"So what's the plan?" Ashido asked, bouncing on her toes rapidly.

"First for you to knock that the fuck off," Katsuki snarled, grabbing the girl by the shoulders and forcing her to stand still. "We only have another two minutes before we have to get set up!"

"Right," Tsu stated with a nod. "So what is the plan?"

Katsuki glanced at her before pressing his lips together. At least she understood it was time to get serious. "We want to do more than just make it to the next round."

"Right!" Kirishima declared, fist balled up and held up in front of his face as he flashed a sharp grin. "We want to win!"

"No," Katsuki stated.

"…no?" Kirishima said, deflating slightly.

"We want to fucking DOMINATE!" Katsuki answered with his own iron grin.

"THAT'S why I wanted to be on this team!" Ashido cheered. "Yeah, friends are nice and all but we are going to be heroes and I want to be one of the best!"

It was only because she had, wisely, said she wanted to be 'one of' the best and not 'the best' that kept Katsuki from tearing into her. There was no problem with people wanted to be great heroes… so long as they realized that they wouldn't be THE best. After all, how could one be Number 1 if there was no Number 2?

Kirishima grinned. "Alright, so what are ya thinking?"

"Bull rush," Katsuki stated. "I take the lead because I'll be able to blow out anyone that gets in front of us. Frog Girl, Raccoon Eyes, you are going to be on the sides. Anything that slips past you deal with, and you watch out as we move through any crossways. Shitty Hair, you are the fucking rear and you are NOT going to let anyone sneak up on us!"

"Hey, you know you can count on me!" Kirishima declared.

"Anyone know of any of the quirks from the other classes?" Tsu asked.

"Why the fuck would I care about those extras?" Katsuki demanded.

"Because if we know what they can do then we can beat them even easier," she reasoned. "Know thy enemy."

Ashido frowned. "Then shouldn't we focus on our classmates?"

Katsuki though knew INSTANTLY why Tsu had suggested what she had. "We know what they can do… but they know what we can do. That means it will be a longer fighter… letting some of those shitty nothings that couldn't get into our class slip into the next round."

"Oh!" Ashido stated, bobbing her head rapidly. "Right… well, I know a few people…"

Before she could say too much more Midnight called for them to make their way to their starting points. They would all be starting at a door on the lowest level but would have ten minutes to get set up so they could prepare. For Katsuki that meant getting to the top floor as quickly as possible so that they could charge down, driving everyone into dead ends and choke points to claim their points.

He smirked as he led his team to their starting area. Oh, he was going to show EVERYONE why he was the best in the entire damn school!

~MC~MC~MC~

Aoyama grinned as the timer counted down to zero and they were able to begin.

"Remember the plans, chers amis!" he called out as they moved through the hallway. The building reminded him of an industrial office; when he had been learning to master his quirk he had spent his time…

Well, it reminded him of those times.

The walls were covered in tacky motivational posters, telling people to 'work smarter, not harder' and 'respect is given AND earned!' and trite like that. There were water coolers and plants (but they were clearly fake and it made him shudder at how tasteless that was) and the like to make it a bit more homey. But... the floor was made of hard cement and the walls were unpainted drywall. The doors featureless gray things. He didn't know if it was because their teachers wanted the students to get lost as they tried to make their way through the building-maze… or if they were just too lazy to set anything else up. He leaned towards the first because why bother with the posters? Especially ones that were so hideux?

He shook his head. He needed to focus for once on the mission and not the charme.

His team had spent their ten minutes running about scouting the floors, figuring out where everyone was located. The plan was as simple as it was genie. Tano had the most points overall thanks to her first place finish. It didn't matter who she partnered with that was a given. So the wisest move was to hammer on her as quick as he could before retreating. Everyone else would be coming to her as well but if they were first they could escape before anyone realized she had lost her headbands.

It was a shame to eliminate her but in order to be the best one sometimes had to be a bit sauvage.

"You are sure they are this way?" Kamakiri asked.

"Positive," Shoji stated, forming a mouth on one of his arms. "I saw them setting up here."

"Hmm… a decent place I suppose," Aoyama said, trying to remember the layout of the building and just where they were at the moment. "Still, it will become the enclume while we are the marteau!"

"…what?" Awase from Class 1-B asked; he had been a last minute addition when Aoyama had been unable to find a final member for their group.

Aoyama rolled his eyes. "Anvil and Hammer," he repeated. "Now then, we are nearly there!"

They passed by another row of potted plants and were just about to turn a corner when they heard the 'click click click' sound coming from just behind them. They turned, confused, only to stare in utter shock as the plants SHIFTED, leaves reaching out to wrap around each other before yanking themselves together. It took only about 20 seconds, the entire time Aoyama and his team standing there dumbfounded, for the plants to form into a 6 foot tall… thing.

That was the only way to describe it. A thing made of plants and pots. Bipedal in nature but still plastic plants and pots.

The bottom of one that made up the thing's right arm dropped… and revealed a cannon.

Guns. It was also made of guns.

"Quoi dans le monde?" Aoyama managed to get out just before the plant began to fire on them, forcing them to dive until an office for cover.

~MC~MC~MC~

Izuku stopped at the corner, holding out his arm to keep Inasa and Ida from continuing on. Thankfully the two had quickly decided that with his training it was best for him to take the lead. They hadn't asked what he was doing when he had led them to a bathroom and smashed a mirror, selecting a piece and wrapping it in a torn off part of his sleeve.

Now though the two watched as he carefully held the mirror out, looking down so that he could see what lay around the corner via the reflection.

He held up his fist and rotated it once, twice, three, then four times, never unclenching their fingers.

The agreed upon signal: Stop. Four Enemies.

Both of the taller teens stayed absolutely still, understanding that they weren't the best in this situation.

So instead Inasa merely held out several of the items that Izuku had made in the bathroom, allowing the boy to look them over and decide what would be best. They had a plan for each one of them, with Izuku even coming up with plans that could be communicated silently purely by HOW he took an item.

He selected a bag with his left hand.

At once Ida took the other items from Inasa and moved to watch their rear flank while Inasa in turn prepared himself, body loose and ready even as his mind felt like a taunt violin string.

Izuku carefully held the bag in his hand, knowing that if he squeezed it he would end up cutting open his palm thanks to the bits of glass that were wrapped up inside the cloth. He gauged its weight for a moment before quickly darting out from behind the corner, so low that he would be easy to miss, and throwing the bag side arm before returning to the safety of the wall.

All three could see what was happening in their mind's eyes. The bag soared in the air above the other team's heads, making barely a sound. That is until it landed, the mirror shards cracking and breaking as they slammed into the cement floor.

The team around the corner cursed and twisted about, looking for the source of the sound.

At once Inasa leapt out from behind the corner and fired off gusts of wind, sending the other team flailing. Ida finally revved his engines and rushed in, delivering a few quick chops to their necks. They had all learned about pressure points from Kenobi and Ida found that such knowledge was VERY useful for him as it fit well with his quick fighting style.

Once they were down Izuku was on the move, not just grabbing headbands but also checking them over to see if there was anything useful. This group had managed to get one headband that was worth 1000 points so that was a nice plus but Izuku barely even looked at it as he inspected each carefully.

"We did very good!" Inasa declared and though he tried to keep his voice low it still came out rather loud in the empty halls.

Ida nodded. "Yes… this was a good start. If we keep this up we will be able to secure our spots easily."

Izuku though had moved to removing one of the downed student's shoes.

"I doubt they hid anything in their shoes," Ida said, adjusting his glasses. "Though… that might not be a bad idea?" He looked over the headband he'd been given. "Nothing says we have to wear these on our heads…"

Izuku nodded absently at that, yanking off the person's socks. "Yeah, we should tuck the headbands someplace where they aren't easy to grab."

"What… what are you doing?" Inasa asked as Izuku moved onto the next student and removed their shoes and socks too.

"You ever try and run barefoot?" he asked. "You have to build up to it because even with calluses feet tend to be soft nowadays unless you have a quirk that toughens them up." He gestured at the downed students. "They aren't going to be happy when they wake up and I don't want them coming after us. And we don't have time to tie them up and stash them someplace-" He removed the third student's footwear and already moved to the last, "-so we take these and we hide them. That way if they do come after us they are going to have sore feet. And with others fighting there is going to be debris so that will keep them even more cautious."

"…that is scary," Inasa whispered and he wasn't referring to the lack of footwear.

It was even scarier when Izuku refused to tell them why he wanted to keep the shoelaces.

~MC~MC~MC~

"Aw man!" Mineta complained as he and his… team… made another push at Uraraka. Mineta had been forced to bribe his way onto a team and it wasn't the selection of lovely ladies he had wanted, but they were working well as his wingmen, helping him get close to the lovely gravity girl before him. "I was hoping you'd have some other babes with you! That way I could comfort you all when I knocked you out of the Sports Festival!" He lobbed from of his sticky balls at her, Uraraka diving out of the way before they hit her.

Of course that's what Mineta was hoping for; they were driving her away from Tokoyami, who had been forced to try and help Jiro when she had been caught by another team made up of some other Gen Ed students.

"I mean, that earjack girl is okay but I can tell she's a total butch," he declared.

"Dude," his partner, he didn't know his name, complained, "my moms are gay-"

"That is so fucking hot," Mineta stated, "and we can talk about it later!" He grinned as he took a step towards Uraraka. "But right now we need to talk about a trade. I'm supposed to be after your headband… but maybe if you are nice-" And even the most sexually stunted being in the universe could understand what THAT was a reference to…

~MC~MC~MC~

In the Jedi Temple Master Yoda suddenly looked up, frowning before shivering in disgust.

~MC~MC~MC~

"-we can work out a deal where you keep it."

"Seriously?" another one his partners stated. "Listen, you little freak, we want to win, not help you jizz your pants."

Uraraka merely stared Mineta down. "I would rather remove my breasts with a barely warm curling iron than let you get near me."

That caused the purple grape to lean back before narrowing his eyes. "Well then, I guess I'll just have to beat you in a fight-"

And that's when he was turned into a popsicle.

"I am new to this… friends… thing," Todoroki said, stepping out of one of the offices, "but am I right that a friend doesn't let their friend be treated like that?"

"Very right," Uraraka declared.

"Holy shit!" one of Mineta's partners screamed in shock. "You got fucking Todoroki on your team!?"

"Oh yeah," Uraraka said, stepping forward and rolling her neck like Ahsoka did right before she began to use her fists.

"How did you get him?!"

"I can be persuasive."

~Earlier~

"Hey Todoroki," Uraraka said with a smile, bouncing up to him, "want to be on my team?"

"…okay," the two-toned teen stated.

"Cool."

Everyone else that had come to him had begged him to join. Pleaded. Challenged him. Demanded. A few had tried to bribe him even. But only Ochaco had just come to him and asked.

Asked… like he was just anyone else. Nothing special. Nothing different. Just anyone else. He had seen it many times in the last few minutes and hadn't realized how much he LONGED to be seen as just like everyone else til it had happened.

"Does this make us friends?" He asked, an eyebrow raised.

"If you want to be," Uraraka chirped. "I'd be happy to be friends with you!"

He didn't smile. Smiling was for the weak, as his father would say.

But he did feel something… flitter… in his heart. An odd sensation.

He hoped he didn't have food poisoning.

~MC~MC~MC~

"So we're sure that people haven't been reincarnated from our world here, right?" Anakin whispered to Padme, Eri still on his lap though she was done eating and now was focused on looking over his prosthetic hand. He'd removed his glove, not feeling subconscious about it anymore. With so many different quirks running around having metal figures didn't alert people that you had made a mistake. Eri liked to lift up his fingers and then set them down, watching the joints. Obi Wan had bemoaned that she was going to end up like him and have projects all over their apartment and Anakin had decided to look into some model kits the two of them could put together.

"I don't think we ever discussed that," Padme commented as she finished off another of her burgers. If before she had developed a big appetite thanks to her training taking on One For All had left her ravenous.

"We're discussing it now," Anakin stated. "Do you think this world is a place where people from our… home… can be reincarnated?"

"Well, the Naboo don't believe in reincarnation. Do the Jedi?"

"There has been some debate," Anakin stated. He had been forced by Obi Wan to attend some Jedi Debates before, which he honestly didn't mind despite the dry material as it was the only time he saw Jedi truly becoming passionate about things. Seeing them nearly screaming at each other or becoming smug assholes with barely veiled threats and barbs… those were the times when Anakin didn't feel so utterly different from the Jedi. He hadn't really looked into the subject though until the death of his mother. "It is said that all beings come from the Force and we return to the Force when we die. Some believe that we merely join with it and all sense of self is gone. That the Force has grown stronger because more and more are added to it. But others believe that it is possible to come back, that the Force will allow people to be reborn. For those that suffered to be rewarded with another chance. For those that want to learn more to experience something new."

"Hmmm," Padme said. "I don't know if I'd want to try living again if I couldn't remember what came before." She paused. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I think the Grape is Clovis."

Padme narrowed her eyes at him. "That was a LOT of build up just to insult someone I used to date."

"It was, wasn't it?" Anakin said with a smile only for Padme to grab his good hand and begin to squeeze. "Sorry, sorry!" He whimpered.

Eri continued to just fiddle with his hand.

~MC~MC~MC~

"Here they come," Shinso stated, looking down at the small tablet. On it he had several different screens he was flipping through, each one showing different parts of the super structure the Second Event was taking place in. Tapping one he got the screen to increase in size, allowing him to see Bakugo and his team coming right towards where they were held up. "Wish we could have made a few more of your plant droids," he told Hatsume.

"My babies did their work!" she declared. "And so will my other ones."

"You good, Momo?" Ahsoka asked, checking over the wall that they had made from doors and other bits of material they had gathered from the structure. So far no teams had managed to get to the barrier itself but she knew it was only a matter of time… and that if anyone was going to make it that far it would be Bakugo.

"Rather well!" Momo said with a smile, helping Hatsume assemble a few more gadgets. The two were working splendidly together, with Momo creating whatever Hatsume came up with while Hatsume taught the hero student just how to put things together to create some truly complex and crazy devices. It was saving her a ton of energy as it was easier to produce raw goods than fully operational devices. The cameras that looked like motivational posters and the potted plant droids just being two of her creations.

There was an explosion about 20 feet beyond the barrier.

"Here they come!" Ahsoka shouted. "Arm up and let's do this!"

Shinso shot a look at her as he manned his station. "I'll admit, I thought you were going to have me focus on using my qurik. But this?"

He settled in an office chair and grabbed the handles of the gun that Hatsume and Momo had set up.

"This does put a smile on my face."

"Extra points if you get one in his mouth!" Ahsoka said as she took up her own position.

For Bakugo and his group they had been moving through the hall finding it littered with a few groaning bodies and a lot of damage. Shattered walls that led into offices that had been torn apart, rooms that were coated in-

"Is… is that blood?" Ashido asked nervously, glancing into one room where there was a LOT of dark red stains on the walls and furniture.

Bakugo though scoffed at that. "If it is then it just means that extras that don't belong at UA learned their place."

"Well," Shinso commented as he head that, Momo taking over the tablet, "he remains a ball of sunshine.

"Then lets light things up!" Hatsume said with a manic grin as she grabbed a controller and flipped some switches.

In the room the desk began to shake and tremble, causing Kirishima and Tsu to slowly back away. "That doesn't sound good, ribbit."

"No… no it does not…" Kirishima stated as the desk split open, revealing a series of cannons. "MOVE!" he roared as he hardened his body, the rest of his team getting behind him as the weapons began to unload on him. But rather than lasers or bullets it was instead random office supplies that began to crash into him. "What is this?"

"Blunderbust!" Bakugo roared.

"What?" Ashido cried out, covering her ears.

Bakugo rolled his eyes before dropping to the ground, thrusting out his hands. "Wide stance unless you want to be a eunich, Shitty Hair!"

Kirishima let out a yelp and stretched his legs out wider, giving Bakugo enough space to fire off two explosions that destroyed the desk cannon, reducing it to burning timbers.

"Come on, idiots," he snarled as he got up. "Not sure who decided to set this up but I feel like making someone pay for it all the same." He snapped his hands out, palms popping with mini explosions. "We just have to keep going as hard as we can and we'll be able to break these fools!"

He stepped back out into the hallway and after a few moments the rest of his team followed him.

"I think this is the farthest anyone has gotten," Ashido commented, looking at the new hallway they were heading down. The damage was gone and once more the halls looked very plain and, for lack of a better word, normal.

"Of course!" Bakugo snapped, flashing a dark grin. "As if we'd be stopped like the rest of those losers."

"Oh, that sounds like a challenge," Ahsoka said, leaning forward slightly.

"T-Minus 30 seconds," Momo replied.

"We're locked and loaded," Hatsume declared, patting two cylinders that were next to Ahsoka and Shinso.

Bakugo continued to lead his team forward, turning the final corner.

"Hold…" Ahsoka warned the others.

"That… doesn't look normal, ribbit," Tsu said, tilting her head as she stared at the barrier that blocked off the hall about 20 feet beyond them.

Bakugo scoffed. "Pathetic, hiding like-"

Two small sections flipped open, revealing barrels that began to fire off rapidly before he could even get off another word.

Bakugo's body shook for several moments as he was hit multiple times before Kirishima yanked him back around the corner.

"Bakugo!" Ashido wailed dramatically, clutching at his shirt. "I swear I will tell your story!"

"Knock it off you fucking wimp!" he snarled, pushing her back. "Its just paint balls."

Tsu though frowned. "I don't know…" she leaned in and sniffed him. "Doesn't smell like paint."

"Oh?" Kirishima asked before leaning down and sniffing at Bakugo's shirt, which was covered, along with his arms and face, with red goo. "Huh, it really doesn't."

Ashido leaned down to get a good whiff. "Yeah."

"Would you two stop sniffing me?!" Bakugo roared, shoving Kirishima and Ashido away. "What the fuck is this stuff then?"

Tsu touched a bit of it. "It remains me of something… I can't put my finger on it..."

"I think you just-"

Bakugo glared at her. "Do NOT make that fucking joke!" he stood up. "Alright, then I just need to destroy those guns… easy enough." He flexed his fingers and rolled his shoulders. "Time to huff and puff and blow their house down!" He leapt out from behind the corner and held out his palms. "DIE!"

Nothing happened.

He had just enough time to stare dumbly at his hands before he was fired upon again, Tsu this time using her tongue drag him back to safety.

"Ah," she said, with a grimace, running her tongue along her top teeth. "Antiperspirant. That's what it is."

"What?" Ashido asked.

"Deodorant!" Kirishima exclaimed.

"More than that… one that stops sweating."

Bakugo's brow twitched. "Those fuckers set up guns to steal my quirk!?"

"Maybe we just thought you were smelly!" Ahsoka called out.

"SHIT HORNS!" Bakugo roared, leaping around the corner only to gag suddenly.

"Point," Shinso declared.

~MC~MC~MC~

"Well, they seem to be doing well," Padme stated as she watched the feed from the booth, Present Mic hyping up all the action as he gave rapid fire updates for those watching in the stadium just what was going on. Anakin was currently munching on some popcorn, delighting in what Hatsume had put together and already wondering if they could adopt her while Rex was being rather smug about Izuku's strategy though Padme got the sense there was more to it than he was letting on.

"Yes, they are!" Nedzu declared as he popped out of Anakin's popcorn bucket, sending kernels all over.

"STOP DOING THAT!" Anakin roared.

"No," Nedzu said simply before leaping out of the bucket and walking over to Obi Wan. "Oh, I do believe it is time for Phase 2."

"Phase 2?" Hizashi asked.

The Principal grinned a bit too sharply. "Oh yes. Kenobi?"

"Of course," Obi Wan said, flipping a switch.

There was an ominous hum… and then a sound all the travelers were VERY familiar with.

CLANK CLANK CLANK

Anakin's eyes went wide and he leapt to his feet, hands going for his lightsaber as Super Destroyer Droids began to march into the stadium. It was only Obi Wan grabbing his wrist that made him stop.

"Hello there," Nedzu said, turning on Obi Wan's mic, "Principal Nedzu here. It is time for Phase 2 of our second event. May I present… the Hunters."