UA HIGH

"DONE IN LESS THAN FIVE MINUTES! CLASS A'S UNEXPECTED TEAMWORK HAS LED THEM TO A 4-0 VICTORY!"

Sensei gave them a thumbs up. "You all kept overall damage to a minimum and were very efficient from start to finish. With his mobility and power, Bakugou was the foundation that you three worked off of, and everyone did their jobs well."

"You guys had a solid strategy, at least based on your opponents' past fights and strengths. But! The plan was too rigid! Unlike Honenuki's more flexible approach!" Said Vlad King.

"Kacchan!" Said Kaminari. "Looks like you can really get it done when you make the effort! And you were a total heroine out there, Jiro!"

"Just hero is fine!"

"You're like a street rat who starts adopting kittens, dude!" Said SEro.

Bakugou ignored them all. His eyes were on All Might.

"That gave me chills!" Said Sensei.

"Oh yeah? Better see a Doctor," Bakugou muttered.

"Kacchan!" Said Deku, popping up almost from nowhere.

"Outta the way, nerd!"

"I'm not actually in your way…"

"I'm making progress."

"Yeah! You were great out there!"

"At a speed you can't keep up with."

"Nah, I'll surpass you!"

"Shut it! Is that all you got to say? Cuz you'll never beat me you damn nerd!"

"Just watch me."

"You've got a good friend in him," said All Might. "Now if we could just do something about that mouth of his."

And with that we were ready to begin our match. "Man, I'm so flustered..." I muttered, and Mina gave me a little nod. So much pressure after Bakugou's team did so well! So hard to follow up that!

We headed into the place at last, all the pipes and wires surrounding us, as Deku headed up through them to scout.

"We'll start with Shinso, okay?" Said Mineta. "As long as he's out there, I'm on edge. I don't wanna get brainwashed."

"Let's not focus too hard on him, though!" I reminded him. "The rest of them are the type to stay hidden and launch attacks from who knows where!"

I floated up my helmet. "I float stuff!"

"I melt stuff!" Said Ashido.

"I stick stuff!" Said Mineta.

The wind went out of all our sails.

"We're fighting an uphill battle. Can't attack, can't do nuttin."

"We'd better go with my pop-off vineyard Strat!"

"Nobody's gonna walk right into that! Nah, first we find em, then we trap em !"

"And I'll be the bait!" Said Deku, returning to us.

"How's it going?" Said Ashido. "You said your quirk has been acting weird?"

"Yeah, but there's nothing strange enow! It's back to normal! Still, based on how the fourth match went, they're probably gonna be extra wary of me! I'd better be ready to go all out. "

"You ok? We're counting on you here."

"Don't worry. We can win this!" He smiled.

I held up my hands and smiled, clenching my fists. Ashido cheered.

"NOW START, MATCH 5!"

Deku, scouting out ahead, gave me a small gesture with his hand. I nodded and he went off to scout, jumping around the structure.

Mina nodded as Mineta suggested using his quirk to set up a trap for our opponents and we started stringing his ball things together to form traps.

"You got any idea what's up with Midoriya?" Mina asked me, tilting her head to the side.

"Nope," I said, and shrugged. "Maybe it's got to do with All Might?"

"How so?"

"Well, he was talking with All Might about something earlier..." And Bakugou went off and joined them for some reason? What was up with that? It's weird, Deku and Bakugou aren't talking to each other like they used to - well, sort of but - it's almost like they're getting along? No, more than that. It's like there's something they're keeping secret...

"EEK!" Came a cry from - me?

"That shout must've been Shinso. They're close!" Said Mineta as I floated him up to set his trap.

"Kinda funny to picture that shriek coming from such a calm guy," said Ashido.

"Hey, we gotta look at each others' faces when talking!" I reminded them.

"We got bite!" Mineta cried as he adjusted his trap. As objects came flying towards them, Ashido threw up her protective barrier. ACID VEIL!"

'It's Yangi's poltergeist!" Cried Mineta as objects came flying their way. "Is she even aiming!?"

Two small objects came flying towards Ashido, who threw up her acid veil - not enough as they suddenly grew huge! A barrel and a screw.

"Release," said Kodai, placing her hands together.

That's my move...

"It's Kodai's size!"

I jumped into action and slapped the materials, floating them away.

"Twin impact, fire!" came from nowhere.

The objects exploded.

"AHHH!" Cried Ashido.

"That was crazy! They've probably got our location now. What about Deku?" I asked them, looking around. Deku seemed in sight, somewhere off among the towers fighting with either Shinsou or Monoma - but then -

Something - came from his glove. Not a blast of energy. Black liquid tendrils - something strange - something new.

Something wrong.

Daika City

"Talk about the burbs," said Spinner. "Not too small, not too big."

"Nice atmosphere around here. It ticks me off!" Said Twice.

"One our and 40 minutes until our oversized friend awakens," said Compress. "Making them clash with Machia will require that we fight as well. This will be no walk in the park."

"Yes, why'd you have to drag me into this?" Grumbled Dabi.

"Hey, Giran brought you int other fold too!" Snapped Twice, throwing a measuring tape at him which Dabi ducked.

"Like I care."

"You bastard!"

"Someone's coming!" I shouted as we prepared for action.

"No another step! I was ordered to guide you down into town!" Said a hero with a square jaw.

"A hero? I don't recognize this one!" Said Spinner.

"If you want a face-to-face with the Liberation Army's commander, then you'd best follow me, ok?"

He guided us through the deserted streets of Daika. It was silent. No one home.

"Not a soul around," said Compress.

Tomura looked up and noticed a figure atop a house.

"This whole city, huh?"

"This place isn't usually my turf," said the hero, putting his thumb to his forehead and sticking up his pointer finger. "But today's a big exception." Weirdo!

"Just as the man says!" Said a new voice. "Here in Deika City, 90% of the population heroes included are liberation warriors lying in wait. This is a liberated district!"

He had slicked back hair, sunglasses, a mustache line, and wore a fine suit. "Thank you for making the trip, and welcome. This ia day of celebration and you are the guests of honor. Shall we start the festivities? This is the meta human liberation army's revival celebration!"

And strange figures jumped out from hiding all around us, civilians with sharp fingers and long teeth. What the heck?

"That's Hanabata, leader of the hearts and mind party!" Cried Compress.

"Is he some big shot?" Asked Spinner.

"Yes! Someone who could easily have 110,000 followers."

"So what? We're here, so where's Giran?!" Demanded Twice.

"Your broker? Waiting just over there with our grand commander," said Hanabata, gesturing to a distant building.

"B-but we were promised we'd get him back! What an obvious lie!"

"Tomura Shigaraki!" Several shouted, headed towards the League's leader.

They dissolved into dust with a touch. "Off to the tower, then."

"Oh, this is what we're good at -" I smiled. And the ground beneath my feet exploded.

"The girl wanted in connection with a string of blood letting murders. If it isn't Himiko Toga herself. 'How did this high schooler turn to madness? In this shocking, exclusive new interview, hear her story in her own words. How's that for a headline?" Smirked some liberation lady with long silky hair and a big fur jacket.

"Ah, this sucks!" I muttered.