Midoriya instinctively dashed forward and grabbed Bakugo's hook.

"What?!" Bakugo's grin was instantly wiped off his face as a single word of confusion and anger was all he was able to get out.

Midoriya tightened his stance as he lifted Bakugo over his shoulder.

"Impossible! How'd he know? He's not that good!" Furious thoughts flashed through his mind as his right hand, which was grabbed, was crackling like hell.

Midoriya grit his teeth as he started using more force. He let out a yell before slamming Bakugo into the floor with great enough force to force the wind out of the boy. He lied there for a moment as Midoriya caught his breath, hands on his knees.

"Deku..." Bakugo let out a growl as he got back up, gritting his teeth and his eyes as sharp as daggers.

Midoriya gulped nervously as he took a couple of steps back in a defensive position. "You always start with a big right hook to start a fight. I- I know cause I've watched you for years. Everything I've learned about you and the other heroes was in that notebook you burned."

Bakugo became even more pissed with each passing word. "You...You're shaking in your boots but you still want to fight," His hands burned bright with intensity. "I'll fucking kill you!"

"Hey, what's Bakugo saying? I'm not hearing anything, can we get some sound with this?" Kirishima asked with his eyes glued to the screen.

"Maybe, they're just saying some encouraging words to each other," Kaminari said.

"Ooh, I wanna do that too!" The pink-skinned girl shouted.

Shinjiro walked next to All Might as they continued staring at the screen waiting for the next move.

"He's really grown hasn't he?" All Might said on the verge of tears.

"Hold your horses number one. It's only the beginning," Shinjiro told him. "And stop crying, would you? It's embarrassing"

Bakugo set up his hands in a way to boost him toward Midoriya. He blasted forward at an immense speed before extending his leg. Midoriya brought up his arms to block as Bakugo's leg made contact, the force pushing Midoriya a bit.

"Ballsy move, you think you can take me alone?" Bakugo arrogantly stated. Then he realized something was wrapping around his boot.

"He's using the capture tape!"

Midoriya wrapped it around his ankle as his mind was racing. "Hero book number ten, page eighteen! Luckily I got to see Eraserhead in action! Knowing Kacchan he'll get impatient"

Bakugo swung his palm at Midoriya forcing him to roll out of the way. The palm he connected with another wall causing it to explode, sending dust and debris everywhere. Midoriya kept his eyes peeled for any movement.

Spark. Right side. Blast. Left side. "That means-"

Bakugo propelled himself into the air and using the momentum he got from moving to one side, blasted his right palm to start spinning. He had collected enough momentum to start barreling toward Midoriya. Fortunately, he had predicted it and jumped back at the right time to see Bakugo slamming his foot down into the ground.

"Damn it! He's using his feet, which means he's trying to become more unpredictable by the minute! Does that mean he's worried?" However, Midoriya had no time to think as Bakugo had launched yet another attack at him, this time gunning straight at him.

"I guess it's time to try this out!" Midoriya cocked his left arm back and focused One For All into it. Bakugo's eyes widened as Midoriya was standing his ground and ready to attack. As they got closer to each other, time seemed to slow.

Midoriya launched his arm forward as Bakugo propelled himself upward and over at the last second to avoid the large-scale attack that was about to be sent his way. Except...the attack never came, Bakugo turned around to see that Midoriya was already running away.

"DEKU!" He screamed. "How dare you try and make a fool out of me!"

Midoriya never looked back as he turned corner after corner hoping to lose him. "I'm so glad, I managed to deactivate One For All at the right time...I'm sure All Might is having a heart attack right now"

"Oh golly!" All Might exclaimed, leading to some of the class to look at him as he held his heart. "I thought he was going to use a hundred percent there. It would not only hurt him and young Bakugo but everyone else in the building. *Sigh* Young Midoriya please never do that again..."

"Relax, I'm sure he's not that stupid," Shinjiro told him. "...At least I hope not" The last part muttered under his breath.

Bakugo chased Midoriya to no avail as the boy was getting further and further away in the maze. Fed up, Bakugo screamed at the top of his lungs.

"DAMN IT! You've been tricking me for years pretending to be weak, haven't you? That you've been laughing behind my back huh?!"

Midoriya's head froze but his legs kept ongoing.

"So where is that flashy quirk of yours huh? FIGHT ME! LET'S SEE HOW IT COMPARES TO MINE!" Bakugo's hands started sparking. "Quirk or no quirk I'll still beat you!"

Midoriya felt...guilty about it, his head down as he ran. "I...wasn't lying. I would never lie...it's just that...I can't tell you..."

"Bakugo has some real anger issues. It's kind of scary," Kirishima said worriedly.

All Might was especially nervous having heard what Bakugo had said.

"Midoriya told me young Bakugo thinks highly of himself, but this level of pride is really something else"

"It's a good strategy," Shinjiro said, abruptly snapping All Might out of his thoughts. "Midoriya knows he has to keep Bakugo at bay so that Uraraka can get the bomb. Although with Iida there things might get a little messy"

"Oh hey look! It seems that Uraraka has made it over to the bomb!" The pink girl pointed towards the camera that showed Uraraka sneaking into the room.

Uraraka peered around the corner, seeing Iida standing next to the bomb on the lookout.

"Found it. Now I need to tell Deku and try my best to stay out of sight," She was about to patch through to Midoriya before hearing Iida talk to himself.

"Bakugo definitely has gotten into the villain role and that's exactly what we need to succeed in the mission. I need to try and embrace the criminal side in order to win this trial and not bring shame to the Iida family name," Iida pumped his fist before turning around to the apparently empty room and starting sounding like a villain.

"BEHOLD! I am the personification of fear itself!" Well...it could use some work.

Uraraka couldn't help but to try and hold in a laugh, spraying spit all over her helmet visor. That's not good in current times.

"Hm?" Iida had seemed to notice her presence. "Uraraka! I have been expecting you!"

He dramatically pointed a finger toward her general direction. "It seems you are alone since Bakugo went off on his own to engage with Midoriya! Your quirk allows you to change the gravity of objects, however, I had planned for that! Hence why there is not a single object in this room! HAHAHA!"

While Iida was laughing like a newborn robot trying to impersonate Doctor Doom, Uraraka sweatdropped. However, she was equally nervous about having her quirk be useless in this situation.

"Well...he really is playing the part," She said out loud.

Midoriya was hiding around a corner before he heard a voice speak in his ear.

"D-Deku?" Uraraka said through the earpiece.

"I'm here, how's it going?" Midoriya responded.

"Well, Iida knows that I'm here; I'm sorry. But now he's monologuing so he'll take a while," She said as Iida was heard manically laughing.

"Where are you?"

"In the middle of the fifth floor, I'll try to beat him and get to the bomb as fast as I can!"

"Wait...that's directly above me! If I can beat Kacchan then I'll be able to help her. We don't have much time left so I gotta make this qui-"His thoughts were cut off when he heard a charging sound coming from behind.

There Bakugo was, still looking as pissed as ever, holding up his grenade gauntlet.

"I'm all charged up," He said, surprisingly not screaming.

"What does that mean?" Midoriya asked nervously.

"Why aren't you using your fancy quirk? Don't tell me you're underestimating me Deku," Bakugo threatened, his pupils nowhere to be seen. "Get over here and show what you're really made of"

Midoriya tightened his grasp onto the capture tape and took a deep breath. "I'm not scared of you anymore Kacchan and I never will be"

Bakugo didn't let his anger breakthrough as he formed a wide grin on his face. "Well, since you're such a stalker you should know my quirk by now. I secrete nitroglycerin-like sweat from the palm of my hands and I can ignite it at will to create certain sized explosions. The more sweat I produce the bigger the explosion"

It all clicked with Midoriya, his eyes widening as a result.

"That's right, these gauntlets aren't just for show! They've been storing up my sweat enough for one hell of a blast!" Bakugo lifted his hand up with his other hand on the grenade-like pin, getting ready to release all of that sweat.

"Okay, now he's going too far," All Might decided to step in.

"Young Bakugo don't do it! You'll kill him!" His voice rang through the building.

"He'll be fine as long as he dodges!" Bakugo pulled the plug on that sucker, causing a giant ass explosion to rip through the air. The explosion moved so fast it engulfed Midoriya in seconds before blasting the side of the building a brand new hole.

Iida and Uraraka struggled to balance themselves as the building rumbled. The explosion was so strong that even those watching in the monitoring room could feel the ground shake.

"Midoriya come in! Come in!" All Might shouted, fear growing in him ever so present.

Dust and smoke covered the entire level and things were getting hard to see on the camera feed. Fortunately, it was clearing and everyone could see the massive destruction that had taken place.

What's even more impressive was that Midoriya was a few feet away from the hole in the building, still alive and lying on his back. Don't ask me how, no matter what he did it should have killed him but anyway.

His costume was tattered, parts of it burnt and most of it destroyed leaving Midoriya very vulnerable. What stood out the most was his arm, which was starting to look a little more red than usual.

"Damn it!" Midoirya grunted as he tried to get up. "That would have surely killed me if I hadn't pushed the explosion back"

~{Flashback}~

As the flames grew closer, Midoriya had suddenly given up hope and tears welled up in his eyes.

"I- I'm going to die? Is it really going to end at the beginning? Even though... I've been taught by All Might….taught by Shinjiro…."

His entire life had seemed to flash by in his watery eyes. From the beginning till the end. Or so he thought.

"It can't be the end yet! I- I still have so many more things to learn! I- I haven't even become a hero yet! I- It's-"

The heat of the blast had already started burning up his mask and some of the tears, showing Midoriya gritting his teeth as he readied up for an attack.

"It's just the beginning!"

"SMAAAASSSHHHH!"

Surprisingly and stupidly, Midoriya had punched the fire. However, with One For All flowing through his body and planted all of its power into his arm, it was working. It was for a split second but Midoriya swore he saw the flames fall back. But he wasn't done, flicking his finger instantly just as the rest of the flames engulfed him.

Bakugo let out a maniacal laugh. "I'm surprised you survived Deku. And I see you used your little quirk there to save you," Then, the second gauntlet lit up and made a charging sound. "Come on then...give me everything you got. Not that you'll beat me!"

He hunched forward with his hands in front of him, looking like a crouching tiger within the smoke.

"Bakugo, answer me!" Iida screamed over the comms. "Were you the one that caused that blast? What's going on down there?"

"Now's my chance!" Uraraka sprinted forward toward the bomb while Iida was distracted. Unfortunately, Iida spotted her moving out of the corner of his eye and started to move in to counter her.

Uraraka touched the tips of her fingers together and started to float before jumping over Iida and gliding straight towards the bomb. Iida's eyes flashed before kicking his jets into high gear and ran back to the bomb to...move it? Hey wait, that's illegal you can't move a- never mind.

Uraraka didn't have so much of a graceful landing as she hit the floor and did multiple rolls into the wall.

"A fruitless effort. Do you not see that your quirk is no threat if you can't touch anything? I can keep this bomb away from you until time runs out! Hahaha!" Iida monologued.

"It's not over, I can't let Deku down!"

Meanwhile, Midoriya isn't faring well either, especially with Bakugo basically breathing down his neck.

"What's wrong? Take that one attack and you're down for good? Heh, as I thought you're still worthless!" Bakugo spat, getting ready to blast from his other gauntlet.

"Young Bakugo don't fire another shot!" All Might's voice rang throughout the building. "Using such a powerful move indoors is too reckless, even if you're a hero or a villain. Any more and I'll personally end the fight!"

Midoriya struggled to stand up but sighed in relief when All Might managed to stop Bakugo from firing another round. The grenade boy, on the other hand, balled his fists and shook in rage.

"Fine!" He propelled himself forward. "We'll just settle it hand-to-hand!"

Midoriya gasped as he tried moving out of the way but his body wouldn't move from the fatigue he got after using One For All the first time.

"Dammit! Then I'll need to counter!" He charged his swollen arm with OFA once again. He waited until Bakugo got closer and closer before punching straight at him.

Bakugo however, anticipated this and blasted himself upward at the last second. He then proceeded to blast himself quickly behind Midoriya and let off a steaming wave of explosions that hit Midoriya straight in the back.

He cried in pain as he fell to the ground, his back visibly charred. If that's not third-degree burns then I don't know what is.

"The same move won't fool me twice Deku!" Bakugo moved in to strike him again, this time grabbing him by the arm.

"This is that famous right hook you've been waiting for Deku!" He screamed before blasting his way in front of the boy before lifting him over his shoulder and slamming him into the ground, mimicking the first fight.

Midoriya was on the cutting block, feeling every inch of pain he did to Bakugo just minutes prior.

"What the hell, and I thought Midoriya was amazing at the start," Kaminari commented. "But Bakugo outmatches him in combat"

Shinjiro and All Might focused on the fight, ignoring the other classmates.

"Bakugo may be a piece of shit but he's a golden piece of shit. The guy knows how to fight and uses his quirk in an incredible way. If only his personality wasn't so bad, we might actually get along," Shinjiro thought.

"Come on Young Midoriya! End this please...for his sake I'll let it go on," All Might gripped the microphone so hard he looked like he was going to break it.

Midoriya stumbled as he got up, nearing his limit. Bakugo walked towards him, still with fire in his eyes. Midoriya wanted to run, but his legs were still as he nervously shivered in place.

"Why?! Why can't I move?!" Midoriya yelled at himself. "Even though I need to move!"

He was hyperventilating, internally fighting with himself.

"I can do it!"

"But Kacchan's there"

"You can win!"

"But Kacchan's there"

"I need to prove myself as a hero! To All Might! To him!" He took one last deep breath in and rushed straight at Bakugo.

"Come to die huh! I'm looking forward to it!" Bakugo got in a goalkeeping stance as Midoriya charged at him. Midoriya pulled a fast one on him and kicked him right in the side, but that didn't stop the explosive teen from reaching out with his right hand.

Midoriya instinctively grabbed it and angled it away from himself as Bakugo let it rip. The force pushed him back away from Bakugo and near the window. Knowing he was at his destination, Midoriya pushed off the floor and landed with his back toward a windowsill.

"Have you given up? Not going to use your quirk cause you think you're better than me?" Bakugo taunted.

"That's...not true," Flashes of his childhood passed by, every memory he had of Bakugo. "You idiot! I know you're better than me! You always have been!"

The comments made his pupils shrink as he picked up his pace.

"You're even more of an idiot than you realize. COME AT ME!"

So the two went at each other once again but this time, it would be the last. Bakugo's hands sparked to life as Midoriya charged his arm with One For All. Both let out their battle cry as they got ready to punch each other.

"This is getting out of hand," All Might said before pulling up his microphone. "Young Midoriya, Young Bakugo stop this now-"

"Uraraka now!" Midoriya shouted, causing All Might to stop.

On the floor above, Uraraka started to hold onto a pillar leaving Iida confused.

"I can't beat you! Not yet! But for now, I'll do the best I can!"

"SMAAAASSSHHHH!" And just like that, Midoriya swung upward. The force tore through the building and continued through the air, partially separating the clouds above. Bakugo could only watch in shock as he blasted the crap out of Midoriya with his explosions.

Iida shielded himself from the blast before looking back at Uraraka holding on to the pillar she was once gripping onto. A pink glow was emitted from her fingertips as she lifted the pillar preparing to swing.

"Sorry, Iida! Improvised special move! Comet home run!" She swung at the rubble that blew through the air straight at Iida.

"In the name of villainy, I command you to stop this!" Iida yelled before attempting to dodge some of the debris being flung at him. His efforts were in vain, however, since it was a distraction for Uraraka to jump straight at the bomb and basically wrap herself around it.

"Nooooo! The weapon!" Iida cried out.

On the lower level, Bakugo stared at the destruction above.

"This was your big plan all along wasn't it?" He growled. "You've been playing me this entire time haven't you?!"

The boy shook in rage as Midoriya didn't move a muscle. He was still in the same position he was in when he fired off that punch, visibly burned.

"Speak dammit!" Bakugo screamed.

"Th- This was the onl...y way...of winning..." Midoriya managed to utter out before passing out.

*Beep Beep*

The countdown had hit zero, but no one in the observation room did or said anything. Most of them had shocked expressions on their faces including All Might.

"You did it. You really did it young Midoriya!" All Might thought proudly. It wasn't until Shinjiro had tapped him on the shoulder to snap him out of his trance.

"You gonna call it?" He asked.

"Oh *ahem* right," The hero fixed himself. "The hero team...WINS!"

Medical attention came shortly after, two robots and a stretcher taking Midoriya away.

"To the nurse's office remember," All Might said.

"I know," The robot complained.

The hero sighed and turned around to Bakugo, who was still in disbelief about it all. He stared at his hands as they shook, acting like he's just experienced PTSD.

"He predicted all my attacks...he knew they were coming. He made me look like an idiot! All while winning the exercise!" He bawled his hand into a fist as he recounted the words Midoriya said.

"You idiot! I know you're better than me! You always have been!" His fist shook.

"Th- This was the onl...y way...of winning…" His eyes were burning. He'd probably smash the entire building down in his rage.

"Does this mean if we really fought? If he didn't hold back at all. H- He...would beat me?" He was hyperventilating like crazy. Honestly, he should be dead with the number of times he's gone crazy, raging every second is not healthy.

A hand reached out to him and patted him on the shoulder.

"Whether you win or lose, you can always take the experience away from this, as long as you're open to learn." All Might said. He gave the boy a big grin before leading him back to the monitoring room.

When they got back to the monitoring room, everybody was chatting amongst themselves about the last round.

"Now then, the official winners were team A due to Uraraka capturing the bomb. Despite the results, the MVP of the match was… Young Iida!"

Iida perked up after hearing his name.

"EHH?" He screamed in disbelief.

"But shouldn't it be one of the heroes since they won?" Tsuyu croaked- I mean asked or both.

"While that is true there are reasons why young Iida is the MVP. Would anyone care to explain?" All Might asked. Immediately, a hand shot up. "Ah, young Yaoyorozu!"

"Iida was the only one who accepted his role and adapted as necessary," She said.

"I'll explain. Bakugo's judgement was clouded by a personal grudge against Midoriya. As you said earlier, launching a large-scale attack indoors was a foolish move. Similarly, Midoriya's plan was also poorly thought out, seeing the damage he received. He rendered himself helpless, not smart. And as for Uraraka, she let her guard down mid battle and her final attack was too reckless. If she treated the weapon as a real bomb, she would have never risked using an imprecise move. Iida was fully prepared for his opponent's arrival, he had a strategy and never lost sight of his mission even if he was foiled in the end," She explained.

Iida's face lit up by every compliment as his glasses glowed brightly.

"Sure the hero team won. But they won knowing this was training and didn't respect the spirit of the trial," She finished.

"It is unfortunate but I disagree," Shinjiro's voice rang throughout the room. "Midoriya knew the risks of his quirk and wanted to fight without using it. He was purposefully keeping Bakugo distracted so Uraraka could secure the objective but thanks to her giving away the element of surprise and due to time running out, he had to use his quirk to help her out. I concur with the fact that Iida's plan and him adapting to the situation was good but in my eyes, Midoriya did the most to win in the exercise and played his part"

Once Shinjiro said his piece, everyone was essentially shocked. In their eyes, he was a quiet kid at the back of the class who was Midoriya's friend. Yaoyorozu was pretty shocked seeing someone else who could measure up to her.

"Ah! Very good points you two!" All Might applauded. "But we can't be on the topic for very long! We still have more trials to go through!"

With that, the class continued with teams going up head to head with the same premise. One on attack and the other on defense with a bomb to protect, basic stuff.

Shinjiro however, wasn't really in the mood for it all. Thinking about Midoriya and how he could improve and also himself. He pulled a metallic bar out from his non-existent pocket and made sure everything was ready.

"Welp, it looks like everything is ready. Time to take you out on a test drive..." He sighed.

He heard someone cough, prompting him to lift his head and seeing All Might staring down at him.

"Can I help you?" He asked, leading to everyone in the room to sweatdrop.

"Yes you can, if you've been paying attention. It's finally you and Tokoyami's time to take to the stands!" All Might struck another pose. "The next battle will be between team I of Shinjiro and Fumikage Tokoyami versus team J consisting of Tsuyu Asui, Eijiro Kirishima, and Hanta Sero!"

"See you guys on the battlefield!" Kirishima grinned.

"Let's have one hell of a time!" Sero waved.

"Kero," Tsuyu croaked as she followed the others.

~{Outside}~

Shinjiro and Tokoyami were standing outside of the building, looking through the layout of the map. Both were quiet as they gazed at the building they were going to raid.

"So...Tokoyami-san," Shinjiro broke the ice. "What's your quirk?"

"Me!" A shadow popped up from underneath Tokoyami's cloak.

Shinjiro seemed a little shocked when he saw the shadow speaking to him, but then again anything can happen in this world.

"Dark Shadow! How many times must I tell you not to come out unannounced," Tokoyami scolded Dark Shadow.

"Dark Shadow? Pfft," Shinjiro stifled a laugh, breaking his normal behavior. "Sounds like something a five year old would name"

"Why yea! He thought of my name when he was four actually! That's how I came to be!" Dark Shadow said excitedly.

"Oi! Dark Shadow! Don't go ratting out secrets to random people!" Tokoyami's face had a visible blush. I have no idea how a bird can have a pink blush but it's the world.

Shinjiro let out a chuckle. "Alright, alright everybody chill for a minute. So Dark Shadow you said that you've been with Tokoyami ever since he was four right?"

"Well, it's been ever since he was born but sure!" He replied.

"Then you must have some juicy secrets right?" He pulled out his notebook and pen in anticipation.

"Oho! Definitel-" The quirk was cut off by Tokoyami trying to shove him back into his cloak.

"Now is not the time Dark Shadow! We are in the middle of a training exercise right now!" The bird boy comically shouted.

Shinjiro chuckled at their antics. "Hoo boy. Never thought I'd get back to teasing people this fast. If character development was this easy then Midoriya should have no problem!"

"Okay okay, enough joking around we got a bomb to capture," Shinjiro said before attaching the metal bar he had earlier onto his forearm. It fit in just perfectly, as expected.

"Alright, fellow heroes! Time for the final battle trial to finally begin!" All Might's voice rang throughout the area once again.

"I hope you have a plan of attack Shinjiro-san," Tokoyami said.

"Just call me Shinjiro," He said. "And I have a plan...probably"

Yo! It is I coming to you at the end of the chapter this time. I didn't wanna stop the action to talk all about it at the start so I'll do it at the end. Oh, yea, also you might have noticed that the Deku vs Bakugo here was quite short, I mean I stretched it out as much as I could I don't know what else to say. It's kinda hard sticking to the source material when it's really just flashbacks in between. Yall are here for action so the flashbacks and stuff will be sprinkled throughout the story. Now it's time to-

Shinjiro: What the hell do you think you're doing?

What?

Shinjiro: You're cutting off my action!

Ah yes yes, I know. That'll be next time since the one year anniversary is coming up soon.

Shinjiro: Then what will we do?

Easy! Have an omake!

Shinjiro: But that doesn't-

I said...OMAKE!

Omake, I guess!

Bird brain!

Shinjiro: Hey Tokoyami. Can I ask you something?

Tokoyami: What is it?

Shinjiro: Why is your head a bird? But the rest of your body isn't?

Tokoyami: Hmmm, that's...a good question.

Dark Shadow: Hey! I think I can answer this!

Shinjiro: Hm? God right ahead.

Dark Shadow: He was probably brought to his parents by a stork!

Tokoyami: Idiot! I was obviously not delivered by a stork!

Dark Shadow: But then how else would you explain your head?

Tokoyami: It's probably because of my heritage. After all, this world is filled with quirks and some quirks can manifest a physical change rather than just giving you powers. Take Tsuyu-san for example; Her quirk makes her look and act like a frog.

Shinjiro: Ohhh, I guess you're right. I have seen other people use their quirks and turn into different things as well! And some who are...just outright scary.

Dark Shadow: I get it now! But then...what about me? Why am I a bird?

Shinjiro: It's probably because of Tokoyami then, since he's technically a bird his quirk will manifest into something like him! Since you're his dark shadow then Dark Shadow would have to be his shadow!

Dark Shadow with eye swirls: That's confusing...

Shinjiro: Not as confusing as other things.

Tokoyami: Oi! Dark Shadow what are you doing?

Dark Shadow: Feeling kinda sick right now…

Tokoyami: You know that makes me sick too!

Tokoyami's face turned green as he went to throw up.

Shinjiro: So Tokoyami feels whatever Dark Shadow feels...this calls for some investigation! Tokoyami!

Shinjiro ran off to go find Tokoyami.