraraka…do you love him?"
That out-of-nowhere kind of question had the same kind of delayed reaction out of Ochako and Izuku alike, as the gravity girl blindly let go of the guardrail to bring her hands to her face in dumbfounded embarrassment, only realizing seconds too late what she had just done, as she was now flying toward Thirteen and their black hole.
All the while, in the tent, while Tunguska was now in a frigid sweat of concern for one of his closest students about to be consumed, Izuku had been rendered a deep red, stuttering, wide-eyed mess in the face of Aoyamas' question, regardless of Ochakos' answer.
However, that was when the most unexpected sequence of events actually came to pass. Thirteen, having not expected one of the students to actually let go, instinctively closed off the cap to their finger that had summoned the black hole, causing the vortex to disperse before the rapidly approaching gravity girl could risk getting swallowed up in it. And now, just as quickly as Ochakos' body had turned to where she was directly facing the teacher, she found herself still rapidly closing the distance…and with that realization came a sudden echoing memory in her head; the memory of her training with Tunguska, and of the battle against Vukodlak.
Pure muscle memory overtook Ochako as she quickly turned her body at the last second, to where her legs managed to hook around one of Thirteen's arms and around their neck, and she proceeded to twist her whole body with the assistance of her forward flying momentum, to force Thirteen off their feet and to the floor through pure leverage manipulation.
With a resounding thud, Thirteen was now laid out flat on the ground, and Ochako was like a machine as she quickly unhooked her legs from around the teacher, and hurriedly slapped her pair of handcuffs around their wrist, all the while heaving with heavy breaths to try and bring her adrenaline level down; an intensely focused look in her normally gentle eyes as Yuga hurriedly rejoined her side, and the announcement was at last made on the intercom: "ADVISORY: THE SEVENTH TEAM TO PASS THE EXAM IS TEAM AOYAMA/ URARAKA!"
The field tent almost shook with the power of Tunguskas' instinctive booming cheer at the sight of what Ochako had just done to win, utilizing the very same grappling technique she had used on him the very first day of their training, and this time with such fluidity and focus. He didn't even notice the visibly surprised, yet no less joyous, look on Izukus' face in the wake of it. Now there only three more tests to focus on and see just how they would pan out.
Team Mineta/ Seros' Side, a minute ago…
"Oh man, oh man, oh man! This is such bullshit! What chance did I ever have passing a shitty test like this?!" Minoru continued to repeatedly exclaim to himself through his terrified tears as he continued sprinting for his life through the mountainous terrain of his and Hantas' training area.
From the beginning, it had been made crystal clear just how outmatched he and the tape boy he called his partner had been, being pitted against Midnight. Without even missing a beat, she had started emanating her sleeping gas from her body, and Hanta had been the one to act first, ensnaring Minoru and swinging him up and away out of her range. And what had that gotten him?
It got him passed out and now sleeping comfortably with his head in their modern art history teachers' lap, while the 18+ Only Hero herself could only rub his head and watch Minoru flee with an expression of genuine disappointment. "Honestly, Mineta-kun, you're running away from the gate. Are you really not even going to try and escape, let alone help your teammate? Such a pity."
However, what she didn't realize at that moment, was that the tears Minoru was shedding were not solely from fear, but from pure jealousy as well, as he spared the second every now and then to look at the enviable position his unconscious partner was now in. 'GODDAMN YOU, SERO, I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS, YOU LUCKY BASTARD! If you hadn't gone and saved me back there, then I'D get to be there where you are right now! Goddammit!'
As they continued to watch Minoru carry on with his emergency flight from danger, Recovery Girl let out a rather disappointed sigh. "You know, it might be a considerable challenge for a kid like that to pass this test."
She didn't even signify she felt Izuku and Tunguskas' curious eyes on her, as she proceeded with her explanation as though it were the most simple subject one could speak of: "Yuuei is the kind of school that's always putting up an endless series of walls, all with a policy of making students overcome them. People only continue to grow as long as they have a goal to aspire to, and one to reach for beyond that and so on.
"In order for those students to keep on overcoming those walls without running out of steam, it's necessary for them to focus on just such a goal, as well. Whether it's the desire to try and become the next Number One Hero, or wanting to try and discover exactly what kind of Hero they want to be along the way, or simply wanting to get picked up by a reputable Agency, or achieve a certain amount of fame, any of those kinds of goals can be very powerful motivators.
"However, with an attitude of 'whatever, I just wanna do some Hero-ing, I guess', like Mineta-kun has displayed thus far, it's not going to be an easy path for him to climb his way up, especially compared to the rest of his classmates. Even if, hypothetically, he did manage to become a Hero, then he whose goal was simply to become a Hero and nothing further, would lack a clear way forward from that point. Does that boy really have a goal he's aiming for in his heart? That's the essential question he needs to figure out if he wants to have a chance at passing this test."
With almost divine timing, Minoru had suddenly stopped running at last, hunched over in an attempt to catch his breath. However, that didn't stop the diminutive purple-haired boy from speaking up, obviously to himself, but still managing to answer the nurses' very same question: "I wanna feel up a woman's body…I wanna be cool…"
Izuku nearly fell over in his chair with shock, while Tunguska was left choking on the tea he had unwisely chosen that time to start drinking from when Minoru had spoken up. All the while, Recovery Girls' whole body had gone rigid with blunt force shock from such a surface level answer: "WOW! HONEST TO A FAULT, THIS ONE!"
However, before she could fume further, that was when she and her companions noticed just what had happened with the end of Ochako and Yugas' test against Thirteen. As such, the nurse hurriedly made the announcement:
"ADVISORY: THE SEVENTH TEAM TO PASS THE EXAM IS TEAM AOYAMA/ URARAKA!"
All the other announcements of the other teams passing up to this point had been gradually building up Minorus' sense of aggravation, jealousy and frustration. Now, however, it was practically at the point of a fever pitch, as his whole body was shaking with it. "Goddammit, what the hell's going on?! Everybody else is passing with barely any time left! Why is the test only this hard for me? If I take a single sniff of that gas, I'll be put to sleep, and then it'll definitely be the end for me. For gods' sake…"
At that moment, Minoru couldn't help but think back to the question he had been asked by Izuku back in the beginning of their incident at USJ: "Mineta-san, did you really come to Yuuei to become a Hero?"
Even if the curly-haired boy wasn't there at this point, it didn't stop Minoru from instinctively giving the answer he'd constantly been giving every time he thought about that question: "Shut up! What's wrong with that?"
However, the truth was, that hadn't been the first time he had been asked of his desire to go to Yuuei so incredulously, and with his track record, he begrudgingly knew in his gut it would be far from the last. In truth, he had always wanted to go to Yuuei, not out of some altruistic purpose like saving people or making the world a better place.
No, Minoru Mineta had gone for the Hero life because he wanted people to think he was cool. He wanted to feel cool for once.
All his life, he had been referred to like a baby by his peers and all those around him, and it had only ever gotten worse when middle school had come around, when boys and girls started to actually notice each other and hook up. He could only think back on those days with nothing but teeth-grinding, lip-biting envy and frustration.
No girls ever gave him a second thought, nor did anybody else for that matter. He was just the obnoxious, perverted, overgrown baby with the grape hair and nothing more. Everybody else was so much cooler than him, and he knew and (begrudgingly) accepted that. But goddammit, this was supposed to be his chance to finally become the cool guy, the cool Hero he'd always wanted to be, and finally get the admiration he'd always wanted.
'I wanted to become a Hero, because I want to be cool! I thought if I could be a Hero, then I'd be cool, somehow!' That was the affirmation he always told himself whenever his desired path had been brought into question, by him or anyone else. Thinking back on it, the small boy instinctively plucked one of the spheres of his hair from his head, now looking down on it with genuine, deeply rooted self-doubt.
He had gone through so much of his life thinking that simply putting on the costume and calling yourself a Hero was all it took to carry the title and finally be considered one of the cool guys of the world. However, ever since coming to this school, and witnessing such more deeply-rooted understandings of just what it actually meant to be a Hero, from the likes of Izuku, Nikolay, Bakugo, Tenya, Shoto and so many others, it had forced him to reluctantly admit just how little he really understood of just what it was he was aiming to be.
In a way, so many of those guys already proved to be so, so much cooler than he thought he was already. It was like, in that transition from normal middle school to actual Hero school, genuinely nothing had changed for Minoru worth a damn. He was still just the same obnoxious little nobody that he always had been…and with his running away from the first sign of danger, he was only proving all those naysayers right in the end. 'Yeah…that's what I used to think.'
KRAKK!
The sudden sound of something slicing through the air reached Minorus' ears before he suddenly felt a sharp, stinging sensation of pain shoot through his entire body, forcing him to the ground. Hurriedly getting onto his back, he felt his blood go frigid to find Midnight slowly approaching him, whip in hand, and a deviously twisted (and perhaps even a little lewd) look on her face. If she was officially taking the fight with her, then his tried-and-true fleeing tactic had been rendered useless, much to his trembling horror. "I thought I'd sit neatly in front of the gate for a little while, but you know, I just knew I wouldn't be able to resist. Seeing you run away while bawling your eyes out…makes my heart positively THROB with sadism!"
To see such ill-intended eyes focusing on him and him alone, left Minoru shaking like a leaf, instinctively opening his mouth to try and talk himself back into a state of anything resembling calm: "Could it be…the eyes of a predator spiritually cornering its adversary? Midnight really is one scary…!"
However, that was when his sense of awareness decided to smack Minoru upside the head and remind him just who he was really up against, and what he was at risk of having happen to him. Hurriedly planting his hands over his mouth and nose, he took off in a frantic dash from Midnight for everything he was worth while she called back to him tauntingly: "That's right, whether you breathe it in through your mouth or through your nose, a single breath will spell the end for you. What can you do in such a situation, I wonder?"
As he continued to run, he suddenly heard and felt the vicious cracks of that accursed whip biting at his heels. "That's what I thought! You're just going to run away again! That's all you really can do, isn't it, Mineta-kun? Didn't you help beat a big bad Villain not long ago? What, now that you're alone, does that experience mean nothing to you?!"
At the same time within the tent, while still reeling from watching such a lascivious display from his fellow teacher projected towards a small young boy, Tunguska likewise couldn't help but feel a similar disappointment as Midnight at Minoru choosing to run. Granted, he couldn't think of what the boy could possibly do otherwise against a Quirk like her sleeping gas, but to see him do something so outwardly cowardly without even so much as a strategy just didn't sit well with his traditional viewpoint on what Heroes were supposed to do when confronted.
However, in his time teaching in this school, he had come to learn just how much more expansive a Heroes' approach towards situations, especially from the viewpoint of the students, could truly be. He couldn't afford to simply write off a single student. They had pulled off miraculous turnarounds already today alone, and there was no reason to believe this match couldn't somehow turn out the same.
With Midnights' taunting and whipping still chasing after him, Minoru didn't dare take his hands from his mouth and nose, his mind utterly frantic, not with fear, but with a newfound sense of focus, of the most vital thing someone like him could possibly have: determination.
'No, you're wrong, Sensei! After entering Yuuei, when I thought I was genuinely gonna die, I finally realized it, loud and clear! I saw just how wrong I really was! The truth is…Heroes aren't cool because they're Heroes! No…Heroes are Heroes because they're cool! Isn't that right…Midoriya?! That's the truth of it all! That's what deigns someone a real Hero! I just can't believe I never understood that before!'
"You only have two minutes left, Mineta-kun! Are you seriously planning to hold your breath that entire time?" Midnight called out once Minoru suddenly ducked behind a nearby boulder, having to fight the urge to chuckle sadistically, absolutely relishing in the hunt. She even stopped dead in her tracks, as though just waiting to see how long it would take before desperation would drive the little boy out into the open on some foolhardy attempt at fight or flight.
"YOU'RE WRONG!" The sudden intensity emanating from behind the boulder brought a pleasantly surprised smile to Midnights' face, even if Minoru still wasn't showing himself. "There's no way…I wouldn't be a fan of a super lewd Hero like you…Midnight-sensei!"
Now the smile on her face was only that much bigger; her light blue eyes widening with anticipation. 'Oh, Mineta-kun, are you seriously trying to get me to lower my guard with flattery? That's really sweet of you, but even more ill-advised, not to mention childish…and all the more irresistible for it.'
"The fact that I fled all the way here, and all of my pathetic bitching, and my luring you here by stirring up your sadistic heart! I DID ALL OF IT…IN ORDER TO BECOME A TRULY COOL GUY!" At that moment, a blur of purple and yellow suddenly dashed out around the corner of the boulder, making a beeline right for Midnight herself, even though she was already on the defensive, with her whip already rearing back for a devastating swing to his face.
"So this was part of your little plan?! That's fine, I still won't let you-!" What Midnight saw the moment she identified the blur left her silent with total surprise. It was indeed her dear little target, but now with a large wad of what she recognized as Hanta Seros' tape wrapped tight over his mouth and nose, even though that didn't stop him from continuing to speak, even if it was hopelessly muffled as a result of his desperate plan.
"Like this, I won't breathe any of your gas! I found your Quirks' weakness!"
The sheer boldness of such a reckless plan sent her heart into a sadistic flutter as she followed through with another barrage of strikes with her whip; all of which Minoru stubbornly brute forced his way through. "Do you really think you can continuously fight in that state of asphyxiation, Mineta-kun?! I'd like to see you try!"
Suddenly, mid-charge, Minoru started plucking one sphere of his hair after another, flinging them all at Midnights' whip, even as she kept knocking them aside. "I don't need to fight, because my special move…HAS ALREADY HIT ITS MARK!"
Her adrenaline had only momentarily kept Midnight from noticing, but the moment his words registered, she looked more closely, only to find to her surprise, that her whip had now been adhered to those same spheres, now rendered unusable. By the time she had realized this, Minoru had already made a mad dash right past her, officially leaving her in his dust. However, as opposed to the frustration any other opponent would have felt, knowing they had been so quickly and thoroughly outsmarted, Midnight could only smile in immense approval. "Amazing."
"That's awesome, Mineta-san! He actually glued Midnight-sensei far from the gate so her gas wouldn't affect him!" Izuku cheered excitedly as his classmate made his brilliant escape, while Tunguska had his burly arms crossed, with a quiet but approving smile adorning his face as he nodded in both agreement and pride in another of his students.
"Malenkii Mineta genuinely had me fooled. I was honestly thinking he was just going to keep running blindly, but it was all just a feint. He really is quite the deceptively clever one when he actually takes situations seriously enough."
In response to both her companions' commentary, Recovery Girl sat back with a contemplative look in her eyes from under her visor. "Well, it's not exactly the atypical or common goals that most aspiring Heroes drive themselves towards…but perhaps the pursuit of 'coolness' can serve that same kind of purpose for that boy."
Minoru had needed to heave from the moment he removed the piece of tape from his face, nearly feeling like he was on the verge of blacking out from having worked so intensely without being able to breathe. As he gasped and trembled to try and get air in his lungs again, his eyes fell to Hantas' still sleeping form on the ground. "I'm sorry for running off, Sero…though, if you hadn't covered for me, I wouldn't have had to go through all this hassle. Just this once…the boobs will have to wait."
With the cringiest of supposedly heroic declarations being made on his part, Minoru proceeded to drape one of Hantas' arms over his shoulders, and went on to march through the exit gate with his partner in literal tow, finally being greeted with the relieving sound of Recovery Girls' announcement of his hard-won victory: "ADVISORY: THE EIGHTH TEAM TO PASS THE EXAM IS TEAM MINETA/ SERO!"
Team Ashido/ Bezpalov/ Kaminaris' Side, a couple minutes ago…
"What, I wonder, do you have in mind, exactly, to pull yourselves the rest of the way across the finish line. You already know what you'll have to do if you want to make it across the gate in time to keep me from stopping you. Are you really willing to go for the goal that way, though?" Nezus' continuous speaking was hard to identify as genuine prodding for the students to decide what to do, or if he was simply mocking them for his having managed to stop them literally just feet short of the finish line.
Suddenly, the intercoms went off once more: "ADVISORY: THE SEVENTH TEAM TO PASS THE EXAM IS TEAM AOYAMA/ URARAKA!"
Nikolay, Mina and Denki all visibly flinched at yet another announcement of their classmates succeeding. However, it still did nothing to relieve the pressure of what was clearly going to be their do-or-die final moments. Unfortunately for them, Nezu seemed to be thinking the exact same thing, as he began taking a couple steps to the side so he was now directly in front of Nikolay where he still knelt on his hands and knees in pain. "You three really need to make your decision fast. There's only two minutes and twenty seconds of the test to go."
Gritting his teeth but not trying any longer to get back to his feet, Nikolay spoke up with considerable defiance: "You can stop trying to get under our skins, Sensei! It's not going to work, not after everything else we've gone through today!"
Nezus' ears instinctively twitched with interest to hear the normally so timid Russian boy speak out so intensely. All the while, Nikolay finally lifted his head, looking the headmaster in the eyes to better express his sincerity; something the bipedal mouse could clearly see reflected in those green eyes. "This whole experience finally made me see things more clearly for the first time in nearly a month. I'd spent so much time stressing out over how to plan for every possible occurrence…but no matter how hard I tried, I just kept falling back to following a single plan, only for you to destroy it time and time again. Before, I'd just kept trying to act on split-second observations and reactions, and even if it helped me win, it kept leaving me utterly wrecked as a result, so I knew just winging it wouldn't work for me, either. I wasn't sure what I was doing wrong, either way….but now I finally know what I have to do from now on."
Nikolay took that moment to look back to Mina and Denki from over his shoulder, conveying the same sincerity to them as he was to their headmaster. "Heroes need to be able to plan ahead…and they do need to be able to react accordingly when something unexpected happens…but neither of those approaches are what makes or breaks a Hero. What's most important in the end…is balance. A Hero needs to be able to plan, as well as improvise when left with no other option…just so long as they don't just roll over and quit…in the end, nothing else matters more than that."
Nezus' snout momentarily twitched as he remained silent in consideration, before finally speaking up to answer the heartfelt speech his student had just given him: "I'm to understand this is your way of saying you're going to continue fighting me, Bezpalov-kun?"
Nikolay gave his headmaster a singular, confirming nod. When Nezu chanced a glance past the Russian boy, he was surprised to find that, even as close as they were to the exit gate, and subsequently far from his attacking range, neither Mina nor Denki were backing away.
No, instead they were both getting into likewise fighting stances of their own, ready to take him head-on if need be. Such a silent yet powerful show of unbreakable comradery between them brought the beginnings of a deeply moved chuckle from Nezu, before he proceeded to straighten himself out, readying himself for one last bit of action. "I once more must commend the three of you for your courage, your heart, and your loyalty to one another, if nothing else. Nevertheless, do try not to resent me for having to make sure the ultimate lesson sinks in for you all."
With that, Nezu suddenly kicked himself forward with remarkable speed, already readying one leather-shoed foot to drive straight into Nikolays' defenseless face.
However, from the moment the headmaster started to make his move, time around Nikolay felt like it had come to a full stop, as his sense of environmental awareness was on an almost cosmic level, his brain racing to take in every detail around him.
'The fluid for Minas' acid slick…it's all over the place, thanks to her secreting it before we were able to land, unlike when she usually does it point blank against the ground. My firing off through my feet when the traps were activated caused us all to go flying and tumbling, spreading the stuff even further, including the nets. There's no way anyone would be able to just wriggle their way out with that stuff coating the ropes, not even Nezu-sensei, surely.'
As he took in this detail to his surroundings, a memory suddenly sparked in his head, playing back with crystal clarity, as though he had been subconsciously waiting for this very moment in order to recall this: the day he had received Izukus' notes and theories on the possible capabilities of Nikolays' Quirk.
"Since your Quirk is all about dispensing kinetic energy through vibrations, and it dispenses it with enough force in open air to move yourself and other people and objects, I can't imagine you wouldn't be able to produce some pretty powerful shockwave-based attacks through solid surfaces if you were to put your hands or feet flush to it and just anchor yourself properly when you fire off. It could make for good shockwave attacks, and if you were to plan ahead and have a bunch of loose objects or liquid scattered around, you could send that all into the air and make for a pretty effective environmental distraction or stunning maneuver in case you were outnumbered."
A smile began to tug at the corners of Nikolays' mouth at the remembrance. 'I might not be outnumbered now, but I'm definitely outgunned. I hope you were right about this, Midoriya-san.'
Lifting his eyes up in that solitary moment, Nikolay could see the sole of Nezus' foot steadily closing the distance to his face. It was literally the time to do-or-die, no going back. Letting out a relieving exhale, Nikolay close his eyes, opened his hands, and let every last ounce of tension leave his body, as he simply focused on pure and simple release through his hands, no power limit or anything of the sort. Just…release.
The young Russian let gravity take him as his body collapsed flat to the fluid-covered ground below face first, almost resembling a monk prostrating himself. The moment he felt the ground beneath his whole body, he let that word 'release' reverberate throughout his entire body, and let all that energy still within him coalesce into his hands at the speed of light.
BWOOOOM!
Mina and Denki both felt the entire ground beneath their feet suddenly pulse upwards with an incredible shockwave, sending every last bit of the pink girls' acid slick flying upwards from the ground, like loose marbles on a blanket being flung up and down by a sewing circle. Nezu didn't even realize what was happening until it was already far too late for him to alter his course or shield himself, as he quickly found himself blinded and stunned by the sudden upsurge in liquid being flung off the ground and into his path.
The headmasters' momentum, even despite his surprised flailing, sent him flying harmlessly over Nikolays' flattened body, and directly into several of the numerous fluid-coated nets once Mina and Denki had dodged out of the way. The momentary blindness only further compounded Nezus' inability to find his way out, as his paws and feet were already hopelessly tangled in the multitudes of holes, barely able to figure out which way was what, or if he was even right-side up or not anymore.
Nikolay opened his eyes in surprise when he finally heard Nezus' struggled stuttering of surprise from within his own traps. He already began to pick himself back up, just as Mina rushed in and pulled him back up to his feet by both his hands, her black-gold eyes wide and shimmering with the most excitement he'd seen out of her all day, just as the intercoms suddenly sounded once more: "ADVISORY: THE EIGHTH TEAM TO PASS THE EXAM IS TEAM MINETA/ SERO!"
"C'mon, guys, let's nab our win!" Mina exclaimed with all the bubbly energy she could possibly convey as she hurriedly grabbed both Nikolay and Denkis' hands, just as quickly hurrying them over to their still hopelessly entangled headmaster, who only now realized just what was about to happen, and how thoroughly disadvantaged he now was. It was the acceptance of that reality that made him not even bother trying to put up any more of a fight. "Go ahead and do what you have to, my students. You fought hard, stuck together through adversity, and utilized planning and improvisation to prevail against a threat. In the end, learning even those most basic of qualities is what your first term as Yuuei students is ultimately all about…and you performed admirably in those regards. Claim your victory, you three, for you've all earned it."
With not another moment wasted, Nikolay, Mina and Denki produced their respective handcuffs, and proceeded to slap them on both of Nezus' wrists, and even one of his feet, just for the sake of being thorough, as Denki explained it.
From the moment of the third and final click of their cuffs, the intercom at long last sounded and gave the announcement the trio had been fighting the hardest to hear: "ADVISORY: THE NINTH TEAM TO PASS THE EXAM IS TEAM ASHIDO/ BEZPALOV/ KAMINARI!"
The trio simultaneously erupted into their own cheers of excitement and relief alike. Mina was practically jumping up and down and doing flips with excitement as she and her friends laughed every last ounce of anxiety and tension away, practically lost in euphoria at the sound of their confirmed victory.
Denki was inadvertently leaving bruises on Nikolays' arm, he was fist-bumping it so hard in his excitement, while the young Russian could only laugh and try not to start crying with joy. "You are a freakin' MIRACLE, man! I don't know how you got that idea, but I will NEVER give you shit for anything again after that! That forest lodge is as good as ours!"
Nikolay was instinctively about to start answering a question Denki didn't even really ask, before he suddenly felt himself getting pulled by one shoulder, nearly sending him spinning on the slick ground before just as quickly getting grasped by both arms, steadying him on his feet once more. Before he could even put together what was happening now, he felt the notably strong grip and pleasant warmth of Minas' arms being thrown around his sides, clutching him in the closest thing the pink girl could get to a bear hug, even despite how slick he still was in her grip, his costume still covered in the fluid from before. Nevertheless, her precious, joyous laughter was ringing in his ears as she nearly started swaying him to and fro in her arms, tears of pure happiness running down her warm pink cheeks.
"That was AMAZING, Kolya-kun! YOU'RE amazing! Even when you can't get up, you still find a way to keep going! That was SO COOL! You're the real Hero of the day, and don't you deny it! We get to go to the forest lodge, and it's all because of YOU! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!"
Nikolay could barely get his senses back in order before Mina finally decided to give him some room to breathe, while still keeping a firm and grateful hand on his shoulder, with Denki quickly following suit with the other. Being able to bask in this moment, and to experience these feelings alongside his friends made this victory feel a thousand times sweeter than it normally would have. Right now, Nikolay felt well and truly on top of the world, simply knowing he had been able to help make his friends so happy as a result of this struggle. Right now, for the first time in what felt like ever in his life, the Russian boy couldn't think of a single thing that could've dampened his spirits in the wake of this miracle victory.
In the field tent, Tunguska had almost inadvertently thrown his chair right through the canvas, he had shot up and cheered with such sudden intensity the moment Recovery Girl had made the announcement of his sons' teams' victory. Thankfully he was able to recognize what a spectacle he was making of himself rather quickly, feeling the stern eyes of the elderly nurse burrowing into his side.
However, as he sat himself back down, he quickly noticed that Izuku was likewise watching the trio celebrate with exceptional excitement in his own green eyes; one of his hands noticeably shaking with enthusiasm. "It really is something special, getting to see your friends push themselves so hard and come out victorious in the end, isn't it, malenkii Midoriya?"
"Yeah, it really is, Sensei. I know everyone has been working really hard to prepare for this test, and to see all their efforts carry them this far…there aren't really many things that can compare. But it's not even just that, even though I am really happy for Kolya-san, Ashido-san and Kaminari-san. It's that…a few weeks ago, I'd given Kolya-san some notes I'd been taking in regards to his Quirk, with some theories on some stuff I thought he might be able to do, and that shockwave/liquid kick he did to help trap Nezu-sensei…that was one of them. As sure as I felt he might be able to do it, it was still just a theory on my part. So, to see him actually pull it off, and with so much more of a range and power than I initially expected…well, I guess you could say it's got me a bit pumped."
"Yes, all those students have really been giving it their all today, and it's paid off in the end. None too soon, either." Recovery Girl chimed in, and as Izuku and Tunguska looked, the timer for the test was now finally reaching all zeroes. From the moment it did, the nurse finally hit the button to make the penultimate announcement: "AND…TIME'S UP! THE PRACTICAL TEST OF THE END-OF-TERM EXAM IS NOW OVER! ANY STUDENTS THAT ARE TOO INJURED OR CURRENTLY INCAPACITATED SHALL BE REMOVED TO THE YUUEI NURSES' OFFICE! ALL OTHER STUDENTS, PLEASE REMAIN IN THE CENTRAL SECTION THE EXIT GATES LEAD TO, IN ORDER TO RECEIVE YOUR FINAL GRADES FOR THE TERM!"
With that, Tunguska suddenly rose from his chair, and began steadily making his way for the exit of the tent, with Izuku looking on in surprise. "Sensei, you're the one giving out the final grades? I guess I can't blame the teachers for the decision, since you had to be absent. I mean, it looks like Kirishima-san and Sato-san were the only team unable to pass. I'm sure at least seeing you will be able to lift the formers' spirits considerably." As he expressed that belief, Izuku began to likewise get back up, only to be met with a single authoritative finger from Tunguska pointing almost point blank in his freckled face.
"You're still in the process of healing from your own injuries, malenkii Midoriya. Please, remain here while I take care of this. Rest assured that you will receive your final grade with the rest of your classmates when the time comes." With that, the Russian Hero finally made his exit, leaving Izuku more than very confused.
"'When the time is right?' What did he mean by that? The end-of-term exams are over now, aren't they?" To silently yet thoroughly answer the boys' question, Recovery Girl suddenly began hitting a series of buttons, and the numerous screens that had displayed the various training areas, now all showed the central arena area the other students had gathered in after passing their respective tests, from multiple angles.
Central Area
The time that passed as the rest of the 1-A students reunited in the central area was spent with everyone filling each other in on all the details of their tests and everything they thought up, planned out and did in order to ultimately come out victorious. Some were clearly more restrained in their excitement and joy than others (i.e. Momo, Shoto, Mezo and Tenya), while others were still riding out the shellshock that came with the relief, like Ochako, Minoru and Kouji.
Just as the announcement from Recovery Girl had said, the typical first-aid robots were quick to arrive, extracting the still fast asleep Hanta Sero, along with Rikido Sato, as the effects of his sugar-aided Quirk were at last beginning to subside, which for him brought along an immense wave of nearly coma-like exhaustion. Other than those two, the rest of the students were visibly none the worse for wear, even though many were quick to realize neither Izuku nor Bakugo were anywhere to be seen. Of course, considering they had to contend with All Might, regardless whether they had won, they had to have been put through the physical wringer to make it happen.
Of course, as regretful as they were that as many of their classmates had to be absent from the receiving of their final grades as there were, it still ultimately did little to dampen the general mood among the remaining students as they continuously enthralled each other with their stories and congratulated one another for their hard earned wins.
However, even among the festivities, Nikolay and Mina couldn't help but look visibly sad when approached by Eijirou from the start, especially when their silent concern had been confirmed by the red-haired boy in regards to his team being the only one unable to pass. "That really sucks, Kiri! I was really hoping we'd all get to spend all our time at the lodge together!" Mina lamented sadly, while Nikolay had his head bowed in similar regret at another of his closer friends' defeat.
"Da, so was I. I'm really sorry to hear that, Kirishima-san. I mean, how did it happen? You and Sato-san are some of the physically strongest members of the class; I didn't think it would've been possible for you guys to lose."
Surprisingly, despite his two friends' clear cut displays of regret that they wouldn't all get to spend the summer together, Eijirou was still maintaining that confident sharp-toothed smile of reassurance on his masked face, even if there was a similar look of disappointment in his red eyes. "Yeah, it does suck, but what's the point moaning and groaning about it now, right? I mean, at the end of the day, Cementoss-sensei did give me something to think about. While we were fighting, he said that both me and Sato-sans' Quirks made us better suited for shorter-term fights that we could finish quickly. Considering this and my fight with Bakugo at the tournament, I realize how true that is. What good is my Quirk if it doesn't maintain its power all the way through a battle? I just gotta find some way to make it so I can finish any fight as quickly as possible so I don't risk getting myself caught in another stalemate, that's all."
It was frankly incredible that Eijirou could maintain such an upbeat and positive attitude, even after having just lost in one of the most important tests the school had thrown at them all yet. Even Mina, for as continuously energetic, upbeat and all-around happy as she always was, was floored that he could just brush such an experience off his shoulders like that and just keep going forward like it was no big deal. It was very respectable, to say the least.
"Aw, c'mon, you guys, let's not spoil the mood worrying about me. I mean, even if I failed here, I still passed the written test like everybody else, that's surely gotta count for something as far as the summer lodge trip is concerned. Nothing's set in stone yet. Besides, I should be congratulating you two more than anything. Kaminari was making it sound like you guys were practically in a war zone, barely got through by the skin of your teeth from the sounds of it. I can't even imagine how that could've been possible if you were against somebody like Nezu-sensei."
From there, the floodgates were pretty much burst open, as Mina and Nikolay proceeded to regale Eijirou with a rapid-fire, yet thorough, recounting of their entire experience, from the cataclysmic destruction Nezu rained down on their heads with his assortment of cranes using the entire area like a giant pinball machine, down to their fleeing into the underground tunnels, to splitting up, to Nikolay and Denki bringing the cranes down from underground, Mina melting her way through the rubble to make a sneak escape to the gate only to turn back to help her teammates, and every step of the way through Nikolay and Denki fighting Nezu himself, Mina knocking the master crane down unseen, and ultimately saving all of their lives mid-freefall, and their breakneck escape through the wreckage, and finally down to Nikolays' miracle final move to get Nezu trapped.
Needless to say, Eijirou was one step short of speechless by the time they had finally finished telling their incredible story of unbreakable teamwork and miraculous saves and hard-won victory.
"Holy crap, and I thought my test was an insurmountable challenge. Sounds like you guys should be chalking your win up to a miracle; seriously." However, even despite that sentiment, this time it did nothing to deter Minas' visible excitement as she pulled Nikolay in close with an arm over his shoulders; the biggest grin on her face as she instinctively started digging a pointing finger into his cheek, hard.
"Miracle, shmiracle; it's Kolya-kun that got us through it in the end. He had everything all planned out from the start, never let anything keep him down, and we pulled through for it." Of course, the continuous praise from his pink best friend only served to make Nikolays' face turn red with embarrassment before finally managing to escape her overly enthusiastic grip.
"Please, Nezu-sensei kept throwing any plans I could come up with right back in my face. My firing through my feet when he activated those traps and sending your sliding acid all over the nets, that was nothing more than a happy accident and you know it, Mina. It was honestly all thanks to good luck being on our side."
Just as quickly as he'd managed to free himself, Mina immediately pulled the flustered Russian boy right back in, this time playfully rubbing her knuckles against his scalp for still trying to be so overly modest. "It doesn't matter what you say to try and get out of it, Kolya-kun, you're still the one that made the move that got us one over on Nezu-sensei! Even if it all was an accident, you still came up with the idea to use that fluid to stun him. If nothing else, this just proves how smart you're able to be, even at the last second. Heck, if anything, you deserve even more credit for being able to pull something like that through so quickly. C'mon, just accept your share of the credit, you deserve it! An awesome and unforgettable summer is just waiting for us, and you helped make it possible. Can't you just accept that for what it's worth? I am!"
It didn't take long after for Eijirou to note that Minas' playful noogie was starting to physically wear on Nikolays' scalp, causing the now visibly embarrassed and regretful girl to let the Russian boy go, rapidly apologizing for getting a touch too into it. Of course, he couldn't even pretend to be annoyed with her for being so excited, knowing how much getting to go to the forest lodge meant for every single one of them.
As soon as all the air was cleared between the tightly-knit trio; Nikolay proceeded out further into the crowd of his classmates, being met with further congratulations from many, while giving his own in return.
Among them, the most noteworthy congratulations were of course from Shoto and Tenya, since they were among those most reserved in expressing their own excitement at winning, and were thus much more professional, yet no less sincere in their relief and all-around happiness at their Russian classmate and friend (at least, Nikolay could only hope so by this point, as far as where Shoto was now concerned) passing his test, just as much as he was for theirs.
When he had gone to congratulate Kyouka for hers and Koujis' victory, he was caught completely off guard when her initial reaction was to fidget upon his arrival and start blushing very, very heavily, even as she congratulated him in return for his own. There was no way in hell she would tell him just what was going through her head that would make her react like this when there was really no reason to, and even approaching Kouji for the first time so far this year, in the hopes he would be able to shed some light, ultimately proved fruitless. Whether it was because the rocky-headed boy was once more too shy to just openly engage in conversation with just any random classmate, or because he had just as much of a clue as Nikolay did, was anybody's guess.
Afterwards, the next student he most enthusiastically went to seek out and congratulate was Momo, who while looking as pensive as ever, still looked visibly happy and grateful when he had congratulated her for her victory, especially now knowing exactly how she had made it possible when hearing it secondhand from Shoto only minutes earlier.
"I-it really wasn't all down to me, though; Todoroki-san is just being modest. In all honesty, my plan would have fallen through if not for his help," she was very quick to deflect. Honestly, Nikolay couldn't help but chuckle at the face of the class vice presidents' forced modesty. This had to have been what he looked like in the face of all of Minas' heaping of credit on his shoulders. So this was what real perspective gaining felt and looked like.
"Well, you two are definitely the smartest students in the whole class, regardless what the grades on paper might say as far as Todoroki-san is concerned, so I have no doubts you both equally needed each other in order to pull it off. The important thing is you did, and you shoulder just as much responsibility for it, Yaoyorozu-san. I'm glad. You're looking a lot…well, for lack of a better word, lighter than you have been the last few weeks…since the Sports Festival, in fact. I won't pretend to know just what happened to help you change this way, but I'm glad it did."
For a moment, Nikolay couldn't help but worry he had crossed a line he shouldn't have, when Momos' eyes began to glisten with the beginnings of tears in response, but the reassuring, deeply grateful smile on her normally so elegant and mature face, quickly disarmed him of any trace of guilt. "Thank you, Bezpalov-san. So am I. It…it feels really nice, to know I was able to help make our victory possible, for whichever role I ultimately played in it."
Another eager smile quickly spread across Nikolays' face as he instinctively reached to pull out the two large tuning forks once more hanging at his hips. "You played a bigger role than you know, and not just for your own victory today, Yaoyorozu-san. That was another reason I wanted to find you. I want to thank you for taking the time and effort to make these, now that I've had the chance to really use them. They performed beautifully. You can take some reassurance in knowing I'll be making sure to use these in whatever situation we end up in from now on, because I couldn't have asked for anything better suited to my Quirk. Bolshoi spasibo (Thank you very much), Yaoyorozu-san."
Just as he had hoped, Momos' deeply touched smile only seemed to become that much more so, as she wiped the tears from one of her eyes, before giving the Russian boy an accepting and grateful bow in return. "Pazhaluista (You're welcome), Bezpalov-san. I'm glad I was able to help you, albeit inadvertently."
As soon as she saw the clearly surprised look on Nikolays' face at her sudden perfect reply in Russian, both teens' attention was drawn by Tooru Hagakures' sudden exclamation from within their numbers: "Hey, does anybody know where all the teachers are? I thought they would've been here to give us our grades by now; it's been almost ten whole minutes!"
The invisible girls' confusion was almost immediately echoed by similar sentiments from the remaining entirety of Class 1-A's students, all now wondering just what exactly the hold-up was, since they'd been told time and time again the practical test would be it today.
As the confused chatter from among his classmates slowly but surely began to die down, Tenyas' own silent confusion was suddenly broken when, within a split second of actual silence, his ear caught wind of only the slightest sound descending from a distant corner of the central section.
Acting on total instinct, Tenya turned in the direction of the almost nonexistent sound, only to catch sight of something that immediately sent his sense of calm into an outright sense of raw, reactive panic.
Without a word or a moment wasted by hesitation, the class president immediately kicked himself off into a powerful dashing sprint, aiming just short of Shoto dead-on, instead only running just to the red-white-haired boys' right side, with the resultant wind current following his speedy dash being powerful enough to momentarily knock Shoto backwards…
…just in time to avoid a red glove-adorned, glowing fist plowing through the air where his head had just been a split second ago. As Shoto came crashing onto his backside, the nearly glowing, white-clad muscular form of Tunguska came ripping right through the air in front of him, before just as quickly digging his heels into the ground, bringing himself to a near instantaneous, grinding halt, while the rest of the 1-A students instinctively threw themselves back and out of his way.
Every single one of their faces was filled with total confusion and shock that their Quirk History teacher had not only just popped in out of nowhere, but had done so by apparently trying to nearly take Shotos' head off, judging from the intensity with which he had just dashed right in with a clearly aggressive punch to announce his arrival.
Of course, for as dumbfounded and confused as the entire class was, none of them could compare to the nearly foundation-shaking looks of disbelief, fear and betrayal on the faces of Nikolay, Mina, Eijirou and Ochako, as they all made their way through their onlooking classmates to make sure they hadn't just been seeing things.
Opening his fist and dispersing the glow from his Quirk, Tunguska straightened himself up to be standing tall before his students again, while cracking the joints in his thick neck and cracking his knuckles. Despite the clear aggression he had just come in with, his blue eyes reflected no such thing, and instead looked as fatherly and inviting as they ever did; a very unsettling juxtaposition.
"Let me begin by congratulating every last one of you kids, even those of you who didn't manage to pass your practical test. You all showcased determination, bravery, smarts, confidence, and an unwillingness to give up against overwhelming odds, all essential things for any self-respecting Hero.
"However, something many of you may not realize, but should, is that there may one day come a time when you will find yourselves pitted against an opponent far too dangerous, and far too powerful for you to take on, either by yourselves, or as a handful-sized team. In those rare but plausible situations, you need to learn how to be able to coordinate yourselves and work together as a veritable small army of Heroes.
"That is why, the rest of your teachers, Headmaster Nezu-san and I, have decided to include a surprise third and final test to your end-of-term exam, to truly test your mettle, not as individual Heroes, nor as a number of teams, but as one large collective force for justice. However, unlike your previous practical tests, wherein your opponents decided to give you the slightest advantage by wearing weights in order to slow their own movements down, you won't be granted such an assisting handicap here. This is, for all intents and purposes, a simulation of a true war-like confrontation between good and evil, a be-all-end-all event. It's time to see how you all work together against an opponent fighting you all at their peak of power."
Within the safety of the field tent, Izuku was utterly dumbstruck at this literal out-of-nowhere development Tunguska was springing on all of his classmates, while Recovery Girl gave a sigh of nothing but regret.
"There's too many ways this impromptu excuse for a test could go terribly wrong, for every single one of them involved. Honestly, what were Nezu-san and the others thinking when they signed off on this? There's no way those kids are in a condition to take on a challenge like this. I can't believe I actually kept quiet when they told me about this stupid idea."
"No…I-I actually get it." Izuku suddenly spoke up, just as Recovery Girl had begun to reach for a nearby phone, hoping to convince the headmaster to call this so-called test off before it was too late. The elderly nurse looked back incredulously, only to see that, even despite his still visible shock, there was also a clear glimmer of realization in Izukus' eyes as he never took his focus from the screens.
"This has to be some kind of reaction on Tunguska-sensei's part, regarding what All Might told us both about that Villain from so long ago, All For One. As a Hero, and especially as a father, there was no way he could just be able to sit by and let me take on all the responsibility for one day facing someone so powerful, no matter what All Might would say otherwise. This must be his way of trying to prepare everyone else as much as they possibly can be, to face even a similar kind of threat when the time comes…maybe in the hopes that I don't have to be alone when the time eventually comes."
As convinced as Izuku clearly was of his theory, Recovery Girl didn't look nearly as much: "It's an understandable thought, Midoriya-kun, but without Tunguska-san to confirm, it's still ultimately nothing more than guesswork! Even for as old and out-of-practice as he is, he's still a Hero near the same level of power as All Might! If he goes up against all those kids without some kind of restraint, he could very well end up hurting all of them to a point of no return!"
"Don't get me wrong, Recovery Girl, I am really worried about everyone. You're right, no matter what shape Tunguska-sensei may be in, in terms of the bigger picture, he's still proven to be no pushover. He's going to give everyone the biggest challenge they've had to face from Yuuei yet. As worried as I am…I have to admit, I'm also really anxious…maybe even a bit excited, to see what they'll all ultimately be able to do against him when there's no other option available."
Meanwhile, in an undisclosed location in Musutafu City
Within the dimly lit confines of a nondescript underground bar room; the lanky, white-haired man known as Tomura Shigaraki sat alone at the bar, staring intently at a single photograph clutched in his hand; a photograph of the young green-haired, freckled boy he had come to learn was named Izuku Midoriya; one of the accursed children responsible for ruining his plans at USJ a couple months ago.
Ever since then, he hadn't been able to stop thinking about that boy, especially after having not only witnessed his surprising level of power at said incident, but also watching his display on television during the Yuuei Sports Festival. Time and time again, that boy had proven himself to be more and more of a powerhouse than Tomura had led himself to expect; a realization that only served to fuel his frustration and loathing for the child with each passing hour of each passing day.
There was no way in hell this kid didn't have some kind of deep connection with that goddamned nuisance known as All Might; their levels of pure unadulterated power were way too similar. Was he some kind of illegitimate offspring, or a disciple? Tomura frankly couldn't care less either way. Both for the sake of appeasing his own frustration, as well as for the sake of removing a particularly dangerous obstacle from the path of his and his sensei's grander plans, he was going to remove the boy known as Izuku Midoriya permanently, one way or another.
Then again, as loathe as he was to admit it, it wasn't exactly like Midoriya was the only obstacle worth looking at. All Might was still the bigger target to eliminate at the end of the day, and having to acknowledge it per his sensei's insistence, there was also that lumbering intruder from the outside called Tunguska that All Might had dragged all the way here, and that mewling whelp of a son of his, too.
As much as Tomura wanted to simply write off the latter as an especially insignificant little nothing compared to Midoriya, his sensei was insistent that he not write off any of the players currently on the field. And in his experience with the man, if his sensei really believed that even that dainty little nobody and his old man were ones to be considered a potential threat, whether it be today, tomorrow or somewhere else further down the line, then Tomura had a responsibility to consider him as such, as well.
'Oh, well. Whether Sensei would want me to keep him in mind as a potential threat or not…I might as well be thorough. That hobo-looking bastard, Tunguska, helped All Might beat my Nomu! For that, he has to pay…and if I'm gonna get rid of Midoriya and All Might together, might as well take the father-and-son nuisances out, too. Hell, all those damned kids ought to go, just to nip that whole problem in the bud.'
With that grim declaration in mind, Tomura proceeded to let the photograph of Midoriya in his hand whither and crumble to dust within his palm. Honestly, the thought of watching the boy himself decay and fade into nothing within his hands couldn't help but produce a twinge of joy in the pit of his chest.
Knock, knock, knock
A sudden wrapping at the door snapped Tomura Shigaraki out of his reverie, just in time to see a scrawny middle-aged man with sunglasses and a cheap yakuza-esque suit poke his head through the door. Frankly, the man so perfectly embodied the definition of 'sleazy', even Tomura always felt a sense of distaste just looking at him whenever he showed himself.
"Oh, good, you're here, Shigaraki-san. Man, you and your little gang are the real talk of the town these days. Lots of buzz going around about you guys planning something big soon, you know?"
"Who have you got with you?" Tomura asked, quick to dispense with the pathetic attempts at pleasantries. He'd made the instructions clear to this weasel that he wasn't to come to him unless he had potential recruits that were actually worth a damn.
Realizing he was testing the white-haired mans' patience, the yakuza-looking man hurriedly stepped aside, motioning from the outside for whoever his guests were to come in and make themselves known.
As Tomura watched with quiet, unreadable intent, he was quickly greeted by the sight of two people: a tall teenage boy with spiky black hair, dressed in a punk rocker-esque attire, whose face was some freakish stitched up mish-mash between what had to be his regular skin, and withered, dark purple skin that looked like it had been burnt to a crisp and left to rot further in the sun. Frankly, he looked like he would've fit in better on the set of some shitty horror movie; a sentiment that only grew in Tomura when the boy actually dared to speak out of turn: "I gotta say, finally seeing you in the flesh…you look creepy as hell."
And right next to him was a far less assuming teenage girl in a schoolgirl uniform underneath a pale tan sweater. She had blonde hair done up in two very messy bun-like pigtails, considerably intense yellow eyes with bags underneath that made it look like she hadn't gotten a solid nights' sleep in weeks, and most eye-catching of all, a bright smile with pronounced vampire fangs on both the top and bottom rows of her teeth.
To Tomuras' annoyance, though, the girl in particular likewise began speaking out before he could even open his mouth. He honestly couldn't believe the gall coming from the people who were, to his distaste, technically supposed to be his guests: "Whooooah! Hey, you're a buddy of that super cool Vu…Vu…that really cool blind Hero Hunt-y Villain with the fancy hard name, aren't you? You are, right, Hand Dude? Come on, tell me that you are!"
Already, Tomura felt the growing desire to disintegrate both these ingrates where they stood, even as the off-putting ball of energy before him suddenly flashed him the peace sign with her fingers, as nearly all teenage girls were typically wont to do. "Come on, let me join, too! Let me join the League of Villains! Pretty please?"
And there is the new chapter for this week. The students of Class 1-A have made it through the practical tests, only to now find themselves faced with a challenge, in its own way, much more difficult. And we finally have the introduction of two of MHA's most popular antagonists. I know I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what I can do with them as much as I hope you're all looking forward to seeing it.
If you liked what you saw here, please leave a review.
Stay safe, have a nice rest of your week, and I will see you all with the next chapter on 08/07!