Chapter 7 - Battle On, Class 1-C!

In a secluded area on the U.A. campus, Ueshita was quietly sitting alone. The light of the sun glinting off of her visor as she held a cigarette between her fingers. She proceeded to place the item to her lips before breathing it in. Pulling the cigarette out, she then blew a puff of smoke, just when she heard a familiar voice.

"Smoking's bad for your health, ya know?" Snipe said, his arms crossed as he leaned against the wall of the U.A. building.

Ueshita smirked, "I'm already old and sick. It's not like nicotine can do any more damage to my health."

He let out a toneless laugh, "Yeah..."

There was a moment of awkward silence, to the point where Ueshita's smirk faded into a scowl.

"Is there something you need, Snipe?" She asked him.

"Oh, uh... I-I was just wondering why you're not with All Might right now. I know you're not supposed to be there, but I'd figured you'd wanna watch your new rookies in action."

"Who says I'm not?" She replied, tapping her visor with a finger.

Snipe tilted his head in confusion.

Ueshita went on to explain, "I hacked into the monitors that All Might is using for his training exercise and connected them to my visor. Which gives me a front row seat in what exactly my students are doing, as well as giving me the opportunity to gauge All Might's ability to teach."

"Ya know, sometimes I don't know whether to be impressed or in fear of your skills."

"Why not both?" She grinned.

"Heh, well anyway, on the topic of All Might. What's your read on him as a teacher so far?"

"Honestly? I'd rather have you train the first years. All Might's an amateur and it shows. He has zero proficiency for teaching, he's more often than not trying to pretend to know what he's doing. Furthermore, he's too lenient with his students. Just look at what happened with those two students in 1-A. He let them have a full on fight with each other, which resulted with one of them ending up in Recovery Girl's care."

"And here I thought that that would be something you'd be glad about."

"What are two inexperienced students supposed to learn from fighting each other? In any case, the fight was apparently some emotional squabble between the two, which shouldn't have even taken place in training in the first place."

"Yeah, well, it was the guy's first day of being a teacher. Besides, I heard he was really good with Vlad's class, maybe he'll be good with your class too?"

Ueshita glared at him from underneath her visor, "I highly doubt it."

Back at Training Ground Beta, the first round of the battle trials had officially begun.

"Okay! Let's head inside!" The girl with spikes all over her body announced, about to run through the front entrance.

She was stopped, however, by an extremely long arm grabbing at her hand, her spiky, dark green hair swishing back as her dark green eyes darted back at her teammate.

"What are you waiting for? We only have twenty minutes to find the weapon?"

"Yes, but it'll be smarter to search for them using the windows on the outside of the building. Instead of trying to physically search a building that we don't know the layout of," Kikyo answered, letting go of the other girl's hand and slowly retracting her elongated arm.

"I mean, yeah, but how are we supposed to check every window?"

"I can easily use my quirk and scout around the outside of the building; checking every window to find the other team and the weapon. I'll grab you once I locate them."

With that, Kikyo stretched out her arms, grabbing at a ledge high above her head before flinging herself forward towards the wall, her long, straight green hair flowing in the breeze behind her. She proceeded to then climb the building, simultaneously scouring all the windows with an elongated head, her dark blue eyes quickly scanning each room.

Mitake Kikyo

Quirk: Elongation

She can stretch any part of her body to about 10 metres in length. Her body becomes quite flexible when she does this.

Hero Costume: Her hero costume consists of a scaly, green, skin tight suit that covers her entire body, with yellow colouring underneath her arms and running down to her feet. She also wears a red belt with a silver, snake-shaped buckle, as well as a scaly, green mask over her eyes. Additionally, her costume was made with flakes of her skin and strands of her hair so it stretches with her whenever she activates her quirk.

"I'll just stay down here then," Kikyo's partner muttered to herself, kicking a small piece of gravel.

Meanwhile, Kikyo was diligently searching every window for signs of the weapon, as well as the other team. Until eventually, she finally located them in one of the windows on the top floor. She made sure to keep herself hidden as she scanned the room. The weapon was currently in the center of the room, and standing on the other side of it and facing the doorway was Kebin Yoshio. But there was no sign of his teammate, Reido Anegawa.

'Where's his teammate? Is he searching the other floors to try and find us?' She thought to herself before pulling her head back from the window. 'In any case, I better go get Uni so we can have a numbers advantage against Yoshio.'

She began to carefully climb down the building until Uni was just a few metres away from her.

"Did you find them?!" Uni called out, cupping her mouth with both hands.

Almost immediately, Kikyo used her quirk and stretched out her arm. She then wrapped it around Uni's waist, before unceremoniously pulling her entire body towards.

"Hey!" Uni shouted angrily, before a hand placed itself on her lips.

Kikyo placed a finger on her own lips, shushing Uni before whispering, "I found the weapon. It's just in that window on the top floor," she pointed with an elongated finger. "Only one of them's guarding it, I think. I couldn't find the other guy. But if we're sneaky enough, I think we can easily secure the weapon without them noticing us. Sound like a plan?"

Uni just nodded her head, Kikyo's hand still covering her mouth.

"Good. Then let's go," Kikyo said, swinging the both of them until they were next to the window where the weapon was.

She then swung herself and Uni into the room quietly. Kikyo looked at Uni and placed a finger to her lips once again, to which, Uni nodded to with a determined expression. The two started to make their way quietly towards the weapon, taking slow but long strides. They both stopped when Yoshio turned his head just a little, in fear that he had caught onto them. But once he faced the doorway again, the two continued their way towards the fake weapon.

Back in the monitoring room, an already exasperated Saihara was getting restless.

"God, this is so boring!" He announced, scratching at his scarred cheek.

"I'll say! If I was them right now, I'd just go ahead and fight the other team! Will save some time, that's for sure," the tornado girl proclaimed.

All Might quickly chimed in with some words of wisdom, "You may think that fighting the villains is a viable strategy, young Ukiya, but you may actually only end up exacerbating the problem. Remember that the villains currently have in their possession, a dangerous weapon that they could arm at any moment. If you engage them in combat, they could activate the bomb and blow up the entire building before you even have the chance to say, 'whoops'. A fight should only take place when all other potential threats have been neutralized, or if it's the only viable option."

Mutsuki took her attention away from All Might to focus on the screen, to which it showed Team B nearing the weapon.

"All we have to do is touch the weapon and we win,' Kikyo thought to herself, reaching out her hand to touch and secure the weapon. But before her fingers could even reach it...

"Too slow," a tired voice rang out as Kikyo suddenly became enveloped in a green energy, her movements halted.

"Kikyo! No way," Uni muttered in shock, facing in the direction of where Anegawa was currently sitting next to one of the pillars.

'He was hiding behind one of the pillars this entire time?!' She thought to herself, gritting her sharp teeth.

"Woah! Where'd they come from!" Yoshio exclaimed, staggering back some.

"Yoshio. Hurry up and take care of the other one," Anegawa called out in a curt tone.

"Roger that!" He answered back, quickly making his way around the weapon.

Before Uni could even move, Yoshio appeared in front of her. Right before he delivered a punch straight to her stomach, sending her tumbling backwards.

"Sorry! I usually don't like hitting girls! But we're in a fight so no holds barred, okay?!" He yelled out to her.

"I don't think she's gonna answer," Anegawa replied, staring at the girl's limp body.

To his surprise however, Uni began to move. Getting up from the ground and shaking off that hit, before glaring at the two of them.

"It's gonna take a lot more than that to keep me down."

Kasui Uni

Quirk: Sea Urchin

She possesses the physical characteristics and abilities of a sea urchin, such as a hard, outer shell, poisonous spikes that protrude from her body, and the ability to breathe underwater.

Hero Costume: She wears a black and blue-accented, sleeveless, skin-tight swimsuit that covers only her chest area, as well as skin-tight swim shorts, some gloves, and a pair of aqua shoes that are all black with blue-accents.

Uni proceeded to then charge towards Yoshio at full speed. Yoshio quickly prepared himself, dawning a serious expression. Just as she was right in front of him, Yoshio launched a fist at her. However, she effortlessly hopped over it, placing her hands on his metal arm before flipping her body over him and then planting her feet on his back to then kick off. Yoshio attempted to swipe at her but she had already propelled herself away from him, launching herself towards the weapon. She reached out her hand, about to seize victory for her team...

Unfortunately, just before her fingers could touch the weapon, her body became completely frozen. She looked to her left and saw that Anegawa was pointing a second finger and was generating another beam. He began to sweat, however, as producing this amount of zero-point energy and holding it was consuming a lot of his physical energy.

"Nice going, Anegawa! You sure came in clutch with that one!" Yoshio cheered, flexing an arm.

Anegawa was currently shaking from the exertion before answering, "Yeah, sure. Hey, teacher, they're both immobilized. You wanna hurry up and call it?"

"Oh! Uh, of course!" He coughed out over the PA system before declaring, "Team B has been successfully immobilized! The villain team WINS!"

Anegawa instantly deactivated his quirk, giving out a sigh of relief as Kikyo and Uni were dropped onto the ground.

"You guys okay?" Yoshio asked, his skin reverting back to normal as he extended out his hand to them.

Kikyo gladly took it, thanking him as he pulled her up to her feet.

"Damn it! We were so close!" Uni whined, hitting her fist against the concrete floor out of frustration.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Yoshio said, rubbing the back of his head.

"No need to apologize, Yoshio. You and your teammate won fair and square. You should be proud of your victory. We tried our hardest and that's all that matters," Kikyo explained with a wide smile.

Tears began to trickle down Yoshio's face as he sniffled out, "You're so kind, Kikyo."

Uni looked at him with a blank stare and her mouth agape as he continued to cry, 'We seriously lost to this guy?'

Anegawa was next to speak, "Hey, since we're finished now, can I go and take a nap already?"

"Not quite! The four of you still need to make your way over to the monitoring room so we can review your performance!" All Might announced.

"Great," he muttered tepidly.

Not long after, the four students were now with the rest of the class.

"Excellent work! The four of you showed us what you were really made of this first match! And a special congratulations to the winning team! Even if you were playing the role of the villains," All Might cheered. "Now, of course, I can't just shower you with praise only! Young heroes like yourselves also need to be told where they went wrong! And who better to do that than your fellow classmates! So can anyone here tell us what either team could've done better in their matchup?"

Two hands shot up in the air. One belonged to the girl with the gel-hair, and the other belonged to Maho.

"Yes! You there, Yawakami Meiji!" All Might called on.

She stuck her tongue out at Maho teasingly, then proceeded to lower her hand and place it on her hip before beginning her assessment, "I mean, it's obvious, isn't it? Neither team took this fight as seriously as they should have. Anegawa was quick to fall asleep instead of planning with his teammate. Yoshio was unwilling to account for all possibilities, such as the other team sneaking in through the window. Uni kept on rushing in head-first with no back-up plan, and Kikyo, in trying to be more cautious and sneaky, took too long to secure the weapon. Giving the villains the perfect opportunity to capture them."

When she finished, All Might was stumped as there wasn't really much for him to add, "Yes, well, uh... I do think that there was a minor detail you left out, such as the fact that Team A could've played into their villain role some more. But overall, as expected of a student who got in recommendations!"

She flicked her hair smugly, "What can I say? It pays to be at the top of your class."

"Coxcomb," Maho muttered vehemently, to which he earned a glare from Meiji.

"Now that the first match is over, it's time to move on to the second! And they will be," All Might said as he reached into the two small boxes before pulling out two more balls, "These guys!"

The letters he took out were G and I.

Soya started to tremble in his hero costume as he gave a nervous gulp. His eyes wondered over to the team he'd be facing. Junan Budo, one of the recommended students who seems to have a keen knowledge on Battle strategy. And Hayashi Kenzaki, the student who scored the highest in the class during the entrance exam, and who possesses a powerful quirk.

He then looked over to his teammate, who was wearing a yellow and black-striped, furred garment with one strap tied over his left shoulder, and a brown sash wrapped around his waist. Soya knew little about Ikuji Saihara, but judging from the fact that he has a bunch of scars and an impressive quirk, he could easily tell that he's an efficient combatant. Whether or not he could be cooperative is a different story.

"Team G will be the heroes! And Team I, the villains! You have five minutes to prep! Now let's go beyond, Plus Ultra!" All Might exclaimed, his enthusiasm in complete contrast to Soya's current mood.

Mutsuki, well aware that Soya is nervous about the match, places a comforting hand on his shoulder pad, "You got this, Yuusei!"

Soya looked at her, nodding in appreciation.

"Yeah, don't worry! We'll be cheering you on, even if you don't stand a chance against the other team!" Kaetsu bluntly stated, earning a flick on the head from Otonashi.

"Just don't sweat it, man. Win or lose, it's just training," he chimed in.

"Thanks guys," Soya replied, before turning and walking away from them.

Even though they were all being reassuring to him, he couldn't help but think that the three of them had something that he just didn't, and this caused him to ruminate. Until he had suddenly bumped into something solid. It wasn't long before he realized that he had bumped into his partner. Soya's legs became shaky as Saihara looked at him with contempt in his intense, violet eyes.

"Watch it, chimp!" He seethed, before walking out of the room.

Mutsuki watched worryingly as Soya reluctantly followed the other student.

"You think your friend's gonna be alright?" Otonashi asked.

"Yeah! I mean, he's going up against literally the toughest-looking guy in the class, plus Mr Four Eyes. Not to mention, he's working with a guy who looks like he could eat him for breakfast," Kaetsu added.

"I wouldn't say that Budo's the toughest, but... he must be pretty skilled if he got in on recommendations. As for his partner... All I can say is that he's gonna have to grow a backbone if he's planning on getting that guy to cooperate with him."

"Soya," Mutsuki whispered under her breath, concern etched in her voice.

Team G was now waiting outside, as Budo and Kenzaki had already went inside the building. Soya was taking quick, fearful glances at Saihara. The intimidating student took quick notice of it, and began to get annoyed.

"If you got something to say then hurry up and say it, chimp!" He barked at him.

Soya let out a gasp, stammering out, "I-I was just t-thinking that... m-maybe we should c-come up with a p-plan."

"I've already got a plan! You keep your mouth shut, do exactly what I tell you, and don't get in my way, got it?!"

Soya nodded his head frantically, keeping his mouth sealed tight.

"Good. Besides, it's not like you could be of much use anyway."

Soya looked down at the ground disheartened, until the bellowing voice of All Might caught his attention, "Let the second match of the battle trials begin!"

"Finally, some action!" Saihara exclaimed excitedly, his limbs transforming into that of a wolf's as he went on all fours. "Just try and keep up, chimp!"

Ikuji Saihara

Quirk: Animorph

He can transform his body into any extant, mammal-type animal of his choosing. However, he can only transform into one animal at a time, and he must have at least some knowledge of the animal he's transforming into.

Saihara immediately sprinted into the building, with Soya already desperately trying to keep up with him. Unbeknown to them, a small piece of gel-like substance was clinging to the ceiling next to the entranceway; the object in question was emitting an ominous, flashing red light.

Over to where the other team was stationed, Budo was currently observing the glowing red lights showing on his wrist-mounted radar device. The rest of his hero costume mainly consisted of a olive-green military vest with a black singlet underneath, an orange utility belt, some camo pants, a pair of grey, fingerless gloves, a pair of dark brown combat boots, and a cream-coloured transmitter device on his ear.

"I'm guessing from that furrowed expression of yours that Team G has already made their way inside?" Kenzaki inquired, standing next to the weapon.

Kenzaki was wearing a rust-coloured, loose bodysuit with a turtle-neck and several wooden plates of armour all over his body, a pair of dark-green fingerless gloves, some long, dark-green, form-fitting sandals, and a wooden forehead protector.

"Yes, they just made it onto the second floor. Saihara must be using his quirk to sniff us out," Budo answered, his eyes still glued to his radar.

"Good thing you mounted those sensors all over the building before we started. We can tell exactly where they are without having to go and search for them ourselves."

Budo stared at him coldly, "That's not the only reason I deployed them."

He then pressed a button on his wrist-mounted radar device.

Meanwhile, Saihara was using his morphed wolf nose to track the other team, whilst Soya was panting heavily, his armour weighing him down.

"Can you move any more slower?!" Saihara growled out, flicking his long, shaggy light-blue hair out of his face.

"Sorry," Soya heaved out.

Just then, he noticed some sort of flashing adhesive mounted on the ceiling in the pathway on his right. His brows furrowed as he looked at it curiously.

"Hey, there's something on the ceiling," He called out.

"What are you on about?" Saihara questioned, stalking his way over.

Soya then pointed at the object in question, to which, Saihara squinted his eyes at, "It's probably just one of the camera things that All Might set up before the exercise started."

He was about to walk on ahead, until Soya spoke up again, "I don't think so. I think this might be the other team's doing."

"And what if it is? That just means we need to hurry up and find them."

"But what if they're setting up some sort of trap for us? We need to think strategically before jumping head-first into a fight."

"Strategy this, strategy that. Look, chimp! If you're just gonna be shaking in your boots the entire time, you can go ahead and stay behind! But I, for one, refuse to back down from a fight that I know I can win by myself!" He exclaimed, before running down the hallway on all fours.

"Wait! Saiha-"

Before he could even finish, the ceiling next to him suddenly exploded. Pieces of debris began falling down, as Soya put his arms in front to shield himself. Dust filled the area as the rest of the class observed from the monitoring room.

"What the hell just happened?! The ceiling next to him just exploded out of nowhere!" Yoshio exclaimed, utterly shocked at what he was watching.

A boy with teal-coloured hair suddenly called out from the back, "It didn't come out of nowhere, actually. This had been set up by Junan Budo before the match had even started. He's using his quirk to seal up every possible escape route there is."

Juna Budo

Quirk: Plastique

Using the lipids in his body, he can produce an adhesive explosive substance that he can mold into any shape he wants. Unfortunately however, his quirk doesn't allow him to detonate them without the help of radio transmissions.

All of Budo's plastic explosives began to blow up one after another, sealing the different pathways, besides the one leading to the weapon, in rubble.

"Since Budo is unable to actually arm the plastic explosives he produces with his quirk, he requested the school to make these tiny devices that produce strong radio signals from the earpiece he wears. He also requested a radar device so he knows where exactly his explosives are planted at all times. I asked him about them just before we were assigned teams," the boy explained, smirking.

"Yeah, but why block off all the exits besides the one leading to where they are? That just makes it easier for the heroes to find them," Ukiya stated.

"The other team was gonna locate them anyway, thanks to Saihara's tracking ability. No, there's a whole other reason as to why he's blocking every other route. And I bet we're about to see it now."

Soya coughed a few times, fanning the dust that was obscuring his vision.

'What was that?! An explosion?! It didn't seem like it was meant to injure me. But now the path's blocked. Wait! Is that their plan?! If so, I gotta warn Saihara that he's running into a trap!' Soya thought to himself.

He proceeded to breathe in deep, before activating his quirk and releasing his voice, "SAIHARA! IT'S A TRAP!"

His voice echoed down the hallway, reverberating off of the concrete walls, steadily making its way to Saihara. Once it reached him, Saihara immediately covered his ears, wincing in annoyance at the sound.

"Of course he's got an annoying quirk like that," he hissed. "Is he trying to get me to turn back around? Well too bad. Cause ain't no way I'm backing down. Not now, or ever!"

Ignoring Soya's warning, Saihara pressed on.

"Grrrah! What is that idiot think he's doing?! Yuu-chan just warned him that it's a trap!" Kaetsu yelled, gripping at her hair tightly.

"It doesn't seem like Saihara wants to listen at all," Mutsuki surmised.

"Then he's gonna have a hard time in this line of work. Communication is key when working with another pro. Remember that, students," All Might stated.

With incredible speed, Saihara was quickly making his way to where the other team was hiding. His wolf nose was constantly twitching, their scent assaulting his sense of smell.

'Found them!' He thought to himself, giving a toothy grin as he took a turn into the next room.

His smile faded however, once he saw who was in front of him.

Kenzaki was kneeling down in front of the weapon, with both of his palms on the ground, all the while, giving Saihara a devilish smirk. Budo on the other hand, was nonchalantly leaning against the wall, his eyes closed and his arms crossed. Before Saihara could even react, large, wooden branches started to sprout from the ground. The branches launched themselves at Saihara, who could only grit his teeth in defiance as they enveloped him.

"So that was there plan, huh? Hmm, how ruthless of you, Budo," the teal-haired boy said a loud, his mouth twisted into a snake-like smirk.

Three floors down, Soya was slowly making his way through the hallways. All the other routes were now blocked, due to the explosions. All of a sudden, Soya could hear a loud, rustling sound up ahead. It wasn't long before a slew of large, wooden tendrils proceeded to make their way down the hallway at break-neck speed. As for Soya himself, his entire body froze as he looked on in fear. Right before he was wrapped up and restrained by the wooden branches.

"And with that! The villain team wins!" All Might announced.

"Damn it! Why... Can't I... Break... Out of this!" Saihara grunted out in frustration, desperately struggling to break free of the strong branches he was enveloped in.

"You'll find that my wood is quite strong when bunched up together in tight spaces," Kenzaki said through clenched teeth, his entire body as stiff as a tree.

Meanwhile, Budo kept on a neutral expression, whilst Soya stood trapped inside the web of wooden tendrils, feeling dejected about his performance in the match. Mutsuki had a clear view of this in the monitoring room.

"Don't get discouraged, Yuusei. You did your best," she whispered, wearing a remorseful expression.

Since both Soya and Saihara needed some time to be broken out of their wooden prisons, and Kenzaki needed a moment to recuperate, Class 1-C proceeded to take a short break. Once it was done, the class met back up in the monitoring room to discuss the match, whilst a second building was being prepped.

"Another good match with zero injuries! You students are on a roll! But now it's time for your criticisms. Young Saihara!" All Might pointed, "You should have listened to your teammate. Your partner gave you crucial information, as well as a warning that you blatantly ignored. That's why the villains were able to take the win."

Saihara answered with an annoyed 'tsk'.

"Young Budo! Though your plan to seal up the other pathways worked in your favour, it was still a risky strategy to use. You could've ended up bringing the entire building down. But I'll give you credit for reducing the power behind the explosions as much as you possibly could."

"Thank you, sir," Budo bowed respectfully.

"Young Soya!"

"Y-Yes, All Might!" Soya stuttered out.

All Might's face softened, "You demonstrated good awareness of your surroundings, as well as good judgement. And gave useful information to your peer. However, you gave in too easily near the end of the match. The best heroes search for a solution, even when faced with incredible odds. Take that to heart, young Soya."

Soya said nothing, choosing to instead, look at the ground despondently. To which, Mutsuki placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Only this time, he brushed it off to her surprise.

"Now then, no time to lose! Let's move on to the next match!"

"Ahem," Kenzaki coughed out.

"Yes, young Kenzaki?"

"I was just wondering if you had anything to say about my role in that match."

Both Kaetsu and Otonashi rolled their eyes.

"Well, uh, hmm... There really wasn't much to say, except that you captured the heroes perfectly!"

"Hm, that's all I needed to hear. Thank you," he answered, a smug grin plastered on his face.

"I seriously wanna punch that guy," Kaetsu mumbled quietly, her tone laced with contempt.

"Anyway! I declare that the third match will be between... Team F and Team D!" All Might proudly announced.

Both Mutsuki and Kaetsu looked at one another, before their eyes landed on Otonashi.

"Guess it'll be us fightin'. Just like ol' times, eh Fuji?" Otonashi said, smirking.

Kaetsu bumped her large fists together, "I'm not gonna go easy on you, just so you know."

"I was hoping you won't. Same goes for you, Junko. You better bring your A game in this, ya hear?"

"Don't worry, I will. But uh... You should probably be more concerned with your teammate."

Otonashi's face immediately turned sour, "Don't remind me."

As if on cue, Kinji Takaishi strode up to the trio, fully decked out in his hero costume. His outfit consisted of a dark blue bodysuit with a black and silver-accented flak jacket over it, a pair of red gloves with silver fingertips, some red, steel boots with white soles, a red and blue patterned belt with multiple pockets and a magnet as his buckle, a red cape, two magnet-shaped shoulder guards as well as two magnet-shaped knee-pads, a pair of two connected magnets functioning as his wrist guards, and lastly, a red and blue visor.

Takaishi ran a hand through his well-kept, dark silver hair, his black-coloured eyes staring straight at Mutsuki and Kaetsu, "Ah, fate is such a cruel mistress. Pitting me against such sweet, delicate flowers."

"We'll show ya whose delicate when we pummel you into the ground!" Kaetsu exclaimed excitedly.

"But I detest violence! Especially against beautiful specimens such as yourselves. I do sincerely hope that we can grow closer from this experience. Maybe even after, when we've won, I could take one of you out on a da-"

A green spike was suddenly thrown at his neck, causing him to fall on the ground, paralysed. The three of them turned towards Kasui Uni.

"No need to thank me," she said, before nonchalantly walking away.

Otonashi sighed, picking up Takaishi's limp body and throwing it over his shoulder, "C'mon, loverboy. Let's go get ready."

"We should probably start planning too, Fuji-chan," Mutsuki suggested.

"Right!"

Soya watched from afar as his friends left the room, a bitter feeling welling up within him.

"Let the third match BEGIN!" All Might announced.

"Let's do this," Mutsuki muttered, flipping down her kitsune mask over her eyes.

She and Kaetsu then proceeded to charge into the building, before quickly grinding to a halt when they reached two diverging pathways.

Mutsuki's eyes darted from left to right, before turning towards her teammate, "Alright, I think we should split up here."

"What?! Why?" Kaetsu questioned, her expression turned to one of apprehension.

"Because, Fuji-chan. It'll take us too long to search for the weapon together. But if we split up, we'll be able to cover more areas much faster."

"But... I don't wanna go it alone," she replied, her worried gaze falling to the fall.

"I know, Fuji-chan. I don't want to either. But heroes sometimes have to do things on their own. Besides, we have communicators on us. So we can contact each other if we find the weapon or if we run into trouble. I believe that you can do this! You're strong! Just have faith in yourself, okay?"

A bright smile quickly appeared on Kaetsu's face, "Alright! If you can do it, then so can I!"

"That's the spirit! Now, let's show our class what we can do!"

"Yeah!"

With renewed vigour, the two ran into separate directions, as All Might and the rest of the class observed quietly.

"Seems like young Kaetsu was having doubts there. Thankfully, her teammate was able to inspire confidence in her. That's a good trait to have in both a hero and a leader. Take notes, students," All Might stated.

In the corner of the room, Soya was staring at the ground silently, his eyes covered in shadow.

Meanwhile, Mutsuki was speeding through the hallways, checking each room as she went past.

'I know it'd be faster if I use my quirk, but I wanna conserve as much energy as possible. In case, I run into the other team. I just hope Fujisaki will be okay on her own,' she thought to herself.

In that moment, black smoke appeared right before her, with Otonashi leaping from it. There was no time to process this, as Mutsuki was immediately kicked in the face, her mask falling off instantly. She then fell to the floor, with Otonashi teleporting to the end of the hallway.

"Had a feeling you two would decide to split up. Unfortunately for you, I decided to do the same," Otonashi told her with a smirk.

"Why did he go off on his own? Wouldn't it be smarter to stick with his teammate and protect the bomb?" One of the students in the monitoring room questioned.

"He probably thinks he can take one of them on his own. That, or he's trying to keep one of them at bay," the boy with teal-coloured hair surmised.

Mutsuki stared him down as she got to her feet, "I'm surprised you came after me, and not Fuji-chan. Seeing as how you're probably used to how she fights."

His smirk disappeared, slightly surprising Mutsuki.

"I know exactly what Fuji's capable of. In saying that, I ain't dumb enough to think I stand a chance against her at the level I am right now."

"And what makes you think you can take me on?"

"Simple," he said as he vanished in a puff of smoke, before appearing behind her, "You're much easier to predict."

Mutsuki gritted her teeth as she clenched her right fist, enveloping it with Red aura.

"Crimson Clout!" She yelled, throwing her fist at him.

Unfortunately, before the strike could connect, Otonashi activated his quirk and teleported to the other side. He then delivered a spin kick to her elbow, sending her body straight into the wall next to her. Fortunately, she was able to shrug off the pain, quickly deciding to throw another punch at Otonashi. However, he evaded it with ease by teleporting away. She realised too late that he had teleported himself above her, before delivering a devastating upwards kick to her face. She let out a short grunt as he transported himself once again. Only this time, he appeared next to her chest, kicking at it with both legs and sending her tumbling a few steps back. He proceeded to then do a backflip before standing upright. All the while, Mutsuki hissed at the damage she received as she laid on the floor.

Kaetsu, meanwhile, was on the third floor. Running through the hallway, scanning each room in search for the weapon.

"Empty room, empty room, empty room, room with fake missile, empty room, wait a minute!" She blurted out, doubling back to the room with the fake missile inside it.

"Yes, I found it! Hmm? But why's no one here?" She pondered, surveying the room for signs of someone. "Better call Jun-chan. She'd know what to do."

Two floors down, Mutsuki began to receive a message from her teammate as she was standing back on her feet, "Jun-chan! You there?! I'm on the third floor, and I've found the weapon!"

Her eyes immediately lit up, "You have?"

"Yeah, but... there's a slight problem. No one seems to be inside the room. I think it might be a trap. Should I wait for you to get here?"

"I would say 'yes', if it weren't for the fact that Tabito's currently here with me," she explained, staring at him as he was stretching out his legs insouciantly.

"Wait! Tabi-chan's there with you?! I'll get there, ASAP!"

"No, don't!"

"Huh? Why not?"

"I'm pretty sure that's what Tabito wants. He wants you to come help me so he can keep us both away from the weapon until time runs out. He's stalling. Probably why he isn't attacking me right now."

"Then what do you want me to do, Jun-chan?"

"I need you to secure the weapon. We only have ten minutes so you better hurry. You also better watch out for that other guy. He's probably hiding somewhere in that room, and since we don't know what his quirk is, you might wanna prepare yourself for anything."

"What about you?"

"I'll keep Tabito busy down here. He wants to keep us separated, so he won't run back to the weapon until he beats me. But don't worry, I don't plan on giving up that easy."

"Okay, I believe in you, Jun-chan!"

With that, she was met with radio silence.

"Keep me busy, huh?" Otonashi repeated. "You couldn't even block a single one of my attacks. What makes you think you can even go toe to toe with me?"

"You can't just shove yourself into a fight and expect to win with brute force alone!" Her father's words echoed in her mind.

"Cause when I'm in a battle, I don't just fight with my body... I fight with my head too!" She shouted, just before enveloping her legs with Red aura.

"Red Rush!" She exclaimed, charging towards Otonashi at full speed.

'Is she for real?' He thought to himself, clearly unimpressed.

She then raised her leg, preparing a kick of her own. He quickly teleported to the other side of her, about to launch another pre-emptive kick. To his shock however, Mutsuki twisted her body around and kicked him with the same leg that she was readying earlier.

He raised his arms in front of himself, just managing to block against the strike. The force of the attack still launched him back a few steps. When he finally came to a stop, his arms were now burning with pain as his eyes widened.

'No way! Has she caught onto my fighting style already?'

"What's wrong?!" She called out mockingly, catching his attention. "You seem to have lost your cool there. Don't tell me you weren't able to predict that kick just now?"

She was grinning. To which, Otonashi let out a chuckle.

"Good. Now we can fight for real," he replied, grinning wildly.

Back with Kaetsu, she was just checking to see if could find where Takaishi was hiding. Unfortunately, it was to no avail.

'Alright, Fujisaki! It's now or never! Jun-chan's counting on you! You can't let her down!' She told herself.

She examined the fake weapon standing a few steps in front of her. With a look of determination, Kaetsu made a mad dash for it. All she had to do was touch it and her team wins. But right before her fingers could connect, blue electricity suddenly enveloped it before it was sent hurling away from her grasp. Kaetsu then proceeded to fall face first onto the ground, whilst the weapon came to a stop next to one of the many pillars in the room. A hand then placed itself upon its cool, metal surface, before it was revealed that the hand belonged to none other than Kinji Takaishi.

"You really thought it was gonna be that easy, sweet cheeks?" He asked her, brandishing his pearly whites.

"How did you do that?!" She questioned loudly in a flabbergasted manner, pushing herself up with her hands.

"Hehe, I probably shouldn't tell you. But since you're so cute... My quirk is Polarity."

Kinji Takaishi

Quirk: Polarity

He has the ability to tap into the magnetic poles of any metal in his vicinity, allowing him to attract or repel any and all metal objects. However, his quirk is limited to objects within a 5 metre radius of himself.

"Pole-arity... So what? You control poles? That's kinda lame," she responded, bluntly.

"No! I, mrgf... I control the polarity of metal! Meaning I can control how they move, in accordance with myself. Got it?" He explained, gesturing to the weapon next to him. "In other words, you won't able to touch this weapon as long as I'm here."

"We'll see about that!" She exclaimed, pouncing towards the weapon.

Takaishi simply waved both of his hands, a string of blue electricity connecting to the weapon. The weapon then moved along with his hands movements and out of the way of Kaetsu. She flopped onto the ground, before pouncing at the weapon yet again. All the while, Takaishi constantly moved the object out of her reach.

"Just... Stop... Moving!" She shouted, getting frustrated.

She pounced at the weapon once again, but as it moved out of the way, she landed headfirst into one of the pillars. She let out a grunt and a groan before falling to the ground, and as the weapon was dragged to Takaishi's side.

"It's like I said... As long as I'm here, you won't be able to reach this weapon," he stated, sporting a smug grin.

She glared at him, releasing a guttural growl.

...

Back to Mutsuki. Her face appeared strained, as she was currently struggling to block his barrage of teleporting kicks, even with her Golden Gauntlets move.

'I don't know how long I can keep this up? With the amount of energy I'm using, plus the fact that he isn't letting up. I might actually lose this fight. No! I gotta think of something! He must have some sort of weakness!'

As the attack continued, she came to a sudden realisation. His movements were significantly slower. She could tell, because it was becoming slightly more easier to block his attacks than before. Not only that, but she seemed to also noticed that his breathing was getting slightly louder and faster.

'Is he reaching some sort of limit?'

She couldn't completely tell for sure, so she decided to test her theory. On the next strike he delivered, she reached out her hand, switching Yellow to Red, and grabbed his ankle. He let out a gasp, as she tightened her grip.

"Got ya," she announced with a toothy grin.

He kicked her arm, causing her to quickly let go, before he teleported away to the other side of the hallway again.

"I think I finally figured out how your quirk works!" She called out to him.

"Oh yeah? Pray tell," he replied, his voice slightly hitched in his throat.

"Your quirk relies on your stamina, doesn't it?"

His eyes widened.

"I could tell because you were starting to get slower the more we fought. Plus your heavy breathing was also a dead give away. Not only that, but your smoke wasn't appearing as much as before. I'm also guessing that you can only teleport to areas that you can physically see in front of you. Which is why you haven't teleported back to join your teammate. Am I right?"

His shocked expression quickly turned to one of subtle amazement.

"Guess the cat's out of the bag."

Tabito Otonashi

Quirk: Vanish

He can instantaneously teleport himself to any specified location that he can see right in front of himself, as well as leave behind a cloud of black smoke. However, his quirk use is dependent on his stamina levels. Meaning if he teleports too much or too far a distance, his stamina then depletes rapidly.

"I think its time we finally end this, don't you?" He asked her.

"Yeah. No holding back," she answered with a sly grin

"No holding back!"

Red aura enveloped Mutsuki's entire body as Otonashi started to teleport all around her. Meanwhile, Kaetsu launched herself at Takaishi, only for him to take two iron bolts from one of his belt pockets and threw them at her. He activated his quirk, only this, his electricity was red. The two magnetised bolts propelled Kaetsu into the wall behind, pinning her there by her large hands. She tried to move them, but the bolts wouldn't budge.

"I told you I don't like confrontation, especially with girls. So I'll keep you trapped to the wall till the match ends," he told her, adding more power to the bolts.

She continued to struggle, trying to break free. The veins in her arms were pulsating as she used all her strength.

"Grrragh... I won't... Let you keep... Me... DOWN!" She cried out, her left hand now breaking free of the bolt as it shot across the room.

"WHAT?!" He exclaimed in disbelief.

With one of her hands now free, she used all her might and pulled the second one away. She then stared Takaishi down, who began to tremble before her. Her body crouched down, and all Takaishi could think of was how much she resembled that of a wild animal. Using all the strength that her arms and hands could muster, she leapt towards Takaishi, her fist beginning to pull back.

And as Mutsuki and Otonashi kept evading each other's attacks, waiting for the other to lose their energy first. Mutsuki prepared one final strike to land on her opponent, just as he teleported right behind her

"Puma..."

"Crimson..."

"PUNCH!" "CLOUT!" They both cried out, landing their respective hits. With Mutsuki sending a blow to Otonashi's stomach, and Kaetsu uppercutting Takaishi.

The two fell to the ground, unable to get up, with Mutsuki soon following. And as the timer started to count down from ten seconds, Kaetsu made her way to the weapon. Just by the last second, Kaetsu placed her hand onto the metal surface, securing it.

"And with that, the hero team... WINS!" All Might bellowed out.

CHARACTER INFO

Name: Chisuke Ueshita (上下血輔)

Birthday: November 9

Age: 60

Gender: Female

Height: 188 cm (6'2")

Hair Colour: Dark Grey

Eye Colour: Black, Orange (When using Virus)

Blood Type: B

Quirk: Virus

Birthplace: Tokyo

Likes: Cigarettes, experimental science, and satsuma plums

Appearance: She was extremely pale skin, and her figure is quite lanky and thin, almost making her look like a skeleton. Her hair is neck-length, with each strand splitting off in different directions and it possessing pointed tips. Her eyes are sharp and angular, almost like that of a bird's. She gets cold quite often, and so would wear a turtle-neck sweater, fleece pants, and a pair of winter boots when out in public.

Bonus Trivia: She has two pet mice named Pinky and Brain.