A/N: Alright, you guys have been asking for it, so here we go- Team Lightning Drop vs Team Monoma!

I know you're especially looking forward to Kai vs Phantom Thief, but let's not forget the other factors at play in this fight...

P.S. There's some new artwork up for this chapter on my Instagram the_red_swordsman

Awakening

Eight Years Ago…

"Apologize, or pay up, Hogo-sha."

Shukin said nothing in response as one of the two fifth-graders blocking his way gave him a hearty shove, though not quite enough to knock him over. He also refused to make eye contact, which just seemed to irritate the older boys more.

"Look at Sho when he's talking to you," said the other as he gave the younger boy another shove. "The more disrespect you show, the more it's gonna cost ya, so I suggest you get to apologizing."

"Hey, leave him alone!" Shukin's eyes flicked to the side as he watched his younger cousin approaching with his sibling in tow. "Go pick on someone your own size!"

"Yeah?" the boy called Sho snickered as he turned toward the approaching children. "Who's gonna make us? It ain't gonna be you shrimps, that's for sure."

"Kurai, leave it," Shukin said tiredly as he reached for his pocket, where his wallet was stored. "Don't get involved in my problems."

"You're my cousin, and that makes it my problem," Kurai said stubbornly as he stood beside his elder relative. To the two bullies, he added, "I said to go away. No one needs people like you around." Him and his brother had been making a point to walk home with their cousin ever since he had been transferred to their school. It had been a little less than two years since their uncle had been killed by a villain, and their aunt, Sakura, had decided that it was time for her son to have a change in routine, which had prompted their move to her in-laws' neighborhood. Unfortunately, it hadn't take long for the local school thugs to identify depressed little Shukin as an easy target.

"Oh look, it's a little hero-wannabe," snickered the other bully in response to Kurai's declaration. Adopting a more patronizing tone, he pretended to shudder as he said, "I'm so scared."

"You should be, you microcephalic addlepate," said Shukin's other cousin, a child who couldn't be any older than four. He delivered the words so succinctly and with such a deadpan tone that it caught the bullies off-guard for a moment.

"Uh…?" Sho asked blankly.

"He called you guys stupid," Kurai translated. "I think."

"Oh yeah?" Sho growled as he clenched his fists and allowed bony protrusions to sprout from his knuckles, which he raised threateningly at the three boys. "We'll see who's stupid once we've got everything you have in those wallets of yours'."

"That would still be you," Akarui replied. "The ability to extort money from others with the use of violence doesn't make you clever. Also, I would think twice before harming the children of police officers."

"You think we care?" the other boy snorted, smoke streaming from his nostrils. "We're just tryin' to teach Hogo-sha here a lesson about how the real world works. It doesn't care if your daddy died, so we don't, either."

Kurai's eyes flashed dangerously before he tightened his free fist and said, "You should care. My uncle died keeping all of us safe. You should be grateful to him, and apologize to Shukin while you're at it."

"Or else what?" Sho snorted as he aimed his fist to strike at Kurai. "You got three seconds to hand over all your money, or I'll start throwing punches, you little pissant!"

Kurai let go of his brother's hand as he let out a long breath while the other boy began his countdown. Seeing this, Shukin put his own arm out and started to say, "Kurai, don't-"

The boy ducked under his cousin's arm, whirled his body in a three-sixty movement, and delivered a straight kick to Sho's abdomen, driving the wind out of his lungs and sending him reeling. Following that, he deflected the other bully's clumsy fist and punched him in the stomach, followed by a kick to the nose when he started to collapse that sent him reeling with a bloodied lip and a howl of pain. Giving the two older boys a sneer, Kurai then said, "I hope you guys grow up to become villains. That way my dad can put you in jail."

"At least we won't be six feet under," Sho grunted as he sat himself up and gave Shukin a glare. "Enjoy this while you can, Hogo-sha. Your little cousin won't be around to protect you all the time."

"Getting saved by a little kid… how pathetic is that…?" the other boy groaned, though he was still holding his face while blood dripped down his fingers.

"You guys are three grades older than the person who just beat you up without using his quirk," Akarui said, maintaining his normal deadpan tone. "How pathetic does that make you?"

The two bullies declined to answer, instead choosing to salvage what little dignity they had left by picking themselves up off the ground and staggering away. Just as Kurai was about to tell the others to follow him home, Sho said over his shoulder, "Stupid Hogo-sha always needs saving…"

"Maybe that's why his dad went and got killed by a villain," his friend snickered viciously. "He got tired of having to protect his useless son, and having to go home to an ugly wife like his must've gotten old. I mean, I'd wanna kill myself if I was in his position- anything I got in my next life would have to be better than that."

Sho was about to laugh, but a laser blast suddenly slammed into his friend's back, sending him flying into a light post with a pained cry that was cut off as his head collided with the metal. Turning around, he flinched when he saw Kurai's face, transformed by raw, unadulterated hatred.

"You…" he growled as he ripped his bag off his shoulders and slammed it on the ground hard enough to crack the pavement. "You take that back!" He started advancing toward Sho, who couldn't help but take a step back in fear of the ominous presence approaching him.

Unfortunately for the older boy, he wasn't very smart, and in his head, the best thing he could do right now was stand his ground. After all, if he conceded that he was wrong, that would justify his friend getting knocked down by this kid who was three years their junior! He just couldn't have that.

So instead, he shouted, "The only thing that should be taken back around here is you, except your stupid parents can't seem to do the world the favor of not reproducing!"

Kurai stopped three feet away from the bully, his eyes sparking with a blue light as the air shuddered around him. "Take. That. Back," he spat. "Last chance."

"Make me!"

Behind Kurai, Akarui visibly cringed, the first change in his expression since he had arrived on the scene. "Poor choice of words," he said.

Sho suddenly swung an uppercut that would knock Kurai off his feet if it connected with his jaw. Or rather, that's what should have happened.

Instead, Sho's jaw began to work up and down without sound as a stabbing pain shot up his arm from where Kurai had grabbed him and cracked the bones. "You… do not… talk that way… about my family," the younger boy snarled as his eyes completely changed, blue fire burning in them as he glared his hatred and contempt for the older boy, who was only now beginning to realize that he had made a very serious error. Having had no prior interactions with the younger boy before, he had no idea what his quirk was capable of.

Kurai's hair stirred and blazed orange as the air around him began to fill with a suffocating presence that seemed to rob Sho of his breath. Then Kurai's other hand wrapped around his throat and used his ever-growing strength to slam his victim into the sidewalk hard enough that the ground shattered, rupturing water lines and knocking over several nearby power lines. It was only thanks to Sho's bone-fortifying quirk that he was even alive after that, but as children and adults alike began to scream in terror, Akarui and Shukin realized that Kurai was only just getting started.

With a furious roar, the boy unleashed a raw torrent of energy from his body that went up into the sky as he declared his hatred and wrath at any who would dare to disrespect his family's sacrifice.

Present Day…

"Let's talk strategy," Izuku said as they stood in front of their team's prison base.

"What do we know about the other team's quirks?" Ochaco asked.

"Yanagi has Poltergeist- basically long-range telekinesis," Kurai quickly answered as he pulled the information up on his scouter. "She doesn't need to keep the stuff she's manipulating within her line of sight to keep control over it, but I imagine it'd help her. She has a weight limit, kinda like you, Ochaco, but she caps off at around a hundred and fifty pounds, I think."

"She'll probably try to overwhelm us with projectiles from all directions when she makes her move, and I wouldn't bet on her getting in close to do it," Izuku muttered as he put his chin in his hand. He turned to Mina and added, "Think you can counter her attacks, Ashido?"

"Dude, how many times I gotta tell you?" she grinned as she gave him a thumbs-up. "Call me Mina."

"Right, sorry," he said sheepishly as he scratched at the back of his head. "Do you think you can play defense on our part, Mina?"

"You got it, Izuku."

Kurai grinned at the byplay before moving on to say, "Next we have Shoda, his quirk is 'Twin Impact'. Basically means that he can hit something, wait for a bit, and then trigger another impact that's way more powerful than the first hit."

"How strong are we talking?" Mina asked.

"Kirishima asked Tetsutetsu about it, and he said that he's been knocked out on more than one occasion during training by the guy," Kurai replied, causing the others to cringe involuntarily. "That still wouldn't be too much of an issue for Izuku or me."

"I'll handle him," the greenette declared confidently. "You've got Monoma to take care of."

"Well, I guess that leaves Ochaco to handle Kodai, provided all goes according to plan," Kurai grinned at the gravity girl, who smiled back eagerly. "Her quirk allows her to shrink and then resize stuff after she's made contact with it. Last time I saw her quirk in action while we were passing gym gamma, she shrunk a cement pillar to the size of a toothpick. Following that, she chucked it and allowed it to go back to normal size so that it took out a bunch of Ectoplasm clones."

"Won't be a problem," Ochaco said firmly. "Even if she manages to throw something like that at me, I can negate or alter its momentum pretty easily."

"Awesome," Kurai nodded as he took his hand away from his scouter and allowed the screen to go blank. That did remind him of one thing, though, so he added, "Something to remember- Shoda has a scouter kind of like mine. I don't know how it works, but it's very possible that he'll be able to track our movements like I'll be able to see theirs'."

"So if we wanna make any ambush plays, we need to take him out, first," Mina said.

"I don't think we're gonna have the opportunity for that," Izuku replied with a slight shake of his head. "If both of our teams can see where the other is, there's not much point to trying to engage in ambush tactics. I feel like this is going to become an all-out brawl."

"Probably," Kurai agreed. Upon further thought, he muttered, "That actually works to their advantage, now that I think about it."

"How so?"

"Their powers can be unleashed at full force without much risk of lethal damage to trained people like us," Kurai said as he looked away from the capture cell. "You and I have to be a lot more careful with our powers, especially in situations like this one. If we're thrown into the fray, we might accidentally end up hitting Mina or Ochaco as easily as our opponents."

"Sounds like we need a preemptive strike, then," Ochaco chimed in. "Something that'll throw them off before they have a chance to get started."

"Kurai can handle that, no problem," Mina grinned as she patted her boyfriend on the shoulder. "Right, sweetie?"

Kurai was about to agree that he could do so, but he was interrupted when Izuku shook his head in the negative and said, "No, they'll be expecting him to make the long-range attack. Monoma probably has a countermeasure in mind for that- after all, he wants to win against Kurai more than anyone else in Class B."

Kurai mused on this for a moment before a slow smile worked its way across his face and he said, "Ochaco is right, a preemptive, long-range attack is probably the best way to get things going in our favor. But if they're expecting me, then I say we give 'em something else to think about."

"How's that?" Mina asked as she let a bit of acid drip off of her fingertip. "I can do medium-range attacks, but I can't snipe someone from across the map like you can."

"You sure about that?"

"…Eh?"

The match began, and Class B's students began to run across the field, all senses on high alert for any incoming attacks in the form of Energon blasts. They all knew that Kurai could easily track them with his scouter, and that even if that was destroyed, he would still be able to see them with his Divine Eye. Their plan was simply to overwhelm him as quickly as possible, because if they couldn't do that, they had virtually no chances at winning. He was just too powerful to be brought down by anyone on their side, unless Monoma could somehow copy his or Midoriya's quirk. To that end, he had copied everyone's quirk on his team, as to grant him extra mobility on the field, which would give him the best chance at getting in close, though his classmates didn't have much faith in his chances at grappling with the boy who had unleashed enough energy to level a city in a single blast.

Silently, the other students cursed Monoma's relentless grudge against their Class A counterparts, and his fixation on Kurai in particular. None of them knew him particularly well, and while he seemed like a nice enough person, they had no idea whether or not he would vent his frustrations with Monoma on them. They would do their best to win, but after seeing what their opponent was capable of, it was hard not to get severely discouraged.

The four students were brought out of their musings when they heard a strange hissing sound rapidly coming closer, though they couldn't exactly tell where the source was. Accompanying the sound was an unpleasant smell, but again, the four of them had no idea of what might be causing it.

That is, until a massive wave of gray liquid sliced through the buildings and support structures over their heads and forced them to take cover for fear of being hit. However, the substance quickly passed them by without so much as a stray drop left behind, which just left them all feeling more confused than anything. "Was that… Ashido's acid?" Shoda asked with a frown.

"If it was, she's a terrible shot!" Monoma laughed.

"Uh… I'm not so sure that she was aiming at us," Shoda said worriedly as the buildings around them began to groan and rumble as the stone and metal started to shift, drawing their collective attention upwards. "I also don't remember her being able to make that much of it in one shot like that."

"Hikari," Yanagi murmured as the group began to run away from the line of collapsing structures for fear of being buried. "Kendo heard that he had a move that allows him to transfer a portion of his power into someone else. A reckless move to play at this time, considering the fact that it knocks him out whenever he does it."

"Ha!" Monoma cackled. "I knew he was an idiot! Now we actually have a chance to win this!"

"You never stood a chance to begin with," a familiar voice said, leading the quartet of Class B students to turn and see Izuku standing a few yards away, Ochaco right beside him. Both of them were wearing grim expressions, but it was something of a surprise when she took the lead and allowed her right hand to hover less than an inch away from the base of a five-story office complex on her right. As she came to a stop, Ochaco added, "You get this one chance to surrender, guys."

"Or else what?" Shoda asked as he moved to stand in front of Kodai, who was preparing their group's countermeasure for Ochaco's Zero Gravity.

"Or else we bury you," she said evenly.

This caused Monoma to laugh out loud again. "Please, you think we'll just stand here and let that happen?" he snorted derisively. "We know you won't be able to lift that entire structure, either. You may have increased your weight limit, but even you can't lift an entire building without making yourself sick, Uraraka."

"Wanna bet?" she grinned before her eyes glowed green and she placed her fingers on the building, which began to rumble and send tremors through the ground.

"No frickin' way!" Shoda gaped as the entire building began to drift upwards, sending tremors through the ground while Izuku went into action, scooping his girlfriend up and lashing out with a kick that sent a violent slipstream at their opponents, who were forced to scatter for fear of being struck by the concussive force. "Since when can she-?!"

"Oh, guys?" a singsong voice called from behind them, drawing their attention away from the young couple. They paled when they saw Mina, wearing a big smile as she aimed her palms at their opponents. She then snickered, "You shoulda taken us up on the surrender."

"Kodai, now!" Shoda shouted as him and the others dove out of the way in time for the quiet girl to hurl a handful of what looked like pieces of rubble, which quickly grew to be bigger than a grown man as they hurtled toward Mina, Shoda's Twin Impact having been triggered at the same moment as their release.

Mina put her natural athleticism and flexibility to good use in tandem with her amplified powers to evade most of the rubble, and cutting right through the stuff that she couldn't avoid. Unfortunately, this meant that she had to take her eyes off of her opponents for a moment, and by the time she had looked back to where they had been, she saw no sign of them. She was about to curse angrily at having let them escape her, but Izuku's voice quickly told her that she would better off getting away from the current area.

"I saw where they went!" he called out from the other side of the building that Ochaco was making float. "Clear out, Mina!"

"Don't gotta tell me twice!" she yelped as she began skating away as fast as her quirk would let her.

The instant that Ochaco confirmed that their friend was out of the line of fire, Izuku drew in a deep breath, his eyes glowing a slightly different shade of green as he drew back his right fist and squared his hips against the building front of him. Normally, he would be adverse to such theatrics and widespread destruction, but he and the others had collectively decided that just this once, they were going to show their opponents exactly what they were capable of doing to people who crossed them. "Texas…" he growled out, allowing Kurai's energy to intermingle with his quirk and amplify it several times over, though he did not feel the usual pressure in his body that would result in broken bones from such a powerful attack. Taking this as a final confirmation that their theory was correct, he swung his fist and shouted, "SMASH!" His fist stopped just short of touching the actual building that his girlfriend had lifted with her quirk, but the condensed air pressure did not.

The building shattered and went flying across the field, demolishing dozens of other structures with the debris and causing a cataclysmic level of destruction that left a huge gash in the cityscape. Ochaco winced at the howling winds and sounds of buildings crashing together before turning to her boyfriend and asking, "You didn't wreck their home base, did you? I'm pretty sure we'd be marked down for that."

"I don't see us earning anything better than a barely-passable grade after the amount of collateral damage we've already caused," he pointed out, to which she was forced to concede. "We knew that when we decided to go with this plan, though." He was examining his arm for any damage, but to his pleasure, he felt no pain at all, despite having let off with a blow comparable to an 80% Smash.

"I'm all outta Energon juice," Mina said as she slid to a stop in front of them, her eyes having reverted back to their normal appearance. "You guys?"

"I've got a little left, but I can't pick up another building without making myself sick," Ochaco replied.

"I can maybe throw one or two more of those," Izuku added as he lowered his arm. "Should be more than enough to make Kurai's plan work."

"They were still able to counterattack, even when we had 'em cornered," Mina warned her friends.

"But not very well," Izuku pointed out. "None of their attacks came close to hitting you, and now they'll be wondering just how much Kurai has been able to amplify our quirks. The more unsure of themselves they are, the better."

"You've been collaborating with Kurai a lot lately, haven't you?" Mina grinned at him. The Izuku that they had all met at the beginning of the year never would have thought to prey on an opponent's insecurities, much less sow such doubts himself. He had struggled enough with his own self-confidence enough that targeting somebody else's fears probably would have seemed rather mean-spirited to him, but their experiences and Kurai's way of looking at things seemed to have opened his eyes to the fact that their opponents often didn't deserve much in the way of basic courtesies.

"He knows what he's talking about," Izuku said in response to Mina's inquiry. Gesturing for the two girls to follow him, he added, "Let's go. Kurai's probably on his way already."

Even as he said the words, a brilliant explosion lit up an area less than half a kilometer away from their position. "Let's go!" Mina cheered as a slightly wicked smile creased her face. "I can't wait to see how he handles Monoma."

"He gave each of us quite a bit of power," Ochaco said with a frown as they ran. "Is he okay to fight?"

"Nah, that might have felt like a ton of power to us, but I guarantee that wasn't even ten percent of what he had in the tank," the pink girl answered as various shouts of frustration and surprise came from up ahead. "When he was first getting used to the move, he couldn't control the output of energy, so he always ended up unloading like half of his quirk into the person he charged up, and… Well, you guys saw what happened with Todoroki at the Licensing Exam."

Izuku and Ochaco both had to concede that she had a point- their augmented abilities had been impressive enough, but nowhere the level of raw power that Todoroki had displayed months ago. Seeing that the point had gone home, Mina added, "He's been working hard to put the brakes on how much energy he expels with Giving Heart, and since I'm the one we've pretty much been experimenting on, I have a pretty good feel for how much he gave each of us. Also, you know…" She pointed in the direction ahead of them, where another blast was shaking the ground. "He seems fine to me."

Kurai ducked under a trio of oil canisters that were each twice his size before cutting through a fourth one with his sword and unleashing a blast of energy at Yanagi, who summoned a chuck of rock so that she could leap on it and zoom upward, out of the line of fire. He grinned to himself, having found that he was enjoying this particular challenge. His opponents had excellent teamwork and control over their respective powers, and he was being forced to keep on his guard as he fought off attacks from all sides. He had considered using his Muladhara power- now being called Basic Instinct- but he wasn't quite that desperate to stave off his enemies' attacks just yet. The ability burned through an exhausting amount of energy, and he didn't want to waste any excess stamina that he might need on the off-chance that they had something up their sleeves that he hadn't planned for.

So he hurled his sword at Monoma, who used Yanagi's quirk to get away on a pair of rocks before landing on a roof and sending the rubble back at his opponent's head. Kurai planned to counter this by summoning his saber back to him on an intercept course that would shear through the rocks, but halfway back to him, his weapon halted in the air, an unseen force preventing it from travelling any further. He quickly realized that Yanagi was interfering with his arm's magnetic function, so he abandoned the effort and settled for punching the rocks out of the air with his metal arm, turning the concrete into dust with the powerful blow.

Still, they had thrown off his rhythm enough that they were starting to gain ground against his defenses, and while they had yet to land any serious hits, he had no intention of allowing such a thing to occur. Sucking in a deep breath, he concentrated on sending his power rushing throughout his entire body, imagining that the river of energy was humming just beneath his skin, ready for the dam to break at his command. Catching Monoma's eye, he gave him a savage smile.

Shoda's eyes went wide before he waved his teammates back and started to yell, "Look out, he's gonna-!"

Kurai cut him off by bellowing, "Almighty PUSH!" Energon burst from every pore of his body, lighting up the area with an explosion that shook the ground and buildings for nearly a mile in every direction. When the light and sound started to settle down, he looked around and frowned when he didn't see any of the other teenagers in the area. I didn't put out enough force to vaporize them, he thought as he accessed his scouter's 'search' function. When it showed them as being within ten feet of him, he frowned harder, not seeing any rubble that was close enough to hide under within that range.

Then it clicked, and he swung his gaze upward to see Monoma diving toward him from above while the others remained up in the air with the help of Yanagi's Poltergeist, which allowed them to stand on stray scraps of stone and metal. As Monoma came within striking range, he laughed and shouted, "Let's see just how impressive you are when you're facing your quirk in the hands of a real hero!" His fingers reached out toward Kurai's head, intent on either striking him with Twin Impact or copying his quirk, he wasn't quite sure.

Before Kurai could make any kind of retort or attack, Monoma was dealt a punch to the stomach from the side, sending him completely off-course and allowing Izuku to land next to his friend, who was now wearing a big smile again. "What took you so long?" he asked the greenette as their girlfriends charged onto the scene, Mina using Acid Veil to shield them from long-range attacks. "I sent up one hell of a signal flare."

"We had to take the scenic route," the pink girl answered cheekily.

"Take care of Monoma!" Ochaco called as she started using her Zero Gravity to send large chunks of rock up toward their opponents so that Izuku could use Delaware Smashes to break them up and shower their opponents with smaller, faster pieces that were too hard for Kodai or Shoda to manipulate properly with their quirks. "We've got your back, Kurai!"

"Thanks," he grinned at her before giving Mina a quick thumbs-up. Setting his sights on Monoma again, he waited for the other boy to get to his feet before beginning his advance and saying, "I've waited a long time for this."

"You and me both, traitor," the blond hero-in-training sneered. Straightening himself up, he went on to say, "I just don't see how I'm the only one who can tell what's so obvious about you. I can understand you duping your 'friends', but I thought it would be easier for my own classmates to see the truth."

"What are you on about?" Kurai asked with a raised eyebrow, content to let Monoma run his time out for his borrowed powers. Last I heard, he can only use quirks that he's copied for five or ten minutes, and after that, he has to reacquire them via tactile contact. By his own estimate, his opponent had less than a minute left to use any powers that he was borrowing from his classmates, assuming he hadn't shed one in favor of copying his already.

"I mean, it's like it's staring everyone in the face!" Monoma cackled. "Someone in our classes had to be the one to tell the League of Villains where our summer camp was! One of our classmates had to be the one to supply the League with the itinerary for the USJ incident!"

"For all we know, it could have been you who gave them that information," Kurai countered with a shrug. "Makes sense, if you think about it- after all, the USJ incident didn't put anyone from Class B in danger, so there would have been no risk to you if you directed the League to attack when our class was out and about."

"Perhaps, but I lack the motive necessary for such a bold move," Monoma shot back. "You, on the other hand, had the perfect connection and cover to conceal your part in those events. And don't think the whole 'losing an arm' bit is fooling me. You've only grown more powerful since you gained that prosthetic, so really, what do you have to complain about?"

"Not a lot, I suppose," Kurai answered with another shrug, which just seemed to irritate Monoma further, seeing that his insults were doing nothing to unbalance his opponent. "My life is pretty good these days. That being said, why would I risk everything for the sake of the people who killed my father?"

"We live in a superhuman society," Monoma replied, as if that explained everything. "You hear crazier things on the news. Maybe you decided to continue his work in order to rebel against the established order that caused your father to take the steps that he did? Not that it amounted to much, but I suppose that's to be expected. The life of a traitor isn't worth much, so I it only makes sense that a fairly useless trade was the result. A worthless, traitor of lawman for a worthless, traitor of a hero."

Kurai's breath hitched as he clenched his fists, but before he could put Monoma in his place, an unexpected element entered the picture. "Don't talk about his dad like that, Monoma!" Izuku screamed as he rocketed toward the blond boy like a bolt of verdant lightning. "You have no idea what he… what he…! AUGH!"

As he came within range of a Delaware Smash, something suddenly went very wrong. Izuku screamed out in pain as his right sleeve exploded, and dark tendrils of energy suddenly erupted, lashing out at everything within reach, with absolutely no discrimination, as both ally and enemy were forced to evade this new presence. Kurai was taken completely by surprise, and he forgot about Monoma as he used his own quirk to hold Izuku's at bay while the boy himself began to thrash about, as if caught up in the grip of the black tendrils. It became abundantly clear that he had no control over it when he was suddenly slammed into a nearby building and started screaming at his arm, telling it to stop before somebody got hurt.

"Kurai!" Ochaco called out as he dove in front of her and beat back a tendril with his sword. "What's happening to Deku?!" Her face was strained with the terror of the unknown, and Kurai didn't think that his own face looked much different at that moment. Fortunately, his energon seemed to be substantial enough to counter whatever this dark matter was, but that was about all he could be thankful for right now.

"I don't know!" he yelled to be heard over the noise of the faux city collapsing around them. He didn't know if the energy that he had given his friend was somehow causing this, or simply making a separate problem worse, but whatever the case was, the black tendrils had rapidly spread across the majority of the training ground, going so far as to nearly reach the observation deck. He was uncertain if Mister Aizawa would be able to reach them in time for his quirk to nullify Izuku's, especially if these tendrils were as violent over there as they were in front of him. We're on our own for this one, he thought as he sifted through their options.

"Kurai!" Mina shouted as she slid under cover with her two friends, her breath coming out in rapid gasps. "You got anything to make him stop this?! What the hell is up with One Fo- with his quirk?!" In the rush of the moment, she nearly blurted out the name of his power, but she had the better sense to stop, just in case any of their opponents could hear their words.

"You got me," he said with a shake of his head as he wiped at the sweat lining his brow. Drawing in another steadying breath, he then told them, "Get ready to move in once the commotion stops. I may have to knock him out to make this stop."

"Please, don't hurt him if you can help it," Ochaco begged him.

"Don't worry, hurting him is the last thing I wanna do," Kurai assured her as his skin began to darken and turn crimson, while his eyes shone like twin rubies. "Let's do this." Then he was gone, almost too fast for the girls to keep track of him, vaulting out over the shelter that they had taken as he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Class B, cease fire! I gotta get him under control before he really hurts somebody! This isn't a part of the exercise!"

"As if we'd fall for a cheap trick like that!" Monoma called back from somewhere nearby. "You just want an excuse to get in close so you can- ack!"

"Go, Hikari!" Kodai called out, surprising the others. Normally she was very soft-spoken, and had little to say. Apparently current circumstances demanded that she speak up after knocking her teammate over the head with something hard.

Kurai wasted no more time as he sped into the storm of black vines that were erupting from his best friend's body. He was nothing but a scarlet blur of motion to the other students, but even he was having trouble avoiding all of the moving appendages that continued to toss Izuku around like a ragdoll. Had he been in conscious control of his body at that moment, he would have been firing off lasers left and right, but his body knew that it needed to conserve as much energy as possible, so most of his evasive maneuvers were completely physical in nature.

As he got closer, he was aware that his fingers were scattering a few bursts of light here and there, but it wasn't a conscious or premeditated decision on his part- a feeling that he was still getting used to. Still, as disconcerting as the entire situation was, he remained detached from his conscious self until he was close enough to grab his friend, at which point, he severed the flow of his power to his Muladhara chakra and seized control of his faculties- which then turned out to be a big mistake.

He had been concerned that if he engaged his friend directly while using Basic Instinct, he might do more damage than necessary. In his haste, he forgot how tired he always felt whenever he stopped using the ability, and before he knew it, he was flying toward Izuku with eyes that were out of focus, and limbs that felt like lead. The tendrils immediately seized him up in a vice-like grip, choking the breath out of him and nearly popping some of his bones out of joint. His scouter was swiftly destroyed, and pieces of his gi went flying as the tendrils broke skin, jerking him into a more wakeful state, but it was too late for him to escape with conventional means.

"Izuku!" he grunted out as he struggled to draw in a breath while his friend continued to thrash not two feet in front of him. "What… the hell… man?!"

"I don't know!" he shouted as he clawed at his arm, trying with all of his might to bring the overwhelming power under control, and continuing to fail. "You gotta do something, Kurai!"

"That's what I'm telling you!" his friend croaked. "If you don't… get this under wraps… I might have… to actually hurt you!"

"I don't know how to make it stop!" the green-haired boy pleaded with his friend. "Do whatever you have to do! Just don't let me hurt you or the others!"

The others? Kurai repeated silently, an idea coming into his head. Craning his neck as much as he could, he then shouted, "Ochaco…! You need… to clear his head!"

"…What?!" she yelled up, not comprehending whatever on earth he could be planning, or how it involved her.

"Just… get ready to catch him!" Kurai grunted as he poured as much power as he dared into his body. To Izuku, he added, "Sorry in advance."

"For wha- Ow!" He reeled back as Kurai suddenly jerked his head forward, crashing his skull into his friend's nose, which produced a slightly sickening crunch as he made contact.

Still, it had the desired effect, because while the black tendrils remained, they were now moving a lot less erratically, almost as though the blow to Izuku's head had partially sedated them. Even so, the fact that they were still present meant that they had no idea when they would run wild again, and Kurai knew that they needed to avoid that if at all possible. So he grabbed onto his friend by the hood of his costume and belt before hurling him right at Ochaco and Mina, who had popped their heads out to see what was happening. "Clear his head!" He shouted at Ochaco again. "Make him not think!"

"How do I-?!"

"It's not that hard, Ochaco!" Mina grunted as she moved to pin Izuku against the wall as soon as he came within her reach. "Kiss him like you mean it!" Her voice only carried to the other girl over the chaos of noise that had become their battleground, but to Ochaco, it sounded like she had just announced to the entire country that she should kiss Izuku Midoriya.

Naturally, she turned redder than Kirishima's hair, but before she could protest, Mina let out a scared yelp as she recoiled from one of the tendrils that was beginning to act up again, and any thoughts of declining were instantly shut down. If I don't do something to help him, One For All might really hurt somebody! she thought in a panic. So she tore off her helmet, and with the last of the extra strength that Kurai had given her, she made herself weightless and dove into the mass of seething tendrils in order to reach Izuku. I'll save him, she vowed as she grabbed onto the arm that wasn't vomiting black energy. Whatever it takes, whatever it costs me, I'll always do what I can to save you, Deku!

With a rush of movement, she grabbed onto his mask and used it to yank his face close enough that she could plant her mouth firmly onto his.

Mataras: HAhahahahaha!

Deku: It's not that funny!

Mataras: It is that funny!

Kai: Why did you do that to him?

Mataras: Okay, come on. I didn't have Shinso there to work with, and with Blackwhip getting amped up by Giving Heart, there was no way that Aizawa would be able to reach you guys in time to nullify One For All before something really bad happened. Also, given how wacky your guys' lives are, I figured their first kiss would happen under equally wacky circumstances.

Deku: Did everyone see that on the viewing screen...?

Mataras: What do you think?

Kai: Okay, thanks for traumatizing him, and thanks for showing off one of my more traumatic memories.

Deku: Wait, what is he-?

Mataras: That bit at the beginning is the incident that led to his discovery of what used to happen whenever he overused his quirk. He passed out from the aneurysm like ten seconds after the scene transitioned.

Kai: Mixing trauma with what should be a sweet moment for Izuku and Ochaco... What is wrong with you?!

Mataras: Do us all a favor and don't open that particular can of worms- it's a lot bigger than most people can handle.

Deku: Next time- Truth

Mataras: Time for the definitive showdown between he Guardian Hero and the Phantom Thief!

Kai: Oh yeah, I still haven't gotten to FINISH THIS?!

Mataras: Hey, hey, hey! Come on, mate, I just cleaned this place u-

Kai: This is your fault for not letting me Go Beyond!

Deku: Plus Ultra!

Mataras: Wait, you too, De-?! Oh crap on stick!

Next time on Your Hero Academia: Ipseity...

Kurai had chosen to run the moment that he had seen Monoma coming at him from above. The boy was using Yanagi's power to control two pieces of stone beneath his feet, so that he was more or less skating on the air itself, and granting him greater speed than a person could run. Kurai knew that the crazed student would be aiming to copy his quirk, and on the off chance that he did manage it, he needed to be far away from the others before it happened.

As it turned out, his precaution was well-founded. Monoma managed to use Twin Impact to send pieces of rubble flying every which way, forcing Kurai to dodge as best he could, but without the time to concentrate on the Muladhara chakra, he couldn't activate Basic Instinct in order to avoid all of the projectiles. Eventually, he slipped up, and got slammed with a boulder that drove the wind out of his lungs before he was able to throw an elbow and shatter the rock so that it didn't flatten him against the ground.

Fixing a hard look on the blond boy after he had stopped moving, he said in a flat voice, "If I'm not mistaken, you copied my quirk a few minutes ago before Izuku could get to us. If that is the case, I'd be very careful about using it. Energon could kill you if you don't know what you're doing with it."

"You expect me to believe that?" Monoma snorted derisively. "Sure, your quirk may have been dangerous at the beginning of the year, but ever since the summer camp, it's been known that your brother did something to your quirk to make it safe for you to use! And that means…!"

Kurai then had the intriguing experience of watching his power manifest in someone else as the air around Monoma exploded with orange energy, shooting up into the sky in a monstrous display of force. He frowned as he noticed a particular detail, however; that being, Monoma had orange hair and blue eyes, same as he once did whenever he unleashed his full potential. That's a problem.