k

by gkidsanderson4

k

6. 6

The weird feeling hadn't subsided whatsoever as Izuku and the other 41 remaining contestants were driven to the USJ, which was pretty much on the opposite side of UA's campus. 'Ugh, now's not the time to be worrying over nothing Izuku. Get yourself back in the right headspace.'

As they entered through the entrance doors and started walking down the large stairs Izuku went over the rules again to distract himself.

~"EVERY STUDENT WILL HAVE A HEADSHIELD AND A PAINTGUN THAT SHOOTS PAINT OF THAT TEAM'S COLOUR! THESE CAN BE FOUND AT YOUR HOME BASE! TEAMS ARE MADE UP OF 7 MEMBERS EACH TO MAKE IT EVEN!"

"NOW AS FOR HOW THE GAME WILL GO: A TEAM'S COMBINED POINTS ARE FULLY 'CARRIED' BY THE TEAM CAPTAIN. IF A CONTESTANT MANAGES TO HIT A CAPTAIN THEN ALL THE POINTS OF THAT TEAM WILL BE TRANSFERRED TO THE CONTESTANT'S TEAM! IF A REGULAR PLAYER GETS HIT THEY WILL HAVE TO COME BACK TO HOME BASE BEFORE THEY ARE ALLOWED TO INTERFERE WITH OTHER CONTESTANTS AGAIN! LASTLY, THE TEAM CAPTAIN IS NOT ALLOWED TO LEAVE THE HOME BASE! THE TWO TEAMS WITH THE MOST POINTS WILL GO TO THE THIRD ROUND ALONG WITH THE TWO STUDENTS WHO GOT THE MOST 'KILLS' FROM THE OTHER TEAMS!"~

'No matter what our home base will be, my movement will be seriously restricted. At least I got a few people I know well on my team. I'm honestly surprised some of them came to me, despite the huge target I have.'

Before he knew it the group of 42 contestants had made it all the way down to the fountain at the central plaza and Present Mic's voice came through the ever-present speakers again.

"ALRIGHTY THEN, IT'S TIME FOR SOME OLD-FASHIONED PAINTBALL YEAAAAHHH!!! EACH TEAM WILL RANDOMLY GET A DISASTER ZONE ASSIGNED TO THEM AND THEN THEY'LL BE ON THEIR WAY! ERASERHEAD, LET'S DOUBLE-TEAM THIS!"

"Ugh, don't call it that. The 6th placing team captain Denki Kaminari and his team consisting of Jirō, Kendō, Shinsō, Shūseno, Tsunagi and Mukankei are assigned to the Ruins Zone."

"NEXT UP IT'S THE 5TH PLACING TEAM CAPTAIN EIJIRO KIRISHIMA! HIS BUDDIES ASHIDO, SERO, SATŌ, SHIOZAKI, TETSUTETSU AND KUROIRO WILL BE HEADING TO THE CONFLAGRATION ZONE! ALL HAZARDS HAVE BEEN TURNED OFF FOR TODAY SO DON'T SWEAT IT! GET IT, DON'T SWEA- OW!"

"Right, last of the group that indirectly eliminated half of 1-B is the 4th placing team captain Katsuki Bakugō. He has joined up with Ojiro, Hagakure, Monoma, Rukangaku, Sugukuri and Hakatai and will set up base in the Downpour Zone. Again, with the environmental hazards turned off."

Izuku looked at Katsuki, who had been scowling the entire time as he walked off with his highly unusual team. Most of the people he teamed up with in the last round had become team captains of their own so he couldn't form a team with them. The other people he might've teamed up with decided to team up with those other captains as well since he wasn't really friends with them so in the end Katsuki ended up with what he'd probably call 'the leftovers'. Izuku would've normally thought of that name as one of Katsuki's endearing personality traits but now it just reminded him of how much he must've misjudged Katsuki in the past.

"OVER HALFWAY THERE ERASERHEAD, YOU CAN DO IT! THE 3RD PLACER IS SHŌTO TODOROKI! THE PEOPLE HE TEAMED UP WITH ARE ASUI, AOYAMA, TOKOYAMI, TOKAGE, TSUNOTORI AND KIKŌGU AND SHOULD START GETTING TO THE MOUNTAIN ZONE!"

"In 2nd place last round is Mei Hatsume. The people she's somehow convinced to get on her team are Yaoyorozu, Kōda, Bondo, Yanagi, Haikei and Yobun. I wish those that will try to enter the Landslide Zone good luck."

Mei-chan shouted one last "Yeah good luck 0-pointer-kun!" as she walked off, leaving the central plaza completely deserted except for his own team.

"AND LAST BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST, IT'S THE 1ST PLACER IZUKU MIDORIYA! URARAKA, IIDA, SHŌJI, MINETA, AKATANI AND GENDEKI WERE BRAVE ENOUGH TO TEAM UP WITH THE GUY WITH THE BIGGEST TARGET!"

'I'm actually kinda glad that Gendeki-chan and Akatani-kun got caught in those robots' visors so often, at least I have some familiar faces here with me. Hmm, the only Disaster Zone left is the Flood Zone, well that or the entrance if that counts. But either of them seem way too advantageous for the team that's currently in first place. So what else could they assign?' Sadly his question was answered right after that.

"AS FOR WHERE THEIR HOMEBASE IS? WELL LET'S THROW THEM ONE LAST CURVEBALL, THEY'LL HAVE TO DEFEND THEIR CAPTAIN RIGHT IN THE OPEN, HERE AT THE CENTRAL PLAZA!!!"

'Well screw you too UA.'

"EVERYONE IN POSITION?! WHETHER YOU'RE READY OR NOT LET'S GET THE SECOND ROUND OF THE SPORTS FESTIVAL STARTED YEAAAA-"

The abrupt cut-off was the only warning the students got as the entire USJ was suddenly plunged into absolute darkness as every spotlight turned off simultaneously.

After a few seconds a singular point of light sprang into existence and illuminated a portion of the central plaza as Izuku turned on his aura on reflex. Turning around he saw Chako-chan and Gendeki-chan looking around in confusion, Shōji was rubbing his eyes but already had several tentacles out while Akatani-kun and Mineta were holding onto Gendeki-chan and Iida in fear respectively.

Chako-chan was the first to talk. "Hey guys, is this another one of those residual power failures? I don't remember the last one being this bad."

Iida carefully separated Mineta from his leg, trying to avoid touching his hair. "If that's true then it's most unbecoming of UA!"

Mineta whimpered. "L-Let's just wait until the p-pros come pick us up!"

Gendeki-chan didn't like that answer. "Yeah…no, we're not just leaving like that. We're in the best position of the whole USJ! We should start looking for the other teams since they're in much worse surroundings, especially in the dark like this."

Before any further conversation could be held one of Shōji's ears twitched. "Something weird is happening near the fountain."

Nobody even had the time to respond as Shōji suddenly grabbed everyone with his Dupli-arms and ran off to one of the bushes at the edge of the plaza. "Midoriya, turn your aura off, now!"

Izuku looked back at the fountain and saw purple mist spreading from a singular point, which was the last thing he saw as he quickly shut off his aura and the USJ was fully covered in darkness again.

After several seconds of running Izuku could feel Shōji's arms loosening and he felt small branches and leaves brushing past his skin as he was put down. Shōji spoke up in a hushed tone. "Stay quiet for now, I'll survey the area. My duplicated eyes can see perfectly fine in the dark."

After another tense few seconds Izuku decided that he really didn't like being in the dark, figuratively and literally in this case. At least Shōji spoke up again. "I can see three people at the plaza but nobody else, a person made of that purple mist, a younger guy with disembodied hands all over his body and a hulking beast with a bird beak and an exposed brain. I think the teen is talking to the mist, let me relay."

Izuku nearly yelped when a completely different scraggly voice came from the mouth that Shōji had apparently manifested near them. The only indication that it was Shōji voice acting for clarity was the fact that it was in a whispered tone. "Kurogiri this is so boring, I know that I shouldn't have expected much from the hired party-members but you'd think those NPCs could take down some teenage brats in just a few minutes, especially in the dark with night vision and environmental cheats turned on!"

A baritone voice came from Shōji next. "Patience Tomura Shigaraki, we are most likely waiting on those from the Flood Zone. That zone is the most difficult to work with after all."

The voice that didn't paint a nice picture of the first guy's mental state, Shigaraki apparently, replied. "Ugh I know, I'm just too excited to continue. Once we've got all those brats subdued we can open this dungeon's doors and bait All Might in. Either he comes alone and dies fighting our raid boss or those brats get it."

"It is quite fortunate that we were able to get so much information beforehand."

"Hah, can't believe we were able to insert a GameShark into this playthrough. Changing that first round so we could prepare and see all the quirks is such a cheat. Who knew that UA's weak spot was some unmoderated coffee machine software?"

Izuku balked at that little bit of exposition. 'Wait, these guys uploaded a virus into potentially the power and security systems through a software update?! That happened on the first day! Have they been able to spy on us since the start?!'

Apparently the two villains went silent or stopped mentioning relevant information as Shōji stopped relaying stuff. Mineta broke the silence with a whimper. "G-Guys I don't like this. L-Let's just leave already."

Chako-chan's voice whisper shouted next. "No way am I leaving! I have friends in those other zones and I have no idea how they're doing!"

Gendeki-chan's voice agreed. "Yeah, my Vice Rep Kikōgu is with Todoroki's team, I'm not leaving him behind like that!"

Izuku stayed quiet as something didn't seem right. "Wait you guys, why did they just talk about the Flood Zone when nobody's in there? Especially if they already said that they watched the previous round and probably part of this one?"

Akatani-kun's stutter came up next. 'Oh thank god, I nearly thought he wasn't here.' "M-Maybe they assumed we would g-go to the Flood Zone and s-stopped watching to p-prepare."

'That seems pretty likely.' "I agree Akatani-kun. Shōji, do you see them wearing any night vision goggles?"

"I do not Midoriya."

A plan was already forming. "If they have full control over the USJ's power and security systems then the outside probably has no idea what's going on. They might even think that it's just a blackout like last time and not hurry over here as quickly. If we want back-up to come before they have everyone subdued then we need someone to get out there and warn them, fast."

Izuku really started cursing his inability to see in the darkness as he felt like he was talking to himself. "Iida-san, you're the fastest of us here. You should get out there."

"Midoriya-san, there's no way I can just abandon everyone here like that!"

"I don't like it either Iida-san, but you're our best bet for backup. Shōji-san, can you navigate and protect Iida-san on the way there? The electronic doors are probably locked so Iida-san will need someone who can force the doors open too."

"How will you fare if I can't relay information to you?"

"There's no need for that anymore Shōji-san, we just have to stay here until backup arrives since the villains apparently think we're in the Flood Zone."

Two grunts from Iida and Shōji were enough to confirm the plan. But before they could leave Mineta's voice squeaked up again. "Wait, please take me with you, you two!"

Shōji's voice came up next. "I don't see how I can refuse, given that you've already stuck yourself to my back and I don't want to make a ruckus by shaking you off."

"I wish you the best of luck Midoriya-san, Uraraka-san, Akatani-san, Gendeki-san. I swear on the name of Idaten that I will return with backup!"

Several soft footsteps that were getting further away were the only indication that the three of them were heading for the entrance. Izuku sighed and laid down in the bush, itching to turn on his aura. 'This might take a while…I wonder how everyone else is doing.'

Denki Kaminari just wanted to have a fun paintball game with his friends, especially after that nerve-wracking round hiding from those robot seekers. And now, instead of paintball he was hiding again, but from actual villains this time! He really sucked at hiding since his first instinct after the blackout was to turn on his electricity for some illumination. That just ended up luring all the villains to their group and they had to scatter in different directions. That smooth-brain move got two of their teammates captured too: two people from Gen Ed with very unfortunate family names, that was honestly the most he could remember from them.

From the quick glimpse of the villains Denki could tell that they had some sort of night vision with them. The only solace he had right now was the fact that all the collapsed buildings in the Ruins Zone gave him enough hiding spots in the dark. He could hear several villains quietly walking past the alley he was hiding in, chuckling to themselves. After a while of trying not to freak out a soft whisper came up from behind him. "Hey Kaminari."

"AA-" A soft hand immediately stifled his scream. "Quiet down you moron! It's me, Jirō."

"J-Jirō? How'd you find me?"

Despite the darkness he could envision her deadpan. "I could hear your frantic heartbeat from the opposite side of the zone. You're lucky that I can know where every villain is and how the terrain is shaped with my quirk. Now come on, I can tell from the heartbeats that the other three on our team haven't been found yet so we better regroup now."

"Oh thank the gods that I found you first Jirō bu-"

"Shh, I can hear someone approaching, probably because of that girly scream of yours."

"Hey it's not gir- Wait why aren't we running away then?!"

"Because I recognise it dumbass. Who's there!"

A new voice came out of the darkness. "It's me you guys, Kendō!"

"…"

"Uhm, I can make my fists really big?"

'Oh, the 1-B girl.' Denki realised. "Oh hey, have you seen the others?"

He got a slap on the head from who was probably Jirō. "None of us can see, stupid."

"It's a manner of speech you guys! Don't try to make me sound dumb."

Kendō's voice came up again. "Okay, not to interrupt the quality banter that's going on here but if those lights don't go on again sometime soon then we're all toast. Do you guys have any ideas?"

Denki wracked his brain on their current location. "The Ruins Zone is right next to the exit stairs right? We'd only have to get to the border and then through some forest to reach it…but that doesn't sit right with me."

As he imagined the route they'd have to take from when they walked through that forest during the USJ trip he suddenly realised something. "Wait, isn't the Overseer room on the way there? Maybe we could help the others from in there!"

The voice that was definitely Jirō huffed. "Not a bad idea. Didn't Thirteen say something about rebooting the power and security through the backup generators there as well?"

Kendō responded to the two of them. "You guys have been to the USJ already? Our trip was planned for next week. But that sounds like a great idea, what are we waiting for! Jirō, you can navigate us there right?"

The earphone jack girl gave a grunt of affirmation and they started their perilous journey, Jirō having to warn Denki for gaps and debris several times. Eventually they were halted by her earphone jacks. "Hold up, something's wrong."

Denki's first reaction was to start panicking again. "Eh, did the villains find us?!"

"No, shut up. There's a large group of heartbeats up ahead, but only one of them is beating fast enough to be conscious."

Suddenly a tired, baritone voice came from the darkness. "Who's there?!"

Denki startled, thinking they had been discovered, but then remembered that he had heard that voice before. "You're Shinsō right? It's me Kamin-" But that was all he could say before a tranquil peace flooded over him. It was probably the most relaxed he'd been since the Sports Festival started but it didn't last long as someone, definitely Jirō, stabbed him with her jack. "Now's not the time to whey out dammit!"

Shinsō's voice came up again in a more hushed tone. "Shit, sorry, force of habit. How many of you are here?"

Kendō answered first. "It's just the three of us, well four of us now with you."

"Why are there so many unconscious bodies here?" Jirō voiced her confusion.

"I knocked these gullible idiots out. Couldn't stop themselves from trying to freak me out by answering me…it's my quirk."

Denki had a realisation. "Wait, don't these guys have night-vision goggles on?"

Apparently Shinsō hadn't noticed that yet. "They do? Well shit, let's just borrow some then."

It wasn't quite like normal sight but the green-tinted vision of their surroundings was a huge relief, which Denki wasn't afraid to voice when he confirmed that nobody was nearby. "Oh thank god, I started forgetting if I even had my eyelids open or not!"

His eyes then went to Shinsō. "Why do you have a metal bat?"

Shinsō twirled the thing in his hands. "I was given it by the 'pink devil' or whatever the other Support students call her, because of your Rep's plan or something. She didn't get to explain much before we were called from the waiting room since she mumbled something about not having enough time for a second set of artificial vocal chords and I decided to nope out after hearing that."

One of the downed villains groaned which elicited a harsh hit from the bat. "It's been a great help though." A smirk appeared on his face.

Everyone was a bit unnerved at that but Kendō spoke up next. "Isn't there still one person unaccounted for…besides those guys that got captured?"

Shinsō looked back up from the recently downed villain. "You mean the 1-E Rep Shūseno? Yoyo quirk? Insists on being called Mocha?"

Jirō quirked an eyebrow. "Like the espresso with chocolate? Eh, I can see it. I can hear her somewhere in the middle. Someone should get her one of these night vision goggles."

"Don't worry you guys, I'll do it!" Kendō volunteered.

Denki decided to enter the conversation again. "Yo good luck, when you find her, come to us."

Kendō flashed a peace sign and ran off with an extra pair of goggles in her hand. The remaining three students navigated to the zone boundary, luckily Shinsō had taken out basically every villain on this side so there was no resistance. Honestly, the most difficult bit was getting over the zone's wall. They had to climb up one of the nearby collapsed buildings and jump their way over. Denki almost came short and would've hit a wall face-first again but Jirō's jacks saved him at the last moment.

The three of them managed to drop down quietly onto the forested area below. Compared to the start of this whole ordeal Denki was actually having a bit of fun and was starting to imagine it as a mission impossible now as he grinned. "Alright guys, let's find that Overseer room and save everyone's asses!"

Katsuki Bakugō was having the worst fucking week of his life. First that Izuku rip-off turned out to be hiding that he was quirkless from him this whole damn time, fuck that was still pissing him off. Then Izuku just bailed on his birthday sleepover, then that whole shitshow happened at the Principal's office where he somehow managed to get Izuku to snap at him and now he got stuck with his class's extras, some B-lister and some non-Hero course nobodies in the 2nd round. If that wasn't enough already the shitty lights suddenly noped out and now he was getting drenched by an endless onslaught of rain, which was SUPPOSED TO BE TURNED OFF!!!

One of the Gen Ed nobodies, a girl with a mouth that actually matched his own, interrupted his thoughts. "Jesus Christ, just shut the fuck up already you Hero course crap! I can literally hear you sulking and I need to concentrate for my quirk!"

'Oh fuck you too bitch, two can play at that game.' "Hah? If I hadn't been paired up with all you weak quirked losers in this shitty zone then this would be over already!"

He got two indignant shouts from his own classmates, Tail guy and the literal Background girl, but the Gen Ed shit wasn't done yet. "Oh like you have anything to say here mister 'my sweat is explosive' cause you're literally useless with all this rain washing it all away!"

"Oi, I still have some sweat stored up in these boots bitch, so don't count me out just yet! I'm just saving it for when it's needed that's all! Besides, I can still set off tiny explosion!"

"Oh wow, firecrackers are really gonna help us out, especially for getting found by villains. You know the entire time that I've been straw-manning your Hero course buddies I didn't think that the strawman was actually real! And two of them in the Hero course at that!"

The annoying, nasally voice from the B-lister piped up. "Hey now, I'm nothing like this 1-A hooliga-"

"Shut up both of you! You're lucky my quirk is perfect for detecting villains seeing us in the dark."

"Ah yes of course, unlike this 1-A trash I appreciate your contributions. Would you mind if I copied your quirk for an extra set of eyes Rukangaku?"

Any further actions stopped as some shitty villain suddenly shouted from far away. "Hey guys, I finally found those brats! I could hear them shouting over the sound of the rain!"

"Goddammit Hero course crap, your standard speaking voice just has to be set on shout huh?! What, did your explosions actually make you deaf?!"

"The fuck do you mean, I've been talking normally the entire time!"

Tail interrupted them. "Stop squabbling you guys, we need to run and hide! Bakugō, use your sparks so we can see, we've been discovered anyway!"

Alright fine, maybe Tail had a point. In the end the only thing they could do was run away from the villains and navigate using the light from his sparks. Dammit, it was like he was fucking four years old again! He wasn't fucking weak anymore! He trained his ass off for stuff like this!

Background spoke up over the sound of the rain. "Guys, there's an open door! Maybe we can take cover and hide inside one of the houses!"

"Are you stupid?! Then those villain shits will just find us eventually!"

"Listen to us for once! I have an idea!"

'Tsk, let's see what brilliant idea Background has then, cause I'm getting sick of this rain.'

They ran into the building and Background led them to a fucking closet of all things. "All of you get in here. Monoma, copy my quirk if you can and take all your clothes off after!"

Despite the weird demand they all huddled inside the empty closet as they heard another villain shouting. "Hey, I think I saw them running in this building!"

Background dragged Copycat, who had actually turned invisible and was now fucking buck-naked 'Thank fuck for invisibility', next to her and whispered, now that the torrent of rain wasn't drowning out all the sounds. "We have to hurry you guys. Monoma, stand next to me and block this doorway with me as best as possible. If you can feel a weird tingling anywhere on your body then force that feeling back into the closet!"

'What the fuck is she doing?' "Oi Background how the fuck is this gonna help?! They'll just see us right through you two!"

He got jabbed in the stomach by Gen Ed shit. "Shut your fucking mouth for once and trust your damn teammates, they're coming."

They all held their breath as they heard several people running past their room, one of them apparently poking their head in the room. "Nothing on this floor guys! Keep looking, there's no way they could get out of here with only one entrance to this place!"

As the footsteps went up more stairs they all breathed a collective sigh of relief and he turned on his sparks to try and dry himself up. "Okay now hold the fuck up Background, how the fuck didn't they see us?! Are they blind?!"

Background apparently had enough as she bit back at him. "If you had allowed me to explain then you would've known that my invisibility is just my quirk's by-product. I can actually change my own body's refractive index. Those villains must have night-vision goggles with them but those work with infrared radiation from body heat. If Monoma and I completely reflect all the infrared from all our body heat back into the closet then we're basically invisible to them as long as we stay here."

Alright fine that was a pretty good plan, but sitting still really was a pain in the ass, and the heat from his sparks wasn't drying him up fast enough. "Goddammit, I'm not gonna be dry for a while like this, and even once I am I'd be stuck in this stupid building anyway!"

Apparently Gen Ed shit was comfortable enough to start talking back again. "Get your head out of your ass already! This shit doesn't just revolve around you, we're stuck here as well! I swear to god if you put us in danger again because you're apparently so fucking desperate to prove your strength to who knows who!"

"I don't need to prove my strength! I know I'm fucking strong, so stop looking down on me already! It pisses me off when weaklings like you look down on me!"

Gen Ed shit scoffed. "Oh I'm not looking down on you because I think I'm stronger. I'm not stupid, I know my quirk is useless for fighting."

That stupid fucking smirk appeared on her face again. "I'm looking down on you because I think your personality is the equivalent of dogshit that's been marinating in a sewer for 15 years."

Before he could retort again the damn Copycat butted in. "You know, I heard from the rumour mill that you managed to get your green friend of yours to snap at you. I would've paid big bucks to hear him screaming and cursing at you if what they said was right."

Background reacted to that. "Seriously Bakugō? You got Izuku 'cinnamon sunshine boy' Midoriya to blow up at you? What did you even do?!"

Gen Ed shit seemed to enjoy the current direction of the conversation. "Oh your 1-A Rep? You got the golden boy to curse and shout at you? Maybe he's not as bad as I thought then. That or you're even worse than I expected. Ugh you're literally everything that's wrong with the Hero course: Arrogant, looking down on everyone and flaunting around the power you were lucky enough to be born with instead of trying to be an actual hero."

Her smirk turned into a sneer as she listed those things off. "Tell me Bakugō, what do you actually think a hero does?"

'Really, does she think I'm stupid?' "A hero fucking beats up the bad guys and always wins!"

The girl scoffed. "Oh wow, so your head has been up your ass since you were a fucking toddler then? You should get yourself a spot in the Guinness book of world records! Cause that's the answer a child would give if they've only seen hero fights on TV!"

Tail piped up to try and deescalate things. "A hero fights villains because it helps them make civilians feel safe."

Gen Ed shit decided to strike back again. "Yeah, at least one of you Hero course students is reasonable. You do the exact opposite though cause the last thing I'm feeling with you around is fucking safe."

"I'll fucking show you safe bitch!"

"See, there it is again! God I already feel sorry for your classmates and any hero that has to work with your pompous, insecure ass in the future. They'll probably have to hire a whole ass division at the agency you work at just to make sure you don't fucking attack a civilian during a villain fight for talking back to you! If anyone even wants to work with you that is!"

"The fuck do you mean?! Of course people will want to work…with…me…" 'The fuck? Did one of those villains bring a goddamn harp with them?'

"-Until you've d-done all those things I'M NOT TALKING TO YOU!"

Katsuki was too dazed from Zuku's weird outburst to notice as his friend turned around and ran away.

"Who the fuck is Gend- Hey nerd…IZUKU COME BACK!"

It was already too late though as Zuku ran around the corner, leaving Katsuki behind in front of the principal's office.

'What the fuck was up with him? Whatever, I can talk to him later, let's just get these stupid papers turned in to that Rat and be done with today.'

Katsuki was about to knock on the door in front of him as a squeaky voice piped up from behind the door. "Ah yes Bakugō-kun, please come in!"

'How'd he know that I- Ugh nevermind, he probably heard the shouting.'

He went back to his slouched posture and kicked open the door. The principal's office was pretty fucking empty for its size, just some bookcases on the sides with some diplomas and doctorates hanging on the wall and a desk sitting in front of a giant fuck-off window overlooking Korisato like the Rat was some sort of evil overlord.

"Now now, I'm sure we have lots to discuss, so please take a seat Bakugō-kun."

Katsuki walked over as nonchalantly as he could and slammed the papers on the desk. "Yeah right, this will only take a few seconds if you just take the damn papers and dismiss me."

The Rat didn't seem to care as he pulled out a tea set from somewhere beneath his desk and started pouring a cup. "Oh I know that you're here to turn in the Support partner change request forms, but I feel it's necessary to inform you a bit more before you leave this office and finalise it. Would you like some tea while I do that?"

Figuring that the Rat wasn't gonna let him go Katsuki huffed and begrudgingly sat down in the chair. "I don't want some flavoured water, just tell me what you gotta tell me dammit. I don't have the patience for this."

"Ah and I had just gotten some exclusive packets of extra spicy tea leaves from Indonesia. I suppose I'll just keep it for-"

"Alright fine you Rat, give me some."

"I'm happy to hear it Bakugō-kun! Tea can really calm down your mind." 'Wait shit, did I just agree?'

As the tea was poured Katsuki was impatiently tapping his fingers on the desk. "Can you tell me what you need to tell me already?!"

The Rat's eyes gained a bit of a gleam. "Oh Bakugō-kun, I think you need to learn not to rush things. Ah anyway, I suppose I shall go over what will happen once you officially turn in those papers."

"First of all, the Support partner and homeroom teachers involved will be informed. Then I will have to plan in extra assignments for your old Support partner as their support work for you is currently part of their marks and schedule. And lastly we will go through the Support students who don't have a Hero partner at the moment and assign one that put you in as one of their preferences."

Katsuki looked up from the papers. "Hah? Well I wanna know who my next partner could be, cause I sure as hell don't want another damn repeat with some shit who has no idea what my quirk feels like, hiding that from me while making my damn costumes and support equipment!"

The Rat's snout crunched up a bit. "Hmm, you have adopted Endeavor's mentality when it comes to support partners I see. It's ironic, given that his partnership and insistence during interviews and press conferences lead to the current system at UA and in Japan as a whole. While I would normally hold on this, I can go through the potential list right now of course, if you don't mind the extra wait."

"Tsk just go ahead, I have tea to drink now anyway."

Several minutes of complete fucking silence except for some old-ass clock and the Rat's typing on his keyboard went on until the Rat suddenly clapped his paws together. "Ah Bakugō-kun, it seems we have a bit of a problem on our hands, or paws in my case!"

"Hah?! What do you mean?"

"I honestly haven't come across this specific scenario much but it appears that none of the currently available 1st year Support students have you anywhere in their preferences."

The temper that Katsuki had been trying to hold in ever since he kicked open the door (yes that was him holding back his temper, fuck off) boiled over at once through two explosions. "What the fuck?! You must've gotten some glitch in the system then dammit!"

The Rat gave him a smile, a fucking smile! "I like to keep my system up-to-date and I am very proud of that fact! I know that some of the Support students have you in their preferences but they already have their first choice assigned to them. Now there's no problem with going on without a Support partner of course, but I do have to ask you one last time if this is what you want. You'll be at a severe disadvantage compared to your classmates if you have to rely on external support companies during your enrolment here and once you graduate."

Katsuki could feel a tick mark appear on his forehead if this had been animated. "Dammit you Rat, there's no way nobody else besides that quirkless shit wanted me, my quirk is amazing!"

He suddenly felt the need to hunch in on himself as a predatory gaze fell over him. "Now now Bakugō-kun, I'm sure you know my quirk gives me a high intelligence, which I can use to go through every scenario very quickly. In this case I'm very sure that there's an explanation as to why. You see-" The rat turned his laptop screen around to show Katsuki several highlights of his entrance exam, probably the one that was shown to the Support students when they had to choose a Hero partner.

Katsuki grinned when he saw the clips of him blasting every robot to bits without even an ounce of effort, but his grin disappeared when the Rat continued talking. "You see, while these clips do show your quirk's power and versatility they also show some features that might deter people."

The Rat typed in some commands and the same clip-show played again, this time zooming in and focusing on other areas. Katsuki stayed silent as he looked at all the extras who got scared or annoyed at his loud explosions or had to evade flying debris from the robots he destroyed on the screen.

"What the fuck does this have to do with people getting deterred from my quirk?! And why would that anxious shit be the only one that actually wanted me then huh?!"

"Oh Bakugō-kun, I'm not talking about your quirk, heavens no. It's a remarkable quirk that's top-grade material. No I'm talking about the way you use it, it's very indicative of your outlook on heroics that you got no rescue points during the exam. I hope you do know that your career as a pro will be needlessly more difficult if people don't want to work with you. I won't bore you with that any further though, as the Why's of that conundrum are up to you to solve. I'd hate to give out answers to such wonderful puzzles. As for your other question, Akatani-kun wasn't going to be assigned to you in the first place!"

"Hah?!"

"Oh don't take it personally! Akatani-kun was quite content with having no Hero partner at all! Every year an entire class is without one, given that there's three Support class for the two Hero classes, so it's quite natural. However, as my personal student I want him to go Plus Ultra and get over his own issues as well instead of just playing it safe. When I saw that you wouldn't get an assigned partner I told him he'd be assigned to you and to try his best. I didn't want to show favouritism and assign my personal student to a Hero student that another Support student already had the rights to so this was a perfect compromise! It's disappointing but expected that it didn't pan out it seems."

The office again fell into silence as Katsuki was left to his own thoughts. 'The fuck, so the Rat basically fucking forced this shit then? Why'd he even go check on his computer if he already fucking knew this in the first place?!'

His thoughts were cut off again though as the damn Rat spoke up. "Now then Bakugō-kun, how about you slide those forms over for me. My paws don't quite reach the other side of the desk it seems."

The damn Rat opened and closed his paws as to emphasise that fact.

Katsuki looked between the stupid papers and the damn Rat before snatching them off the desk again. "Ugh nevermind, I'll just have to convince someone else to partner with me before I give you these damn papers then. Can I fucking leave now?!"

The small dots that were the Rat's eyes stared at him without any decipherable emotion before a polite smile fell on his snout. "Yes of course Bakugō-kun, I wouldn't want to take away any free time you have to prepare for tomorrow. Good luck with the Festival! I will be at the 3rd year's stage after all so I won't be aware of other going-on's."

For the second time that afternoon the door to the principal's office was kicked open.

'What kind of villain needs a fucking harp?! Oh it's gone again.'

'Ugh that stupid fucking rat!' Katsuki suddenly realised that the others had been staring at him for the past few seconds so he spoke up in his whisper shout. "You know what, fine! You're right, I am difficult to work with cause I only want to work with the best! But since you guys are the best I got right now we'll just have to come up with something with your quirks."

He turned around to the two other non-Hero course nobodies who hadn't spoken once yet. "Alright you fucks, what kinda quirks do you two have?!"

The extra with the creepy, but kinda cool, void eyes shook her head. "While my quirk would be quite helpful in a fight, my movement predictions require visual cues to work."

The other extra with the two cowlicks shook her head as well. "I don't think that intuitively knowing measurable quantities will be useful for this. Besides, while some quantities like air temperature, brightness and pressure can be measured as I am now, most of my measurements are done through my eyes."

'Dammit this is so fucking annoying.' "Fine, I guess we can't really do shit while everything's dark as fuck anyway. Hopefully the blackout is just in this zone and we can escape to the central plaza. But first we somehow need to get out of this fucking building you guys trapped us in while we're completely surrounded. So, got any ideas, fuckos?"

Let's just focus on the Sports Festival, Midoriya said. Let's just have some fun, Midoriya said. Well Shōto didn't think that hiding in the mountains in pitch-black darkness with a student whose quirk could kill them all if he didn't keep it in control was very fun. At least Aoyama of all people prevented that last part from happening. When the lights had just gone out and Tokoyami seemed to be going into a panic attack Aoyama took off his belt and drew out some light into the form of a sparkling plate 'Since when could he do that?', before shoving it under Tokoyami's coat. "Here mon ami, this will help if you stay near moi."

His first instinct was to begrudgingly turn on his flames, not like Father could watch anyway if everything was shut down, to check their surroundings and his teammates. He soon regretted that as several silhouettes could be seen in the distance and he quickly extinguished his flames again.

Shōto hoped that he hadn't alerted any of what appeared to be the villains but a shriek suddenly came from somewhat nearby. "Ow what the hell?! My night-vision goggles just fucking short-circuited and died!"

Another similar cry and response came after that. At least it turned out that most of the villains were somewhat far away so Shōto started whispering. "Do you know what's happening around us?"

A voice with a heavy American accent, clearly the exchange student from 1-B, spoke up. "Well didn't ya hear? Those guys got sum night-vision goggles like outta them spy movies but they're breaking!"

Another unfamiliar voice, probably from the single non-Hero course student spoke up. "That might be cause of me folks. Any mechanism that's used on me malfunctions instead. Physical stuff just misfires once but electronic ones kinda short-circuit and break permanently."

Tokoyami responded to that. "That sounds like a terrible curse to have as a Support student, Kikōgu-san."

The now named Kikōgu- 'I should start paying more attention to names' -huffed. "Hey now, I can try to suppress it if I need to, don't wanna be charged every time a security camera breaks down cause of me! Besides, it only malfunctions if it's used on myself."

"Ribbit, in this case that sounds very convenient. If more of their equipment breaks when they look in our direction though then they might figure that out and come for us."

Suddenly a very adult male voice piped up from nearby. "You're exactly right girly."

'Fucknuggets.' "Everyone jump on 'Go'."

"…"

"Go." Simultaneously he let out as much ice as he could, hopefully covering most of the ground near them and immobilising any villains.

"What the hell, why can't I move?!"

Besides the male voice an adult female voice came up too. "Did that Todoroki kid fucking ice us?!"

"Come on, let's move away from the voices."

Everyone else was too scared to interject as they slowly moved over the slippery ice, holding each other's hands. Based on the rather large hand he was holding he had Asui on his left. She was shivering really badly though.

The male voice came up again. "Doesn't matter, just like his daddy he's just thinking in the short term. If I remember from the first round you got yourselves some coldblooded friends with you don't ya?! Wonder how long they'll last in this cold?!"

They stayed silent as they brought the shivering Asui and Tokage away from the voices.

The female voice spoke up. "Ugh this is no fun! Look at all the lights in the Landslide Zone next door, they must be having so much fun over there!"

Mei Hatsume marvelled at the night vision goggles 3D-printer-chan had made with her impressive quirk and equally impressive memory. She'd definitely have to talk with 3D-printer-chan's Support partner for some potential deals in the future! She didn't need any of the goggles herself of course, could she even call herself a support technician if she didn't put night vision into her own goggles?

She gazed over the Landslide Zone and at all her wonderful flying robot-balls, flying around and shooting lasers at all the test subje- villains and cackled. "YES, FLY MY BABIES, FLY! SCREW THE SPORTS FESTIVAL, THIS IS THE BEST FIELD TEST EVER!!!"

A villain ran by her hill, getting stuck on some sort of glue, their legs getting bitten by several rats and several small pieces of rubble being flung at them. "What kind of monsters are these brats?!"

"Oh yeah, we'd definitely be having just as much fun if Endeavor's prodigy decided to take us seriously and stopped hiding." The male voice responded.

The Support student, Kikōgu, spoke up in an annoyed tone. "You've got some serious firepower right? I saw it in the introduction videos. Why aren't you just using it to fight all those villains and be done with it?!"

Shōto suppressed the urge to snap back. "I don't…want to harm any of you. Besides, it would only illuminate a small area around us and I'd attract way too much attention while we have no idea who's out there or with what quirks. There might be villains out there with long-range projectile quirks. I'd rather play it safe and get us out of here without any fighting."

"That seems like a very logical idea Todoroki-kun, ribbit."

The other cold-blooded student, Tokage, spoke up. "Hey, I can probably split myself up right now to try and misdirect those villains if you want while we get to the exit but I only have limited spatial awareness through my separated parts. Dammit, everything would be so much easier with the lights on!"

Luckily for Denki the walk to the Overseer room's entrance was much quicker and less dangerous than the Ruins Zone. There was a faint light shining through the cracks of the closed door so that was a big help too, it was practically a beacon through their night vision goggles.

Denki walked up to the keypad nearby and confidently typed in a code…which was incorrect. "Crap, do you remember what Thirteen typed in, Jirō?"

Through the green tinted vision he could see her roll her eyes. "You can shock things moron, shock it."

A short silence ensued. "Oh yeah, you're right hahaha." A quick shock was all that was needed for the door to short-circuit and automatically unlock.

Shinsō piped up. "Is this guy always like this?" Denki promptly ignored it and walked in.

The walk through the pipe-filled hallways definitely felt way more tense than the last time they'd been here. After several minutes of crawling around, acting like he was in mission impossible (he totally wasn't doing that to distract himself from the fact that they were experiencing a villain attack right now) Denki and his two buddies finally reached the emergency generator room directly next to the Overseer's chamber, Jirō volunteering to stand guard at the door while Shinsō followed him in. "Alrighty then, time to start this baby up and bathe in the light agai-What the! These things are totally trashed!"

A new voice suddenly came from behind them. "Yeah that's right, was pretty fun to do!"

Denki and Shinsō turned around to see a large hulking guy with slightly rocky skin and a skull-like mask on. The most important bit though was that he was holding a struggling Jirō in a tight hold with his right arm, covering her mouth. "It's not like I need some puny generators anyway when I am one myself."

To demonstrate the fact he shot out an electricity bolt with his left hand. "Now, how about you kids play nice and turn yourselves in, don't want this pretty girl here to get her system shocked now would you?"

The only response Jirō gave was her repeatedly trying to stab him with her jacks, which only seemed to bounce off of the guy and annoyed him. "Oh knock it off already, those puny jacks aren't even gonna penetrate my skin. If you don't stop being a little brat I'll just rip them off, then you get to test if they grow back!"

'Crap this guy's the real deal.' Denki was honestly completely scared stiff, but somehow Shinsō spoke up beside him. "Hey big guy, you must be pretty important if you got a special job assigned to you. Must suck though, having to watch all your mates have all the fun on those screens. Maybe whoever your boss is just really doesn't like you and wanted you out of the way."

The guy squeezed Jirō further. "Hah, don't make me laugh. You think you can stall-" Until his eyes, visible through his mask's holes, glazed over and his tight grip loosened slightly.

Shinsō smirked next to him as he readied his metal bat and casually walked towards him. "You gullible idiot, now go get your beauty sleep!" He readied his bat for a hit to the head on the second half of the sentence, but got surprised when his bat was caught and yanked out of his hands, before he got hit in the head by the handle which made him stumble back to Denki's position.

The apparently fully lucid villain chuckled. "Oh man, you nearly got me there. Still don't know what your quirk is but it seems all I need is a little shock to undo whatever you did to me. Too bad for you that my quirk is a bit uncontrollable and shocks me if I lose control heh."

He chuckled again. "So let me see, we've got a damsel in distress, a guy whose quirk I'm immune against. Oh and most importantly another electric type, which I have full resistance to! You found yourselves in quite the pickle huh?"

The playful mood suddenly turned serious. "Now like I said, turn yourselves in or this will get ugly for you."

'Dammit, he's got us beat on every level!' All Denki could think of was to raise up his hands. "Alright fine man, you got us."

The electricity villain hummed in satisfaction. "Good boys, now sit down right there at that pillar so I can tie you up."

Right as Denki was about to reply Jirō did the one thing he hadn't expected, she kicked the villain right in the crotch, which resulted in his grip getting loosened enough. "Not so tough down there are you?!"

The villain still clutched is crotch but quickly stood straight again. "You bitch, you'll regret that! Don't think I can't subdue you again!" Denki didn't like that tone and got ready to try and stop the guy anyway, despite the strength difference.

Right as the villain was about to charge her though he suddenly stopped straight in his tracks. "W-What the?! Why can't I move?!"

A cheerful voice came up from behind them. "Oh don't worry, you just became one of my lovely Yoyo's! When Akatani-kun gave me his analysis I felt like a real dumdum. I never even tried using multiple fingers to make one Yoyo, my weight limit problem is practically non-existent now! You guys got the villain pretty distracted so it was easy to come up and touch him!"

Shinsō finally stopped clutching his head from that hit earlier and seemed to recognise her. "Shūseno?! How'd you get here?!"

The girl in question pouted. "I told you already Shinsō-kun, call me Mocha!"

Another familiar voice came from behind her. "I found her pretty quickly and we hurried along to where you said you'd go. Looked like she was handling it pretty well on her own though since she got those other two Gen Ed students freed while barely needing my help!"

Denki sighed in relief. "Kendō, you're here too!"

Shūseno giggled. "Oh Shinsō, nice bat you got there. Want to practice your swing with this guy? He's practically a ball on a rope now!"

Shinsō flashed a sadistic grin as he readied his bat. "Batter up boys!"

The villain definitely wasn't liking the direction this was going. "Wait hold up, I was just doing my job!"

Before he could argue any further he started moving towards Shinsō and away from Shūseno as she used her quirk. Shinsō's sadistic grin hadn't gone away yet as he hit the incoming villain straight in the chest. Shūseno giggled and pulled the guy towards her before pushing him towards Shinsō again, rinse and repeat.

After several go-arounds it was quite clear that the villain wasn't gonna be a threat anymore and Kendō sighed. "How'd we get both of the secretly sadistic people on our team? Hey guys, can you stop now please?!"

'Oh yeah, we came here for a reason.' "Yeah you guys, we have a power system to fix!"

Jirō ran up to him and pulled him back towards the generators. "Don't pay attention to them, the generators might be broken but I saw some emergency batteries near the back."

Denki blinked as he was pulled along. "…Oh right, I can charge 'em up!...It needs a lot of electricity though, I'm not sure if I can generate that without overcharging myself."

Jirō rolled her eyes as she pulled out some wires. "Less talky, more charge-y."

He gulped as he grabbed the wires and carefully turned on his quirk. No breaking any batteries this time thank you very much 7 year old Denki!

Despite the fact that he was nowhere near his maximum output limit he could already feel parts of his brain starting to tingle after several minutes of constant output. "Jirō, I can already feel my limit approaching. I guess going at lower outputs will still get me there after constant usage."

"Crap, we're probably nowhere close to where we need to be."

"Dammit, I'm sorry." Denki looked back at his hands but he was suddenly poked in the face by one of Jirō's jacks. "Don't pay attention to that, idiot! Eyes up here. How was your morning?"

"Jirō what are you doing? I need to focus!"

"No you moron, that's just making you more nervous! Just focus on me."

He begrudgingly looked up again as she rolled her eyes. "There, was that so difficult? Now how was your morning?"

"I uh, I played some guitar?"

Jirō's eyes widened. "You play guitar too?!"

"Electric guitar obviously. It totally makes the coolest sounds. I uhm…I'm not very good at it yet though."

"Guess I can't really disagree with you there." The purplette scoffed. "So what are you gonna do once the Festival is over?"

Denki grinned. "Well it's definitely cancelled after thiss. I'll jusst go home, get sssome ice-cream and probably cry mysssself to sssssleep on my bed."

The girl with the weird earlobes snorted. "Dammit now you made me hungry for ice-cream! Can you save a breakdown spot for me?"

Denki gave a lopsided grin. "Ehehe, suuurrreee thiiingg beautifullllll."

The funny girl laughed as bright lights suddenly appeared behind her. "I'm sorry, I just can't take this seriously! You're so derpy right now!" The laughing died down and the girl's smile softened a bit. "You did a good job Kaminari-kun, go take a nap."

"Wheeeyyy" was all he could muster as the lights seemed to go dark again. He had one final thought before unconsciousness claimed him though. 'Did I just die and go to heaven?'

Several tens of meters above them Iida and Shōji rubbed their eyes as all of the USJ's spotlights suddenly turned back on again and the entrance doors they had been trying to force open started opening automatically instead. The purple midget was the first to react as he jumped off of his personal taxi. "FREEDOM IS MINE!!!"

Back down with Izuku at the central plaza things were going less well. The sudden lights turning on stunned everyone. But the villain, who Izuku could now really tell had actual disembodied hands all over himself, was the first to come out of it. "What the fuck?! I didn't set this up as a timed event!"

The mist villain, Kurogiri, replied to him. "Perhaps something went wrong down in the Overseer's room. Shall I warp over there to check?"

"Ugh don't bother, hopefully we only need a few more minutes before the Symbol of Trash arrives." The guy started scratching his neck until it started bleeding. "Dammit! If only Sensei was still-"

Izuku was happy that some of his classmates had managed to turn the power back on but he only now realised that they were right in the open now. He quickly looked around to see if everyone was still with him but panicked when both Akatani-kun and Gendeki-chan weren't there. He had no time to scan the plaza from the bushes though as Shigaraki suddenly stopped scratching his neck. "What the hell are two brats doing all the way here, a random encounter?!"

He paled and looked at Chako-chan, who looked equally pale. 'They were still pretty well hidden in the bushes right?' "Wait a minute, freckles? Curly hair?! You're that brat that hurt Sensei! This must be a hidden side quest! I knew you were hiding in UA but you practically threw yourself in my lap!"

Izuku's eyes immediately shot to the three villains who…weren't looking at him? He immediately looked to where they were looking to see Akatani-kun and Gendeki-chan on the opposite end of the plaza, caught by the sudden lights turning back on. 'Did Gendeki-chan want to go to the Mountain Zone for her Vice? She didn't get anywhere close though…How'd she sneak away from us?!'

"Argh, I'll kill you for what you did to Sensei!" The villain suddenly stopped scratching his neck. "But first I'll kill that girl you're holding onto. Nōmu, crush her!"

The next few seconds everything went into slow-motion for Izuku, as the black hulking beast suddenly dashed off at incredibly fast speeds, readying a fist to crush Gendeki-chan. Before he could think Izuku pulled out all of his stored energy and pushed them into his right hand as fast as possible, the billowing winds and intense heat immediately notifying the other villains of his presence as he dashed away from Chako-chan and towards Gendeki-chan.

Apparently Akatani-kun had the same idea as the normally very shy boy jumped from Gendeki-chan's side to in front of her without any hesitation and spread his stance as the Nōmu made its incredibly fast approach.

The Nōmu was already over halfway there and only a second had passed. Izuku could feel his attack getting ready just in time as he tried to quickly aim his arm. 'No time to waste, I just have to hope that I aim correctly!' "BOTH OF YOU, RUN TO YOUR RIGHT!!!"

Seeing Gendeki-chan startle out of her terror and pushing Akatani-kun along with her was all Izuku needed as he released the small piece of the sun's core that had formed in his right hand, for real this time around. "GAMMA RAY BURST!!!"

From one second to the next the USJ was illuminated in an even brighter light, followed by a violent booming sound. Izuku cried out as he could feel his arm getting pulled out of its socket from the sheer force and heat, he didn't even think he could really feel warm, let alone hot anymore!

When the light died down again Izuku looked at the sheer amount of damage it had dealt. Despite the fact that he had angled it upwards to avoid hitting the Ruins Zone, most of the plaza in front of him had turned into bubbling lava. Most of the USJ's dome at the Ruins Zone was completely vaporized and Izuku could tell that the clouds of the now overcast sky outside the USJ had been ripped apart, a trail of blue sky peeking through for miles on end.

'Heh, guess Aizawa-sensei was right to erase my quirk on the 1st day.' Was all Izuku could muster as his energy high rapidly crashed back down and his body did the same. 'At least that thing is gone, just its aura when it was running was way more dangerous than those other two. Wait crap, they're obviously still here!'

"Was that a fucking limit break?! You- YOU'RE THE BRAT THAT TOOK DOWN SENSEI!!!" 'Oh crap.'

"I don't know what that doppelganger move you just pulled was for but it seems you're just a glass cannon brat! Nōmu, pull yourself together and come back here!"

Izuku blanched as a deformed figure pulled itself from the trail of cooling lava. "No way, I completely vaporised him!"

The scraggly voice of Shigaraki was suddenly much closer to him. "You don't care that you aimed to kill it? What a refreshing outlook for a Hero brat, maybe I should expect that from the brat that fired off their finishing move without any restraint right next to Sensei. It doesn't matter though, Nōmu can't be killed that easily!"

As the Nōmu started walking to Shigaraki again Izuku noticed that he had subconsciously aimed slightly to his right at the last second to avoid hitting Gendeki-chan and Akatani-kun and had missed the creature's head entirely. 'Dammit…There's no way that thing can do anything with its right side completely vaporised though!'

"Oh I see, you cauterised the wounds with that move, which counteracts Nōmu's regeneration, very clever brat. Too bad that Nōmu doesn't care about a little pain!"

Sickening squelching sounds were heard as the Nōmu used its left arm to rip apart the cauterised flesh. 'Wait, did he just say regeneration?!' Izuku's question was answered immediately as fresh meat and muscle burst from the open wound and before he knew it the Nōmu was back to normal.

"Hehehe, now then. Nōmu, torture this brat! I wasn't expecting this little side quest to happen so soon but this is exactly what I need to feel better! We have some time to kill before the symbol of trash arrives!"

Izuku tried to stand up with his limited energy but it was no use as the Nōmu grabbed his left arm. "Now then, you already fucked up your right arm by yourself so let's make that even."

He could see a gleeful smile under the hand covering Shigaraki's face as he motioned for the Nōmu to continue. Searing white pain flooded through him as his left arm was broken like a twig. 'So…strong…'

"Ah that scream was exactly what I've been hoping to hear for 6 years straight! I don't have time for a brat like you though, just a nice shiny for me to collect! Now then, let's have you experience what Sensei went through because of your little temper tantrum. Nōmu, crush his head!"

Izuku didn't even have the strength to cry out in fear as the Nōmu's left hand kept him pinned in place and its right hand grabbed onto his head and started putting pressure on it. 'I'm sorry mom, I should've told you that I loved you this morning. I'm sorry Kacchan, that the last time we spoke was in a fight. I'm sorry dad, that I forgot and only now remembered you existed. I'm sorry everyo-'

"HAHAHA IT'S FINE NOW!"

Izuku's sobbed as his tears turned into ones of sheer relief.

"WHY?!"

"Nōmu, dump the brat for now. Our guest of honour has arrived."

He felt pain wracking his body as he was dropped onto the ground but he tried his best to look at the source.

"BECAUSE I AM HERE!!!"

There, in all his glory, All Might was standing right in the hole that Izuku had made in the dome just moments earlier.

Several minutes before power was restored to the USJ

Shōta Aizawa was having an absolutely terrible feeling about everything and the blue skies turning cloudy wasn't helping either. He was sure that the USJ wouldn't be experiencing any more technical difficulties after last time, so why was it still happening anyway? And it was taking so long this time…the students didn't think this was part of the round right?

To his left Hizashi, better known as Present Mic, was sweating bullets as well. "Shooo why can't I just go out there and check?! I'm dying in here!"

Shōta grunted. "I'm not a fan either but All Might and Powerloader said they'd check it out, and we don't want to add to any panic by abandoning our posts. The decision to have All Might be umpire was extremely illogical though, even if Nezu did it as a consolatory gift for putting him through the crash course from hell."

"I know Sho! The big guy should just stop worrying about his time limit, buff up and jump over there already! The campus buses are still on the fritz right?!"

Suddenly the screens in the Stadium flickered to life again. "Huh, did Powerloader actually fix it?!" But what they saw on screen was horrifying to say the least. Villains were crawling all over the Disaster Zones and all the students were disoriented and rubbing their eyes. 'Were the lights out the whole time?' The worst bit was yet to come though as a black hulking mass that could rival All Might dashed across the central plaza towards Nezu's personal student.

The only reason he hadn't stood up yet to dash out of the room and towards the USJ was because he was hoping this was all just a big, needlessly complex prank, but those hopes were dashed when the screen and real life synched up as the attack he had previously stopped during the Quirk Apprehension Test burst right out of the USJ and split the overcast sky in two for everyone to see.

When the deformed creature suddenly regenerated and started breaking his Problem Child's left arm he was shook out of his stupor and dashed to the door. "I'm leaving! Dammit Hizashi turn the broadcast off!"

"I can't Sho, the broadcast center at the USJ still isn't responding to my commands! And someone needs to keep the folks here from panicking any further!"

The last thing Shōta saw before he dashed out of the announcer's booth was that creature grabbing his Problem Child's head. 'Dammit All Might, it's all up to you now. Even if we can't communicate with you surely you can tell by now that something's terribly wrong?!'

Before anyone could even react to the hero's arrival Izuku suddenly felt wind race past his head as he was grabbed by All Might and carefully laid back down next to Chako-chan.

"I'M SORRY FOR BEING SO LATE EVERYONE! I WAS ALREADY ON MY WAY HERE WHEN THAT BEAM ALERTED ME AND PUT ME INTO HIGH GEAR!"

"Heh, so your move counted as a distress beacon too huh? Well it doesn't matter, you just lead All Might straight to us with no backup!"

All Might didn't seem to pay the villains any attention though. "BEFORE I COULD JUMP IN I ENCOUNTERED IIDA-SHŌNEN, WHO INFORMED ME OF THE SITUATION!"

Izuku knew that All Might was getting close to his limit after being umpire all day though and he looked back at the hulking figure of the Nōmu. "A-All Might, that v-villain can re-regenerate. B-Be careful."

He got a thumbs up in response. "DO NOT FRET MY BOY, I'LL TAKE CARE OF THIS!"

What followed was a fight that Izuku would've fanboyed over for days on end if he hadn't been present for it. He started worrying however when All Might's blows weren't having any effect on the Nōmu.

"There's no way you can beat Nōmu, All Might! This guy is built to hit as hard as you and he has Shock Absorption on top of that, he'll just shake anything you throw at him right off! The ultimate final boss!"

"THEN I'LL JUST HAVE TO KEEP AT IT UNTIL HE CAN'T SHAKE IT OFF ANYMORE!!!"

'Typical All Might but…' Suddenly the mood started to turn though. "Hehehe you know, there's a reason we set all of this up just for you All Might. It got a bit ruined because the hired NPCs weren't high level enough but this was meant to be a hostage situation, so let's improvise a bit. Kurogiri!"

Izuku heard Chako-chan yelp as purple mist suddenly appeared on the ground next to him, making her fall through. He looked back at Shigaraki to see him holding his left hand around her neck, four of the five fingers touching her. "I don't think I've shown my quirk yet but from what I've seen of yours we both have 5-point activation types." He grabbed a nearby stone with his right hand and Izuku gulped as it turned into dust within seconds.

"Unlike yours though, mine is less friendly. All Might, throw another punch and the girl gets to experience my quirk up close!"

All Might froze in his tracks, Nōmu getting a hit in at his injury. "Hehehe, all you righteous types are the same in the end aren't you? Just have to save every NPC in the area. Don't even bother trying to take me out. Nōmu will just shield me from you, and since I'm holding her neck it will only take a fraction of a second before she's gushing out so much blood that she'll die before your superspeed can even bring her to a hospital! And then we'll just try again with another brat, thanks to Kurogiri I basically have them all on speed dial hahaha!!!"

All Might grimaced as the Nōmu suddenly grabbed from behind. "YOU'RE DESPICABLE, VILLAIN!!!"

"I try for Sensei. Now then, Nōmu, restrain him! I think this guy deserves a nice big hug!"

All Might squirmed in the Nōmu's tight grip as his wound worsened from the pressure, staining his hero suit. "Your strength is awe-inspiring, but like all strength enhancers it doesn't matter if you can't even move a muscle hahaha!"

The maniacal cackling died down after several seconds. "Hmm even though you're restrained and in pain I'm still in a bad mood from earlier. Nōmu, hold it with the crushing. I want to see that sickening pride in his eyes shrivel up and die as I turn some of his students to dust! First this girl, then that brat's lookalike and his girlfriend and then the brat that hurt Sensei!"

Izuku was shaken out of his stupor at the threat of Chako-chan and everyone else getting killed in front of him. 'Dammit, Aizawa-sensei was right. I'm completely useless right now! Come on Starborn, I can't just lie here helplessly while my friends die! I need more energy NOW! FUSE FASTER!!!'

All Might tried to worm himself out of the grip again but found that he really couldn't even move a muscle like this. "ARGH YOU LYING SCUMBAG!!! LEAVE THE KIDS OUT OF THIS!!!"

Izuku's hands started trembling at the effort. He focused inwardly, on the ever-present sensation in his stomach that had disappeared back on the first day when Aizawa-sensei used Erasure on him, and tried pushing harder on it with all his might in the hopes that it'd fuse the hydrogen faster but it just wasn't budging.

"Oh All Might, so gullible, just like Sensei used to tell me. I hope he'll be proud of me."

He desperately kept pushing at it with everything he got. 'Please dammit FUSE FASTER!!!'

"Now then let's not waste more in-game time. We have a lot to go through but we're on a time limit with the other pros coming here and I really wanna kill you. Time for student number one. No offense brat, you were just some fodder in the end."

Izuku's eyes widened when he saw the fifth finger starting to come down and he pushed harder then he even thought he could. "NOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Suddenly, somewhere inside Izuku's brain, something listened to his desperate pleas…and clicked.

And the ever-present, mighty force that rivalled the one present at the sun's core

reached o u t w̪͉ a͇̻̪̹ͅ r̦̝̰̳͎̣ d̷̡̼̞͖̩ s͏̶͔̹͕̩͓̣͚̻͚͘͜

~"Hey, Midori-kun, imagine though if one day your quirk accidentally pushed too hard…"~