AN: Thanks for reading and leaving reviews everyone! Time for round 2!
"Our first two matches were wildly different." All Might smiled at the class. "First a battle of power and then a display of stealth and guile. How will the rest of you handle your own battles?"
As the remaining twelve students thought about All Might's question, he reached into the box and pulled out two more balls. "Up next, Team C will be facing Team G!"
"Damn it," Kyoka swore as she looked at Ochako.
"We'll try going easy on you," Ochako teased her friend.
Momo looked at her teammate in confusion. "Do you really mean it?"
"Of course not!" Ochako spun around to face her teammate, giving her a bright smile. "I'm just trying to make her feel better before we kick their asses."
"We're gonna die, aren't we?" Denki asked his teammate.
Jiro just rolled her eyes, thankful her ear jacks were currently plugged into their sound suppression collar. "Good thing our objective isn't to take out our opponents. We've just gotta find and secure the bomb."
"R-right." Denki rubbed the back of his head. "So you've got a plan, right?"
"I'm so sorry Kyoka," Aika apologized.
Kyoka was suddenly very thankful for her years of putting up with her friends' antics as she closed her eyes and counted to ten. Opening them, she turned to her teammate. "Not yet, but we've got ten minutes to figure it out."
"Indeed you do," All Might said as he offered the team a map of their building. He then turned toward Ochako and Momo. "Villains, you may begin your own preparations."
Flashing one last bright smile to Kyoka, Ochako left the observation station with Momo following behind her.
"From your exchange, I'm assuming you already have a plan?" Momo asked as they entered the building they would be defending.
Ochako looked at Momo. "You don't?"
Momo shook her head. "Based on what I've seen, you have much more experience than I do. It would be for the best if you took charge of the situation."
Ochako whirled around and stared at her teammate in disbelief. She didn't spend much time around the other girl during their first semester, but she knew the girl had some confidence issues that Shoto had previously helped her with
Well, she wasn't Shoto, but she knew a thing or two about helping with confidence issues.
"Actually," Ochako began, "I was hoping you had a plan."
"M-me?" Momo asked in surprise.
Ochako bobbed her head. "Your quirk is perfect for this sort of thing, isn't it?"
Quickly recovering, Momo smiled at the girl. "You're right. I've just focused my training on reacting to the situation at hand."
"That's still useful!" Ochako assured her. "But now the tables are turned, and we have time to prepare instead!"
Momo paused, placing an index finger on her lips as she thought about it. "Mmmm. My grandfather used to work in Public Security, and he's told me quite a few stories about how they've had to deal with hostage situations back when things were more… hectic. I wonder if we could replicate some of the situations he's had to deal with."
"I'd love to hear your ideas!" Ochako smiled at Momo.
Matching her teammate's smile, Momo grabbed the book off of her back and researched…
"Heroes, you may begin," All Might's voice said through the earpiece.
"Well, here goes nothing." Taking a deep breath, Kyoka pulled the sword from her belt and extended it to her full length.
"You seriously think we're gonna need that?" Denki asked as he saw her holding it in front of her.
"Listen." Kyoka shot him a sideways glance. "The only reason I even think I could land a hit on 'Raka is because I've trained against her. I'm going to take every advantage I can get."
Denki gulped. "We're screwed aren't we?"
Kyoka glared at her teammate. "If I'm going down, I'm going to make them work for their win."
The two walked to the edge of the building. Kyoka stuck out her arm to bar Denki from going in. Once he stopped, she pressed a finger to her lips. He became silent as she pulled her ear jacks out of their protective sheath. Closing her eyes, she plugged them into the wall of the building and concentrated.
She tried to listen carefully for signs of life, to try and pinpoint them, but Ochako had outsmarted her. She heard loud fans buzzing away, masking noise. And not just one fan, but there were four. Three covered the most likely positions for the bomb that they had decided upon.
And the fourth was making the front entrance to the building.
"We need to go around to the back entrance," Kyoka declared as she pulled her earjacks out.
"What, really?"
"Mhm," Kyoka nodded. "They're either trying to spook us or they're hiding something behind this door, and I'd much rather not run face first into a problem before we even get inside."
Denki paled slightly. "Who are these people?"
"Our classmates." Kyoka smirked at him as she folded her arms. "So hopefully you'll learn a thing or two over the next three years."
"Y-yeah!" Denki exclaimed, trying and failing to not be intimidated. "Let's go around to the back!"
Not wasting anymore time, they hurried to the back door, where they found a simple metal door with a padlock on it.
"How are we gonna get through that?" Denki asked.
Kyoka simply rolled her eyes and struck the lock with the sword. The alloyed blade sliced through the lock with ease. "You'd think with all the money they spent, they'd use more than a cheap lock."
"Maybe it was to give us a fighting chance?" Denki asked hopefully.
"I wish," Kyoka replied. "C'mon, stairwell's down the hall on the left."
"Why do I have to go first?" Denki protested.
"Because if they touch you, you can just electrocute them." Kyoka smirked.
"I told you that would fry my brain too!"
Kyoka shrugged. "If it takes 'Raka out of the fight, I'd say that puts us ahead of the exchange."
"So mean," Denki whined.
Kyoka saw how crushed her teammate looked and wilted. "Sorry, force of habit."
"What do you mean?"
"You remind me a lot of Aika," Kyoka admitted. "And that's just how we talk to each other."
Denki immediately lit up at the response. "So you're saying we're friends already?"
Kyoka laughed. "In your dreams. C'mon, we've got a bomb to find."
The pair cautiously crept down the hallway to the stairwell, both on high alert in case they ran into one of the villains. They felt the tension ease, if only marginally, when they reached the stairwell. Letting out a shaky breath, Kyoka plugged her ear jacks into the wall next to the stairwell.
Hearing nothing on the second floor, the pair grew more confident and climbed the stairs, exiting onto the second floor… only to walk into a cloud of smoke.
"W-what's going on?!" Denki exclaimed.
Kyoka sighed. "'Rara's gravity manipulation. She can gather particles of dust to simulate smoke clouds. I bet she's got the whole floor filled with smoke."
"Aren't you worried they're gonna ambush us?"
"Nope," Kyoka said confidently. "I already checked the floor, remember?"
"R-right," Denki said. "But isn't this suspicious? If you know Uraraka's quirk, doesn't that mean she knows yours as well?"
Kyoka paused, realizing he actually said something extremely smart for once. "Good point. We need to be careful."
Denki's suspicion was proven correct when they ascended to the third floor; just like the previous floor, it was filled with a thick cloud of smoke.
Unlike the second floor, however, one of those noisy fans was on this floor.
"I guess you were right," Kyoka conceded as they exited onto the floor. "We've gotta be careful."
"Right!" Denki chirped as he stepped out into the hallway. "Where to now?"
Plugging her jack into the wall, she confirmed that the noisy fan was still running, and despite her best efforts, she couldn't hear anything underneath the sound. With a weary sigh, she removed her jacks from the wall. "Down the hallway fifty meters, turn right, and another twenty meters to the door. And be careful."
"Of course!" Denki started down the hallway.
They made it to the intersection without incident, and after Kyoka confirmed that she couldn't hear anything, Denki took a step down the hallway toward their objective.
Everything went wrong.
"What the-" Denki shouted; he stumbled over a wire halfway between his knee and ankle. A flashbang went off, blinding and deafening him.
Kyoka had it worse: a massive headache erupted from the sound. There's a good chance her ears were bleeding, but she'd worry about that later. Instinctively, she plugged her jacks into their protective sheath, dulling the noise as she raised her sword in a defensive posture.
Clang!
"You blocked that?" Momo asked. While Kyoka could barely see, she could tell from her surprised tone.
"Of course," Kyoka replied proudly. "So where's your partner?"
"She-" Momo began speaking before cutting herself off. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
"Yes, I would," Kyoka insisted. She just needed to keep her opponent talking for a few more seconds…
"You- you'll just have to get through me first!" Momo said, taking a swing.
Kyoka heard the whoosh of the staff in the air, but her eyesight hadn't cleared up enough to see where it was coming from. Bringing her sword up to protect her core, she immediately regretted her decision when she felt the staff connect with her leg. Even with the heavy padding of her costume, the force of the impact was enough to buckle her leg, forcing her to her knees.
"Ngh." Kyoka grit her teeth and unhooked one of her jacks from its sleeve. Even though her ears still rang, she could still go on the offensive! Plugging her jack into her leg amplifiers, she unleashed a Heartbeat Blast, staggering her opponent and pushing her back.
Her vision cleared up enough to see Momo shielding her core as she stepped back, wincing from the surprise attack. "Uraraka, you're up."
"Here I come!" Ochako announced.
Despite her blurry vision, Kyoka had no problem picking out the pink blur that shot up to the corner, preparing to launch itself at her. On a good day, Kyoka had about a thirty percent chance of catching Ochako's attack.
…this was not a good day.
Instead of trying to counter, Kyoka simply dived to the side. Her body slammed harshly against the wall - the better option - rather than getting hit by her friend's attack. Quickly spinning around, she blindly unleashed another Heartbeat Blast, hoping to keep Ochako at bay. In theory, the support amp would be enough to at least stop Izuku and Ochako's advances even with One For All active, but she never imagined she would be testing it like this!
"That actually works!" Ochako said, sounding altogether too happy for being hit by an attack.
"Good to know." Kyoka grinned, using the moment to push herself upright.
"Too bad I've got new tricks too." Ochako's bright smile never dimmed.
As Kyoka watched, Ochako shot multiple hooks into the wall on either side of her. Then part of her gauntlet began separating, wrapping her fists and forearms in strips of a plastic-like material. Her smile turned predatory as pink energy flared and she pulled.
Kyoka's eyes went wide as she realized what was going on. Large chunks of the wall behind her slammed into her back, knocking her to the ground. Coughing from the dust, she tried to push herself upright, only for Ochako to use the capture tape to bind her wrists together.
"Both heroes have been incapacitated, villains win!" All Might announced (a little too proudly) over the loudspeakers.
"Damn, 'Raka, that was brutal," Kyoka applauded as the dust (and her coughing) finally settled.
"You got to test your new equipment. It's only fair I get to test mine," Ochako said playfully as she unwound the capture tape. "Although, I didn't know if it would actually work."
"Well, it certainly hurt," Kyoka coughed again before pressing a finger to her ears, feeling the blood. "And a flashbang, seriously?"
"S-sorry," Momo bowed apologetically. "I didn't have anything else on hand, and while I knew your quirk was based on hearing, I didn't think it would hurt… that badly."
"At least Recovery Girl should be able to patch you up?" Ochako said sheepishly as she helped pull Kyoka to her feet.
"By the way, where's Kaminari?" Kyoka asked.
"I um… may have been a little too enthusiastic with my initial attack," Momo said, her face heating up as she stepped aside. Kaminari laid unconscious on the floor behind her.
Kyoka sighed. "Of course something like that would happen."
"Better luck next time?" Ochako shrugged with a guilty grin.
Momo returned to the control room while Ochako helped Kyoka and Denki make their way to Recovery Girl's office. Once she had returned, All Might drew the next two teams.
"Team D, you will be the villains defending the bomb against the heroes of team J!"
Katsuki lit up with a feral grin as he looked at Aika. "Good, now I can pay you back for the Entrance Exam!"
"Wait, you're still upset about that?" Aika asked, confusion visible on her features.
"Of course!" Katsuki roared. "You kept me from getting first place on the exam!"
"I must insist you put your personal grudge aside," Tenya said, placing his hand on Katsuki's shoulder. "This mission emphasizes defense and protection!"
"Yeah yeah," Katsuki grumbled as he brushed Tenya's hand aside. "I'll protect our bomb alright." Without another word, he exited the trailer.
Tenya blinked owlishly at the door until All Might offered him his own blueprint of the building. Taking it, the student raced off to the building to catch up with his teammate.
"What did you do to him?" Eijiro asked as he turned to his teammate.
Aika sighed. "I thought he was in trouble during the entrance exam, so I jumped in to help. Turns out it was all part of some big dramatic plan to lure as many robots to him as he could. Now Blasty's blaming me for hurting his score. I don't see what the big deal is! He still made the top 10 in the entrance exam!"
"You jumped in to help?" Eijiro asked.
"Yeah." Aika tilted her head in confusion. "We're supposed to be heroes and that means helping people, even if they're obnoxious!"
"That's just-" Eijiro looked at the shorter girl. "So manly!"
"M-MANLY!?" Aika exclaimed.
"Y-yeah! Manly," Eijiro punched his fists together. "It's so noble and brave of you!"
"But I'm a girl!" Aika protested.
"He's just like that," Mina said as she sidled up next to the blonde girl. "He calls everyone and everything he likes manly."
"Oh!" Aika's confused expression was wiped away as she smiled back at her teammate. "I guess I'm manly then!"
From their position across the room, Izuku and Ochako laughed nervously as they looked at each other. Both of them were quietly thankful Kyoka wasn't here, but they were sure their purple-haired friend would blame Aika's antics on them later.
"Hero team," All Might announced. "You have ten minutes to plan your attack."
"Alright!" Akia punched her fists together. "Let's get started."
"Yeah!" Kirishima mimicked her as the two departed the monitoring station.
"Hero team, you may begin!" All Might's voice came through the intercom.
"Ready?" Aika asked.
"Yep!" Eijiro responded as he activated Hardening, his body bulking up slightly.
"Ok, everyone hear my song!" Aika said before singing, activating her own quirk.
The pair entered the building, having decided to eschew all sense of subtlety and attack the villains head-on. Fortunately for them, Katsuki decided to be just as stubborn as he was in previous timelines and left Tenya behind, seeking out Aika in an attempt to soothe his bruised ego.
"There you are!" Katsuki growled as the hero team approached the stairwell. "You two took your time!"
"But we couldn't start any sooner?" Eijiro asked in confusion.
Aika refused to be baited and kept up her singing as she fell into a combat stance. Following her lead, Eijiro followed suit. She had explained to him that heroes had a complicated system of hand signals to relay information, and that is how she could communicate while using her quirk. Unfortunately, the impromptu lesson she tried to give him in ten minutes turned out to be futile, so he decided to simply follow her lead instead.
"You think you two can take me on?" Katsuki said, small pops already coming off of his hands. "Well I'm glad you recognize who's the stronger opponent, but it's still not going to be enough!"
Placing his hands behind him, Katsuki fired off a massive explosion, propelling him toward the petite girl. Using a series of small explosions he adjusted his posture, holding his right arm forward as he prepared to launch a massive explosion.
Recognition flashed across Aika's face as she threw a counter-punch. As her fist connected with his palm, Katsuki could hear the sickening crunch of bone as it felt like he slammed his hand into a steel wall.
"Fuck!" Katsuki screamed as he threw his left hand out, propelling himself upward and away from Aika's follow-through. Adjusting himself, he landed behind Aika.
Which meant he was right in front of Eijrio.
"Thanks for making it easy," Kirishima said as he threw out a left jab of his own. Normally the light blow wouldn't be much on its own, but Katsuki's hand was already injured from his failed attack, and the jab sent shockwaves up his arm.
"Damn it," Katsuki hissed as he held his right hand out, firing a point-blank explosion at Kirishima. The redhead crossed his arms in front of his face, taking a step back from the force of the heat, even if the attack didn't pierce his hardening.
Aika took advantage of his distraction, spinning around and punching him in the back, causing him to stumble and attack the ground instead. The missed attack gave Eijiro enough time to counterattack, and he threw out a sweep, knocking Katsuki off balance. He began to propel himself upward, but Aika jumped at him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.
Thrown off by the sudden weight, Katsuki found himself thrown off course. He tried to fire an explosion to keep himself airborne, but he had clenched his right hand into a fist from the pain. Using Explosion with only his left hand didn't have the effect he wanted it to have, and it sent him careening into the wall. He cried out in pain as he felt his already sore right hand slam into the wall. More aggravating was the fact that Aika had refused to let go and had managed to put him in a choke hold.
Bakugo tried to remove the girl from his back, but between his injured arm and her hardening causing him to hurt himself more than he was hurting her when they slammed into a wall, speeding up his inevitable blackout. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Aika felt him go limp in her arms as they fell back to the earth. Not wanting to hurt him further, she did her best to land underneath him, minimizing his fall before she wrapped his hands in capture tape.
"That was almost too easy," Kirishima exclaimed in disbelief.
"Yeah it was," Aika responded, risking a few moments without her quirk. "Why didn't his teammate help him?"
"He didn't seem like he was interested in his help," Kirishima said thoughtfully. "Maybe the other guy's waiting for us in the bomb room?"
"Probably." Aika stood up and brushed herself off. "He may be fast, but there's two of us!"
"Yeah!" Kirishima held out his hand for a fist bump, and Aika happily completed it. "Let's go stop the bad guys!"
Tenya tried his hardest to defend the bomb, but without his teammate, he couldn't stop both Aika and Kirishima and they quickly wore him down. Within minutes, Aika had successfully distracted their opponent long enough for Kirishima to reach the bomb, claiming victory.
"I see you two have learned the value of teamwork already," Tenya said as they began to leave the building.
"Yeah, it kind of sucks that your teammate abandoned you like that," Aika said.
"You'd think he would have put class over a vendetta," Kirishima said, rubbing the back of his head. "I wonder if something else is going on there?"
"Whatever it is, he's not gonna last if he doesn't figure it out," Aika said.
"I agree." Tenya closed his eyes and pinched his nose. "Such conduct is unbecoming of a student at such a prestigious school!"
None of the other students gave any indication of helping the unconscious Katsuki, so the task was left to him. Kneeling down, he pulled the explosive boy's arm around his neck, supported the weight on his side, and stood up. "I guess I'll get him to the infirmary. I'll meet you back at the observation station when I'm done."