Izuku and Katsuki stood next to each other next to the fake bomb. The silence was deafening, until Izuku built up the courage to talk.
"Back there… you created explosions from your sweat." Katsuki didn't reply nor look at him, but he tried to hide his surprise. How did he know about that? "How is that possible?" Deku continued.
"It's none of your fucking business. I don't get why you are trying to figure me out like I am some fucking Scrabble, but I really don't care. You don't get to ask." He spat, furious. They weren't friends at all, and Midoriya thought he had the privilege to make him offer explanations. Maybe he wasn't a quirkless failure anymore, but he wasn't going to explain it to anybody. He would just deny it if asked, he had decided a long time ago. He thought of the possibility that Deku could finally stop looking down on him as if he were a mere stone on his path. He felt his anger grow, this time directed at himself. Why did he think about that, like he wished for it to happen?
Like he cared.
It was an intrusive thought. He didn't care.
"I'm sorry!" Deku quickly apologized, like he had said something terrible. He had. Good. At least he wasn't that conceited to realize it was a ridiculous question.
"Stand out of my way, Deku!" Katsuki yelled, before taking off. He ran to the hallway with no plan in mind. It was fine. He wasn't going to need any to beat up that girl with the useless gravity quirk, nor did he need to think about how he could defeat the boy with the double quirk. Whatever. His quirk was overpowered. He could take them both.
"Kacchan, we need a plan!" Katsuki wanted to yell in fury.
And he did, letting out his bottled up anger.
"Kacchan?" Deku said, this time unsure after he screamed out of nowhere.
"Shut the fuck up! Why are you following me?" The blonde yelled. He couldn't explain Deku's behavior. It was obvious Deku should stay guarding the base, while he attacked them.
"You need to stop this! We can't rush like this. We are supposed to work as a team, and" Izuku was quickly interrupted.
"I can handle them on my own, Deku. Go guard the bomb or whatever. I don't care, but don't you dare think I am weak anymore. I don't need your help to make me triumph. All you need is to stand back and get out of my way!" He shouted.
That's it. That would make Deku finally leave him alone. But it did not. Deku grabbed his arm, as he screamed at the top of his lungs: "stop thinking this is a game! We are against our strongest competitors, and we can't miss this chance to prove ourselves! We mustn't underestimate them!" That's all he could say before an explosion manifested right next to his head.
"Listen to me, Deku. You think we are underestimating them? You are going to stop underestimating ME! I can take them on so stop your rambling!" He grabbed his collar to make his point clear. "For all we could know, they should be already on their way here to the target, so shut up for once and make yourself useful!"
Izuku realized, as he was being grabbed by Katsuki and some spit came on his face from his yelling, that what he was doing was useless. There was no point in trying to change Bakugo's mind.
Todoroki followed the explosion noise. His heart raced. Did Uraraka get caught? He ran to the noise, anxiety creeping up on him. But what he found had nothing to do with what he had expected. Bakugo was clutching Izuku by his hero suit. He looked more angry than his father on his worst days. They still hadn't noticed his presence, so he took the chance to listen.
"I never looked down on you, Kacchan! It was you who made differences between us because of our quirks, or well, the lack of-"Izuku was interrupted by Bakugo, who slapped him on the cheek so hard Izuku fell backwards.
Izuku quickly stood up, in shock, but Shouto saw in his posture that he seemed ready to defend himself.
"You are doing it again, you are looking down on me!" He charged at him, throwing him on the ground. As he was on top of him, Bakugo punched Izuku so hard he saw stars.
Shouto didn't know what was happening.
All Might observed the fight going on, as he heard gasps in the room from his students.
"Teacher! You must stop this! Bakugo is beating up his own teammate!" Mina asked, her eyes shining with determination.
Other voices manifested their agreement. Izuku was being used as a punchbag, but suddenly, something happened. Fire crept out under Bakugo's body, where Izuku was laying on the ground.
He was using his quirk to fight Bakugo.
"Teacher! This is unacceptable!" This time, Iida, yelled, apparently upset with the situation.
All might quickly recovered from his shock, and grabbed the microphone.
"Young Bakugo and young Midoriya! If you keep on fighting, you are going to fail the exam! I will not tolerate this level of violence, especially between your own team. This is inadmissible. You ought to cooperate with each other and act as a union." He said into the microphone, and his voice echoed in the building, his frown deepening. "Even if you are playing as the villains, this is not hero like behavior at all."
Katsuki quickly stepped back as he felt the heat on Deku's body. So he had decided to fight back?
Nevertheless, Izuku was still laying on the ground, his nose bleeding and his lips chapped from the punches. So it was a bluff, a threat to scare him off. He refused to fight him, as he didn't see him as an equal, Bakugo thought, furious once again.
"You must stop if you don't want us to be disqualified. Snap out of it, Kacchan!" He yelled from the floor, trying to stand up. He felt dizzy as he stood up.
You are too much of a weakling, he remembered his father say.
Shouto heard All Might's speech. He couldn't shake off the shock, but he snapped out of it once he heard the interruption. He had to come up with his plan quickly, so he rapidly created ice under his feet, sliding on the ice until he caught up to them. Before they could react, Shouto created a thick wall of ice behind them, so they would have no remedy but to fight him. No running back.
It didn't seem like they wanted to do that, anyways. Apparently, they had forgotten about Uraraka's existence.
"Stop this madness and fight me!" He said, and he proceeded to flee.
What an hypocrite, Bakugo mused before he ran to follow him, Deku behind him as he struggled to catch up to Bakugo, who was using explosions to propel himself. The way he had come out of nowhere just to defy them… it was incredibly suspicious. Bakugo could already tell it was a trap, but he wasn't going to act like he was scared of Todoroki! He could take him easily.
"Uraraka, now!" Todoroki yelled, and suddenly, debris fell from the ceiling. It was a massive amount of debris, and before it could fall on them, Izuku had the distant thought: how did they even get that amount of ruins? But then, he saw the burnt walls and it all made sense. While they were arguing and wasting time, Uraraka and Todoroki already had a carefully constructed plan to beat them. How could they be so careless? Not only had they walked straight into a trap, but they also let Uraraka have a free route to the target. They were failing. And it was all because they couldn't stop fighting.
Izuku realized, as he thought all of this watching the frozen debris fall, that they needed to improvise. He couldn't waste more time by blaming themselves while this was happening. He quickly lit up his palms on fire and shot it upwards, hoping the fire would be strong enough to melt the frozen debris into ashes.
He closed his eyes, waiting for the impact that never came. Opening his eyes, he realized his strategy had worked, while Katsuki had also defended himself by blasting an explosion into the air. The rest of the debris was on the ground.
They weren't hurt, but that was the less important thing. By this point, Uraraka would have already reached the target, he realized, panicking.
"Kacchan! Quickly! Blow up the whole building!" He told him, hoping that Bakugo wouldn't be too proud to ignore him.
To his major surprise, Bakugo seemed to understand.
"Don't you dare order me around, conceited asshole!" He replied, but he did what he was told.
The deafening roar of Bakugo's explosion filled the air as an immense blast of fiery energy erupted from his palms, tearing through the building's structure. The force of the explosion sent shockwaves through the entire floor, causing the walls to shudder and crumble. Flames and debris were hurled upward, creating a fiery vortex that threatened to consume everything in its path. Deku, Todoroki, and Uraraka were caught in the maelstrom of destruction. The intense heat and pressure pushed them back, making it nearly impossible to maintain their footing. Flames licked at their suits, scorching the fabric and sending searing waves of pain through their bodies. Deku clenched his teeth, his vision obscured by the searing brightness of the explosion. He knew that Bakugo's plan was to prevent Uraraka from reaching the fake bomb, but this was an all-out assault. Todoroki, too, struggled to stay on his feet, using his ice quirk to shield himself from the worst of the flames. Uraraka, determined to fulfill her mission, reached out to activate her quirk, but the intense heat made it challenging to focus. The air itself seemed to waver from the sheer energy of the explosion. She gritted her teeth, fighting against the oppressive force, and slowly managed to make herself weightless, floating slightly above the ground.
The building continued to crumble around them as the explosion's shockwaves spread, making their surroundings increasingly unstable. The floor beneath them cracked and groaned, threatening to give way. Deku knew they needed to act fast to survive this fiery onslaught and complete their mission.