Soar, and Dive (Kick):

Izuku isn't entirely sure what he expected out of U.A. originally, but if you told him that it would've been the same as normal school but with more heroes, he would've probably given you a strange look. But it's exactly that; normal, average, everyday classes.

The morning class with Present Mic would normally be something he tunes out due to his decent proficiency with the English language, but the man's energy and enthusiasm is infectious. At least to him, and a few others, that is.

At noon, they gather in the grand cafeteria to eat some food prepared by a world class rescue hero, Lunch Rush. While normally, the hero would be out in the field providing food for those in need, the times of peace provided by All Might allowed them to have a day job to keep his various kitchens afloat. The food is great and prepared with the grace and care you'd expect from a master chef, and before long, Izuku's plate is clean. Who knew floating required so many calories? He isn't alone at the table, but he doesn't know anyone and only partially nods at their idle conversation. They were nice, if only a bit chatty.

Finally, after lunch, a class that Izuku had been looking forward to and dreading at the same time. Heroics. He's sitting in 1-A along with the rest of his classmates, Aizawa droning on with the energy of a dying man about their upcoming teacher before leaving. Something in him - he assumes One For All because man , this quirk is odd - signals him to a presence on the other side of the door before it slides open in dramatic fashion.

"It's me!" All Might booms. Izuku is as excited as he was the day they first met. All Might's aura is something that just inspires him. " ...through the door like a normal person!"

The mutters and murmurs erupt near immediately. People in just as much disbelief and enlivened as he is at the world's Symbol of Peace being a teacher.

"Alright! Settle down, kids!" All Might says, flailing his large arms around. " It's time... for foundational hero studies! For this class, we'll be, as you can guess, building up your hero foundation through various trials," He leans in and cups the side of his mouth as if telling a secret, " You'll get tons of credits for it, too! Now then, let's jump right in with this!" All Might reels and pulls a card out of his pocket - cape? Does his cape have a pocket? - and shows it to the class. "The trial of battle!" There's a mixed reaction from the class following the announcement with some more hyped than others. Some people mutter their skepticism at the ideas, while others are more focused on the enjoyment. "And to go with your first battle," All Might continues, silencing everyone, " We've prepared the gear we had you send in requests for to match your quirks!"

Izuku almost squeals at the thought of his costume. There were a few (read:many) last minute changes ever since he started training his Gran Torino and his mother got a bit more involved, so he cannot wait to try on the final product.

"Get changed and we'll be ready to go! Everyone gather at Ground Beta! The garb you bring into battle is vitally important, boys and girls!" All Might says, turning around quickly enough that his cape flutters in the non-existent breeze, "And don't forget, from here on out, you're all officially heroes!"

A few weeks ago, Izuku sat in his apartment alone, sifting through a series of images of heroes throughout history that had claimed the skies as their own. There's not as large of a selection as he would've liked, but there's enough and they all have some similarities despite the radical differences in other areas. His mother had seemingly been over these already, having circled various points from costume to costume and he had no idea as to why.

Regardless, he's on the phone with All Might, talking about the logistics of changing his quirk registration when his mother walks back in. He bids the man farewell when he sees what's in her hand. It's a modified, short-sleeved flight suit with a white, short jacket with yellow highlights.

"Izuku! I've got something for you," his mother says excitedly, brandishing the clothes and hanging it out for him to get a better view of. "Let's celebrate a new school life!"

"A - A flight suit?"

"It probably won't look super 'cool'," Inko admits sheepishly, "But it's perfect to keep you safe while flying around, right?" Her excitement dulls and her smile wanes and the suit is put to the side, temporarily forgotten. "I uh, caught you having fallen asleep looking at these hero photos one night." Izuku makes an exaggerated sound of surprise, but Inko remains oddly subdued. "Back then, I -"

"Mom.."

"I said something I shouldn't have and... I feel awful about it," In typical Midoriya fashion, the tears are flowing already. "I gave up on you so easily and All Might, the Symbol of Peace, didn't. He saw something in you that I didn't. You kept chasing your dreams this whole time, despite my inaction. I'm so, so sorry, Izuku," She buries her face into the fabric of his soon-to-be hero costume and lets out a few quiet sobs. "From now on, I promise to cheer you on like I should've been with flailing arms!"

Izuku is the last to exit the tunnel, but his determination is unending. One For All mixes with his emotions to create a torrent, a variable storm of power and feelings that he's seldom felt before. It breathes a new life into his blood and rattles his very bones.

His suit is the deep forest green, slightly modified flight suit with a white jacket over his top half. Around his neck is the start of a scarf that flowed down his back into something resembling a short, bright blue and white cape and around his waist, a red belt with multiple compartments for his various hero items with matching red gloves. His boots are made to Gran Torino's specification; a pair of red high combat boots with a light metal on the feet that's a bit denser on the toes and heels. His mother's heart and soul went into this costume and he loves it. But it was missing something...

"You all look great! Let's see you're made of, you zygotes! It's time for your battle trials!"

"Ah, Midoriya!" Uraraka calls out, getting his attention. "Your costume looks so cool! It's super practical and it looks awesome!"

Her compliments might've killed him in itself, if it hadn't been for him taking note of her costume himself.

Uraraka's costume looked good and fit her like a glove, literally. Her costume consisted of a black, skin-tight bodysuit with a pale pink design running down the middle of her torso, two black circles on her chest and a black rectangle below her waist, running between her legs. She has two small, wrist guards and pink, fingerless gloves and fairly wide, knee-high boots with magenta soles. She also has on an interesting looking helmet with a pink, tinted visor.

"I wish I'd drawn my request a bit better," She says sheepishly. "My costume came out a bit -"

"I think it looks great!" Izuku suddenly says, cutting the girl off. Then his mind catches up to what he said and he curses himself to his very core. His eyes slam shut and he starts to float while muttering apologies. Thankfully, Iida grabs his leg before he can get too far.

"Th - thanks, Midoriya."

"Sir! This appears to be the same field used for the entrance exam! Will we again be performing city-scape simulations!?" Iida asked, chopping with one hand while holding Midoriya with the other.

"Nope, Young Iida! You'll be doing something different!" All Might then paused for dramatic effect. "Indoor anti-personnel battle training! You see, villain battles are most commonly seen outdoors, but statistically speaking, the most heinous, dangerous villains are more likely to be inside," The pro explains, "Between normal confinement, house arrest and black market deals, in this society of ours, the most clever villains tend to operate indoors," He then cleared his throat and gives everyone a once over. Midoriya finally stops floating and he has to resist a chuckle. " Now then, I've explained enough! You'll now be split off into two different teams, the Villains and the Heroes. Then you'll face off in two-on-two battle trials!"

"So, no basic training?" Asui, the frog girl, asked with a blank expression.

"Nope! I believe practical experiences teach you the basics best!"

Izuku literally shuddered at hearing "practical experiences" and "teaching the basics". All Might can't blame him. Gran Torino loved to "teach the basics". It was a miracle that All Might himself got through the sentence without panicking.

No one seemed to notice, and All Might continued. "The difference here is that now you won't be fighting robots. Now, any other questions?"

"What determines victory?"

"Can I just blast everyone away?"

"Are you gonna threaten to expel us like Aizawa-sensei did...?"

"How do we proceed to divide ourselves into teams?"

"Isn't my cape fabulous?"

"Oi!" All Might suddenly barks, sweating nervously. " One at a time! My quirk isn't super hearing!" Ever the professional, All Might spun slightly and took a piece of paper from his cape once again. Seriously, what cape came with pockets? "Listen up! Here's what's happening! The villains will be hiding a nuclear weapon somewhere in the hideout. And it'll be the hero's job to go in and take care of it. The heroes have a limited amount of time to either capture the villains or secure the weapon while the villains must either capture the heroes or protect the weapon until the clock hits zero. Your partner will be decided by drawing lots."

"Is that really the best way?" Iida asked.

"Yeah, it actually makes sense. Life's random, and you won't always have the opportunity to choose who you're working with. Heroes often team up with others on the spot during an emergency." Izuku explained casually and Iida immediately turned to him.

"I see. I apologize for getting ahead of myself. My mistake!"

"Thank you, young Midoriya. And it's fine young Iida. Let's just get to it!"

Team A: Izuku Midoriya, Ochako Uraraka

Team B: Shouto Todoroki, Mezu Shoji

Team C: Momo Yaoyorozu, Minoru Mineta

Team D: Katsuki Bakugou, Tenya Iida

Team E: Mina Ashido, Yuga Aoyama

Team F: Koji Koda, Rikido Sato

Team G: Kyoka Jiro, Denki Kaminari

Team H: Tsuyu Asui, Fumikage Tokoyami

Team I: Mashirao Ojiro, Tooru Hagakure

Team J: Eijiro Kirishima, Hanta Sero

"Wow," Uraraka exclaims, "We must be linked by fate or something!"

For the love of One For All, someone help him before he starts to float away again.

"Moving on, the first up are Team A are the heroes and Team D are the villains!" Bakugo turns to Izuku with an absolutely vicious glare and a dangerous smirk, while Izuku tries his hardest to not look at him. There's a large part of him that's anxious and afraid of the boy still, but there's another part - smaller and muted - that invites the challenge. Begs for it. It itches to get its hands on Kacchan and he can't stop the feeling. Not that he's trying too hard.

"Villain team goes in first. The timer is set to five minutes, when the hero team sneaks in. The rest of us will be watching on CCTV." All Might looked over to the villain team. "Iida, Bakugo. You boys need to adopt a villain mindset. This is supposed to be a practical experience so go all out. Don't hold back!" Bakugo perked up at that. "Though I will stop you if things go too far." Bakugo visibly deflates at that.

Iida tapped the back of his fist on the bomb and was interested to hear a hollow thump. "Training or not, it pains me to assume the role of a villain," He admits, tapping the bomb again. "Hmm, paper-mache. So we merely have to guard this?"

"Hey, so Deku's got a quirk and he's strong now huh?" Bakugou said slowly. "Flying at that. Freak thinks he can just copy me and I wouldn't notice."

Iida tilts his head in confusion, unsure of where Bakugou was going with this. "You saw his strength, no? Midoriya is quite the formidable opponent. His mobility and speed is something to take note of. Indoors might be a bit of a hindrance to him, I'll ask you not to charge directly in without a proper plan. It'll be unwise."

But Bakugou just ignored him. The extra didn't say anything he wanted to hear. 'No one develops a quirk that late. That fucker did something. He's been fooling me this whole time!'

"The building's layout isn't as hard to memorize as I thought," Ochako commented while looking over a piece of paper. It's a map of the building and its architecture, including vents, windows, doors and floors. Izuku looked at his paper too in complete silence, having not said a word since the teams were announced. "Are you okay, Midoriya?" She smiled lightly at him with concern on her face. Izuku only nodded absently, mind a million miles away on a small beach surrounded by eight brilliant suns. "There's no punishment here like with Aizawa-sensei, so there's nothing to be worried about." She tried again softly. This time, he glances over at her with a somewhat strained look on his face.

"We're up against Kacchan and Iida. We'd probably fare a bit better if we stayed on guard the whole way." He finally says after a while. Ochako shoots him a look of concern. "Sorry, I guess I'm just uh, really tense." He says cryptically. He is tense, both from his anxiety and something stronger. Fiercer. One For All is boiling and ready and he doesn't know why. It's always calm when Kacchan isn't around, but now?

"Katsuki is the one who treated you poorly isn't he?" Ochako asked and Izuku flinched ever so slightly.

"It's in the past," Izuku admits with a strange tone of voice that Ochako doesn't miss. "He might be a terrible person, but he's strong. I can't take that away from him. He's been stronger than me in every way for most of our lives, but now, things are different. I don't... wanna lose to him." Izuku proclaimed while adjusting his gloves and fixing the collar on his jacket. The flight suit fits so well and he feels so streamlined and ready to rule the skies.

Ochako just marveled at his conviction. "So you're like his fated rival?"

Izuku awkwardly snorts. "Ah, sorry. I must be boring you with all of this..."

"Not at all! We're a team, right?"

The plan is simple enough, Izuku thinks. They enter through a window on the second floor thanks to their respective abilities and land with the silence of a ghost in the darkness. They're like thieves in the night; only disturbing the dust as they float inside.

"Successful infiltration!" Ochako says suddenly, startling the boy.

"There's a lot of blind corners, so watch out," he says quietly, before retreating into his thoughts. 'I can't really regulate my speed that well yet, but I know I can use One For All in doors. Gran taught me how to maneuver in tight spaces, so it should be fine. Although...' He feels it again, a pulse of raw emotion. 'It's almost like this quirk is alive. Its emotions are so strong.'

Continuing their trek on foot, they both scope out the building, moving corner to corner in hopes of spotting their enemies. Then a black and orange blur leaps from around the corner with its arm pulled back and flashing lights dancing within its palm.

Boom!

Izuku, luckily, knew the attack was coming from a mile away and immediately kicked off of the ground and tackled Uraraka to the side, flying a good ways away faster than he would've liked to go. His eyes are a bit irritated thanks to the dust and debris, but he can't worry about it more right now.

"He missed me...! You okay, Uraraka?"

"Yeah, thanks! He just came outta nowhere and surprised me."

The dust starts to settle and Kacchan's form starts to gain more detail until he's fully in view. He's hunched over and glaring at them with some of the nastiest eyes he's ever seen the boy have. "Nice dodging, Deku ," He growls ominously. "Look at you. Flying. Since when can you do that, you fuck ?"

"He was sure to come directly at me! I knew it!"

Kacchan looks feral now. Animalistic. "I'll mess you up just enough to not be disqualified!" He lunges forward with his malicious intent at the forefront, leading with a telegraphed big right hook that Izuku had seen too many times to count in his life. It's easy for him to not notice the way Deku pivots on his heel and grabs his right gauntlet with both hands and heaves him over his shoulder until his back meets the cold, unforgiving concrete and all of the air is jettisoned out of his lungs.

"You always lead with that right hook," Izuku says with shaky confidence, head down and a slight pant. "I've seen it enough to know! You see, I've analyzed heroes for the longest time in that notebook of mine!" When his head comes up and they make eye contact, Katsuki is visibly surprised at the amount of fire in the boy's eyes. Gone were the days where he'd cower and shrink at his presence or the distant sound of thunder. The booms didn't seem to bother him as he stands tall. "The same one you blew up and threw out of the window!" He has the same underlying growl in his voice that he did that day, behind Aldera. The one that's more guttural and deep. "I refuse to be your worthless punching bag forever! I'm that damned Deku who always does his best!"

"You spout all of that shit to me while you're scared out of your mind..." Katsuki responds, grinding his teeth as he realizes that Deku isn't scared. He should be but he's not for whatever fuckin' reason. "It pisses me off!" Katsuki moves like he did before; aggressively telegraphed and filled with more malicious intent than a hero should have.

"Run ahead, Uraraka!" Izuku commands before crouching low under Katsuki's kick and shooting upward towards the ceiling. Gran had prepared him for this; to kick off the ceiling and activate Float in bursts for more surprise and mix-ups. It works like he was taught and the sudden boost in speed is enough to catch Katsuki off guard and Izuku lands a heavy kick across the boy's temple. Katsuki falls to the floor, dazed, and Izuku uses this time to grab the capture tape.

He only manages to wrap his leg once before Katsuki detonates a palm in the middle of his chest. It hurts and burns, but he knows Kacchan will rage and come at him even more.

Good. Let him.

With Izuku blown back, Katsuki stands and roars, propelling himself with his explosions to meet Izuku in the air with another right hook, and like before, Izuku sees it coming from a mile away. The hook misses and gives Izuku an open kick to Katsuki's ribs that he knows Gran would've been proud of. Katsuki heaves but recovers quickly, grabbing Izuku's ankle with one hand and using his explosions with his left to build momentum. With difficulty, Katsuki spins and throws Izuku across the room and towards a window. Izuku, realizing this, has an idea. It's hard to maneuver like this - since he'd just been thrown - but he manages to level out and adjust himself enough to end up crashing through the glass.

Katsuki's eyes widen in surprise for a fraction of a second until he sees Izuku standing in the air on the outside, frantically trying to put on some of the most hideous, All Might-esque goggles he's ever seen. "Get back in here so I can kill you, Deku!"

Izuku ignores him and once his goggles are on, he flies away with Katsuki right in tow.

"Those two are incredible..." Someone in the sea of students says. All Might doesn't really hear it, having been too focused on the battle before him.

He felt something resembling a jolt of electricity go down his spine when he saw the way young Midoriya mimicked his old teacher, and fought a valiant effort within himself to not tremble at the memories. He almost calls off the session when he sees the young, green-haired child get thrown out of a window but thankfully, he doesn't when he is reminded that the boy can, in fact, fly. Seeing the very clear nod to him with the goggles was a nice touch.

"Uh, All Might?"

"Hmm? Yes, young Yaoyorozu?"

"Are they allowed to leave the battle area like that?" She asks, gesturing to how both boys are now outside of the building and steadily getting further away in their dog fight. All Might, admittedly, didn't think about that.

"Heroes must always be ready for a change in location, " All Might says on the fly, proud that he could somehow make this make sense. "While there's no rule against leaving, I would like to implement it now for everyone else. We have cameras all around the gym grounds, thankfully."

"Stop running, you bastard!" Katsuki shouts, but it's a bit hard to hear him over the wind. "Must've been fun tricking me, yeah!? Tricking me this whole time!" Izuku slows down and takes a sharp left to avoid hitting the side of a building. Katsuki's cornering speed is much better and even that slightest bit of speed change is enough to cause the gap between them to shrink. "Hiding this flashy quirk!"

Izuku makes a face at that. 'He's still coming straight for me, which means Iida is the one protecting the bomb. It would've been smarter if Iida was the vanguard maybe due to his speed, probably, and I think Iida knows that. This is probably just Kacchan rampaging on his own. There's no teamwork there." His thoughts stray further and further which leads to him taking less desirable routes in the air and letting Kacchan gain more ground than he would've liked. He has a plan, of course, but it's risky and getting riskier by the second.

" Okay boys, you're getting far enough. It's time to turn around or you'll both be disqualified."All Might says into his earpiece. Well, now would be as good a time as any to enact his plan.

What Katsuki makes up for in maneuverability, he lacks in speed and Izuku plans to make use of that. He slows himself down in the air and then comes to a sudden stop, much to Katsuki's surprise. The boy shoots past him, clipping him with an explosion as he does so at the same time Izuku extends a leg to hit him in the ribs and throw him off course, and Izuku takes off in the other direction and back towards the building.

Ochako sneakily peaked around a pillar. 'Found you!'

She inwardly debated simply getting the jump on Iida or waiting for Midoriya. She watched the boy pace while she thought to herself, until she overheard the armored boy muttering.

"Bakugou is such a natural trouble-maker, so this exercise is perfectly suited for him. I suppose I must also take on the role of a villain. Though it brings great shame to the Iida family name, this training is to help become a better man! I must commit to cloaking myself in darkness...!" Iida then started to laugh 'evilly'. It's forced and so over-the-top that a part of Ochako is wondering if he's being serious or not. Then he gave off a hilariously intense aura and all bets were off. "Yes, I am the ultimate evil!"

Ochako tried really, really hard not to giggle at that. She really did. But he was just so serious. Her laughter alerted Iida immediately. "Ah, so you've come, Uraraka!"

'Well, fiddlesticks.' Ochako thought.

"I calculated as much, once Bakugou ran off on his own. I know your quirk allows you to levitate objects you touch. However," He gestured broadly to the completely cleaned room. "I enacted a counter-strategy against you by removing all objects on this floor!" He gave a very forceful, manic chuckle. "Your little tricks won't work here, 'hero'! Nya-haha!"

Ochako at that point physically cringed as though in actual, real pain. 'He's reallygetting into it.'

Seeing that she'd been caught and having no other option, Uraraka readies herself for the brawl. With no objects around, things will be much harder, but seeing the way Midoriya moved around prior to her escape gave her some inspiration. Before fighting, she radioed her teammate. "Midoriya!"

" Uraraka, what is it?" It was a bit hard to hear him over the strong winds, but she doesn't have time to question it.

"Iida found me, sorry." She said while staring down the ' Engine' user. He hasn't moved yet, for some reason, but she's taking all the time she can get. "I'm inching forward but I'm not sure I can take him."

"Shoot, I'm still a bit away," Whatever that meant, " Where are you exactly?"

"Fifth floor, right in the center."

"Hmm, I can work with that. Alright, just hold Iida off for a bit, I have a plan. I'll try to shake Kacchan, but I'm on my way. Here's what you do..."

After explaining the plan as best as he could, he dares to glance behind him. Kacchan is much closer than he'd thought he would've been. "Shoot, I forgot he's a slow starter and his sweat needs to build up!"

"Stop running, damn it!" To Katsuki's surprise, Izuku does. He stops right next to a building, directly in front of a large, closed window. He looks tired - probably, since all the fucker did was fly around with that stupid quirk of his - and scared. He probably realized that he had nowhere else to go. Good. His arms were getting a bit sore after all the chasing. "I've finally got you!" He rears back his right again, but it's a feint. He can see Deku looking at it, preparing a counter, which is what he wants. Fucker won't see the knee coming.

Or so he thinks.

Izuku, at the last moment, moves to the side, narrowly avoiding Kacchan's right and his knee, then kicks off the side of the wall and spins on the air to land a roundhouse squarely in the center of Kacchan's back. Given the speed he was traveling, it causes Kacchan to fly through the window and crash unceremoniously onto the hard floor.

Almost topping Iida over as he does.

"Bakugou!" Iida yells.

'Now's my chance!' Ochako thinks before removing her own gravity and leaping upwards with a front flip, running on the ceiling as she does and then jumping towards the bomb. She gets closer and opens her arms to grab the bomb, but then Iida, in an impressive burst of speed, darts across the room and grabs the bomb from her grasp. "Huh!?" She takes a rather ungraceful tumble that knocks her helmet off.

"I didn't expect for my teammate to return, but now, you have no chance, hero!" Iida taunts as he places the bomb firmly out of her way. "Now struggle, as you fight alone and we run out your precious time!"

"I am here!" A voice shouts from the window. It's Izuku, looking a bit rough and tired, but floating next to his teammate. "It's still a two vs two!"

"That's it! I'm sick of this shit!" Katsuki roars when he finally gets back to his feet. There's a thin line of blood falling from the corner of his mouth and from his hairline, but he ignores them both. Or he doesn't notice due to how angry he is. He raises his right hand and points it at Izuku and Ochako. ""You should know this from all the stalking, but the sweat glands on my palms secrete something like nitroglycerin. And that's how I make shit go 'boom'."

Izuku knew that of course, he was just curious as to why Bakugo would state the obvious.

"These gauntlets aren't just for show. They've been storing my sweat this whole time." He pulled his hand up to the pin. Everyone's eyes get wide.

" Bakugou, stop it now, kid. Are you trying to kill someone?"

"Deku can fly! He'll be fine if he fuckin' dodges!" The pin comes clean and the room gets bright. Really, really bright.

BOOM!

The explosion rocks the building and decimates everything in its path. Iida is off to the side, and yet, is still thrown back from the shockwave. Ochako and Izuku are in its path and aren't so lucky. Thinking quickly, Izuku grabs the girl's arm and lets his Fight or Flight response - One For All itself - take over. To him, it feels as though the world has gotten so much slower. The explosion slows to a snail's pace, Ochako's startled scream gets deeper and lower until it all mixes together into silence, and all of the debris and shrapnel seem to freeze in the air.

It reminds him of the entrance exam. The event must've lasted little more than a few moments, but to Izuku, right now, it feels like a full minute. And then it's over and he and Uraraka are on the other side of the room. His goggles are cracked but his eyes are mostly fine, but his ears are hurting and he feels a warm liquid drip down each of them. Sounds are muffled, and it's hard to maintain his balance, but at least he can see the destruction. The room, and the spot they were standing at is in ruin, cracked, broken and those that weren't charred, were simply gone. For some reason, All Might is there holding up a piece of what Izuku assumes to be the ceiling and appears to be reprimanding Kacchan. He points at him and makes a few hand signs that Izuku doesn't understand.

Thankfully, Uraraka seems to get the hint. She grabs his hand and traces some kanji into his open palm. " We won," she draws hastily. "Got disqualified. Because bomb."

"Your hands are soft and that tickles..." Izuku says to himself in what he thought was a soft mutter, but Ochako lights up like a traffic light and covers her face, saying something he can't hear. Iida puts a hand on his shoulder and leds Izuku away, but the only thing the boy sees before he leaves is the look on Kacchan's face.