I have no idea why, but I fell off Dr. Stone for a bit, and then it took me a while to finish just the interlude between seasons 2 and 3, but once I got into season 3, I've been zooming through it. Binging it to the point where in just a couple of weeks, I've watched up till episode 16 and still want more but I have to pace myself.

While it's unique in terms of fantasy and anime, it gave me some ideas for the finer points in this chapter.

"Text" – Normal speech

'Text' – Thought

" Text" – Quirk Spirit speaking in the human world

" Text " - Attacks

" Text " – Radio/Communication lines

" Text" – None Japanese speech

(text) – Subtext/meaning behind a spoken word

Chapter 18: Battle Trial

"Even if it's training, it pains me to have to play the role of a villain." Iida, with his full costume on lamented as the group stood together, hidden by the many pipes and buildings from view.

"It's not so bad, it's like we have to do anything too bad, just ran like heck," Bondo added.

"Yeah, and it pays to get into the mind of a villain, so we can better understand how they act to fight them." Tokage smiled as he did some stretches, already thinking of ways to use their quirks to maximize their chances. She already suspected that the heroes would think she would use her quirk to look for them, but she could easily turn that against them, running distractions and decoys with her many parts.

Add in Bondo's glue and they could set up traps, leading them away from where they actually were, and slowing them down. Sato's strength could also prove useful since as villains, property damage wasn't something they needed to consider, so they could be pretty liberal with how much stuff got wrecked. Add in Bakugo's explosions and they'll be able to drive them mad with anger and confusion.

"I'm not so sure that I'll be the best at the running thing, especially since Kamakiri and Midoriya are crazy fast," Sato added, as he was a brawler, and while his quirk boosted his strength, his speed didn't increase all that much. Looking at the capture tape they had each been given, he knew that he wouldn't need to be defeated conventionally, if one of their faster foes could get this around him, he was done.

"Frenchie and Deku have quirks, right?" The four looked towards Bakugo, who had, perhaps predictably, remained silent the entire time. Even now, his back was to them.

Tokage raised an eyebrow as for someone who liked to act smart, that was a pretty stupid question. "Unless I'm blind and deaf, yeah, I think we all saw them using their quirks. Iida even saw Aoyama in the exam."

"You heard that?" Iida asked, and when she nodded, he sighed by elaborated. "But yes, he seems to have a firm grasp of it." That seemed to just anger Bakugo, something that Bondo noticed.

"By the way, you got such a beef with them? You seem to hate them from the jump." He asked, to which Bakugo turned to glare at the over his shoulder.

"Can it, Glue-face. You can all run if you want, I'm going after Deku." He returned his gaze out to the area, where somewhere, his target would be hiding.

Tokage choked on some saliva at such an insane statement, ignoring how rude Bakugo seemed to be, she objected to that plan. "Didn't you hear Eraser? The whole point's to run away."

"The points to escape, and I will after I've pounded that little shit into the ground," Bakugo replied, Tokage groaning into her hands as she should have known he wouldn't be a team player, asshole barely was a good classmate.

"Bakugo, while we're playing the role of villains, that level of violent intent far exceeds the levels required for the exercise." Iida chopped his arm at Bakugo as he marched to him, trying to turn him around, Bakugo shrugged off his arm and turned to glare at him, making the speedster step back as it looked like Bakugo would attack them.

"And what if the others move in to capture you?" Sato asked, trying to de-escalate things before their teammate started fighting among themselves, as he was pretty sure that would end badly for them.

Bakugo scoffed at the notion. "Like they could, I'll take them all one." Who did Deku have on his tea? An overgrown prey mantis, a girl with a dollar store telekinesis, earlobes who seemed pretty useless during the quirk test, and lastly, round cheeks. Maybe she and the bug would be stronger, but when the rest were dirt, that didn't say much.

Round cheeks would need to touch him, he just had to blast her before she did. Same with Bug Boy, as his blades might be sharp, but a blade didn't mean shit if you couldn't tag the target.

Tokage and Iida were about to counter Bakugo's logic but were cut off when Aizawa's voice rang through the many hidden speakers in the zone. " Teams are in position. So, the outdoor person-to-person combat training between teams A and D starts now ."

Bakugo blasted off without a word, flying in some random direction much to the ire of his teammates.

"Dammit, Bakugo get back here!" Tokage yelled, but he didn't even bother to respond as he got further away, only for her to see Iida get into a runner's stance.

"You all continue with the exercise. If 3 of us manage to get through, we succeed, I'll follow Bakugo and provide him back-up!" Iida stated as he took off, his quirk pushing him forward faster than any of them could hope to be.

"All right, I'll try and keep you posted!" Muttering that she had the bad luck of reckless teammates, she turned to Bondo and Sato, who at least remained so they could plan their moves. "Alright, we'll split, I'll be the eye in the sky and help guide you two." She instructed that they didn't have much time to create something more complex, so they'd have to improvise.

"God it." Sato nodded.

"Sounds good," Bondo said as they turned and ran off in different directions, while Tokage split herself into several pieces, an eye for Bondo and Sato each to look out for anyone close to them. the rest of her used her hands and ears to feel and hear their way through the maze, purposely sticking to the shadows and moving through spaces typically too small for someone of her size to use.

With Bakugo, he flew overhead, easily seen if not heard by anyone who was on the lookout for him. but he didn't care if they did as he wasn't trying to hide. 'Where is he? If I was a nerd, where would I be?' He asked himself before he saw a fireball race into the air off to the left, not that far from where he had been waiting for things to start with the extras.

'There.' He thought, his fury rising, but so too his excitement to finally set the record straight.

"Keep an eye on how things play out, you can use this as a chance to adjust your strategies when your time comes," Aizawa advised the rest, as they watched the exercise via a large multi-panel screen. Focusing on each of the students as they broke off.

"That I get, but why's Bakugo breaking off from his team?" Kaibara noted that they didn't have sound, but they could tell that they seemed to have been arguing with Bakugo before he left.

"It didn't look like he was ever with them, looks like he's planning on going in a lone wolf," Tokoyami replied.

"It's a team exercise, he wouldn't," Shouda spoke up, Aizawa glaring at Bakugo's antics, though he wouldn't stop it. He explained things loud and clear, if he decided to go against that, then he'd need to deal with the consequences.

"He would, and he's found someone." Aoyama pointed out as Bakugo turned and started flying towards that fire blast, Todoroki narrowing his eyes.

'No, he didn't find them, he was lured to them.' Bakugo had an impressive quirk, and typically Todoroki would end his praise there, but he knew that such a person couldn't be a fool, not if he got into U.A. so why was he falling for such an obvious trap?

When he made it to the spot, he found that it was a clearing of sorts, and right in the middle of it, stood Deku in that fire form of his. Once he cleared the buildings, Midoriya saw him instantly and turned to face him, tracking him as he landed. "Good for you, Deku. You didn't try and hide." Bakugo grunted as he landed, crouched and aggressive while Midoriya was calm, defensive.

"You're the one that's supposed to be hiding, you're supposed to be trying to sneak past me, you know," Midoriya told him, keeping his eye on him and trusting that Uraraka would be watching his back.

"Like I'll never hide from the likes of you." Bakugo mocked him, but Midoriya didn't react to it.

"Believe me, I know." He wondered how much of his memories could be trusted after all this time, but it seemed like Bakugo was the same as ever when it came to a fight. When he believed he could win, he wouldn't stop till he could, but this wasn't the playground and he wasn't some weak kid anymore. "I knew you would look for me, but I want to know why?"

"Because I want answers, Deku. And I'm going to beat them right outta you!" Bakugo replied, as he just knew something was fishy about him and Frenchie, they were just pebbles on the side of the road the last he saw them before Deku's mom packed up and moved one day, out of his life, but that was fine, as it made it easier to rise to the top.

He trained, he studied and it showed. He easily finished elementary and junior high at the top of his class. Even got into a great high school that immediately recognized his greatness from the first day. All the while he honed his skills and got stronger so he could take his place at the top. Only for his goals to be complicated when the day of the entrance exam, he saw those two pebbles again.

Even with a decade and change since the last he saw them; he recognized them immediately and was infuriated that they would dare to try and upstage him. But he had left them alone, convinced that those losers would fail. But they didn't. It would have been bad enough if they had just barely managed to pass like the extras they were, but Frenchie managed to place 7th.

And somehow, through some cheating idiotic means, Deku had managed to place first, knocking him down to a pitiful second place. His blood still boiled at the insult, only for his fury to turn to confusion when their hobo of a teacher gave them that quirk assessment. He thought that this, that there would show U.A. how much they fucked up by letting those two as they'll surely get last place and be booted.

But that didn't happen, instead, they revealed quirks that they got when he wasn't around and used them to place 2nd and 12th respectively. Sure, Bakugo got first as destiny dictated, but the idea that those pebbles could even be considered to be in the same ring as him angered him.

Even now, that look in Deku's eye pissed him off.

"Don't worry, I won't do too much damage, I don't want Eraser pulling the plug, but it's gonna be close!" Bakugo launched himself at Midoriya. He knew Midoriya was fast, but he was faster. And indeed he was, and if Midoriya had tried to match his speed, he would have lost, at least in this form.

But he had been expecting something like this and was able to act without thinking as he jumped towards Bakugo, grabbing his left hand, and his shirt.

"What the-!" Bakugo got out before Midoriya funneled flames through his gloves, increasing his strength with a blast of heat as he threw Bakugo towards the edge of the clearing, the explosive boy barely having time to correct himself and slow down before he crashed into the pipes.

Looking at himself, he saw that his top was burned, the costume which he explicitly told them to make fireproof was fucking burned, and by Deku of all people? He looked at his foe as he took a deep breath, and let it out.

"It's been years since we last saw each other, so I don't know what answers you want," Midoriya started, his right glove shifted, burning and melting down into the palm of his hand. "But I do know this: I'm not the same kid you could pick on. And my name isn't Deku, you hear me?" He held his hand above his head, the glove gone as it gathered in his hand, before bursting, revealing that it had shifted into a blade, its handle colored green and blue, with a red and yellow guard.

"So if you want to fight, come and get it!" Midoriya's defensive eyes grew fierce, burning with a determination that came from him and Hinata to fight. And Bakugo was more than willing to oblige.

Racing toward the battle sight, Iida continued to try and get Bakugo to respond as he had ignored him since the match started. "Bakugo, can you hear me? You need backup, you can't just fight by yourself, it's a team battle!" Iida cursed the fact that the layout of the field limited him, as Bakugo could jump and blast/fly over everything and move without limits, Iida had to find paths both conventional and not to move, which meant that he had fallen behind his explosive teammate.

Up ahead, he heard an explosion, followed by jets of flames and fireballs shooting out into the sky, some hitting the taller buildings. "Bakugo, respond! Darn it, I'm already on my way, just hold out till I get there!"

" Shut up and leave me be, Deku's my target! "

"Target? This is a search and destroy, we're meant to be fleeing from the hero team! Bakugo-Bakugo you better not have hung up!" Iida yelled over the coms, but Bakugo wouldn't hear it he seemed to get back to whatever fight he had going with Midoriya.

" We should have expected that from him ," Sato spoke up.

" No kidding, he's as pleasant as my neighbor's cat when she's in a dress ." Bondo agreed, no doubt the two were far away from where Iida was, trying to attempt the exercise as they had been told to do, of if only Bakugo wasn't so unruly, Iida would need to waste time and could focus on aiding his teammates to pass, despite having to bare the title of villains for the time being.

" Iida, how far are you from the fight? " Tokage asked.

" I'll be there in 30 seconds, no more than that!" Iida replied as he took a corner, sure that he just needed to take one more and he'd have a straight shot.

" Then get there and drag Bakugo away from there, I don't like that Midoriya would engage him in a fight, it feels off ," Tokage replied, Iida trusted her judgment on that as when he thought about it, it did seem rather out of character for Midoriya, someone that deescalated things with Bakugo the previous day and seemed to generally be more diplomatic, to indulge in Bakugo's desire for a pointless fight.

"Under-stoood!" Iida was nearly smacked across the face but a large pipe that came out of nowhere, having to lean to the side and hastily correct his footwork as he came to a stop.

"I almost got you there, Iida!" Uraraka, the person holding the piece of pipe that must have weighed more than her, chirped at him. The girl had tried to flatten him like a pancake after jumping down from the rooftops.

"What the-Uraraka? How are you," Iida asked, Uraraka smiling at him, but not answering his question.

" Iida, can you repeat that? Is Uraraka there? " Tokage asked him, needing details as she couldn't see what was happening, not unless she diverted one of her eyes his way.

"She is, she surprised me on my way to retrieving our rebellious teammate," Iida replied, but before he could say more, Uraraka grabbed her makeshift weapon and pulled it back.

"Sorry, Iida, but it's rude to talk to others when you're playing baseball!" She swung it again, weighing a non-issue thanks to her quirk, which meant that she could also swing it as fast as one would a regular bat.

"That is not a baseball bat and we're not playing any sort of game!" Iida pointed at her as she tried to strike him, instead, she hit some other pipes, causing them to crumple and fall. Iida under his helmet started to sweat as he could hear his target fighting in the distance, he just needed to get past Uraraka, but she knew that, that was why she was here.

The only good thing he could say about this was that it meant that 2 of the hero team were otherwise occupied, which meant 2 fewer people to pursue his teammates. Reaching for his capture tape, he locked onto his foe.

"Apologies, but it seems like we must fight. I'll be sure to end it quickly." Iida told her, but Uraraka showed no fear, even as she saw him reach for his capture tape.

"Come get some, you villain." Uraraka gave him a thumbs-up, ready to do her part. She and Midoriya didn't have time to fine-tune a plan, but what they came up with was sure to surprise the two, but it wasn't something they could do more than twice, preferably they'll need just one use.

"Since when did Midoriya have a sword on him?" Hagakure asked as Midoriya battled it out against Bakugo, using his sword like it was a blade and a wand, at times merely pointing it in Bakugo's direction which sent forth a massive fireball.

"Beats me, I didn't see him carrying one when he finished changing," Kaminari replied.

"It's his support item," The two, along with others turned to Aoyama, who was watching the fight unfold with his usual smile and twinkle in his eye.

"Support item?" Ojiro asked.

"Have you noticed that he wasn't wearing his belt? Well, it's because he's using a modified version of it which takes the form of his glove or in this case, his sword. It's easier to carry in day-to-day hero work." Aoyama explained.

It wasn't a technical lie, as it was true, his blade was a modified version of his belt, a self-modification as they could freely alter their shape how and when they pleased, their quirks merely chose them to be a belt and crown respectively. However, he wouldn't lie, at least to himself, as the sight of Midoriya battling against that brute with a seemingly polished steel blade was quite the cool image.

"Now that you mention it, I don't see your crown either. Is that the sword as well?" Jiro asked as Aoyama's head remained free of any adornments.

He turned his gaze to her. "It is, we have the same support item manufacturer since our quirks came in around the same time. So, we wanted to…match you could say." He laughed at the end, as the two had loved reading about knights and heroes growing up, and while Izuku was more an All Might kind of guy, which meant he didn't think about it too much, he always played along when Yuga wished to play knights and dragons.

Bakugo might not have been such a beast, but Midoriya looked every bit the heroic knight to him as the fight continued. His explanation seemed to make sense, enough that Ashido and Hagakure started to giggle, Komori joining in.

"Oh, that's such a BBF move!" Ashido cheered for the two, Komori and Hagakure, presumable, joining in as they started theorizing if they had matching BFF necklaces, or a secret handshake.

"As impressive as it is, Midoriya shouldn't be fighting in the first place." Tokoyami got things back on track before Aizawa could get irritated with things.

"Does he have much choice? Bakugo seems dead set on trying to blast him to pieces." Sero asked, especially since they could see that while Midoriya was holding his own, Bakugo was relentless as he kept on attacking.

Watching that, Yaoyorozu turned her attention to the second fight between Uraraka and Iida. Her gaze sharpened as she suspected that it wasn't just chance that things turned out like this. "Based on how Bakugo acted yesterday, they're clearly some ill-will between them, the fact that Midoriya's decided to fight him rather than go after the others could mean he's trying to keep him occupied."

Honenuki nodded. "Then there was that ambush from Uraraka. She didn't move when Bakugo flew right overhead, even though she could have probably tried to sneak attack him. but she did move when Iida came rushing in. My money's on them betting Iida would be the one to chase after an overly eager Bakugo, that way they can engage 2 of the enemy team in battle." They had seen it before, they had thought it was because she wasn't confident she could make the hit, but perhaps it was because she wasn't meant to take that shot.

Yaoyorozu finished the thought for them both. "At the same time, with Bakugo and Iida occupied in fights, 2 of the 3 villain team members best suited for quick retreats are no longer in play. Even if Tokage manages to get out, that still leaves the disadvantaged Sato and Bondo."

If one looked at this fight from a quirk point of view, the villains had a clear advantage, as with Bakugo's quick, he could fly over any and every obstacle in his way, with just Yanagi and Uraraka to oppose him, but their quicks might have allowed them some form of flight, it wasn't something comparable to what Bakugo could do based on their performance during the quirk assessment.

Uraraka could use her quirk on Yanagi instead, though that would still mean just the one person to confront Bakugo, which ignored the fact Iida was fast enough that he could outrun the others, while Tokage was similar to Bakugo, but she could be much sneakier in her escape. Even if that left Sato and Bondo behind, they could instead act as delayers to allow 3 of the 5 to escape, winning the trial for the villains.

'Those two didn't get in through recommendations for nothing, they're right on the mark behind team A's reasons for this path of action.' Aizawa thought after hearing the two talk, the rest of the students merely being amazed by their classmate's deduction skills. That said, they seemed to have missed another step in Team A's plans, something that Jiro had come up with.

'Dammit, we don't have time for this, why'd we get paired up with Bakugo of all people?' Tokage to herself, her head and torso slowly moving through a cramped space as she still had her eyes on Sato and Bondo, though she could very clearly hear explosions in the distance.

"Any progress on your end, guys?" She asked, her hand moving to her earpiece.

" I think so, I haven't been spotted yet, at least I think I haven't ," Bondo replied, speaking softly which matched what she was seeing of him, the big guy was currently hiding.

" Making good time on my end, maybe I'll be the first one out ." Sato on the other hand was making good progress, he would be at one of the exits in a couple minutes tops, which didn't seem to have anyone close to it.

That worried her as she knew where Midoriya and Uraraka were thanks to Bakugo and Iida, and had managed to spot Kamakiri trying to track Sato, Yanagi was after Bondo but she had managed to keep them safe from the two so far, though she was wondering how Bondo, who was closer to her, couldn't quite shake his tail.

'But where's Jiro? I don't know what her quirk is, and she's not made an appearance yet.' Tokage thought to herself, but out of nowhere, she was caught in ear-splitting vibrating air of…something, she didn't know and couldn't see from whereas she yelled out in pain as her ears were especially vulnerable to it.

" Tokage?" Sato's voice was fuzzy, hard to hear with this soundwave bombarding her.

" What's happening, are you okay?" Bondo asked, but she could hardly think as she tried to center herself, but the blast was unending, pinning her in place.

"What…what is this…?" She asked aloud, this was bad. Really bad, she didn't plan for them, none of them did. Having no choice, she abandoned Sato, her left eye that was watching him dropping to the ground, with her connection to the now pulverized organ severed, she regrew the eye, seeing that she was in a pretty cramped spot, out of the way and hard to see, but see someone she did.

"Found you." Jiro stood at the end of the path, having moved silently to avoid being spotted before she fired her attack, Tokage saw that one of her earphone jacks had extended and plugged into her boot, which was sending out a paralyzing yet crushing blast of base filled sound. "I figured you'd be their scout, so I volunteered to track you down and take you out."

"Sorry about this, but we can't take chances," Jiro said as she approached, but she kept her quirk active and aimed for Tokage, even adding her other boot so that when one foot was back, another was primed to keep her pinned. Tokage started to freak out, as her pieces were all caught, while the rest were still gone. Even if she tried to recall them, they wouldn't get there in time, and it wouldn't matter if she grew more as he wouldn't be able to send them out when her brain felt like it was being knocked around her skull.

" Tokage? Tokage! "

" Please answer us! Do you need help? Where are you? "

"Sorry…guys….they got me…" She bitterly accepted her fate as Jiro finally got enough that she could pull out her capture tape. She ceased her attack, but Tokage was far too out of it to fight as her head was wrapped in the tape.

" Tokage has been captured and is no longer in play. 6 minutes; 32 seconds remaining in the match ." Aizawa declared over the speakers.

"Your boots?" Tokage, once she had time to crawl out of her hiding spot and not fall out, asked. As she did so, she let her scattered pieces fall where they were, and regrow them while resembling herself.

"Wow, I thought you'd need to wait for your limbs to return," Jiro stated as she helped the now defeated girl to her feet, leading her to the side where she could lean on a wall in the sun.

Tokage shook her head. "Nah, I can regrow them, remember? But it's not like I can have multiple sets of eyes and ears active at a time, then it just blurs together into noise." She tried that once back in high school and ended up giving herself the mother of migraines, turns out her quirk didn't do much to increase how much sensory input her brain could handle. "Back to you, you have a sound quirk?"

"Yeah, along with having pretty impressive hearing and my earphone jacks that can control and extend, when I plug them into speakers like the ones on my boots, I can amplify and project my heartbeat," Jiro explained, with Tokage nodding, recalling another person with a similar quirk.

"So like Present Mic?" Jiro smiled a little at it but waved it off.

"I'm not as loud as he is, but yeah. I wasn't able to use it yesterday so I figured you all wouldn't know that, so-" Jiro started but Tokage cut her off.

"Got it, you used her sense of hearing to track me down, and your unknown quirk to catch me by surprise. It sucks, but I can't argue with the results." The green-haired girl sighed as Jiro turned and rushed off. Tokage felt the urge to tell her teammates in which direction, but as she was out, that could easily get them disqualified. So she let out a little curse and started walking towards the exit.

" Tokage has been captured and is no longer in play. 6 minutes; 32 seconds remaining in the match ." Aizawa declared over the speakers, much to the shock of Sato as he saw how her quirk worked, she could split herself down to 20 pieces, making it super hard to even see her, never mind catching and defeating her.

" It isn't good. We've just lost our eyes in the sky." Sato started to sweat as that meant 3 of them weren't able to run for the exits, and with almost half the time gone, they would need to start now.

" And Iida's still busy handling Uraraka to get back to us. I think we should just book it, we're too far to help with the fight and if we stay any longer, we'll be spotted ." Bondo replied, just as nervous as he was as their team went from having 3 great people for something like this to just them. He couldn't even use his quirk without alerting Yanagi to where he was.

Looking around a corner, Sato didn't spot anything out of the ordinary before he started jogging down it. "Yeah, that seems like a good plan. Once we're clear, we can just tell Iida to run for an exit, that way we still win."

"Just like we thought!" Kamakiri came out of the woodwork, or more accurately, the pipe-work, a maniacal smile on his face with his forearms forward, wicked sharp blades already extended out.

"What the, oh crap!" Sato cried out as Kamakiri didn't attack him, but he seemed to bounce around like a rabbit with a sword, slicing at the pipes, resulting in large pieces of them crashing down around them. Coughing to clear his lungs of the dust that kicked up, Sato saw that the path forward was blocked, the same as the path he came in, effectively trapping him.

"Without your scout, we're free to engage with you." Kamakiri laughed as he landed in the center of the destruction he had caused, his blades having shrunk, but they were still dangerous. "Don't worry, I'm not here for a fight, as much as I want one." He said as he whipped out his tape, Sato gulped as he did the same, but also reached into his utility belt for a sachet of sugar.

"Bondo, they found me." He informed his teammate, but there was only bad news to be heard.

" Yeah…Yanagi's right on top of me. I don't think we can run." Bondo replied, the sounds of fighting coming through, along with Bondo yelping and spewing out glue from time to time

"Did it work?" Midoriya asked, having unleashed a wave of fire towards Bakugo, forcing the blonde back as he started running around Midoriya, using his quirk to increase his speed as he looked for openings, much more frustrated than he had been before, partly because his teammate was defeated, but mainly because Midoriya wasn't making it easy to take him down.

" Correct, Jiro's plan has resulted in Tokage being eliminated and the remainder of the team being pinned ," Yanagi replied, followed by the sound of a liquid splashing close to her, and her grunting. " Though Bondo is proving to be quite slippery despite his quirk and size ." Yeah, Midoriya could do that, Bondo's quirk would make it risky to charge him, but Yanagi's poltergeist was an excellent counter to it as she didn't need to get that close at all and should an object she was controlling be caught in his glue, she could just switch to a new one.

" I should be done with Sato soon enough ," Kamakiri replied.

" Focus on your fights, we don't want to get cocky ." Jiro rebuffed him, Midoriya having just enough time to look in the direction of the tallest building, where Jiro should have posted herself to better keep an ear on things. He couldn't do much more as Bakugo came flying in with a kick which he moved to block with the blunt side of his sword, but Bakugo changed trajectory mid-flight, turning his kick into a blast to Midoriya's shoulder, followed by another to the chest, but he managed to bring his arm to block that one.

"She's right, we don't need to be defeated, but to have that tape wrapped around us, so stay sharp!" Uraraka reminded them, Midoriya hearing her fighting Iida not too far from them, but it seemed like they were closer than before.

'Iida's probably pushing her back. Even with this place limiting his quirk, he's still much faster than her.' Midoriya thought to himself, reaching for his shoulder, feeling that the fabric had been burned away, so too on his sleeve, but Hinata's quirk gave him high fire resistance, so he wasn't burned.

"Deku, you got some balls to not be paying attention to this fight, but then again, I gotta thank your useless ass. All these flames have really helped me work up a sweat." Bakugo's smile made Midoriya anxious, it seemed like he thought he had already won, but that wouldn't make sense, they had landed blows on each other, but Bakugo must be able to tell that he was worse off than Midoriya was.

"I figured as much; your attacks are only growing stronger since the fight started," Midoriya replied, standing with both hands on his blade, one coated with flames.

The smirk he got as a response sent alarm bells in Midoriya's head, he could even hear Hinata warning him to be on his toes, now more than ever.

"So, you remember, that's good. My quirk is powered by sweat, I've trained my ass off since we were kids, but there is only so much power I can use without preparing, which I did." Bakugo held up his arm, no he held up the grenade-shaped bracers he had for his gear, before pointing it towards Midoriya, the two moving in a circle.

"If they built these gauntlets how I wanted them to, that means they've been collecting my sweat as soon as I put them on, and all this fire only sped that up." Bakugo's smile turned violent, his anger and pride mixing in as he saw Midoriya realize what that meant. His blasts up till now had mainly been focused on Midoriya, but even then, the area was covered with marks caused by them, some of the blasts having been damaged already.

'Wait, if he lets that blast out then-' Midoriya realized he had a critical error, in his efforts to get into a better spot, he had placed Uraraka and Iida's fight to his back, a fight that was much closer than it had been before. To close.

"Uraraka, aim for your right, use it!" Midoriya grabbed his ear, reaching for his comns as Bakugo pulled back the protective cover on his gauntlet, and reached for the pin that jetted out. Seeing Bakugo braze himself, his mind grimly told him that if Bakugo, whose body was adapted to him having an explosion-type quirk, had to brace, that it meant this going to be big.

The distance between them was too great, he wouldn't be able to attack him in time, no-even if he did, in his current form, the flames might just set off the explosion prematurely, endangering both of them. So, he made the split-second decision to trust in his teammate, trust that she wouldn't hesitate even though his words had been rushed and this was nothing like the plan they drew up.

He held that trust close to his chest as he turned on his heel, exposing his side to Bakugo's incoming attack he brought his blade up high, the flames coasting it bursting to greater heights and heat.

" Bakugo, cease that attack now or you'll be disqualified! " Bakugo heard Aizawa yell over his coms, but he had already grabbed the pin when the man started, their teacher's order coming a moment too late.

"I win, Deku!" Bakugo proclaimed as he set loose the explosion. One that dwarfed any he had used before, one larger than any Midoriya had ever seen as it tore through the ground, heading right for him like a fiery elephant stampede.

And we're done! I wanted to try and fit the entire fight, or trial into one chapter, but with so many POVs, that was impossible. Heck, Midoriya and Bakugo aren't even the most important ones here, as their teammates are very much carrying their weight.

Next chapter should be out on Setember 9th.

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