Studying for exams wasn't so bad, even if it involved having to organize a study party with everyone at Yaoyorozus house for anyone who needed it. Well, it was more like a mansion. The entire building was bigger than the apartment building I lived in.

"Woah, so big." I pointed out, not realizing the obviousness of my statement as I looked around the lecture room. I felt like I didn't have enough money to even be standing there. Then again, how many rich people had a freaking lecture room?

Including myself, there were six of us. Mina, Kaminari, Sero, Jiro, and Ojiro had taken up the offer for help.

"This entire room is bigger than my house!" Mina muttered, and she was right. Her home could fit with plenty of room to spare.

"Yeah, but this is pretty cool. Plus, Yaoyorozu and I bought study aids to help everyone. So we'll all pass our written exam without trouble. I'm helping with English, Japanese history, computer tech, science, and home ec. Yaoyorozu is taking math, physics, world history, health, and art. But you guys have been getting pretty good grades, I don't see why you'd be so worried, I mean, I'm here for math and physics, so I guess I do kind of get it, but all in all we should all pass without too much trouble. Of course, it doesn't hurt to cover the basics, but the- " I was cut off by Mina, who ran her hands through my hair, my brain shutting down long enough I could realize how much I'd been rambling.

"What a weakness." Kaminari joked, and i didn't argue, her hands moving away and leaving me wanting more.

Our study session went pretty well, Yaoyorozu having to help me more with my math than I'm proud of, but I also managed to help the others, so i hoped it all evened out.

The end of the written exam felt like a gift from God, and I was glad to have a moment to stretch my legs before the practical exam.

"That's a lot of teachers for one little test." I pointed out, and Hagakure counted them out.

"Five... six... eight of them?" She counted, and I didn't think this was going to be a simple robot fight like I'd heard.

Aizawa stood there, looking tired and speaking as nonchalant as always. "It is, of course, possible to fail this exam. If you want to attend the on-site training, then don't mess this up. Knowing you guys, you probably asked around... and you might have a vague idea of how this'll go."

"It's a robot rumble, like the entrance exam!" Kaminari cheered, leaning back and bringing his arms up like a rock star holding an invisible guitar.

"Fireworks! Curry! Truth or Dare!!

Nezu popped out of Aizawas' scarf, startling most of us and making me wonder how comfortable it was to nestle into the fabric.

"Not quite!! Various circumstances have demanded a revision to the exam format!" Our adorable principal cheered, smiling like a well-dressed teddy bear.

"The principal!" Sero exclaimed.

"Revision?" Yaoyorozu asked, and the principal used the scarf to rappel down.

He made his tiny paws into fists and looked serious at us. "From now on, we'll focus on battles against flesh-and-blood opponents. It is critical that our teaching simulates practical experience as closely as possible! As such... you students... will be... pairing up... and fighting one of the teachers you see here!"

I could hear Uraraka sounding a bit worried. "Against... a teacher?"

"Your pairings and your assigned teacher... have already been decided. Your battle moves, your friendships with one another... all these and more were considered. So without further ado... First... Todoroki... is with Yaoyorozu." The fuzzy principal told us, and for a second, I thought that didn't sound so bad. Not until Aizawa pulled the scarf in front of his face and smiled. Oh God, why was he smiling?

"Against me." The tired teacher told them, and I felt sorry for them. "Next, Midoriya... is with Bakugou."

"Well, okay, not bad." I mused until I saw All Might step forward.

"Your opponent..." He took two steps and was in front of us." "Will be me."

"Crap." I grumbled, but I guess it made sense. Who else could stand even half a chance besides Bakugou and I?

"You'll have to work together to win... SO COME AT ME, YOU TWO!!"

"Ten stages have been prepared, and all teams will begin simultaneously. The test guidelines will be exclaimed by your respective opponents. None of the areas are outside the school grounds, but let's not waste any more time. Get going." Aizawa told us, and we didn't hesitate, Bakugou and I getting on a bus with All Might, sitting as far away from him as we could to discuss a plan.

"Right, so there's no way to beat him without outright strength. His experience and strength beat anything we could possibly dish out. So there's got to be another way to win. Capture, maybe?" I whispered, trying to keep our plans secret, but Bakugou yelled loudly.

"Screw planning! I'm going to knock All Might from that pedestal and win with my bare strength!" He declared, and I wondered how he could be so confident against a bastion of heroism like All Might. But if he planned to win with brute force, I needed to figure out a plan.

As the bus stopped, we stepped out, looking out at one of the fake cities U.A. had.

"Now... this is where we will fight." All Might spoke, breaking the silence.

"How do the rules work?" I asked, and he held up a finger.

"Impatient and Inquisitive, I see. Allow me to explain fully. The time limit is thirty minutes! Your objective is to either get these handcuffs on me or have one of you escape from the stage!" He told us, and it made sense now. We weren't meant to fight All Might. We were supposed to run.

"Given the rules and circumstances, you're probably thinking running is your only option. That's why we had the support course make us these! Ultra compressed weights. This handicap weighs me down with a whole fifty percent of my body weight! It's a tried-and-true method of slowing down movement and draining stamina! Shoot! It's heavier than I thought. By the way, we held a competition to design them, and that Hatsume girl's design was picked."

Bakugou looked at All Might, looking annoyed with the hero. "Trying to bring this fight down to our level or something? That's insulting."

Was it? It seemed like we had a real shot at winning now. I wasn't as strong as All Might in his prime, but he wasn't in his prime anymore. Bakugou was smart, and his quirk was strong. We could do this.

We entered, getting time to get into the center of the city and prepare ourselves. Not that there was much to do in the way of prepping, besides slowing powering up for me, and Bakugou getting as sweaty as he could.

"Time to save the day. Are you ready?" I asked him, holding out my fist and watching him eye it before he gave it a bump.

"Always."

Now that we were ready, I used float to get up high, looking for signs of the number one hero, but i couldn't find him, Bakugous search yielding nothing either, until we got to the halfway point, leaving us with a decision to make.

"Deku! We should make for the exit. We can keep searching for All Might, but if we don't find him, we don't want to lose on a technicality!" My blonde companion yelled, and I didn't argue. If we messed this up, we'd fail.

"Sure! I'll keep an eye from up here!" I called back, using small flicks from my hands to keep moving, spotting the exit after a few minutes, no sign of the hero, until a wall came down, Bakugou aiming an explosion that didn't faze him, All Might jumping up and grabbing my leg, throwing me down against the rubble he'd made.

"Found him." I mumbled as I got up, my using blackwhip to grab onto the hero and pull myself towards him, getting the added benefit of throwing him off balance for a few seconds, Bakugou using small explosions to blind him while I pulled my arm back, hitting All Might right in cheek. We couldn't afford to hold back.

"Haha! Not bad kids. But it will take more than you have to defeat me." All Might told us, twisting to the side and bringing his arm back, hitting me again before grabbing Bakugous hand and throwing him further from the exit.

How could we win against an opponent so much stronger than us? Maybe if I pumped power directly into my legs, we could make for the exit. But I wouldn't abandon my friend and rival, just for an easy passing grade.

My ears were ringing, my head was bleeding a little, and I felt powerful, more so than usual, and with a scream of pure adrenaline, I rushed the hero, not thinking, not caring, but I hit him, moving away and hitting him again. I wouldn't lose here, not when I'd worked so hard to get to this point.

Time was passing, and all I could do was hold back All Might, blackwhip going crazy as I lost control.

All at once, there was a puff of smoke, and my fist hit All Mights, but neither of us yielded until shock hit me. Was that my fist? Was it always so big?

"Bakugou, reach the exit! There's no way to beat him physically, but I can hold him back! We'll win!" I yelled, my voice not my own, but in the moment, I didn't notice, just bringing my fist down on All Mights shoulders and watching his knees buckle. Was i wrong?

"No way! I won't run away! That's not how I do things!" Bakugou yelled back, and I could see a glint in his hands. He had the cuffs. If we got this right, we could win without running.

"Don't be an idiot!" I cried, but I was in control of black whip again, grabbing All Mights arms and legs with the tendrils, and getting him into a bear hug while Bakugou got close in, a click sounding like heaven to me.

"The sixth team to win is Midoriya and Bakugou!" I heard over the loudspeakers, and relief flooded my system, falling back and laughing, another poof and all the strength I had was gone. Whatever boost I'd gotten, it was gone now.

"You okay, Deku?" Bakugou asked, standing over me and looking down, his arms crossed.

"Just need a minute." I told him, catching my breath before I saw him hold out a hand, which I took to get up.

"You know, you keep pulling new powers out of your ass. You're just lucky this one appeared when it did." He told me, but I didn't know what he meant.

Something on my face must have given me away, and he narrowed his eyes. "You got buffed up, just a little smaller than All Might."

Woah. I'd buffed up? Like Toshinori did when he turned into All Might? Well, it made sense. Another thing I inherited.

"Really? Woah."

"That's an understatement, kid." All Might spoke, and as we made our way to the exit, we let a silence fall over us. This had been the second hardest battle of my life, right after the nomu battle at JSU.

I fell asleep on the ride back, even if it was short, but I needed the power nap, seeing the rest of my class waiting on us.

Only five people failed, those being Kirishima, Sero, Sato, Kaminari, and Mina. But the thing we'd all been looking forward to was the training camp. With it canceled, there wasn't exactly much to worry about than summer school, which we'd all probably be doing now anyway.

Once I'd gotten my wounds taken care of, I went to find Mina. Maybe we could finally go on that date we'd missed. So much had happened that we'd kind of forgotten.

She seemed down, and I didn't blame her, but win or lose, it was over.

"Hey there, Alien Queen. Wanna go to a charecter cafe and eat tons of food?" I asked her with a smile and floated on my side, on hand on my hip and the other holding my head up.

She didn't say anything, a small laugh turning into a full-on crying laugh, and I wondered if I said the wrong thing.

"Oh my god, you're such a dork." She finally told me and wiped the tears of what I hoped was mirth from her eyes.

"So, is that a no? Because I can always take Kirishima." I joked as she tried to look as mean as she could before giggling and giving me a nod.

"Okay. That sounds nice." She told me, putting her hand out, and I took it, turning float off and touching the ground. All we'd been through, and she was still here.

"Cool." I managed to tell her, lost in the moment before I remembered I had responsibilities to take care of.

"Good work, everyone. Pass or fail, this was an important step to becoming better heroes. Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but I need to put what's left of my costume back in its case and get a shower." I told them, grinning wide at them all and holding up a peace sign.

As we walked back towards the main building, something had shifted. I didn't know then that the threats ahead were only mounting against us and that our lives would soon be turned upside down.