And we're back with the longest chapter yet, just in time to fill the void after the end of the third season! This one was definitely one of my favorites to write, and I hope you all see why by the end- everyone else who was disappointed we didn't get to see the female hero team's fight during the Internship Arc, this one goes out to you. Speaking of the anime, though, I know I have a lot of anime-only readers, and as we get further into manga territory, I don't want you guys to feel lost, or have to resort to using the wiki, which has no spoiler warnings. To that end, I decided to compile a quick, plot spoiler-free guide to the manga characters I'm introducing, chapter-by-chapter, so I don't have to go into long explanations of their background or quirks every time. If that doesn't apply to you and you're already caught up, go ahead and skip down to the chapter, but if you don't read the manga or just want a refresher on some characters, here you go! I wanted to include images too, but I'm not sure if this site lets you embed pictures in a story document. If anyone knows how, let me know.

Heroes:

Nejire Hado (Hero Name: Nejire-chan)

Bio: Yup, that's really her hero neame. Obviously, Nejire's already been introduced on the anime, but they haven't shown her quirk yet, so I thought I'd include her here.

Quirk: Wave Motion- Nejire can convert her vitality into pure energy, which she then releases in the form of spiral-shaped shockwaves. The more she uses it, though, the more it drains her stamina.

Ryuko Tatsuma (Hero Name: Ryukyu)

Bio: The current number nine hero, Ryukyu is the second-highest ranking woman on the charts, and takes on Nejire, Uraraka, and Asui as her interns.

Quirk: Dragon Transformation- Pretty self explanatory, I think- she can turn into a massive dragon. We haven't seen her use fire yet, but she's definitely capable of flight.

Sir Nighteye

Bio: The guy you saw at the end of the Season 3 finale, Sir Nighteye is All Might's former sidekick, and without a doubt my favorite character in this series. He plays a major role in tracking down the gang of Yakuza led by Overhaul, and becomes pretty important for Midoriya's future career as a hero. Mirio is currently interning under him at the time of the show, but Jiro is his main intern when it comes to this story. Don't look up his wiki page if you want to stay away from spoilers, it's full of them.

Quirk: Foresight- Once a day, Nighteye can look into a person's future by touching them and making eye contact. He applies this to combat by predicting his opponents' moves before they can attack, and can choose how far into the future he wants to see based on how long he looks. His predictions have never been wrong.

Rumi Usagiyama (Hero Name: Miruko)

Bio: Miruko is currently the number five hero on the charts, and has been growing incredibly popular recently. That's about all we know from the manga, but in this story, Kendo and Tetsutetsu are interning for her.

Quirk: Rabbit- Pretty much like Tsuyu's quirk, but for a rabbit instead of a frog. She can jump really high, kick insanely hard, and she's pretty ripped in general.

Hawks

Bio: At the time the anime's currently at, Hawks is the number three hero. He's incredibly young at 22, but also extremely talented and insanely popular.

Quirk: Mighty Wings- In addition to having massive, awesome wings, Hawks can telekinetically control each one of his feathers, and use them as projectiles or even as swords, in the case of the really long flight feathers. Once he depletes his feathers, they gradually regenerate.

Yoroimusha

Bio: I think I explained most of the important details about him in the last chapter. We don't know much about him yet in the manga, and Ojiro interning for him is something I invented for this story.

Quirk: Unknown- It hasn't been specified yet, but I'm assuming it has something to do with his armor.

Camie Utsushimi

Bio: The Shiketsu student whose appearance was stolen by Toga to infiltrate the provisional license exam is actually alive and well, and will make an appearance next season. She has a bit of an airhead personality, and is pretty humorously oblivious to the fact that she was actually kidnapped for three days.

Quirk: Glamour- Camie can use a vapor-like substance emitted from her mouth to create convincing visual and auditory illusions for a limited period of time.

Mirio Togata (Hero Name: Lemillion)

Bio: Same thing with Nejire, you know who he is, but I couldn't just leave him off. His hero name is Lemillion because he wants to save a million people- he makes a solid speech explaining it that I'm sure will be in the next season. In the anime, he's still an intern for Nighteye, but in this story, he's started his own hero agency and is currently number ten on the charts.

Quirk: Permeation- He already did a better job explaining this in the finale than I ever could.

Villains:

Chisaki Kai (Villain Name: Overhaul)

Bio: The anime's been pretty vague about who he is, exactly- Overhaul is the capo of a group of Yakuza known at the Eight Precepts of Death, or the Shie Hassaikai. I don't think it's too big of a spoiler to tell you that they're the main antagonists of the next season. He thinks of quirks as a disease, and has an intense phobia of dirt and germs that extends to being touched by others.

Quirk: Overhaul- Hoo boy, this one's one of the best in the series. Have you ever watched Fullmetal Alchemist? Because if so, Chisaki's quirk is essentially alchemy. He can restructure the matter of whatever he touches with his hands, from entirely disintegrating someone's body or limbs like Scar to making spikes and pillars out of the ground. He wears gloves so that he doesn't accidentally activate it at random.

Setsuno Toya

Bio: Setsuno is one of the Eight Expendables, Overhaul's main enforcers, aside from his two direct underbosses. He was jilted by a lover and tried to commit suicide, but went insane after a hero stopped him. Afterward, Chisaki 'saved' him, and he found new purpose in the Yakuza.

Quirk: Larceny- Toya can instantly teleport anything another person is holding into his hands, as long as he's looking at the object in question, and it's beneath a certain size.

Sakaki Deidoro

Bio: Deidoro is another of the Eight Expendables, and is devoted to Overhaul. That's about all the information we have on him.

Quirk: Sloshed- By ingesting alcohol, Sakaki can transfer his own state of intoxication to others around him within a certain radius, inhibiting their balance, coordination, etc. The more he drinks, the more powerful the effect, and he's an alcoholic, so he can drink a lot.

That's everyone who's important for now! If you guys like this type of thing, I might do it again for any new manga characters in the future. Let me know in the reviews if this was helpful! And so, on to the chapter.

Chapter 6: Trial by Fire

Two Years Ago

Nagoya, Shinso's Penthouse

The first thing that Yaoyorozu Momo noticed as she drifted slowly back into consciousness was that the consistency of her mattress had changed. The training camp's sleeping bags had offered little protection against the cold, hard floor, but now she was lying in a bed so cushy and comfortable that she was tempted to just sink into it and stay there forever. I almost made a mattress pad and pillow for myself the first night, she remembered, but it wouldn't have been right to sleep in luxury while my classmates suffered! Aizawa-sensei must have finally taken mercy on us…

Keeping her eyes screwed shut in order to preserve her blissful, half-awake state, she pulled the blanket tighter around herself, and cracked a small grin. My alarm hasn't gone off yet, so I still have a while to sleep! I should really get up and get a head start on my quirk training, but I think we've all earned some rest after the… Momo's eyes shot open, and she sat up straight in bed, her grogginess gone in an instant. …test of courage.

Everything flooded back to her at once- the villain attack, the Nomu, Awase, that strange boy at the end. The rest of the night's events were a blur after he showed up, but there were vague flashes of memory she could make out: sitting in the back of a jeep as the forest passed by in a blur, the bright lights of a city, a luxurious apartment lobby. One thing was certain- she wasn't at the camp anymore. Resisting the urge to panic, she allowed her eyes to adjust to the darkness and slowly took in her surroundings, breathing deep breaths. She was wearing a fresh set of clothes, with her bloodied pajamas from the test of courage barely visible folded in a neat pile on her nightstand. Her right wrist was handcuffed to the bedframe, but her head was wrapped bandaged where she'd been injured by the Nomu, and an IV drip was embedded in her left arm, supplying her with what looked to be water or saline- apparently, whoever had taken her had no intention of harming or killing her- yet.

Whoever's taken me. She shuddered at the thought, her stomach sinking as her first encounter with the League at USJ came to mind. But she pushed the fear to the back of her mind, glancing around the room, searching for any useful information. Though the curtains were drawn on the main window, the complete lack of light suggested that it was nighttime- whether it was still the same night as the attack was another question entirely. Most of the room was too shrouded in shadow for her to make out anything, and what she could see was generic to the point of uselessness- it looked like a completely ordinary bedroom, for all intents and purposes. Giving up that route, she carefully pulled out the IV and turned back to the handcuffs, reaching to the nightstand for her dictionary out of instinct before remembering that it wasn't there. Ok, I have to brainstorm this one myself. Let's try a pair of wire cutters first.

Glancing to her bare forearm, she thought of the item in mind, but nothing emerged; instead, she felt a dull twinge of discomfort at the base of her skull, and her brows furrowed in confusion.

"So sleeping beauty's finally awake, huh?"

Momo started at the sound of a feminine voice from the other end of the room; there was a distinctive click, and a lamp turned on to reveal a pink-haired girl sitting in an armchair, a pair of steampunk-style goggles lowered over her eyes as she watched Yaoyorozu with a hint of amusement on her face. She was wearing a nondescript black-and-grey jumpsuit, but it was similar enough in style to the U.A. gym uniforms that it only took a few moments for Momo to gasp in realization, her eyes widening as one hand shot to her mouth.

"No, it can't be… I remember you from the Sports Festival. You're Hatsume, you're…"

"One of the students who vanished!" Mei finished, grinning widely. "Bingo! And now you are too- welcome to the club! We have free food!" Hatsume rose and strode over to Yaoyorozu's bedside, setting a container of Chinese takeout on her nightstand before slurping down a clump of lo mein noodles from her own dish. "We thought you'd be hungry- you've been out for over a day, after all. Hope ya like Mongolian beef, it's all we have left."

Mei had set the food on the side of the bed she wasn't handcuffed to along with a pair of chopsticks, but as starving as Momo was, she couldn't help but eye it warily, her mind racing to analyze the situation.

"No, it's not poisoned, dummy," Hatsume said suddenly, as if she were reading her captive's thoughts. "I swear, the other one thought the same thing. Just think for a minute with that big brain of yours, why would we go to all the trouble to bring you back here and patch you up if we just wanted to kill you?"

"Forget the food," Yaoyorozu snapped, "first I want to know what's going on! You're suppressing my quirk somehow, aren't you?" To demonstrate it she tried again to produce something from her forearm- a staff, a necklace, a pair of tweezers- but once again, nothing happened aside from the same muffled throb of distant pain. "Where am I, and why am I here?! You said you took someone else too?!"

"My goodness, what a reaction!" A second voice drifted in from across the room, and Momo whipped her head around to see Monoma Neito striding through the doorway, a crooked grin stretched across his face. "Who knew she had such a temper? Almost as bad as Tokoyami! I always knew that Class A was an irrational bunch, but this is just too amusing!"

Trailing just behind him was Midoriya Izuku; though she'd only seen him a few times in passing at school, but his face was easily recognizable from the missing person posters. Three of the four missing students. Her eyes flitted frantically between them, and her mouth refused to work. What is this? Did they really turn to crime?! It can't be! U.A. students would never do such a thing!

"You weren't kidnapped…" Her voice was faint, as if she could scarcely believe what she was saying. "You all ran away on your own… and now you've attacked us, you abducted me and Fumikage! You… you joined the League of Villains?!"

"No, that's not it." Midoriya stepped out from behind Monoma and began to advance towards her; he was smiling, but there was something so unnerving about his presence that she recoiled out of instinct as he moved forward, edging as far to the other side of the bed as her restraint would allow. "We're something beyond them entirely. Our paths may have intersected at the training camp, but that was simply an unfortunate coincidence. They act strong, but in truth they're lost, causeless, searching for meaning where the world offers none. They have no true leader and no true ideals."

"And?" She countered. "What cause do you have, besides kidnapping innocent people? What are you trying to accomplish by running away like this?"

Izuku paused for a moment, one gloved hand perched contemplatively on his jaw.

"It may be difficult to understand for someone like you- for someone who was born with everything. A rich, comfortable life, a secure future, a quirk with potential beyond most people's wildest dreams. You started at the pinnacle of this society, with nowhere to go but further up. You never got a chance to see the sickness that runs beneath it, the decay that's slowly eating it from the bottom. All men are not born equal- I learned that lesson a long time ago. Everyone does, at some point. But we decided to do something about it." He gestured to the others around him, all of whom nodded silently in turn, and Yaoyorozu's stomach turned at the sight. It was true- she had led a privileged life. But how dare he assume that I don't understand how it feels to fail, to be frustrated, to want to be better?!

"We decided to make our own futures, rather than accept the pitiful lots that were offered to us. I'm sure you read the writings of Stain after they were released online, didn't you?"

"I… yes." She managed, after a moment's hesitation. Momo hated everything about the Hero Killer, the animal who had killed Iida and maimed Todoroki almost beyond recovery. But she hadn't been able to resist examining his ideology, if only for the sake of clinical, academic curiosity. "Are you some disciple of that sick bastard? Is that what this is?"

"No, not quite," Midoriya answered with a grin. "He was right about a good deal of things, though- this society is corrupted beyond redemption. This country is sick, but our difference in opinion lies in the cure. He believed that only paragons of virtue- true heroes- could save us." The grin vanished, and his countenance grew cold. "But I know that there's no such thing as true heroes. Only the strongest can save what's left of society. Tell me, are you familiar with the concept of entropy?"

"Of course," she replied, her eyes narrowed.

"All orderly systems descend into chaos eventually," He breathed, as if whispering a prayer. "Everything falls apart in the end. The slow heat death of the universe. I've been thinking a good deal about entropy, ever since we left. As things stand, our festering wound of a society isn't particularly orderly in the first place, and it will only get worse from here. Some people talk about a quirk singularity, that our genetic gifts will become so powerful that we won't be able to control them anymore. But I believe the opposite. Quirks will grow more powerful, but they won't be the cause of the collapse- people will. People will still be able to control them- they'll just choose not to, as it becomes easier and easier to break the rules for their own benefit. And in the end, when the heroes and villains tear each other apart and destroy this nation in the process, the strong will be left to rule over the ashes. We just have a head start on the rest."

"You're insane," She said quietly, her eyes drifting between the three of them. Hatsume and Monoma were watching Izuku with the quiet reverence of congregants at a sermon. "You're all insane."

"Insane?" Midoriya chuckled. "Such an easy word to use about someone you don't understand. So what if we are? Insanity is like gravity, Yaoyorozu. All it takes it a little push- and we have all the time in the world for that. You'll understand us soon enough. I promise."

Present Day

U.A. High School, 3rd Year Dormitories

"Wake up, Ochako. You slept through the study session."

A finger poked her cheek, and all at once Uraraka Ochako bolted awake from her nap, breathing hard. Her dreams had been strange and uneasy, but the details slipped away within moments as the world came into focus. Asui Tsuyu, her roommate, was standing in front of her in her pajamas, her expression somewhere between inquisitive and concerned. The sky was pitch dark outside the window, with moonlight filtering into their shared kitchen. With a groan, she realized that she'd fallen dead asleep on their couch without even changing out of her black and pink hero costume, a sheen of sweat still damp on her forehead.

"Not again," she murmured dejectedly, her eyes falling down to the floor, too ashamed to meet Tsuyu's gaze. "I really wanted to go this time too! How long was I out?"

"Well, we got back from work at 8, and it's almost 11 now, so about three hours."

"Three?!" Uraraka's lip quivered a bit, and her stomach sunk. "All that time I could've been working... I just couldn't help it after today with Ryukyu, I was so exhausted."

Tsuyu nodded in understanding. The two had been interns at the Dragon Hero's agency since the end of their first year, and by now, at the end of their third, they were treated as sidekicks in everything but name; Ryukyu had already extended job offers to both of them after graduation, with as much time to decide as they needed. The past few days had been particularly grueling work, though, as they attempted to nail down a series of violent incidents in Yokohama thought to be related to the same group of ex-League members who infamously came into contact with Yoroimusha and his sidekicks in Osaka.

The movements and activities of Dabi and Toga Himiko had their office's particular focus lately; today, they'd been launched headlong into a frantic rescue operation when an apartment complex in a poorer area of town suddenly caught fire. They'd been staking it out for weeks as a suspected meeting point between Dabi, Toga, and several local gangs of small-time villains and criminals, and despite the unmistakable blue flames that had marked the conflagration as Dabi's handiwork, there had been no trace of him left when they arrived. They managed to save almost everyone from the blaze after Ryukyu extinguished it her wings, but they weren't any closer to their targets, and it was hard not to be frustrated.

"Why didn't you just wake me up?" Uraraka asked, rubbing her neck as she sat upright and started to strip out of her costume- after nearly a year as roommates, any sense of modesty or embarrassment between the two about such things was long since gone.

"I tried," Tsuyu protested, taking a seat beside her, "but you just kept mumbling 'five more minutes' over and over." Asui leaned her head against her roommate's now-bare shoulder, as she struggled with her sweaty black jumpsuit. "Besides, you just look too cute when you're sleeping for me to disturb you, ribbit."

"Don't say something that's so untrue," Ochako protested, her face slightly flushed as she shifted her body and let her head fall into Tsu's lap. I haven't been at the gym nearly enough lately, I'm gonna get pudgy if I'm not careful! I need to ask Gunhead if I can go practice martial arts at his studio again..."

"Because you've been working," said Asui, poking at Ochako's abs and biceps. "Field experience is the best workout, silly. Or did you forget all the times All Might-sensei said so?"

Uraraka's eyes widened, and she suddenly sat upright, to Tsu's silent distress.

"Speaking of All Might-sensei, didn't Kendo mention at joint practice today that people were gonna go out again tonight? I didn't sleep through that too, did I?"

On cue, her phone began to buzz on the coffee table, and Mina's contact image, a selfie with her tongue sticking out, popped up on the screen.

"Heyyyy, girlies!" Ashido's voice burst out of the speaker the moment Ochako accepted the call, already slightly slurred. "Where are you guys?! We're already here at the bar, and I wanted to make sure you didn't get lost or forget! I just… I just miss you two so much!" Sniffling became audible on the other end of the line, and Uraraka's eyes widened for a moment, until Tsu tapped her on the shoulder and leaned in toward her ear.

"Don't worry, Mina's just an emotional drunk. Remember the party on New Year's Eve, when Toru showed her a video of a puppy and she wouldn't stop crying about it for half an hour?"

Ochako stifled a giggle at the memory, and tilted her head back towards the receiver.

"I miss you too, Mina! We'll be there soon, I just overslept after work!"

More sniffling followed, accompanied by several hiccups.

"Okay, do you promise?"

"Mhm."

"Do you pinky promise?" Ashido suddenly started sniggering. "Get it? Pinky promise? Because I'm Pinky?"

"Of course I get it," she replied with a chuckle. "Now I've gotta go get ready, ok?"

"Okaayyyy, seeya soon cuties!" There was an audible thump as Mina tried to hit the end call button and failed, and for a few moments Uraraka could hear the sounds of muffled voices and clinking glasses. "Let's do another shot, everybody!" She shouted, and Bakugo yelled something in response, prompting an enthusiastic reply from Kirishima. Ochako listened in for another few seconds before hanging up, a soft smile on her face. It'll be so good to see everyone relaxed outside school like this. We've been so busy with finals and graduation coming up that we've barely had time to hang out…

"I was actually just planning on going to bed," Tsuyu croaked suddenly, derailing her train of thought.

Asui was already in her frog-themed pajamas and matching slippers, but some of Ashido's energy seemed to have rubbed off on Uraraka, who surged forward, turned Tsu weightless, and began to carry her toward the closet.

"Nope, no early sleepers allowed in this room, not on a Friday night- you're coming with me to get changed right now! Team Froppy-ravity is hitting the town tonight, and we're gonna conquer it!" She pumped her fist in the air for effect, and poked Tsu in the belly with her other hand until she reluctantly mimicked the gesture.

"Only if I get to conquer bed afterwards," she ribbited weakly.

By the time they reached the bar half an hour later, nearly everyone else was there, and a chorus of shouted greetings bombarded them the moment they stepped through the door.

"You made it, you made it!" As usual, Mina was the most enthusiastic of the group- she stood up from her seat and tried to run over and greet them, but lost balance and tripped halfway, plummeting straight for the floor until Ochako bolted forward and caught her, inadvertently touching her with all five fingers and turning her weightless.

Ashido's yelp of distress quickly turned into a fit of laughter as she floated up into the air, and the table of U.A students erupted into oohs and aahs. She managed to gradually drift her way back over to their classmates, and Kaminari wasted no time pouring out a serving of sake and handing it up to her.

"Anti-gravity shot!" He cried as she downed it, to raucous applause and laughter, which lasted until Ochako finally released Mina at a safe spot over the floor.

"Do me next!" Kirishima cried, jumping out of his chair.

"No, no, me!" Toru insisted, the sleeves of her shirt waving frantically in the air. "I'll buy you a drink if you do!"

"So Uraraka's touching everybody, huh?" Mineta added smugly; they all roundly ignored him.

The requests built up to a frantic chorus that Uraraka could hardly speak over them- she shot a worried glance to Tsu, who had told you we should've stayed in written all over her face. Finally, though, a single voice cut through all the uproar.

"Come on, everyone, calm down. Uraraka and Asui just got here, they haven't even had a chance to sit down and have a drink yet."

The table grew silent in an instant, and all eyes snapped to Kendo Itsuka. Sitting at the far end, with Tetsutetsu to her left and Jiro to her right, the new Symbol of Peace was undisputedly the leader of both classes both socially and professionally, and undoubtedly the most famous student at U.A.- in all of Japan, for that matter. She tried her best to be humble, but being All Might's designated successor didn't exactly foster a low profile, and many of her classmates worshipped the ground she walked on despite her protests. Even the ones who didn't still respected her, though, and listened to her out of instinct- she had proven herself worthy of that much. Ochako and Tsu fell into the latter category.

"I'm sorry, Kendo-sama!" Kaminari cried, the first to speak up after the momentary silence. "Please forgive me!"

The apologies flooded in after that, and amid the clamor the two new arrivals took the chance to squeeze in next to Ashido and Bakugo. Katsuki was glaring at his drink, a glass of straight whisky, like it had personally insulted him, and barely glanced up when they sat down.

"Took you fuckers long enough. Ryukyu work you hard today?"

"You better believe it," Ochako replied, pouring herself a beer from one of the pitchers at the center of the table- due to the size of their group, they tended to order in bulk. "It was fire rescue all afternoon, and recon work in the evening. How about your internship?"

"Things were pretty standard with Best Jeanist," he grunted, taking a sip of his drink. "Working on busting some narcotics smugglers. Helped save some kids from a sinking ferry the other day. Haven't gotten to blow much up lately, so that's fucked. But I still think the new ratings are a load of bullshit." He cast a pointed glance at the TV up in the corner of the room, which was currently playing a highlight reel of the new number one hero's latest interviews. "Jeanist deserved that number one spot. Fuck Hawks, he seems like a pretentious douche to me."

"And how are things with Camie?" Asui piped in, one finger perched inquisitively at her mouth.

"None of your fucking business, that's how," he shot back, his entire face scarlet.

It was common knowledge that Katsuki had been dating Camie Utsushimi of Shiketsu High for nearly a year now; he'd managed to keep the relationship a secret for months, until Mineta caught him sneaking her into the U.A. dorms, and promptly blabbed about it in the class groupchat. It had taken three teachers to keep Bakugo from reducing Minoru to ashes and dust the next morning, and three weeks of guidance counseling with Hound Dog for him to be able to speak to the shorter boy again.

"Are you guys talking about work?" Mina slurred, leaning over toward them with a wobbly grin. "Because mine was totalllyyy awesome today, right guys?"

"You better believe it!" Kaminari cried from across the table. For some time now, he, Ashido, Hagakure, and Shoji had all been interning for various members of Edgeshot's hero team- Denki and Mina mainly switched between Kamui Woods and Mount Lady depending on the assignment, while Toru and Mezo studied under Edgeshot himself. "Did you see Mount Lady stomp that friggin' car when the guy tried to get away?! I think I'm in love!"

"Why is she so pretty?!" Ashido wailed, starting to sniffle again. "Even when she's fighting she's gorgeous! I just look like a mess all the time!"

"A hot mess!" Toru corrected, patting her on the shoulder even as she started crying into her cocktail.

"That's right, like super flaming hot!" Kirishima added enthusiastically, a sharp-toothed grin on his face as he ruffled her hair.

"Kirishima," Tsu said suddenly, the same curious look on her face as before, "have you told Mina that you like her yet? We're graduating soon, you're going to run out of time."

Within a few moments Eijiro's face was the same color as his hair; thankfully for him, Ashido and Hagakure hadn't heard her question over all the noise. Thinking fast, he whipped his head around to the other end of the table, and waved at Todoroki, who was currently brooding over his cup of sake.

"Sooo, uhhhh… Speaking of flaming hot, Todoroki, how've things been with you lately?"

"Things with Gang Orca have been going well," Shoto replied evenly, "My father wasn't thrilled that I chose him for my internship, but I think he eventually understood that I needed experience with someone else for a change."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Uraraka replied, doing her best to help Kirishima change the subject. "But Endeavor's been climbing back up the rankings, right? Did you guys celebrate him breaking the top ten again?"

"I'm not so sure that he deserves a comeback," said Todoroki, one hand drifting to the long scar that ran down his face, from his right brow to his mouth. It was one of several that Stain had left him, minutes before the Hero-Killer was murdered by Endeavor in retaliation; the medical coma he was placed in afterward lasted nearly three months, and he barely caught up with his work in time to move on to the second year with the rest of his class. It wasn't the only thing that had changed about his appearance since their first year- he'd let his hair grow out much longer, and currently kept it tied up in a bun at the back of his head. Like most of his classmates, he was physically larger and more mature in general as well, and had to shave to keep from getting two-colored stubble.

"But the jurors at his trial seemed to think so, I suppose. So what do I know?" He slung back the rest of his drink in one gulp, and laid his forehead down on the wood of the table. "Since you asked, he celebrated by taking us out to the most expensive steakhouse in Tokyo. I hated every second of it. But it's okay. A few more of these and I'll forget about it all for a while."

"Todoroki…" Ochako was reaching her hand out to comfort Shoto when the door opened and Ojiro Mashirao walked in, greeting the group with a weak smile and wave. He still had a cast on one wrist, and a patchwork of bandages all over his face and tail. Before he could even open his mouth to speak, Hagakure was out of her seat and tackling him a tight embrace, though she quickly shifted to pounding at his chest with invisible fists a few moments later.

"You big dummy, you didn't tell me you got discharged! I was so worried about you, you haven't been responding to your texts all day!"

Mashirao and Toru were another couple that had come to fruition in the past year, much to the other 1-A girls' excitement, and everything seemed to be going well so far, to Uraraka's relief. Hagakure had been hysterical over the news coverage of the Osaka Incident involving Yoroimusha and his sidekicks, and took the train out with Mina the next day to go and visit him in the hospital.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly, returning her embrace. "I shouldn't have scared you like that, I was just hoping it could be a surprise."

"That's an awful surprise," she said, before starting to giggle through her tears. "But I think I can live with it. As long as you're okay."

Several awws went up at that, and when Ojiro finally made his way over to the table, Kaminari was the first of many to offer him a drink.

"No thanks, not tonight. I just came to see you guys. Drinking would be too much like celebrating, and I don't feel like celebrating. Not now, when Shindo and Tatami are still in the hospital."

Ochako's heart sank as she thought back to their joint practices with Ketsubutsu. She'd bonded with Nakagame in particular on one occasion, and Yo had always seemed nice, if a bit two-faced. I can't even imagine how Ms. Joke feels right now.

"Tell us about how it went down," said Bakugo, who had finally looked up from his whisky. "Yoroimusha's been pretty vague in all his interviews, aside from naming Mustard and Twice. But there were others, right, Tail?"

"It's not fair to ask him to relive that," Kendo countered from the far end. "Hasn't he been through enough already?"

"I wanna know who the other villains were, so I can remember to beat their faces in for him if I ever run into them. At least what they look like. Something wrong with that, Little Ms. Perfect?"

"Don't call her that," Jiro snapped, frowning, and suddenly the air was filled with knifelike tension. The only people who remained oblivious to the rapid development were class 3-B's Pony Tsunotori and Komori Kinoko, who were drunkenly rambling to each other in varyingly disjointed English at the far end, and Todoroki, who by now was either asleep, passed out, or too apathetic to even lift his head from the table. Uraraka personally considered the last option to be the most likely.

"Hey guys," Mina slurred confusedly, "whuzz' goin' on? We're all, hic, friends here."

Not even Ashido could break through the deadlock between Bakugo and Kendo, though. He was the only person who could still come close to challenging her authority, and they'd been rivals since the day she made her debut as All Might's successor, mostly at his insistence.

"It's okay," Ojiro finally said, glancing uneasily between the two. "I can talk about it. I think maybe I need to."

The stalemate resolved, Kendo nodded, and held out a hand and smiled.

"Whenever you're ready, then. Sorry for being presumptuous."

'Sorry for being presumptuous,' Katsuki mouthed mockingly- thankfully, only Uraraka and Kirishima saw it.

"Well, to begin with, forget what most of the press are saying. It wasn't a sting- or at least, it wasn't intended to be a sting, not yet. That part was supposed to come next- it was a simple surveillance and handover. The targets would take the money, we'd trace the bug we put in it to wherever they were operating from, and then we'd come in swinging with the police as backup. Tatami and Shindo were only there as a safeguard in case things went south- which they did, of course- while Yoroimusha and I watched from a disguised police van in the parking garage." He sighed and shook his head.

"Everything was going fine, but I think our guy got cold feet. He was gonna get a massive amnesty package if he pulled this off, along with a few other favors for the police force, but it turns out he was playing us the whole time. He just used us to get close to them again, the two unidentified ones, and he turned on us at the first opportunity. Twice and Mustard were there, but they were the muscle, these two were the ones running the show. The one doing the handoff… I think he was the leader. Giran called him Hairo, so even if that's not his real name, it's the best we've got right now. He was young. Couldn't be older than twenty. Black hair, green eyes, these crazy high-tech goggles. Something about him looked… familiar, almost, but I couldn't place it. His voice, too. I just got this eerily intense vibe from him. He was pretty good at hand-to-hand, he had me on the ropes for a minute. Yoroimusha and I still aren't sure what his quirk was, though. It was almost like he purposefully didn't use it when he was fighting us, after I cut off his escape. We think Shindo knows, that it had something to do with why he brought the building down. We won't know for sure until he wakes up, though."

"The second one… we never got a clear look at her. She was on a rooftop across the street; even with all the advance recon we did of the site, we didn't pick up any trace of her. Either she only showed up immediately before the handoff itself, or she has some kind of stealth quirk or tech. Anyway, she was a pretty good shot- I think her quirk probably had something to do with that, come to think of it- but still not good enough to beat Yoroimusha's armor. That's about all I can give you that you hadn't already heard."

"It's enough," Bakugo grunted. "Hairo, the green-eyed son of a bitch. I'll remember that. I'll fuck his shit up if I ever come across him working for Jeanist. At least I know to look out for him now." He cast a pointed glance at Kendo, then returned sullenly to his drink.

Over the next minute or so, the table gradually returned to its normal level of conversation, and fairly soon Ochako was tipsy enough for Tsu to comment on how much redder than normal her cheeks had gotten. Within an hour they were walking home arm in arm at the head of the group of U.A. students, watching as Kirishima hoisted Mina up onto his shoulders to carry her the rest of the way back to dorms, a gesture mimicked by Ojiro and Toru and then by Pony and Kinoko, who were drunk enough to think that they were having another cavalry battle. Struck by a flash of inspiration amid her tipsiness, Uraraka activated her quirk on Asui and did the same, to the latter's contented ribbits.

"You know," She croaked when they were finally within sight of campus again, "this was nice and all, but I could've been falling asleep to a nature documentary this whole time, like I usually do on weekends."

"That BBC one about frogs?"

Even though Ochako couldn't see Tsuyu's face, she knew she was smiling.

"Yep, that's the one."

"You know, it's only half past one. We could still watch it together if you want."

"I was hoping you'd say that."

Seven Hours Later

Downtown Yokohama

'URGENT, PLEASE MEET AT HQ ASAP. CONFIRMED TARGET SIGHTING.'

Was the text Uraraka and Asui had received from Ryukyu's emergency number at 7:14 AM, setting off automatic alarms on both of their phones. Ochako glared at the message with bleary eyes as their train pulled into the station at 8:46 AM on the dot, an hour and fourteen minutes after they'd dashed to the nearest stop in a panic, and approximately four and a half hours after they'd finally fallen asleep the night before.

"Why did it have to be today of all days," She groaned, stretching as they stood up from their seats and hurried toward the exit through a parted crowd- heroes on duty had first priority when boarding and exiting public transportation, thankfully. "It's like the villains planned for this."

"I'm just lucky frogs don't need as much sleep," replied Tsu, who was, relatively speaking, much more bright-eyed and alert. "You're hungover, aren't you, Ochako?"

"Maybe a little bit," Uraraka admitted, wiping the sleep from her bloodshot eyes with one hand and rubbing her stomach with the other. It was true that in terms of nausea, she felt like she'd just been using her quirk on herself a few minutes past her limit, and her dull, throbbing headache was nothing to be envied. "That's what I get for not drinking enough water before bed."

"That's probably my fault for distracting you," Asui said sheepishly, blushing slightly. She was about to say something else when a familiar voice cut through the station's din.

"Hey, hey, you two! There you are, it's so good to see you!" Waving enthusiastically, Nejire Hado practically bounded over to greet them, her bright, spiral-adorned hero costume easily distinguishable in the crowd. "Look at you two sleepyheads! They say sleep is super important! You were out partying last night weren't you, Uravity? Did you go to that one space-themed bar? Or the traditional one?"

"Well, we-"

"You don't look that bad, though, Froppy! Do you drink? Can frogs drink? Is it like chocolate for dogs, where your body can't metabolize it?"

"I can, but-"

"I bet neither of you has had breakfast yet, have you? It's the most important meal of the day, we can't have you fighting villains without it! Come on, let's pick some up on the way there."

"Thank you, Nejire-chan," Asui finally managed, "but why are you here? Shouldn't you already be at the office with Ryukyu?"

Tsu was able to get a full sentence out faster than usual! Ochako thought to herself, impressed. They were used to conversations with Hado going this way by now- she'd been with them at Ryukyu's office since they started with the Dragon Hero two years ago, first as a fellow intern and then as a full-fledged sidekick after her graduation.

"Change of plans!" She cried happily. "We're meeting the boss on the scene, and I'm gonna drive you guys there! Come on, last one to the car is a rotten egg!" At that she dashed out ahead of them, and they exchanged a worried glance before running after her. They'd only ridden with Nejire once before, but once was enough to know that she was perhaps the most terrifying driver in the greater Tokyo area.

"Maybe she's gotten better," Asui offered weakly.

Time was quick to prove her wrong. The two interns held on for dear life as Hado weaved her way in and out of traffic, going well past the speed limit all the while, and making a variety of turns and maneuvers they were fairly sure weren't legal. Loud pop was playing over the radio, but she lowered the volume when Tsu raised her hand with a question from the backseat.

"Nejire-chan, I'm sorry if this isn't my place to ask as an intern, but what exactly is going on? Who was spotted, and where are we going?"

"Was it Dabi or Toga?" Ochako asked sleepily from shotgun. Even with Nejire's music playing, the passenger seat was suddenly feeling far too comfortable for its own good.

"Food first!" Hado responded cheerfully. "Are you guys feeling pancakes? Ooh, ooh, or burgers? I could have a burger. With ketchup and pickles and bacon and…"

Ten minutes and one drive-thru later, after Nejire had thoroughly questioned the poor attendant about nearly every item on the menu, Uraraka and Asui were struggling to scarf down Hawaiian burgers and fries in spite of Hado's erratic driving as she briefed them on the situation.

"So essentially, we got a tip-off from a local rescue hero working clean-up in area where the fire happened yesterday! One of the citizens he interviewed described seeing a high-school age girl who vaguely matches Toga Himiko's description entering an abandoned park just a few blocks away from the building that burned down on several occasions in the past week, but never leaving. We think it's possible that the villains might have some type of base or outpost hidden there, so we're going in to check it out, since he saw her go in early this morning. Backup's standing by if we find anything, but we get to be the first on the scene!"

Another five minutes and they were pulling into the run-down parking lot of the same housing complexes from the day before- the burned-out shell of the apartment destroyed by Dabi's fire was still visible across the road, but they took a turn in the opposite direction this time, walking ten minutes down a side street before entering a gated off park that hadn't seen use in over a decade, from the look of it- the equipment was rusted badly, and the grass was yellow and dead, pockmarked with weeds. The padlock had been cut off the gate, presumably by Ryukyu, who was visible standing at the park's other end, surveilling the area with hawkish eyes, but the fence was worn down and overgrown enough that the gate wasn't much of a barrier to entry in the first place. Asui waved to the Dragon Hero as they walked in, who returned her greeting enthusiastically, and began to walk toward them with a smile on her face. Uraraka was about to call out to her when Nejire held out an arm to stop them both in their tracks, and strode out to the park's center alone, her face deadly serious for the first time that morning.

"So glad you could all make it so soon!" Ryukyu was saying with a chuckle. "I've been doing some routine surveillance, but it doesn't look like there's-"

"Where were you on the 30th of November?" Hado interjected, her arms crossed. A dozen paces behind, Ochako and Tsuyu exchanged a confused glance.

"…Somewhere in Tokyo, I'm sure," she replied after a moment's hesitation. "Why do you ask?"

"Thought so," said Nejire; in a single fluid motion, she lifted up her hands and let out a massive blast of her quirk, sending the older woman flying across the park.

"What are you doing?!" Uraraka cried, rushing forward.

"Oh, don't worry!" Hado said amicably. "That isn't actually her. The '30th of November' is a code phrase the boss and I came up with for any operations involving our current targets, to make sure we're still us. The correct answer is 'watching the frost fall at Aomori', but whoever that is just failed. Oh shoot, I was supposed to tell you two that on the way here. Well, you know now!"

Sure enough, when she glanced at the cloud of dust where the hero had landed, she was greeted by a familiar sight, as Ryukyu's claw-shaped headband and qipao melted into a flowing mass of beige goop along with the rest of her body, before it fell away to reveal Toga Himiko, entirely naked but bearing a knife in each of her hands and a demented smile on her face.

"You're strong," she called with a giggle. "Cute, too! And you brought some of my friends with you! Do you remember me, girls?! I had so much fun playing together at the training camp!"

"We told you before," Uraraka shouted, activating her quirk on herself after a sprinting leap, so that she sailed into the air in Toga's direction, "that we're not your friends!"

She released her quirk high in the air, so that she sailed downward toward the villain's position like a bullet, her shock-absorbing boots outstretched. Nicknamed 'Gravity Bomb', she'd worked on this technique tirelessly for the past two years, until by now she could calculate the exact parabola of her motion on the fly. She'd also made multiple adjustments to her costume to assist with the move, reinforcing key areas with durable carbon fiber armor and to make her into a veritable human projectile. Her boots now had air-jet thrusters for any necessary adjustments while in zero-g, in addition to the shock absorbers that allowed her to land from massive heights without shattering her legs. When she impacted the ground with a resonating thud, Toga wasn't there, though, vanished in the dust cloud Hado's waves had kicked up. A quick glance around the park confirmed that Uraraka and her allies, who were running forward to catch up with her, were alone. We were warned that she's trained to suppress her presence, she remembered, but I don't understand, we were all watching her!

"Uravity, behind you!"

Ochako whipped around to find one of Toga's knives mere inches from her face, quivering in place; Tsuyu's tongue, wrapped around the villain's arm, was the only thing holding the blade back. The girl's face was close enough to see her licking her sharpened canines.

"Ochako-chan, don't you want to play with me?! I remember how cute you look when you're bleeding! I wanna see you bleed for me again!"

"Get away from her!" Froppy cried as pulled back on her tongue and yanked Toga sideways, trying to throw her to the ground.

Himiko landed effortlessly on her restrained hand, then used her momentum to vault herself toward Asui; when she landed a few feet away from the young hero, she drove her other knife into the girl's tongue, pinning it to the ground. Letting out a distressed croak, Tsu released her grip on Toga out of instinct, and the villain lunged menacingly toward her, but another blast of shockwave energy from Nejire sent her flying back in the other direction.

Determined not to let her slip away again, Uraraka reached out and grabbed one of Himiko's legs with all five fingers as she sailed past, then slammed her weightless body into the ground. When she reached down to restrain her, though, Toga's flung her second knife up toward her attacker; it impacted Uravity's visor with a sharp crack, embedding itself partly into her cheek and sending her stumbling backwards, her vision completely obscured. By the time she managed to wrench the helmet off, ignoring the blood streaming down her face the best she could, Himiko had slipped away again.

"Where is she?!" Ochako cried frantically. She twisted around in every direction, searching for any sign of their opponent, but it was all in vain; the entire block was as silent and still as the grave.

"I have an idea," Nejire responded, once she'd helped Froppy pull the knife from her tongue.

Using her quirk to propel herself into the air, Hado waited until she was high enough, then blanketed the entire park with heavy shockwaves, aside from the small area the two interns were standing on. Sure enough, Toga was sent flying from a patch of tall grass; once she'd spotted her, Nejire focused her attacks, pummeling the younger girl into the ground with brute force until Asui and Uraraka were able to surround her. She lighted back down, and the three breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"Froppy, are you alright?!" They both cried, practically in unison.

"I'll be ok," Tsu managed, though her words were slightly slurred form the wound. "It heals pretty fast. Let's focus on the capture for now, and on finding Ryukyu."

Ochako nodded, and pulled a pair of handcuffs off her belt. As she leaned down to place them around the dazed villain's wrists, though, they suddenly vanished into thin air, and clapping became audible in the distance.

"Wow. Three against one. Real fair, huh?"

They all pivoted at once, and Uraraka's blood ran cold in her veins. Dabi stood at the stop of one of the rusted playsets, flanked by two men in dark suits wearing plague masks- one of them was dangling the handcuffs she'd just been holding moments ago from his fingers, while the other clutched a bottle of sake in one hand. The Eight Precepts of Death, she realized, thinking back to the famous bust on one of their operations by Nighteye two years ago- their members had been on the most wanted list ever since. Setsuno Toya, quirk: Larceny. Sakaki Deidoro, quirk: Sloshed.

"The ex-League members are working with the Yakuza again," said Froppy, voicing Uraraka's next thought. "This is bad. We should retreat."

"Run away?" Dabi laughed out loud. "Why would you wanna do something like that? Stick around for a while, and we'll even out the stakes. A nice, even, three on three. Fair and balanced."

Suddenly, a steady tremor began to shake the entire park; Ochako thought it was Nejire for a moment, but when she threw a glance in the sidekick's direction, Hado shook her head. Even Dabi seemed confused, until a moment later, the ground beneath another of the playsets burst open, and the rusty metal swings and carousel were sent flying as Ryukyu's dragon form crawled out of a now-exposed bunker, letting out a deafening roar. Several gashes leaked blood along the length of her scaled body, but her eyes shone with defiant rage. Another masked Yakuza climbed from the bunker behind her, waving his arms as he ran toward Dabi and the others.

"I'm sorry, bosses! She broke out of the quirk restraints we put on her, I don't know how the fuck she-"

The man was swiftly silenced when one of Sakaki's throwing knives pierced his skull, and fell limp onto the grass.

"That's ok," Dabi said with a grin as he turned to face Ryukyu. "I like a challenge. I wonder, though, are you even a real dragon if you can't breathe fire?"

He launched a swirling torrent of blue flame in the dragon's direction just as she lunged for him, while the two Yakuza members leapt from the playset and charged toward the other three heroes. Nejire threw up her hands to counter them, and Ochako was reading herself to launch into another Gravity Bomb, but halfway across the open field, Deidoro paused to take a swig of sake, and suddenly the ground was shifting and spinning beneath her feet. An overwhelming sense of drunkenness washed over her senses, twice as bad as she'd felt last night, and she merely stumbled forward instead of properly sprinting; her hands missed each other when she tried to clap them together, and she fell hard to her knees.

"Uravity! To your right! Get up!"

Blinking rapidly to try and dispel some of the haze, Uravity forced herself back to her feet at the sound of Nejire's voice and swung her head upwards. Panic gripped her chest when she forced saw Setsuno running toward her with a katana in his hands and death in his eyes, raising the blade up for a slashing blow, and at the last possible moment, she cleared her head enough to turn herself weightless and activate her thruster boots. With a burst of pressurized air, she soared back just as Toya swung his sword in a brutal arc that would have cut her in half otherwise. Another moment of erratic, swerving backwards flight and she was out of range of Sakaki's quirk, her head suddenly clear again.

Ochako took a brief moment to get her bearings, roving her eyes over the chaotic battlefield. Ryukyu and Dabi were still locked in single combat on one side of the park- the effects of his flames were greatly dampened by her thick scales, but he was still agile and powerful enough to keep her from assisting her interns and sidekick, and the grass around them was entirely ablaze. Tsuyu was holding her own against Deidoro, pushing him back with a series of relentless attacks from her tongue and muscular legs, accurate enough to hit him despite the intense effects of Sloshed. To her left, Nejire had also flown out of range of the Yakuza's debilitating quirk, and was currently bombarding Setsuno from a distance with her shockwaves, though it was easy to see that her reserves of stamina were running low this late in the fight- the spirals were gradually growing more sluggish as her energy was depleted, and Toya was able to dodge enough of them to stay on his feet. I should help her, Uraraka knew, lining up her target and preparing for another Gravity Bomb.

"Stay back and recharge!" She cried in Hado's direction. "I've got this!"

"No, I have him!" Nejire called back. "Froppy and Ryukyu your help more than I do!"

For a moment, Ochako wanted to protest, but Hado's voice was deadly serious, and her eyes were full of fiery determination rather than her usual childish glee. With a brief nod of acknowledgement, she adjusted her trajectory and rocketed down toward Sakaki; thankfully, Tsuyu saw her Gravity Bomb in time to hop drunkenly out of the way before it struck its target full in the back, sending Deidoro flying face-first and unconscious into the ground, his sake bottle still clutched in one hand. Asui was bleeding from several cuts on her arms and legs delivered by the Yakuza's knives, but when she rushed forward to do an injury assessment on the other intern, Tsu shook her head fiercely.

"No, forget about me! Where's Toga?!"

No, no, not again! Pivoting, Uraraka searched the battlefield; on the far end, Ryukyu finally had Dabi on the ropes despite several severe burns across her chest and limbs, fanning out his flames with her wings as she tried desperately to pin the man beneath one of her massive, clawed hands. Nejire, meanwhile, had been similarly successful; she'd managed to force Setsuno to his knees and knock his katana from his grasp, and was lowering herself to the ground to finish him off. He tried to pull a hidden knife from inside his mask as she approached, but a blast of energy from her hand sent it flying before he could even raise it. Toga Himiko's unconscious body, however, was suddenly nowhere to be found, and Ochako slapped herself hard across the face for being so careless as to lose track of her in the chaos. We were four against three, one of us should have stayed with Toga. I can't believe I was so stupid.

Asui seemed to have read her mind, though, and patted Uraraka on the shoulder before hopping off toward the girl's previous hiding place in the long grass.

"Don't blame yourself, Uravity, I'll go look for her! Help Nejire-chan!"

Ochako shot her fellow intern a thumbs-up and took off running toward the older sidekick, who was panting in exhaustion as she prepared one final shockwave to knock the kneeling, defeated Yakuza unconscious. Moments before she could muster up the energy to fire it, Toya twisted his head around to face Uraraka, his eyes wide and wild; she stared at him in confusion for a brief instant before she realized he wasn't looking at her, and panic coursed through her body.

"Look out, he-"

She was still midsentence when Deidoro's bottle appeared in Setsuno's hand, too far away to stop him as he bashed it across Hado's face in a brutal sideswipe. Streams of blood and sake poured down the older girl's cheeks in rivulets from jagged shards of glass still embedded in her skin, and for a moment she stumbled backward in a daze. But when she opened her eyes, they were full of rage; using her shockwaves to help spin her, Nejire dodged Toya's next blow and twisted into a swirling roundhouse kick that slammed into the man's jaw and drove him into the dirt, his face broken and bloodied by her boot.

"I'm alright," she said, before Ochako could even ask.

"But your face, can you still fight like that?!"

"Worry about me later, Uravity." Despite her wounds, Hado forced a weak smile, and started off toward Ryukyu and Dabi. "Our backup will be here soon, we just need to hold them until then."

"I couldn't find any sign of Toga," Froppy croaked, leaping back toward them. "Could she have escaped into that bunker?"

"Where were you on the 30th of November?" Uraraka stepped forward and grabbed Tsuyu's shoulder, turning her weightless until she responded.

"Watching the frost fall at Aomori."

Ochako and Nejire exchanged a satisfied nod, but before they could move to help Ryukyu, Asui's prediction was swiftly proven right. Fully clothed in her standard schoolgirl attire with her blood collector strapped to her back, Toga climbed out of the rift in the ground alongside a second villain around her age- he wore a dark suit and overcoat with a silver tie, his neatly combed hair a dark brown.

"You know how much I hate getting involved in these little spats," he was saying, casting a smug glance about the park. "But I suppose you were truly desperate for assistance."

There was something frustratingly familiar about the haughty tone of his voice, but before she could study his face further, he reached down, pulled Sakaki's throwing knife from the dead Yakuza henchman's skull, and touched the tip of the blade to his tongue; in an instant, he transformed into an exact facsimile of the thug, mask and all. Another blood-based metamorphosis quirk, like Toga's? Uraraka's eyes widened at the possibility, but Himiko didn't give them time to ponder it, rushing forward with a new pair of knives as the disguised one sprinted into the cloud of smoke that partially obscured Ryukyu's battle with Dabi. With her opponent finally backed into a corner, the Dragon Hero hadn't noticed the newcomer, and she was too far away to hear a warning shout; Nejire launched herself into the air to intercept the villain, but before she could reach the park's other end, a second dragon rose up out of the smoke and flame, unmistakably masculine, as opposed to Ryukyu's drake form.

"Why won't you worthless heroes ever learn to stop meddling where you're not wanted?!" he roared, sinking his claws into the female hero's back and pulling her off of Dabi before she could deliver the final blow. Changing targets, the flame-wielder rolled out from under the clashing beasts and charged toward Uraraka and Asui, launching a wave of blue fire in their direction as he ran. In the blink of an eye, Ochako turned herself and Tsu weightless and thrust upward with her boots, but the fire was too fast- it was about to catch up to them, until one of Hado's shockwaves slammed into the raging inferno and dissipated the flames. Her chest heaving with exertion, Nejire landed directly opposite Dabi, her glass-scarred face a mask of fury.

"Not one more step toward them! You're fighting me now!"

"Oh, is that so?" He took a step forward and cracked his knuckles. "Doesn't seem fair, seeing as that Eight Precepts goon already did half the job for me. I guess they aren't totally worthless after all."

Another wall of flames erupted from his palms, even higher and more intense than the last, and Hado let out a cry of defiance as she matched it with her largest burst of shockwaves yet, tearing the ground between them to ribbons.

"KINETIC MAELSTROM, PLUS ULTRA!"

"Just burn already!" Dabi yelled in reply, clearly straining to contain the surge of power.

"She's past her limit!" Tsu croaked in distress at Ochako's side. "She needs our help!"

"She's been past her limit for a long time," Uravity responded, resolve building in her chest. "But I haven't even gotten close to mine."

"Hey, no fair!" Himiko shouted from below, watching them with jealous eyes. "I can't play with you if you're all the way up there!" She hurled a knife up toward them, but Uraraka was able to maneuver out of the way in time to dodge it.

After a few quick adjustment thrusts to angle them properly and build momentum, she launched Tsuyu toward Toga like an amphibian missile, then positioned herself for a Gravity Bomb with Dabi as the target. I don't have my helmet to protect against his fire, she knew, but it doesn't matter. Nejire wouldn't let that stop her, and neither will I. As she reached the top of her arc, she could see the entire park laid out beneath her, and watched uneasily as the two massive dragons continued to grapple with each other, surrounded by smoke and flame. Ryukyu had the advantage in terms of strength, but her capture scars and battle wounds were slowing her movements, giving her opponent brief openings that he was all too quick to seize upon. I'll help her next. There's someone who needs me first.

Why do you want to be a hero?

Her classmates had asked, at the beginning of her first year. Money, she told them. To help my parents live a better life. She still wanted to give that to them, but when she looked down on Nejire, Uraraka felt something entirely different swelling up inside her.

Why do you want to be a hero?

Aizawa had asked her, the last time he saw her in the hallway at the end of her first year. Money, she told him. To help my parents live a better life. She'd never forgotten the look of quiet disappointment on his face. Maybe she'd been wrong then. Maybe she'd been wrong before. Maybe she'd always misunderstood her own heart.

Why do you want to be a hero?

Ochako asked herself. So I can save the people I care about, she answered. So I can save the people I love. So I can save as many people as I can.

"Plus ultra," She whispered as she released her quirk and began to hurtle down towards Dabi.

By the time he noticed her, she was already practically on top of him; he shot up a burst of fire in her direction at the last moment, but it was only enough to singe the more vulnerable areas of her costume before her boots slammed into his side and sent him tumbling ten yards across the dead grass. Unfortunately, due to the angle, it hadn't been as direct of a hit as Ochako wanted- that would have required her to approach from the front, risking the full brunt of his flames- so he wasn't knocked unconscious, and struggled back to his knees where he'd fallen to a rest beside the seesaws, pain clear on his face.

"I think you broke a few of my ribs," he gritted, as a trickle of blood began to drip steadily from his mouth. "And punctured a lung. Fuck, that hurts. I'm gonna have to pay you back for that one."

He raised one hand, and Uraraka was readying herself to dodge again when a towering barricade of ice sprouted up in a semicircle around the villain, blocking off his attack. A scythe of concentrated blue flame cut through it a moment later, but then it was met by a raging orange inferno, and Ochako's heart lifted as Todoroki Shoto strode through the park's gate with Gang Orca at his side. Both his halves were fully active as he walked out to face Dabi alone.

"You've done more than enough already, Uravity. Let me handle this."

"Well I'll be damned, if it isn't little Shoto," Dabi crooned, stepping through the steaming puddle that remained of Todoroki's ice wall, an orb of fire in each of his hands. "This day just keeps getting better and better."

Hope you guys are enjoying this fight! Next time, the conclusion of the battle, from the villains' perspective. This is definitely the biggest fight I've written yet, so hopefully I did it justice- let me know if I need to improve anything. Also, hopefully that little bit of U.A. student bonding broke up the tension some, I wanted to explore how the class dynamic has changed in two years before going back into the heavier stuff. Are there any other students' internships who you want to see explored? Before anyone asks, Kirishima is still with Suneater and Fatgum. And let me know what you think of Momo! We're going to be seeing a lot more of her soon. Until next time!