Special thanks to kylekatarn77 for beta reading this chapter.

Chapter 8: Salvation

Izuku turned back to Kendo, not knowing what to expect from her. Her expression was completely unreadable to him, but after a few seconds of blankly staring, she finally locked eyes with him, and he could've sworn he saw a hint of anger in her teal eyes.

"Let's go, we're sticking to the plan. But you and I are gonna have a talk later, got it?"

Izuku gulped at the tone she used, she obviously wasn't asking. So with that, he had seen enough, cutting off eye contact and putting on his mask. "R-right, of c-course."


Bakugo shuffled carefully through the halls on the first floor of the building as he looked for his green haired target. He knew Izuku could be crafty at times, so he was actually a bit thankful that he had someone watching his back as they walked.

Of course, he would never actually tell the slick-haired blonde he felt this way. But still.

"We're almost to the entrance, so be ready for anything. If I know that damn Deku, then he's gonna try some shitty strategy or something."

Monoma was extremely thankful for the heads up from his battle trial teammate, because with comedic timing, they rounded one last corner only to see the boy in question in quite the particular position.

Standing there in the narrow hallway alone, Izuku had each hand around a web line stuck to opposing walls. Waiting for them with a fully cocked-back web slingshot.

Bakugo barely had time to widen his eyes in shock when a green blur flew at him with incredible speed. Only narrowly managing to dodge the human projectile with his reflexes alone.

Monoma however, wasn't so lucky.

Taking the full force of the body flinging attack, the slick-haired blonde was launched back with incredible speed, Izuku connecting with him feet first and shooting him straight into an opposing wall.

For a moment when Izuku landed softly back on the floor, he wondered if he'd gone overboard and really hurt his classmate. But those thoughts quickly vanished when the smoke cleared and something unexpected emerged.

It was Monoma alright, but he was… Silver?

"Hahaha! Is that the best you can do Midoriya? I barely felt that!" The boy mocked out loud, doing his best to convey to his classmate that his attack was weak.

In reality though, his thoughts were saying the opposite.

Fuck, that hurt! He's really damn strong! Shame I can't copy him since he's a mutant type…

Now finding himself surrounded by the silver boy and his former friend turned bully, Izuku sprung to life once again as his spider-sense blared in his head.

"Die, Deku!"

Leaping up in order to avoid an explosion, Izuku wasted no time in sticking to the ceiling and starting up into a run. Smiling as another imaginary box was checked off in his mind.

Yes! The soles on the costume are perfect! Not thick enough to neutralize my scopulae, and not thin enough to hurt my feet from running around.

Feeling again a familiar tingling sensation, Izuku turned around expecting to see Bakugo flying at him for some sort of reckless attack.

Instead, he was met with a blinding yellow flash coming his way.

Crap!

With the white eyes on his mask comically expanding in shock, Izuku leapt off the ceiling and onto the wall, stumbling a bit before continuing his run.

Was that…


"Hey! My quirk!" Kaminari exclaimed from his spot among his classmates. They were all currently watching the ongoing battle trial from the observation room, with only All Might having access to the contestant's audio.

"Wow, so I guess the rumors are true, that guy really can copy quirks," Awase said, stating the obvious. It seemed as though U.A was no different from any other high school as far as gossip went.

"How frightening. I wonder how that works, and if there's any limits to it," Yaoyoruzu began, adding on to her classmate's observation. "Either way, it's very unwise for Midoriya-san to be taking them both on alone."

"Nah, don't worry about that Yaoyorozu, Midoriya can handle em. I mean, just look at him, he looks like a natural out there with those moves. Pretty awesome reflexes too," Kirishima added on with gusto.

His similarly quirked classmate, on the other hand, had the opposite to say. Speaking up right next to the red haired boy.

"Are you kidding Kirishima!? Tch, you're way too easily impressed." Tetsutetsu grumbled. "If he couldn't shatter some crappy knock-off version of my quirk, then he's not getting any recognition from me."

"Aw c'mon Tetsutetsu, lighten up a little," Kirishima replied lightly.

But when the steel quirk user only grunted and turned back to the screen with a grunt, Kirishima sighed and did the same, putting his mind back where it mattered and paying attention to the battle once again.

After that, no one else had anything too major to say, just small oohs and ahhs as Izuku continued to avoid blasts of electricity.

The only person in the room who seemed to be watching the battle with contempt rather than interest was the tallest man in the room; All Might, who only stared down the giant monitor like it had personally offended him.


Izuku jumped once more as another bolt of lightning whirred by his head. It seemed as though his spider-sense wasn't in the mood to turn off at the moment, which was causing quite the annoyance in the back of his head.

Geez, now I know why Peter said he gets headaches from this, it really makes it hard to focus! The super-powered teen thought to himself, as he jumped back onto the ceiling to avoid an angry Bakugo's explosion.

This is how things had been going for the last five or so minutes. He would get out of range of his former friend's quirk, only to be forced back onto the ground in order to avoid Monoma's wild electricity. It was extremely obvious that the boy couldn't control the bolts of danger he was releasing down-range properly, but in this case, that fact was actually helping him more than hurting him.

Grunting as he clung onto the ceiling again, Izuku did his best to try to use his brain, wincing as he felt something akin to TV static with all of the warnings he was getting.

Well, so much for our plan to ambush Kacchan, I wasn't expecting him to come after me together with Monoma-san. I hope Kendo-san adjusts to the situation before showing herself.

Izuku's original idea had been to use himself as bait so he could goad Bakugo into the fight he wanted. Then, when she saw an opening, Itsuka was supposed to come out and blindside him with a strong attack, hopefully knocking him out and ending it there. But now, those plans obviously weren't possible. Everything went straight down the drain as soon Bakugo brought backup. Now it was him who was being ambushed.

Crap, now what do I do? I can't keep dodging forever, we'll run out of time!

For a moment, the green-haired teen considered contacting his teammate through his radio with a small change of plans. If both of their enemies were down here fighting him, then she could probably sneak her way to the objective easily.

However, Izuku quickly shook that idea off. Kendo specialized in fighting, and they had already agreed on that being the way they would win this, there was no going back now.

Just as he was about to wrap his thoughts up, Izuku heard commotion begin behind him, and he simply couldn't resist slowing down and turning around to check it out.

"Bakugo, hold up!" Monoma called out suddenly, surprised when his teammate actually listened to him and halted his aggression.

"What is it, copy-crap!?"

Monoma didn't know what made him wince harder, the malice and fury behind Bakugo's words, or the not so nice nickname that the boy had chosen for him.

Regardless though, he said what he intended to say.

"We've been chasing him for a while now, but his partner still hasn't shown up! Do you think she went straight for the objective!?"

Bakugo's red eyes pretty much tripled in size when he heard his teammate's words. It was obvious that this particular scenario hadn't even crossed his mind, but it was definitely very possible…

Especially when Izuku was involved.

And speaking of the green-haired boy, he was perched curiously on the ceiling while his enemies had their little strategy meeting, a small smile growing on his face as an idea came to mind.

"Hehe, welp, you got us! Good job Monoma-san, if my calculations are on point, Kendo-san should be securing the objective any second now."

"Tch, no way! You're bluffing!" Bakugo snarled.

Izuku did his best not to smile as he fell into his act a little more. He really shouldn't be enjoying this, but messing with his former friend was too fun when there was no threat of eating an explosion. "I'm not bluffing, Kachhan. Sorry to say it so soon, but it looks like I beat you again."

This clearly only poured gasoline on the raging flame that the red-eyed teen was becoming, because soon he was glowering with rage.

C'mon Kendo-san, they think you're long gone, now's your chance! Izuku pleaded in his mind, hoping his partner would make her move soon.

But he wasn't so lucky this time, because before long, Bakugo's rage poured over completely.

"Copy-crap, stand back."

"W-what!? But what about the objective? We need to-"

"We need to get rid of this shitty Deku as fast as possible! So stand the fuck back! I'm gonna annihilate this whole damn hallway!"

The slick-haired blonde quickly shut his mouth and obeyed, turning tail and running back a good distance right as Izuku's spider-sense went into overdrive.

What the hell? Now it's almost as strong as when I stopped the robot foot…

Luckily, or unluckily, the boy wasn't left in the dark about this new feeling for long. Because as soon as he looked back up at his former friend, he saw that his arm was raised and aimed directly at him. And it didn't take genius to figure out that the pin the blonde was holding with his opposite hand was threatening a special kind of explosion.

The super-powered teen was extremely quick to put all the pieces together, once again widening the white lenses on his costume when realization hit him.

Those gauntlets must be filled with his sweat! And with all of it concentrated in one area, the explosion it creates is gonna be massive!

Without wasting another second, Izuku sprung off the ceiling and began web-swinging away from his opponent as fast as his arms would carry him. If he didn't find an exit to this hallway fast, he was gonna be toast! Literally!

The boy had just spotted an adjacent hallway and was rushing towards it when he heard a familiar voice cry out.

Turning around momentarily to face the battle cry, Izuku smiled when he saw Kendo's athletic form jump around a corner and slam Monoma into a wall. He couldn't tell if the boy had hardened to defend himself, but he didn't care. All of his senses were currently flooded with the happiness of his teammate showing up to help him.

Until he realized a very important fact.

She had only ambushed Monoma, and Bakugo was too far in front of her, she wouldn't get to him in time.

Crap!

"Die! Shitty Deku!"

*BOOM*

Itsuka turned around in a heartbeat at the ear-piercing explosion that rang through the hallway. And the only way she could describe it, was a giant orange wave of destruction consuming everything in front of her. It was only after she shook off her initial shock that she realized her teammate had been completely enveloped in the enormous blast.

"Midoriya!" She yelled, spotting a sadistically grinning Bakugo and staring up towards him.

She didn't get the chance to get very far though, because suddenly, a cold metal hand wrapped around her wrist, and it wasn't being gentle whatsoever.

Kendo turned wide-eyed to see a shining Monoma with a nasty smirk on his face. She had seen him display his stolen quirks while she was waiting and watching, but she didn't think he could activate one in time to nullify her punches

"Where do you think you're going?"

Gritting her teeth, Itsuka enlarged her other hand and delivered a precise karate chop to the top of the boy's head- or at least she would have if he hadn't let her go and jumped back.

Now that they were back into a neutral standoff, Itsuka narrowed her eyes as the silver shine dissipated from her opponent's body. What was he up to?

Why is he lowering his guard? And why didn't he shock me when he was holding my wrist? Can he only use one stolen quirk at a time?

Falling back into a perfect fighting stance, the orange-haired teen allowed herself to smile with some new information on her side.

With her new theory in mind, Kendo jumped up at the boy with quick feet, easily getting into her range of comfort.

However, Monoma saw this coming, and was ready with both a cocky smirk, and a secret weapon.

"Ah, trying to get in close, are you? So predictable," he almost yawned as he dodged a quick jab from the girl. "I can see the logic in your thinking. Not only is this the perfect range for you to fight in, but it almost puts my long-range lightning at a disadvantage, doesn't it?"

Itsuka gritted her teeth as he dodged another one of her normal jabs, his carefree and sarcastic attitude only annoying her even further.

"What's wrong? Nothing to say? Well then, if you won't ask, I'll just show you why you've made a mistake."

Bracing herself, Kendo took a defensive stance and got ready. She wasn't too sure how she was gonna be able to avoid electricity, but she would try all the same.

Suddenly though, instead of raising both arms like she had seen him do before, the slick-haired blonde only raised an open palm before jumping at her with a flash of familiar orange light.

*Boom*

Just like that, before she could even comprehend what was happening, Kendo was eating an explosion and slamming back against the corridor wall.

Monoma wasted no time in taking advantage of her broken stance, hardening up again into metal and pinning her in place forcefully.

In all reality, this is where it should have ended for his orange-haired opponent, his capture tape was only a flick of his wrist away and this would all be over. But naturally, he at least needed to give her some parting words, right? It was only right after such an amazing victory.

"Hahaha! I bet you didn't expect that explosion, huh? You didn't think I would leave myself without close range offense, did you? Ahahaha!"

When the boy noticed that his opponent was beginning to recover and stir, he leisurely reached for the capture tape on his belt with a grin like no other.

"Heh, finally, now I can go help Bakugo-san pulverize Midoriya. This is gonna be so much fun."

With the tape now in his hands, Monoma took one last smug glance at Itsuka, expecting her sweet anger that would only fuel his own confidence.

What he didn't expect to see though, was a smirk that matched his own in size.

"What the hell are you-"

In the blink of an eye, Itsuka's hands enlarged to their full size, quickly enveloping the boy in front of her squeezing.

Hard.

"Aghh!" Monoma cried out as she squeezed his hardened body.

"Heh, not so tough now, are ya?" Itsuka grinned, spitting some soot out onto the floor and lifting the boy higher. "I'll admit it, you got me good with that third quirk trick, but it doesn't change your biggest weakness. You can't use your copied quirks simultaneously, can you?"

When the boy's eyes widened in total shock, Itsuka smiled wider and squeezed him again.

"Yep, I knew it. I was wondering why you turned off your metal body when you went to attack me, but now it makes perfect sense… It also makes what I'm about to do a lot more fun."

All of the sudden, Itsuka narrowed her eyes and focused, gritting her teeth as she began squeezing with all of her strength.

"Gaahhhh!" Monoma cried out in pain at the immense pressure surrounding his body. The metal was blocking a lot of the damage that would destroy his body, but it still hurt like hell.

"Heh, what's the matter? Just drop the metal and shock me! Oh wait, then getting squeezed wouldn't just hurt, would it?" Kendo muttered out sarcastically. It seemed she was the one making the jokes now, and they were a lot funnier now too.

Soon, small, but very visible cracks were beginning to appear all over Monoma's body, and judging by the way he was screaming, it didn't feel very pleasant.

That was when Itsuka let up and held him normally, releasing most of the pressure, but still keeping him restrained in her hands. She wasn't completely cruel, after all, no matter how much Monoma deserved it in her eyes.

She was about to open her mouth and tell him to surrender to save her the trouble of pulling out her capture tape, but suddenly, a very familiar and furious yell reached her ears, causing her to look towards Katsuki and Izuku for the first time…


Izuku's eyes widened as the enormous explosion flew down the hallway towards him. He had been so caught up in seeing Kendo's surprise attack on Monoma that he'd completely abandoned his earlier plan of reaching the cover of a safer hallway.

Shit

With the full power of one of Bakugo's gauntlets enveloping everything around him, Izuku dove the rest of the way towards the same adjacent hallway that he'd stopped short of, hissing in pain when he couldn't get away unscathed.

Tumbling to the ground in the new passage, Izuku took a moment to assess both the situation, and himself. Immediately noticing that his costume was now completely ruined.

Aw, crap! It took me weeks to make this thing! He thought hastily, annoyed with both himself and his opponent as he inspected the threads more closely.

He may as well have been shirtless now with the new 'adjustments' Bakugo had made involuntarily, because as far as his upper body went, the only fabric left covering it was a tattered left sleeve and both of his web-shooters. He also decided to do away with the mask and toss it aside, since both of the lenses were tattered as well, leaving just a green rag with eye holes.

Wincing again, the green-haired teen also noticed the moderate to severe burns completely covering his right arm and parts of his chest, leaving the areas a sickly-looking red color. Hell, even the web-shooter on his right hand was singed black, and he guessed it was only functional still on account of its extra protective size.

Damn, that burned me more than I thought!

Shaking off his pained thoughts, Izuku focused on the task at hand once again. Now finally being able to see into the action-packed hallway as the smoke cleared. He had somewhat expected some sort of announcement from All Might now that half the building was totally trashed, but nothing came, only dead silence. Forcing the super-powered teen to focus up and get ready again.

Creeping up the corner, he tried doing his best to listen for his former friend, trying to find any sort of indication of where he could be.

"Ah, trying to get in close, are you?"

Izuku shuddered as the voice passed through his ears. That was unmistakably Monoma, and by the sound of it, it looked like he and Kendo were engaged in battle.

"I have to help her," Izuku muttered to himself, cautiously turning the corner and looking towards the pair in the hallway. He spotted them both quickly, they were squared up and definitely ready to begin fighting, just as he expected. What he didn't expect however, was for them to be the only two people in the destroyed hallway.

With perfect timing, Izuku's spider-sense blared in his head with impeccable precision.

"Worry about yourself, Deku!" Bakugo snarled from behind him, pressing his palms into the boy's back and sending twin explosions into him.

Izuku winced again and he jumped away as fast as he could, but once again, it wasn't fast enough to get away completely unharmed, and he could already feel more burns flaring up on his backside.

"What's the matter, Deku!? You were so confident a few days ago! So fight back! Stop running and fight me!"

Facing his former friend with fire in his eyes, Izuku prepared himself. Not surprised in the slightest when Bakugo instantly made a move for him.

"DIE!" The blonde screamed again, lunging at the super-powered teen with a signature open palm.

Izuku read it perfectly though, quickly sidestepping and grabbing the boy's gauntlet right before his hand could reach his face.

Ironically, this was the same exact position they had found themselves in back at their little scuffle in front of Aldera…

This time however, Bakugo wasn't gonna give up so easily, rapidly mimicking the attack with the opposite arm when he failed to escape his opponent's grip.

This didn't seem to phase Izuku at all, taking his former friend's actions in stride and swiftly catching his other wrist.

"Stop this, Kacchan. You're not stronger than me."

There was some unknown dread behind his words, which he still couldn't shake off for some reason.

As far as Bakugo went though, there was definitely no such remorse. Pure and raw aggravation would better describe the kind of energy he was giving off, some low growls even escaping his gritted teeth as he leered distastefully at the boy in front of him.

After a while of staring down Bakugo, Izuku came to the conclusion that the boy wasn't gonna back down from the standoff. He was gonna have to make a move if he wanted this to end, because there was no way he was gonna get overpowered.

The green-haired teen was just about to push back against his former friend when his spider-sense began ringing suddenly.

Looking around at his current situation, Izuku couldn't tell where the danger was. He had both of Bakugo's arms secured firmly, so what could he do?

When the blaring in his head didn't let up after a moment, Izuku adjusted his view downwards, figuring the incoming attack had to be coming from the blonde's legs since his hands were useless.

Unfortunately, this whole thought process by the super-powered teen was some very severe oversight.

"DIE!" Bakugo screeched out, curling his fingers in and then out again, successfully sending out a slightly more ranged explosion.

And wouldn't you know it, that small bit of range gained was just enough to nick a green clad hero course student straight in the face.

"Gah!" Izuku shouted bitterly, rubbing his eyes as his vision blurred. He knew that Bakugo wasn't limited to only close-range damage, but he figured that holding back his entire arm would hinder his ability to toss his sweat around.

Taking advantage of his enemy stumbling backwards, Bakugo jumped forward with another hand raised offensively. Now was his chance to do some damage.

Meanwhile, Izuku was having a full sensory overload, and it wasn't pleasant. Not only was his spider-sense piercing his already aching head, but now his vision was blurry and his ears were ringing. So as far as mental suffering went, things couldn't get much worse.

Which was why he felt his body move all on its own, as if acting in a final act of self-defense.

Right as Bakugo was coming down on him, he swiftly pushed the dangerous open palm out of the way and grabbed his opponent by the collar of his shirt.

With a look of absolute focus in his eyes, Izuku pulled back his free hand and prepared to deliver a blow at full strength to end this right here and there. His clenched fist and singed eyes looked almost angry as he prepared to release years of pent-up rage with one single punch.

But right in the crucial moment when he was about to throw it, his state of blur and emptiness faded, bringing him back with an enormous amount of realization.

Bakugo seemed to notice this too, because once the green-haired teen began to slowly lower his arm, he snarled once again and kicked out of his grip, propelling himself backwards by sending a pair of explosions right into Izuku's chest.

Now back into a state of neutral, Bakugo watched as Izuku fell to the floor almost lifelessly. Which would have normally made him happy, but this was clearly not what it looked like. He didn't look defeated at all. No, he simply looked lost in thought. As if this were some mere game that could be paused at any moment. Which only made the blonde's blood boil even more.

"Grr, Damn it, Deku! What the hell are you doing!? Why aren't you fighting!? Are you really this fucking pathetic!? Come on! We have a score to settle, damn it!"

But that's the thing Kacchan… We don't.

Inside Izuku's mind, he couldn't stop thinking about what had just occurred, and what it meant…

I… I almost killed Kacchan. If I hadn't regained myself and stopped that punch, he would be gone, just like that…

Was that just self-preservation? Or does my heart actually still have a grudge against Kacchan? I thought I already worked this out! I'm moving past it!

After another few seconds of mulling everything over, Izuku looked up again and couldn't hold back an audible gulp from leaving his lips.

There was Bakugo, right at the end of the hall, holding the pin of his other gauntlet. And it didn't take a detective to figure out he was aiming right at the super-powered teen.

Shit!

"Alright, Deku. You don't wanna fight? I'LL JUST END THIS RIGHT HERE"

"Kacchan! S-stop! You almost blew up the whole building with that last time!" Izuku sputtered out as he looked around rapidly, trying to find anything that could help his situation. Sadly though, there didn't seem to be a close escape route this time. His little scuffle with Bakugo moved them around more than he anticipated, leaving the adjacent hallway he was in earlier far behind him now.

Abruptly though, the green-haired teen had a thought occur to him about the direction they went during their battle. If they went away from the hallway he had hidden last time, then that meant they had to be closer to…

Kendo-san! Izuku thought joyously as he spotted her a few meters behind Bakugo. She seemed to be looking their way, no doubt because of Bakugo's extreme volume when declaring his next move moments ago.

Another thing that the green-haired teen noticed was the very unresponsive Monoma clutched in her enlarged hands, causing him to breathe a sigh of relief for his friend's situation, as well as get his mind churning with ideas.

He had to think fast though, because it was becoming very obvious that Bakugo was seconds away from pulling the pin and making his move. The only thing that appeared to be holding him back was the possibility of getting a response out of Izuku.

I can't run from it, it's too big of a blast, and cover is even further away than it was last time.

Doing his best to come up with rapid fire ideas, Izuku shot down one after the other, trying all he could to not show his frustration externally.

I could fire a web-ball at his eyes. Peter does it all the time and it works wonders!

No, that won't work. Even if his eyes were covered, his blast would still be effective. He doesn't exactly need to be precise with a giant explosion…

"Hmph. Fine, stay silent you shitty Deku. You won't dodge this one!" Bakugo screamed before gripping the pin on his gauntlet once again.

Closing his eyes in anticipation, Izuku awaited the horrendously loud alarm bell that would be ringing in his head any second now. He was out of options, he needed to do something, but what?

The boy was about to cut his losses and just start sprinting in the opposite direction, already cringing at how painful the explosion would feel in his ears.

*CLANG*

Stopping in his tracks at the unexpected noise, Izuku slowly turned his body to look at his former friend. Happy that his spider-sense still wasn't going off, but also confused by its silence at the same time.

As soon as he laid eyes on Bakugo however, all of the confusion was cleared up.

"Ow! What the hell!?" Bakugo complained, rubbing the back of his head with both hands where the very hard projectile hit him.

This was all well in good, except said projectile wasn't just hard, it was metal. And in fact, it wasn't even a projectile, it was a human being. Neito Monoma to be exact.

"Are you stupid or something!? If you use that damn attack again, this whole building is gonna come down!" Itsuka scolded, only appearing to make the ranging blonde even more annoyed.

"Oh shut the hell up and wait your turn, man-hands!"

Izuku couldn't really describe what he was feeling right now. Relief? Worry? Pride? Itsuka had just totally saved his butt again, and there she was going head-to-head with Bakugo like he was just some other person. It was… Impressive.

Another thing the boy noticed while the two argued, was something very very familiar about the way Bakugo's gauntlet looked from this angle. He was turned around, but not completely, showing a full side view of his big green support items… And from this particular perspective, they looked a lot slimmer than usual. Almost like…

Shocker!

Izuku instantly energized himself and urged his pain away.

He couldn't remember the exact issue he had seen this in, but he vividly recalled Peter exploiting a very obvious weakness in Shocker's gauntlets: Their own power.

Lets hope I have the aim for this.

"Kendo-san!" The green-haired teen shouted out, getting both her and Bakugo's attention. "Take cover!"

"Oh no you don't!" Katsuki snarled, taking aim onto Izuku again and gripping the pin on his support item.

"What!? Don't you wanna fight him together!?" Kendo urged back, confused by his uncharacteristic behavior. Why would he defy logic like this?

"Just trust me!" Izuku smiled, jumping to the ceiling and running in the opposite direction of both of them. "Come on Kacchan! Weren't you gonna blow me away!?"

Instantly Itsuka knew he was baiting him, and it made her smile as she examined the situation with new realization. Of course he has a plan. For a second, I thought he was just trying to show off or something.

Happy at the new turn of events, Itsuka turned and ran away as well. The last thing she saw before she turned a corner was the back of Bakugo as he cried out while releasing his attack.

"DIE!"

Right as he heard this, Izuku turned and unstuck his feet from the ceiling, making sure he was falling right as Bakugo pulled the pin on his gauntlet. From here he had a perfect shot of his target. And even though he was upside-down in mid-air, he would have to make do.

Otherwise, he'd better get used to calling himself Ash-Man…

The very moment Bakugo heard the satisfying click that came with the removal of his gauntlet's pin, a similar satisfying noise could be heard coming from his opponent's wrist as well, signaling the launching of a singular web-ball.

And in the small one second delay that Bakugo's gauntlet took to release all of his concentrated sweat, one small gooey sphere of web-fluid hit its mark perfectly. Coating the green support item's front side entirely.

Widening his eyes, Bakugo couldn't even let out an entire sentence before everything went white.

"Oh fu-"

*BOOM*


Swinging as fast as he could though random hallways, Izuku looked around for any signs of his partner. They needed to regroup. And while his little shocker trick had worked perfectly as far as stopping the blast from going outwards, he knew Bakugo wouldn't be defeated that easily, not by a long shot.

That explosion was massive… And instead of going forward where he aimed it, it all imploded on him. All that worked for though was getting away, I know for a fact that Kacchan's skin is resistant to explosions.

His mind was running a mile a minute right now, and he couldn't seem to slow it down. At the very least, his actions seemed to have saved the building from being completely ripped apart. He had no doubt that what Kendo had told Bakugo would have absolutely happened if his blast was fired off at full power.

And speaking of Kendo, he just about jumped out of his skin when he turned a corner and almost crashed straight into her.

"Kendo-san! There you are!" Izuku exclaimed breathlessly, starting to feel a bit of exhaustion creep in.

"Midoriya! That was epic! I'm glad you got out of there in time!" She said with a large grin, not noticing the burns covering his body until she got closer.

"Oh wow, are you gonna be alright?" She asked as she reached out to touch his shoulder before deciding against it. It would probably hurt more than help him.

Wincing one more time, Izuku nodded. Putting his game face back on since the battle wasn't over yet. "I'm fine, thanks for worrying Kendo-san. And thanks especially for distracting him at the last second. I wouldn't have gotten that idea without a few more seconds of concentration."

"Heh, it's no big deal. I just threw the closest thing to me, haha." Itsuka muttered sheepishly, scratching the back of her head in embarrassment.

"Well thanks anyways. But now we still have to figure out how to beat Kacchan."

This caught the orange-haired teen's attention, shooting him a small puzzled look. "You think he's still up? After a huge explosion like that backfired right in his face?"

Izuku nodded. "Yeah, Kacchan's quirk doesn't just allow him to create explosive sweat, it also makes his skin heavily resist his explosions. Otherwise, he would hurt himself really often with how destructive he is."

After hearing the detailed explanation. It dawned on Itsuka again that Izuku grew up with Bakugo, so he most likely knew everything about him. As well as the best way to approach the situation considering his active mind.

"Alright then, go over everything you know about him and let's make another plan. My quirk is completely at your disposal, Midoriya." Itsuka said encouragingly with a small wink. Surely this would be easier than their first plan since it was two against one now.

"R-right…" Izuku stammered. He was still new to positive encounters from other people his age. He briefly wondered if he had built enough trust with Kendo to earn her as a friend, but he quickly discarded that thought. He didn't even know what having a real friend even felt like. Plus, there were bigger things going on right now.

"Ok, I've got an idea on how to take advantage of his grudge with me. But you're gonna have to do most of the heavy lifting, is that ok?"

Not hesitating for a moment, Itsuka smirked. "Lay it on me."


Bakugo couldn't grow more furious if he tried. And it didn't help soothe his anger when he heard his teammate groan in unconsciousness from the floor once the smoke cleared.

And now, the topping on the cake, the very best part, was that Deku was gone.

This was gonna drive him insane.

The only redeeming thought that kept him from snapping was the solid fact that he would absolutely run into Deku before the exercise was up. His team was on offense, so they would have to come back and finish him off if they wanted to win, that was certain. There had to only be a few minutes left in the battle trial.

It only dawned on the spiky-haired blonde a few moments later that Izuku and his partner had a very easy, and very accessible alternative to winning this thing…

Shit! The bomb! Katsuki remembered as he turned around to begin sprinting, only to be stopped by an array of web-balls.

After nearly getting hit with one, Bakugo dodged the others relatively easily. Though he had a feeling that they were never truly trying to hit him.

"Tch, so you decided to come back Deku. And you brought man-hands with you too." Bakugo growled, bending his knees a bit and getting into a defensive stance. He wouldn't be caught flat-footed this time. He was ready for any kind of teamwork bullshit they would come up with.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Kacchan. Don't worry though, I'm finally ready to kick your ass." Izuku said somewhat darkly, getting a wide-eyed response from not just Bakugo, but from his teammate as well. "Oh, and don't worry about Kendo-san, she's just here to watch. I'm gonna do this alone. And I'm gonna enjoy every second of it."

Bakugo growled again as he processed what he was hearing. What had gotten into Deku? He sounded... Almost sadistic…

"Midoriya, what are you doing!? This wasn't part of the plan!" Kendo reminded him, trying and failing to not lose her cool.

"I don't care about the plan anymore, Kendo-san. All I want right now is to get my revenge on this scumbag. So make yourself useful and just throw me at him as hard as you can. I'll handle the rest."

"Hell yeah Deku! Now you're speaking my language! Bring it on!" Bakugo cried out passionately, taking off into a sprint with his right palm charged up.

Kendo looked unsure about the situation, but nevertheless, did as Izuku instructed and grew her right hand, picking him up quickly before throwing him as hard as she could towards their opponent.

Izuku once again gained a twisted smile on his lips as he soared through the air, bringing back his own right arm to prepare for a collision with Bakugo's.

This was it, the moment of truth. And Izuku could almost foresee the moment of impact. Picturing his fist absolutely blowing his opponent's away with ease. And it is indeed what could have happened, had this all not been a ruse.

I'm sorry Kacchan, but I'm not ready to face you yet. I could seriously hurt you if my pent up anger were to get the best of me, and that's the last thing I want. I hope I can control my emotions enough to be able to fight you for real one day… Please forgive me.

Right as the two were about to collide with all their strength, Izuku maneuvered mid-flight and avoided the blonde teen completely, flying right past him and firing two web-lines back at him.

Before he even had the chance to turn around, Bakugo felt his arms being bound by a familiar sticky substance.

Izuku landed once the tension on his webs held up and stopped his flight. He wasted no time in planting his feet firmly and pulling back on his webs. Successfully holding his former friend back by the two web-lines connected to his hands.

Not being able to turn around in his current position, Bakugo attempted to struggle out of his restraints, but it was no use, he was no match for Izuku's raw strength. His only option now was to try and burn the webs off his hands, but he didn't even get the chance.

"Kendo-san! Now!" Izuku cried out, sounding urgent despite not struggling holding onto the blonde teen whatsoever.

Widening his eyes, Bakugo snapped his head forward, his head churning with realization as everything began making sense.

Fucking Deku… This was a part of his plan! FUCK! No wonder he was so aggressive!

Bakugo was forced to end his raging thoughts there, because before he knew it, a big fist was coming right for his helpless body, and the smirk on the attacker's face made it obvious this would be a finishing blow.

Sprinting up to Bakugo with fire in her eyes, Itsuka charged up her enlarged fist and let it rip, making sure to hold back enough to not seriously injure the blonde boy.

If it were up to her, she would have punched him straight to hell along with Monoma, but Izuku had specifically told her to hold back for his former friend's sake when they had discussed this elaborate acting plan.

Nevertheless, even with half of her power, Bakugo dropped like a sack of potatoes. A huge fist enveloping his whole body and shooting him back a few meters before falling lifeless to the floor.

Seeing that his plan was a total success, Izuku ran up to his former friend and inspected his unmoving body, Kendo joining him shortly after.

"We did it, Midoriya! He took the bait just like you said!" Kendo cheered when she got to him. It took all of her energy just to stop herself from pulling him into a hug. He seemed to be in a rather serious mood, so she held back and instead opted for staring down at Bakugo along with him.

"Yeah, I'm glad. Thank you Kendo-san. I'm grateful for your help."

Smiling genuinely, Kendo nodded at his response. She was about to open her mouth and tell the boy that it was his plan that won the fight for them, but fate had other plans, because soon, the angry blonde on the floor began twitching.

"Ugh…" Bakugo grumbled from his supine position on the cold ground.

It seemed as though Kendo had held back a tad too much on her finishing blow…

Izuku however, saw this coming. Instantly webbing the blonde-haired teen to the floor and reaching for his capture tape.

However, before the super-powered teen could secure the bindings onto him, said blonde had some final choice words for him.

"Fucking… Deku…" Bakugo groaned painfully, briefly struggling against the restraints before giving up and falling back down. "You… I bet you thought that was pretty clever," he continued in a weak voice. "Just you wait, laugh it up while you can, because I won't stop Deku. I bet you've laughed at me every day for all these years. Hiding your quirk, knowing that you were always stronger than me… Well enjoy it, because I won't stop until I stomp you like the little shit you are…"

Izuku was frozen in place, squeezing the capture tape in his hand as hard as he could.

Is that really what he thinks?

"Kacchan I…". The boy began before stopping completely.

There's no point. He won't listen to reason right now. And even if he did, what would I say?

Knowing there was nothing he could say to fix things right now, Izuku just whispered out one last line to himself before crouching down and securing him with the capture tape. "I'm sorry things got so messed up between us…"

"THERE IT IS! IZUKU MIDORIYA AND ITSUKA KENDO ARE THE WINNERS!" A powerful voice echoed through the loudspeakers.


"Woah… That was awesome!" Kirishima shouted out to the class as he watched the conclusion of the first battle test. "Midoriya and Kendo kicked some serious ass! Totally manly!"

"Who cares about that! Did you guys see Midoriya without a shirt!?" Hagakure gushed out, gaining nods from a few other girls in the class as well.

"Ehh, they were alright, I guess. Midoriya is a bit unoriginal though." Sero mumbled to no one in particular.

As more words were exchanged about the epic battle that had just taken place in front of them, it was quite obvious that most gossip was about the green-haired teen and his special set of abilities.

But that didn't mean that his partner went unnoticed either.

Tetsutesu couldn't seem to get rid of the blank stare on his face. Still focused on the screen in front of him, the metal user replayed what he had just seen in his mind over and over again. Not only had that girl shattered through his quirk with nothing but her bare-hands, but she also knew how to throw one hell of a punch…

As weird as it was to tell himself, there was something that really appealed to him about some rather manly traits that the girl had demonstrated…

One thing was for sure, he needed to talk to her when he got the chance.


The class went by relatively quickly after that, with most battles not taking anywhere near as long as Izuku and Itsuka's. Although one thing they did have to endure though, was an extra aggressive All Might when he and the class pointed out all of their mistakes.

Luckily though, the teacher couldn't focus on the negatives for very long, because many classmates were quick to point out just how well the two had performed together.

And of course, Izuku was the first to shrug off all the compliments and give the credit to his partner, who he claimed did most of the heavy lifting.

Kendo obviously denied this, saying that he was the one who came up with both plans that allowed her to take down both of their opponents.

Either way though, everyone was well beyond exhausted now. The school day was over, and a warm, gentle sunset had made its way comfortably onto the horizon. All was peaceful in the world at U.A. In fact, most students had already gone home hours ago.

Only one particular attendee was without peace as he slowly walked out of the enormous building. His name was Izuku Midoriya, and he was nervous as hell right now.

See, now that the stress of the battle trial had passed, a certain set of words that escaped his lips in the presence of someone very particular were crossing his mind again.

And it was really eating him up.

He knew Kendo would want answers on what he had let slip earlier, so to put it simply, he had waited back in the support department after school and waited for her to go home without him. She would have no doubt waited for him and confronted him, but now that a few hours had passed, Izuku felt a little more at ease as he walked out of the school building.

Which seemed to be a major miscalculation on his part.

"Hmph, so much for your promise earlier. I guess you were avoiding me."

Izuku felt a jolt go up his spine at the familiar voice coming from his right, pausing for a moment before turning in her direction shamefully.

And shame wasn't the only thing he was feeling either. Severe regret and sadness also panged in his heart when he saw that her face displayed a look of actual hurt.

"K-kendo-san, I-"

"Why didn't you tell me that you had met me already?"

"I…"

"Did I read things wrong or something? Did… Did you not want to be friends?" She asked with a face that multiplied his guilt tenfold.

Izuku could feel it in his heart that a moment of truth was coming up. In front of him was an opportunity that he had to take if he didn't want to lose his first potential friend in a long time.

Maybe that wouldn't be so bad, why would she wanna be friends with me anyways? There's way cooler guys in our class, why doesn't she hang out with them?

STOP! Stop that brain! I'm confident now! I know who I am! And I wanna be happy! She's the one who helped me become this way! I can do this! If I can defeat Kacchan, then I can do anything!

Taking a deep breath before looking the orange-haired teen in her teal eyes, Izuku grew a look of determination and prepared himself.

"Kendo-san, I'm sorry I hid who I was from you, I owe you an apology as well as an explanation for my actions," Izuku said sincerely and confidently, bowing his head to her and waiting for acknowledgement.

Itsuka however was taken aback by the level of severity and formality the boy was taking with this. Nonetheless though, she nodded for him to continue.

Taking another deep breath, Izuku began anew. "In truth Kendo-san, I'm not the same person I was when I first met you almost a year ago. See, due to some… Unusual circumstances, my quirk didn't manifest until last year. Or to be more specific, two days before I met you in front of that dojo."

Widening her eyes, Kendo tried to hold back and let him finish, but her curiosity got the best of her, forcing her to at least ask one question. "Oh my goodness! Are you serious!? Is that why Bakugo was telling the class you were quirkless all week?"

Izuku nodded solemnly, never breaking eye contact. "Yes… Like I said, my relationship with Kacchan is… complicated. And after today, it's gonna be even worse. As you saw today, he thinks I've been hiding my quirk from him all of our lives. So now he's even more spiteful."

"Wait, so you don't actually hate him? You still wanna salvage your friendship with him!? Why!? Why not just kick his ass and get it over with! He's a bully!"

"I understand that, Kendo-san, but I… I've learned over the past year from someone special I have to be responsible with this power that I've been given. I went most of my life thinking I was quirkless and wishing I could be the best hero in the world. And my morals won't allow me to misuse this gift I've been given. I know it sounds weird, and I can't elaborate too much, but I've seen wisdom in the form of someone else, and I've learned so much from them. So while I may not forgive Kacchan for the way he treated me for years, I refuse to hate him. He deserves to know all of this stuff too, but I still haven't worked out how to tell him yet. Heh, I doubt I'll ever get the chance now."

"Wow… That's… Surprisingly mature, Midoriya. I'm impressed," she complimented, bringing out her genuine smile for all the world to see again. "And I guess that explains why he was even able to bully you in the first place. I thought you had your quirk the whole time, so it didn't make sense to me."

"Heh, yeah exactly. And on the topic of my quirk, how I got the confidence to use it was all thanks to you, Kendo-san."

This again, took the orange-haired teen by surprise.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

Izuku chuckled a bit before explaining. "It's true, I don't know if you remember, but back when we first met and you told me to join that martial arts dojo, I had, uh… Never really spoken to a girl before…"

Izuku waited for her to get her chuckles out of the way before continuing.

"Ehem, anyways, I was a stuttering mess around you, and I was so nervous that I ran away. It was a confusing time for me. Like I told you, I had just gotten my quirk two days before that, and I didn't really know what to do. I wanted to use it to become a hero obviously, but I didn't have the confidence at all. Everyone around me was doubting me, hell, even my mom was doubting me. I had no one to believe in me, so I guess I just got lost in all of that negativity."

"It wasn't until I decided to go back and apologize to you for running off that everything changed. I saw that you were talking to that U.A student you were with and jumped up onto a building to listen. I know it's messed up and an invasion of privacy, but I'm so glad I did it, because everything you told that guy, was everything I needed to desperately hear."

Widening her eyes more and more as he went on, Itsuka recalled the exact conversation that she had with Tamaki that day. It was still very fresh on her mind. And while the blue-haired third year hasn't changed much since that little talk, she was glad to know that it at least had its intended effect on someone.

"So yeah, after I heard you say that stuff to him, it sunk deep into my soul. And ever since then, I've had a much better support system, and I actually believe in myself more and more now. It was just like you said, I needed to be there for myself, because that's who I would always be with at the end of the day. Or at least, that's how I interpreted it."

This was so much for Kendo to take in, had he really been holding all of this back from everyone? She was about to open her mouth to at least say something, but Izuku was dead set on closing his statement first.

"And so that's it. After that I started to train myself with my powers, and it's all thanks to you. I eventually intended to go back to that dojo to find you so I could apologize and thank you. But I guess I was still too shy. And when I found you again at the entrance exam and you didn't remember me, I took it as the perfect opportunity to get a fresh start without you thinking I was a loser. Again, I'm truly sorry for deceiving you Kendo-san. I hope that despite what I did, you can forgive me and we can be… F-friends…"

After a few moments of silence, Itsuka smiled genuinely once again, seemingly growing tired of looking at the top of Izuku's head.

"You're such an idiot, Midoriya."

"H-huh!?" The super-powered teen sputtered out, raising his head to meet her eyes once more.

"Though I guess that does explain why your fighting style looks so crappy and all over the place. Looks like we'll have to fix that, won't we?"

Izuku didn't dare say a word, he was too confused. So, she's not mad at me?

"But seriously, I'd love to be your friend. Thank you for clearing that up for me, I'm not mad. I actually think it's really sweet that you got so much out just a few words from me. But just know now, that you aren't alone anymore. I'm here, and I believe in you." She stated slowly and genuinely, loving the way he was holding onto every word.

With a few more seconds of silence, Itsuka put out her hand out like she had so many months before. Only this time she wasn't just offering a friendly greeting. No, this time she was offering something that the green-haired teen in question had only felt once before in his life.

Friendship.

With a heavy amount of tears falling down his face, Izuku took the hand eagerly.

She… Believes...