Apologies that it took this long for me to upload this chapter. I was thinking about some decisions for the near future that will have a big influence on the direction this story will be heading in, and I am still contemplating that right now.

But for now, let's get on with the story.

Ch. 19: Battle Trials (Part 2)

Teams A and D were led to the monitoring room, where they lined up in front for evaluation of their performance. Izuku and Katsuki could still feel the injuries they got from the exercise, but they weren't anything that prompted an immediate visit to the nurse's office.

"Well, despite the results, the MVP of this exercise… is Young Iida!" All Might declared, to the surprise of most of the class, including Tenya himself.

"Shouldn't it be one of the Heroes instead since they're the winners?" Tsuyu asked.

"Hmm, valid question. Why didn't I choose one of those two? Who has a guess?" All Might urged.

"Sir! I can tell you why!" Momo raised her hand. "Iida embraced this challenge. He was the only one who truly adapted to his assigned role. I'll explain. Bakugo's judgment was clouded by a personal grudge against Midoriya. As you pointed out earlier, launching a large-scale attack indoors was a foolish move. It could've been disastrous. As for Midoriya, while he proved quite adaptive to the situation, it would've been easier for him to sneak out of the building and fly up to the top floor without Bakugo noticing, thus leaving him free to join his teammate against Iida while Bakugo wastes time searching for him on the lower floor. Not to mention, even if his final move did help secure a win for his team, it was done out of desperation rather than a real strategy, with high probability of failure. As for Uraraka, she let her guard down mid-battle and her final attack was far too reckless given the hypothetical stakes. If she treated the fake weapon as though it were real, she never would've risked using such an imprecise move. Iida was fully prepared for his opponent's arrival. He had a strategy and never lost sight of his mission to protect the dummy weapon, even if he was foiled in the end."

Tenya blushed at the praise and put a hand over his heart.

"Technically, the Hero Team won, yes, but they took advantage of the fact that this was training. They didn't respect the spirit of the Trial." Momo finished her assessment.

Katsuki said nothing and just stayed silent; Izuku mentally kicked himself for not thinking of Momo's suggestion, in hindsight, that should've been obvious; Ochaco became ashamed of her own screw-up.

'This girl really has a good eye on her. She definitely earned that recommendation spot…' All Might was speechless at the white-haired girl's long and detailed explanation. "Yes, well, you overlooked a few things. Young Iida could have relaxed a little bit in the exercise. But, otherwise, you nailed it."

"One should always start with the basics and devote themselves wholeheartedly to learning. That's the only real way to become a Top Hero." Momo recited.

"Hehe! Now then, time to blow this joint. Let's move on to the next match! Think about everything we saw and discussed as you tackle this training for yourself!"

"Yessir!" The class responded, except for Katsuki, who was unresponsive as he pondered in his thoughts.

["Match Two! Team B will be our Heroes! Team I will be the Villains!"]

Ojiro was doing some warm-up exercises with his arms when Toru got his attention.

"Hey Ojiro. Let's get serious!" Toru started removing her gloves. "I'm gonna take off all my clothes and totally disappear!" It wasn't that hard considering her costume consisted of only light blue gloves and beige shoes.

"Yeah, cool…" Ojiro awkwardly nodded. 'Hagakure's using her Quirk to our advantage, but it's kinda weird to know there's a naked girl standing by me. What exactly am I supposed to do here?'

Toru suddenly got self-conscious, apparently covering herself even though Ojiro couldn't see her. "Uh. just don't look. Okay?"

"What's the difference?" Ojiro pointed out.

"LOOK ALIVE, KIDS! SHOW US YOU'RE THE EMBODIMENT OF GOOD! …Or evil. Let's go!" All Might shouted, and with that, the second match began.

Right at the building entrance, Mezo spread out his web of arms, ears sprouting from the tips of his tentacles, allowing him to listen from many different angles.

[Mezo Shoji. His Quirk: Dupli-Arms. He can replicate different body parts on the tips of his tentacles. Now that's super strange.]

Then, one of the ears morphed into a mouth which he used to speak to Shoto. "One's in the hall on the north side of the fourth floor. And I think the other's on the same level somewhere. Both are barefoot. I bet the invisible one plans to sneak up and surprise us."

"For your own safety, go outside," Shoto advised. His costume was a plain white suit with a gold-colored pack on his back. And covering his entire left body was some ice-resembling material with a red lens over his left eye. "I'm sure our opponents intend to fight a defensive battle…" Mist of cold air started gathering in his right hand before he touched the wall, causing ice to spread, followed by the same happening from his right foot. "But we've already won." Then, the ice spread rapidly, encasing the entire building in a layer of ice: the walls, stairs, hallways, windows, and even the outside were frozen solid.

Mezo, who stepped outside as Shoto instructed, was amazed by this display of power.

"Owowow! My feet are stuck!" Toru exclaimed, her presence being noted by her footprints in the ice.

"This Quirk is insane," Ojiro noted as he tried to get his feet free. Then he heard footsteps in the ice which were coming from none other than Shoto.

"Pry yourself off if you want. But it might be hard to fight me with no skin on the bottom of your feet," Shoto taunted with a grin as he walked past Ojiro.

The cold radiating from the frozen building could be felt even from the monitoring room, evidenced by All Might and most of the students shivering, the former even having a runny nose.

"H-He incapacitated them w-without compromising the weapon or his teammate. Take close note of his technique, students."

"S-So c-cool! H-He f-fr-froze the entire building i-in an instant! I wonder what's the f-f-full extent of his power?!" Izuku observed while shaking from the cold.

"Whoa, H-He's so strong!" Eijiro said while also shivering. The fact that he was shirtless certainly did him no favors.

Meanwhile, Katsuki watched from the back, his eyes wide in disbelief.

["The Hero Team… WIIIIIINNS!"] All Might announced as Shoto put his left hand on the weapon while Ojiro could only watch, begrudgingly accepting defeat due to being unable to move.

Then, hot air shot out of Shoto's left hand and spread throughout the building.

"Heat too?" Ojiro asked as all the ice started melting.

"Uhh! Owowow!" Toru whimpered in pain from the heat rapidly melting the ice.

"It's not your fault…" Shoto began. "We're just playing on different levels."

[Shoto Todoroki. Another of the four admitted to the Hero Course based on recommendations. Quirk: Half-Cold Half-Hot. He freezes with his right side and burns up the charts with his left. The range of his abilities is unknown.]

"Holy crap!" Rikido exclaimed.

"That guy is kind of intimidating," Denki admitted.

"He got in on a recommendation, so he must be good," Tsuyu said, with Ochaco and Mina looking scared and Kyoka looking dead inside.

"Moving on!" All Might announced. "Time to gather 'round for a review of the second match. After that, we'll jet on over to our next battle."

Meanwhile, Katsuki bit his lower lip in frustration.

For the third match, it starred Team G as the Heroes, and Team C was cast as the Villains.

Entering the building first, Momo and Hilda found the fake weapon pretty quickly.

"Wow, so realistic. Looking through a monitoring screen didn't do it justice!" Hilda said as she examined the payload while munching on a high-calorie snack bar. Her costume featured a white sports bra top with a black vest, proudly showing off her pudgy belly, and denim-colored biker shorts. She also wore black wristbands, white headgear with a pink visor, and black ankle boots with pink soles. "So, how're we gonna do this?"

"Well, we're the Villains in this combat simulation, I think we should adopt a deceptive mindset and act accordingly."

"So, kinda like what Iida was apparently doing? Sounds fun. I'm in!" Hilda said.

"Good. Now, I should have enough lipids for everything…" Momo said as she opened up her leotard to expose more skin in preparation to create something big.

"Lipids? So you use your own body fat to make stuff?" Hilda asked.

"Yes, basically."

"Cool. It's nice to team up with a fellow Fatty!" Hilda said.

"'Fatty?!'" Momo asked, sounding offended.

Hilda quickly realized the poor context. "Oh, sorry! What I meant by 'Fatty' was that your Quirk involves body fat, like how being fatter gives me more strength, speed, and stamina. It was actually coined by the BMI Hero: Fat Gum, whom I'm, unsurprisingly, a big fan of."

"Oh, I see," Momo said, accepting the explanation.

Meanwhile, Eijiro and Mineta just got done discussing each others' Quirks.

["Alright, Heroes and Villains… your time starts now!"]

With that, Eijiro and Mineta entered the building.

"So, how should we do this? You wanna fight Hanakai, or Shirakabe? I'm good with fighting either one," Mineta said before getting a perverted look on his face. 'Hanakai's got curves in all the right places! And while lean girls like her are my go-to type, it'd be criminal to ignore a BBW like Shirakabe!' He mentally added.

"Hey, we're supposed to retrieve the weapon, remember?" Eijiro reminded. "I'll keep the Villains busy while you do that."

"What? No fair! I wanna fight one of those babes too!" Mineta complained, causing Eijiro to shake his head.

They soon came upon a large room, and to the side were the stairs, and right in the middle was Hilda. "About time, Heroes. You ready to rumble?" She then raised one leg and stomped on the floor, taking a sumo wrestler stance. "Even if you make it upstairs, you'll never get the weapon in time."

Eijiro tilted his head, nonverbally telling Mineta to run for the stairs. Mineta understood his message; he also figured that if Hilda was alone down here, then he could go fight Momo, who was probably guarding the bomb. Two birds, one stone.

Eijiro hardened his arms and charged at Hilda, who blocked his incoming fist with her open palm. This gave Mineta the opening to run for the stairs, making his way to the next floor.

Hilda then retaliated with a sumo slap, but Eijiro managed to dodge it. He then aimed another punch at her face and managed to hit his mark.

"Ooh, I sure felt that one," Hilda said as she rubbed her chubby cheek.

"Hitting girls isn't really manly, but I can't worry about that now," Eijiro said.

"Good to know you can put chivalry aside when it matters," Hilda said, gearing up her fists.

As Eijiro charged again, Hilda sidestepped and grabbed Eijiro's arm before swinging him around, sending him crashing into a wall. As he was trying to recover, Hilda threw her weight forward into a body slam to sandwich Eijiro between herself and the wall, causing him to let out a pained groan.

Meanwhile, Momo was guarding the faux missile while watching a video feed of Mineta looking around the building through the cameras she set up beforehand.

Mineta soon came across something hidden by a tarp, and when he pulled on it, it only revealed a stack of crates; this was but one of many decoys Momo and Hilda set up to make it harder for the Heroes. Soon, Mineta started getting closer to where Momo was.

Seeing this, Momo armed herself with a shield and a bo staff.

"Take this, you villainous vixen!" Mineta shouted as he barged into the room before plucking a few balls from his scalp and throwing them at Momo.

However, she blocked the balls with her shield. "Nice try, Hero. But I already knew you were coming. Try as you might, you'll never get the weapon!"

"No way! I didn't come here just to leave empty-handed!" Mineta threw more of his balls, only this time, he threw them on the ground near Momo's feet. With Mineta's adhesive spheres spread across the floor, Momo now had to watch where she stepped lest she get stuck.

However, Momo simply made a big sheet which she used to cover up Mineta's balls, allowing her to get over them without getting stuck.

"What, no fair!" Mineta exclaimed.

Momo swung her staff at Mineta, knocking him back into a wall. She then created a net gun which she fired at Mineta, whose diminutive size actually helped him dodge the net.

Then, Mineta retaliated by throwing his spheres at her, one of which managed to get her foot, and while Momo was caught off-guard, Mineta managed to get her other foot, pinning her in place.

"Haha! Now you're stuck, Villain! I'll be taking the weapon off your hands if you don't mind!" Mineta gloated as he prepared to touch the dummy weapon. Despite this, Momo had a hidden smirk on her face.

Mineta then placed his hand on the dummy, waiting for All Might to announce his team's victory, but he didn't hear anything. "Huh? Hey, All Might! Why aren't you announcing we won?!"

Then, Momo ran up to him with the Capture Tape, having taken off her shoes to escape Mineta's trap, and wrapped the tape around him.

["Young Mineta has been captured. He is eliminated from the fight."]

"What gives?! All I had to do was just touch the weapon, and I did! Why am I suddenly out?!" Mineta complained.

"Because this isn't the actual payload," Momo replied.

"What?"

"That's just a decoy I created with my Quirk. The real one is hidden elsewhere."

"No way! Not fair!" Mineta complained as Momo left the room.

Eijiro and Hilda continued to fight to a standstill when they heard the announcement that Mineta had been eliminated.

"You're alone now, Hero. Whatcha gonna do?" Hilda taunted.

"Don't get cocky, Villain. I'm hardly done!" Eijro responded back.

Then, Hilda heard Momo through her earpiece. ["Quick. Close your eyes."]

Hilda did as her partner instructed and not long after, a flashbang came rolling in before exploding.

"AGH! SO BRIGHT!" Eijiro recoiled from the bright light.

Then, Momo came in and swung her staff at Eijiro while he was blinded. It didn't hurt him much due to his Hardening still being active, but it left him open enough for Hilda to finish the job by wrapping him in the Capture Tape.

["The Villain Team… WINS!"]

To no one's surprise, Momo was declared the MVP once both teams made it back to the monitoring room.

"Momo made great use of her Quirk. The fake looked very much like the real deal, ribbit," Tsuyu commented.

"She also prepared a lot of decoys along the way, it's like she was prepared for an actual raid," Izuku added.

Eijiro had been briefed on what happened with Mineta. "So, where did you hide the actual weapon?"

"In another room past the one where I was," Hilda replied. "I also specifically mentioned 'upstairs' to lead you guys on."

"Seriously?!" Eijiro asked.

"Yes, through the use of some clever deceptions, the Villains were able to lead the Heroes away from their target and right into their trap," All Might said. "Plus, the extra dummies they set up were a nice touch as well."

Moving onto the fourth match, Teams K and G were chosen as the Heroes and Villains respectively.

Kyoka plugged one of her earphone jacks into the building wall and listened in on all the sounds in the building. "Both are on the first floor. They've split up. One's probably guarding the weapon, while the other one might be planning to ambush us."

"Anything else you can tell?" Tomoe asked.

"Not really. Just the general idea of what's going on. I can't tell the floor layouts and stuff like that," Kyoka replied. "But I can do more than just listen in on sounds. I can also channel my heartbeat through my jacks to shock targets with vibrations."

"Cool," Tomoe said. "Also, when I'm in ball form, I'm not just fast. I'm super tough as well. I think I should lead."

"Okay with me," Kyoka responded.

Then once All Might announced the start of the match, Team K entered the building.

"These corridors aren't all that big," Kyoka observed. "You might have some trouble using your Quirk."

"Don't worry. You'll see, I am very maneuverable as a ball," Tomoe replied.

Soon, the two came across one of their opponents: Denki.

"So it's you, Kaminari?" Kyoka asked.

"Hey, it might just be me, but you girls should be careful. You might get a real shock," Denki said as his hands started sparking with yellow electricity.

Seeing the sparks, Tomoe turned to her partner. "Quick, get back!" She then curled up and activated her Quirk to change into her ball form.

Kyoka, alerted by the urgency in Tomoe's tone and seeing the electricity in Denki's hands, put some distance between him and herself.

Then, Denki unleashed an electric attack to zap Ball-Tomoe, however, it seemed to not affect her, considering her lack of reaction, while Kyoka managed to get far enough to get out of the area of effect.

When the electricity died down, Kyoka rejoined her partner. "Whoa, you're fine after all that shock?"

"While I'm a ball, not many things can hurt me, including electric shocks," Ball-Tomoe replied as she changed back, she then noticed something off about their opponent. "What the?"

Kyoka then turned to see Denki… who had a dopey expression on his face while giving a double thumbs-up and saying, "Yaaaaaay~!"

Kyoka burst into a small laugh at the sight. "What the heck? He looks so dumb! I can't! PFFFFT!"

[Denki Kaminari. Quirk: Electrification. When he goes over his wattage limit, his brain short-circuits and he becomes a huge idiot for a while! Listen to him babbling!]

"What's wrong with him?" Tomoe wondered.

"He probably blew a fuse in his brain or something. Might as well take advantage of it," Kyoka said as she got out the Capture Tape and wrapped it around Denki, capturing him.

"'Kay, that just leaves one. Is Ashido in the same spot?" Tomoe asked.

Kyoka plugged her jacks into the wall again and listened. "Yep. The second left, first right, then straight ahead."

Tomoe nodded and transformed into a ball again before taking the lead toward Mina's location.

Soon, the Hero Team came across a closed door at the end of the hallway.

"Is that it?" Ball-Tomoe asked.

"Yeah, she's in there," Kyoka confirmed. "The door might be locked."

"On it," Ball-Tomoe then went on ahead, picking up speed as she did, and bust the door down as she rolled into the room, to Mina's surprise.

Ball-Tomoe then noticed the bomb right beside Mina and moved to get to it. However, Mina acted quickly and sent a spray of weak acid in her direction.

When the acid made contact with Ball-Tomoe, she felt a stinging sensation, causing her to recoil and roll backward. "Owowowow!" Unfortunately for Tomoe, her ball form was not immune to acid.

Seeing this, Mina sprayed more acid on the floor around the weapon, creating a big puddle of acid that blocked her opponent from reaching it. "Not so easy as you thought, huh, Hero?"

Ball-Tomoe changed back to normal as she faced Mina. "I guess, but aren't you forgetting something?"

"Huh? What do you-" Before Mina could finish, one of Kyoka's earphone jacks jammed into her ears, causing her to scream before she got knocked out.

"Nice one," Tomoe said.

"Thanks," Kyoka said before extending her earlobe jacks to touch the faux bomb.

["The Hero Team… WINS!"]

For Match Five, Team F was assigned to be the Heroes, and Team L received the role of Villains.

Team F was currently with the bomb as Fumikage activated his Quirk, Dark Shadow, releasing a shadowy entity of the same name from his body, and Rikido consumed a few grams of sugar, causing his muscles to buff up.

As Yuga walked into the building, he seemed to be seizing the moment to show off his fancy costume while Koji followed behind him nervously.

"Not to worry, mon ami. With my fabuleux Quirk and panache, I will guide us to victory!" Yuga declared.

As they turned around a corner, they were caught off-guard when a sugar-fueled, strength-enhanced Rikido charged right at them, tackling Yuga to the ground before he could fire his Navel Laser.

Koji attempted to use his Quirk to help out his teammate by calling out to any potential nearby animals for help, but before he could do that, he was ambushed by Dark Shadow.

"Not so fast!" Dark Shadow said as it started attacking.

The Villains' defense plan was to have Rikido be out in the front lines, supported by Dark Shadow, who could extend from Fumikage long enough to aid him, while Fumikage himself kept an eye on the bomb and could easily recall Dark Shadow if the situation called for it.

Yuga stood no chance of defending himself against the much stronger Rikido, and likewise, Koji was overpowered by Dark Shadow. Then the two Heroes were thrown toward each other, and Dark Shadow kept them pinned down, while Rikido used the Capture Tape on them.

["The winner is… the Villain Team!"]

Meanwhile, with Class 1-B, Asia was in the ring with Setsuna as her opponent.

Asia raised her arms defensively as Setsuna smirked and charged toward her to push her out of bounds. Asia, however, got out of the way at the last second and used her tail to trip up Setsuna before pushing her out of bounds herself.

"Um, does using my tail count against the rules?" Asia asked.

"Well, it's not part of your Quirk, so it's okay," Blades reassured.

"Man, I thought I'd have you for sure. Not bad," Setsuna said.

"Nice one, Asia!" Itsuka cheered.

Asia felt happy that she took Hisashi's suggestion to learn a few defensive techniques from Koneko.

"I hope this lesson has taught you to be prepared for situations where you won't be able to use your Quirks in battle," Blades spoke to the class. "Just because you didn't win, don't take it as a bad thing. Figure out what you need to improve on and work toward it, you might even be able to incorporate it into Quirked combat."

"Yes, sir!" The class responded.

"Good. Okay, we're done here!" Blades said. "Tomorrow, you'll get to use your Quirks all you want, so look forward to it!"

Back with 1-A, they were now on the sixth and final match, Team H was selected as the Heroes and Team E became the Villains.

Hanta shot rolls of tape from his tape dispenser-like elbows all over the room, forming a defensive perimeter of sorts around the dummy bomb.

Right beside him was Dani, whose costume consisted of a jumpsuit resembling the one she wore in the Entrance Exam, except the black and white were inverted so it was mostly white with black gloves, collar, boots, and belt; she also traded in her usual blue headband with a white one.

Soon, All Might gave the announcement to begin.

"Alright, Going Ghost!" White rings appeared on Dani's torso as they enveloped her body. The white and black of her costume became inverted. Her fair skin became more tanned, her black hair turned white while her headband turned black, and her bright blue eyes were now glowing green. Her entire body was also covered in a thin white glow. She now looked the same way she did in the Entrance Exam.

"Whoa, that was like a transformation scene from a show!" Hanta said in awe.

[Dani Fenton. Quirk: Phantom. She can channel "Ecto-Energy" that she uses to make herself intangible, fly, or fire it as a beam.]

"I'll go ahead and try to catch them by surprise," Dani said before turning intangible and phasing through a wall.

Meanwhile, the Hero Team had entered the building. Tsuyu used her frog-like abilities to crawl on the wall while Ethel remained on the ground.

Ethel's costume had a militaristic style to it; she wore a black top that showed a good amount of cleavage, matching black pants, armored silver trench coat. She also had black gloves and boots with silver armor, gray pauldrons, and faulds.

"Keep both eyes open. You never know from where they might strike," Ethel said to her partner, who nodded.

Both Heroes looked all around as they walked, however, one of their adversaries was hiding where they could not find or see them.

Dani, having hidden herself within the floor, decided to ambush Ethel first. She got the Capture Tape ready and brought out her arms to wrap it around Ethel's legs, however, Ethel had surprisingly good reflexes, as the moment she felt a tug on her leg, she quickly leaped out of the way before the Capture tape could be fully wrapped around her leg, thus avoiding elimination.

"The floor!" Ethel alerted Tsuyu as she brought out an iron club and pounded on the ground.

[Ethel Ginzan. Quirk: Armory. She has her own personal storage dimension where she can store armor and weapons for later use.]

"Nice try, guys," Dani said as she phased out the floor, floating in the air and returning to a tangible state. "And another thing, that's not all I can do. Ghost Ray!" Dani then fired a green energy beam from her hands at Team H, who leaped to the side to dodge.

Ethel then got out a bola and threw it at Dani, but she turned intangible to let it pass through her. Dani then fought back by firing another Ghost Ray at Ethel, knocking her down.

Then, Tsuyu lashed out her long tongue at Dani, who flew out of the way before turning her attack on the frog girl, who also dodged by hopping onto another wall.

Ethel then summoned twin fencing sabers and thrust them at Dani, who scrambled to barely dodge each attack.

Dani fired a Ghost Ray at Ethel again, but this time, the latter was ready as she summoned a shield to block the attack. Then, Tsuyu hopped in and kicked Dani back with both legs, sending her down to the ground.

Dani, seeing how her original ambush failed and the Hero Team putting up a good fight, decided to make a strategic withdrawal, and phased into the ceiling.

"Looks like we managed to drive her off, ribbit," Tsuyu observed.

"Yes. But it's not yet the time to celebrate. We have a mission to accomplish," Ethel added.

Dani regrouped with her partner, who was still guarding the weapon. "So, as it turns out, they were better than I thought."

"Then I guess a defensive game is what we're gonna have to stick with then," Hanta replied.

Then, the Villain Team heard footsteps coming in their direction.

"Sounds like they're getting close," Hanta said as he raised his arms with his elbow tape dispensers ready.

Dani charged up a ball of energy, ready to fire when the Hero Team made their appearance.

It didn't take long for Team H to arrive, with Ethel taking the lead wielding twin rapiers, cutting through Hanta's defensive layer of tape. Dani quickly seized the opportunity by firing a Ghost Ray to knock one of Ethel's rapiers out of her hand.

Tsuyu then retaliated with a double kick which Dani managed to dodge by flying out of the way. Then, Hanta managed to snag Tsuyu with his tape and swung her into a wall before shooting out more tape to bind her in place. However, Tsuyu had another trick up her sleeve and stretched out her long tongue toward the fake missile, making contact with it, much to Team E's surprise.

["The Heroes are… VICTORIOUS!"]

"Aw, man! I should've taped her mouth too!" Hanta lamented.

Dani slumped in disappointment, Ethel sighed in relief, and Tsuyu ribbited happily.

After Teams H and E returned to the monitoring room and received their evaluations, All Might called the class over to the exit of Ground Beta for final statements.

"THAT'S A WRAP! SUPER WORK! You really stepped up to the plate! And we didn't have any major injuries, save for a few minor ones. You should be proud. Excellent first day of training all-around!" All Might gave a thumbs-up.

"It's nice to hear some encouraging words after our homeroom class," Tsuyu said, remembering Aizawa's manic Totoro smile. "Mr. Aizawa was kind of a buzzkill." Most of the class nodded, sharing her sentiments.

All Might put his hands out in a welcoming gesture as stood in front of a golden-colored UA emblem. "I'M HAPPY TO BRING SUCH STAGGERING POSITIVITY TO MY ALMA MATER! That's all for now, folks. Take what you've learned and keep on improving. Now, watch how a Pro exits. LIKE HE'S GOT SOMEWHERE TO BE!" The number one ran off in a burst of speed.

"Okay, you guys, that is a Hero!" Denki exclaimed in excitement.

"Aw, I'll never be able to run that fast," Mashirao complained.

"He's so cool!" Tomoe gushed.

"Super awesome!" Mineta muttered.

"Though why is he in such a rush?" Ethel asked.

Eijiro and Mina glanced at each other a look, otherwise staying silent.

'Young Bakugo really is overflowing with pride. His ego may be justified, but a school like U.A. is bound to shatter it. As his teacher, it's my sworn duty to counsel him well…' All Might thought as he quickly rushed into a Staff Only exit.

After a quick visit to Recovery Girl's office to get his burns treated, Izuku was now heading back to class. Personally, he was feeling relieved that he already got his first kiss from Rias, otherwise, it would've been with an old lady.

[Yeah, that would suck, for sure.] Ddraig interjected.

'Right. You can hear my thoughts…'

[Only when you think out loud.] Ddraig retorted.

Izuku chose to ignore Ddraig and slowly opened the door to 1-A's classroom. He didn't even get one foot in the room before he got swarmed by some of his classmates.

"Hey, it's Midoriya! Good to see you back, super!" Eijiro greeted. "Ha! Man, I don't know what you were saying during that match, but you were all fired up, huh?!"

"You and Bakugo are super-strong!" Hanta complimented.

"I think the crowner was when you managed to tank that big explosion and come out on top!" Dani said.

"You had us on the edge of our seats!" Hilda said while mimicking a few punches.

"You guys really turned up in the first match," Rikido said. "So none of us held back in our rounds, either!"

"Yes, just watching your match had me exhilarated," Ethel said.

"You were far from elegant, but I suppose-" Yuga tried to speak but was suddenly cut off by Mina.

"And the dodging was like, whoa!" She said while hopping up and down.

Izuku gasped again, looking around at them all with a bewildered smile. "Thanks, but it wasn't all that impressive."

"'Wasn't all that impressive?'" Hilda questioned in disbelief. "Buddy, you're giving yourself far too little credit." She then slung her arm around his shoulder, pulling him close to her pudgy frame.

'She's so close!' Izuku mentally squeaked. His face was starting to turn red as Hilda was unintentionally pressing him up against her plentiful bosom.

Nearby, Mineta watched the scene with envy and rage, especially since he failed to get any female contact during his match. 'What's with that shy guy act!? He's super-strong, but hogging the girls now too!?'

Asia felt a sharp chill run down her spine all the way to the tip of her tail. 'Why am I suddenly feeling jealous?'

Rias's cowlick stood straight up as she sensed a disturbance. 'What's this weird feeling?'

Izuku then tried to get out of Hilda's embrace, doing his best not to cop a feel. Hilda realized what she was doing to him and let him go. "Oh, sorry about that. Anyway, I'm Hilda Shirakabe. Let's get along, 'kay?"

"Hi. I'm Hanta Sero." Hanta introduced himself.

"Ethel Ginzan, a pleasure," Ethel was the next to step up.

"More importantly, I'm Yuga Ao-" Yuga tried to speak but was cut off by Mina once again.

"Again, I reiterate! Your dodging was awesome!" Mina pumped her arms up and down.

"Tsuyu Asui. But please, call me Tsu," Tsuyu stepped out from behind Mina.

"Hey, Sato!" Rikido greeted with a thumbs-up.

"So noisy," Fumikage commented from a distance as he sat on his desk.

"TOKOYAMI!" Tenya called out as he strode towards the bird-headed boy. "Stop using that desk as a chair!" Tenya reprimanded. "Get off of it this instant!"

"Dude, you need to chill," Kyoka advised.

"I mean, it's not like it's against school rules," Tomoe added.

This caused Tenya to jerk backward.

"You're carrying a lot of tension," Ojiro noted.

"No one understands," Tenya slumped. "I cannot condone actions that disrespect these desks! Not when great men and women, our upperclassmen, once used them!" Tenya declared, making his hand-chopping motions.

"Also noisy," Fumikage grumbled.

'Iida never relaxes, does he?' Izuku thought in amusement at the scene.

Then, the other classroom door opened, and Denki and Ochaco entered carrying stacks of books.

"So, anyway, wanna grab a bite sometime?" Denki asked. "What kinda stuff you like?"

"Anything sweet…" Ochaco pondered, and then her eyes caught the sight of Izuku. "Hey, Deku!" Ochaco then dashed toward him, leaving Denki sighing and dejected.

"Oh, hey Uraraka," Izuku greeted back. His eyes then wandered over to Katsuki's desk which he noticed was empty. "Uh, where's Kacchan?"

"We tried to stop him from leaving. But he wouldn't listen. You just missed him," Ochaco answered.

Even though Izuku wanted to go try and talk to Katsuki, he got a text from Rias reminding him that he and the others needed to OFFICIALLY join the Occult Research Club. For the Hero Course students, there were a few extra things they had to take care of first, mostly signing certain agreements that said they understood Hero Course matters were top priority over club activities.

After finishing as quickly as he could, Izuku went on ahead. As he stepped outside, Izuku knew he probably wouldn't find Katsuki but felt like he still had to try.

"Deku…"

Izuku stopped, flinching nervously. There, waiting at the gate, was Katsuki, his usual angry scowl on full display. 'He's still here…'

"I don't know exactly where that crazy-ass Quirk of yours came from, but if I had to guess, did it have something to do with that red-haired upperclassman you've started hanging around?"

"'Red-haired upperclassman?' Rias had nothing to do with it!" Izuku denied.

"Don't play dumb! You haven't been the same ever since you met her, I can tell! Am I right, or wrong?!" Katsuki demanded.

"Alright, I'll tell you what I can. Maybe then you'll understand what's going on," Izuku began. "I wasn't hiding my power from you. It just manifested late. Really late. I-I always had it in me, but it took all this time to finally come out. Sounds crazy, I know. But I've still got a lot to learn about this new power. I know that. That's why I'm here. Sure it's not a Quirk, but-" Izuku suddenly stopped when he realized what he just let slip. "Uh, w-wait! What I meant to say was, uh…" He then noticed the annoyed look on Katsuki's face. 'I'm digging myself deeper, aren't I?'

"How dumb do you think I am?" Katsuki asked as he turned to face Izuku. "'Not a Quirk?' Don't talk to me like I'm an idiot. You already made a fool outta me in that damn training exercise. I lost. And to make matters worse, it was to you." He then remembered back to when Shoto demonstrated his power by freezing the entire building. "When I was watching that ice guy, I realized I couldn't beat him in a head-to-head fight!"

He then remembered Momo criticizing his performance.

"Launching a large-scale attack indoors was a foolish move."

"CRAP! I even agreed with what that girl said. MY ATTACK WAS SO STUPID!" Katsuki shouted. "Not only that, she definitely would've got me completely outwitted if I went up against her! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" He then clenched his fist. "Enjoy that win, Deku." He then lifted his head, revealing that he actually had tears in his eyes. "You won't get another! I'm just getting started! Got that!? I'm gonna end up the Number One Hero, no matter what!" Katsuki wiped his eyes with his sleeve as he walked away. "You'll never beat me again, you bastard. Don't even try."

As Izuku watched Katsuki leave, he felt the tension leaving his body.

[You okay, partner?] Ddraig asked.

"Yeah, that was nerve-wracking," Izuku replied.

He suddenly felt a hand placed on his shoulder.

Izuku turned around to see Rias smiling at him. Behind her were Akeno, Yumi, Asia, Itsuka, Eijiro, and Mina. "B-Buchou? Guys? How long have…?"

"Just in time to see Bakugo start crying," Mina answered.

Asia ran up to him. "Are you okay? Did he do anything?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Izuku reassured. "Though I… kinda slipped out that my power isn't a Quirk. At least he didn't seem to believe me."

Rias frowned in disappointment. "Well, I guess it's safe since you didn't mention anything about the supernatural. So long as Bakugo keeps quiet."

"Kaccahn's not the type to go around spreading things like rumors or gossip, so we should be good," Izuku said.

Rias nodded before smiling, "I'm just glad you're okay. Mina and Eijiro told me what happened today. I'm proud that you stood up to Bakugo like that," She put her arms around him, hugging him tightly.

Asia, while she was jealous for a second, quickly resolved to be bolder and joined in on the hug.

The boy began to turn red due to the hug. Or, more accurately, because of how the girls were hugging him. His head was on Rias's breasts. He could feel just how soft yet firm it was even through her jacket. He could also feel the breasts of Asia pressing softly against his back. He'd honestly wonder if he will ever get used to this. Calming down some, Izuku returned the hug. "Thanks."

Rias smiled before ruffling Izuku's hair. "Now come on. There's something we need to discuss with the others."

(Narration: Izuku POV)

"None of us were prepared for what's to come. All Might warned us about cunning Villains. And a few days later, we learned firsthand how terrifying they could actually be."

Finally, the Battle Trials are over. We got to see all of Class 1-A in action, some did well, and some unfortunately not so much. I certainly hope it was pretty epic for everyone.

And looks like Katsuki has been served another slice of humble pie as he now realizes that it's not just Izuku he has to contend with, but the others in the class as well, such as Shoto's power and Momo's wits. Hopefully, this will help curb his pride and be the reality check he needs.

And about that ending, I skipped that certain scene at a bar because like I said before, I'm still pondering which direction I want the story to go. I might go back and change it when I finally have it planned out, but either way, for the group that's due to appear soon whom I'm sure you can all guess who they are, they'll be different somewhat from canon.

See you next time. Go beyond! Plus Ultra!