Chapter Nine

Thankfully, despite what narrative convenience suggested, I wasn't one of the ones fighting in the first matchup. That would be Toru Tokoyami as the heroes, versus Kirishima and Sato, or, as I referred to in my head, Diabeetus. While we all headed to the monitor room, I tried to approach Bakugo and get a handle on our possible strategies.

"Hey, I-" was as far as I got.

"Fuck off and die, Pretty Boy!" he snapped, walking faster.

Well, okay then. I thought, glancing over to Midoriya who grimaced in sympathy. Actually, that brought up another thought. Midoriya probably wasn't going to fight Bakugo. Deku had a stupid amount of power, and could pull off that tight 'punch right next to you' move without having to worry about hurting his bully because he knew his bully's moves, but against someone he didn't know, like Momo, or someone who moved unexpectedly, like Mina, he could miss his 'miss', and hit them, and they'd die.

"Hey Midoriya, can I talk to you for a second?" I asked, jogging over to him.

"A w-what?" he stammered. "W-why me?"

"Because I heard you were the other one that took down the zero-pointer," I replied easily, trying not to tower over the poor boy, whose eyes went wide. "And I want to know how you did it."

"I, well, I. . . punched it," he replied, trying to play it off like it was nothing. "Wait, the other one? You mean there was someone else who did that? Was it Kacchan?"

"Is that one of the students in 1-B?" I questioned playing dumb. He pointed towards the retreating form of Bakugo. "Oh, no, it was me," I told him, his eyes going wide. "I climbed it, ripped off an access hatch, and fried the internals. Pushed me to my limit to do it, but, hey, people were gonna get hurt if I didn't so I had to." and I wanted the rescue points.

Deku stared, before he looked to the side, smiling slightly. "Yeah, me too," he agreed. "Even if it broke my limbs, I had to do something."

"Wait, broke your limbs?" I asked, playing up my surprise, knowing I'd messed up with my comments about All Might teaching this class and trying not to continue to 'know' things. "You mean Aizawa wasn't exaggerating?"

"Uh, yeah, I'm still getting a handle on it," Izuku laughed awkwardly. "It's a lot, and if I use it too much there's a backlash, and, well, that happens."

"How long have you had your Quirk?" I asked, thinking of the month of intense training I'd just finished up, and wondering why All Might hadn't been training the kid, if not daily, then several times a week to get him up to snuff. I mean, it made for good television to have him blunder and learn like he had originally, but it didn't make a lot of sense.

Deku froze mid-step, sputtering, "I, uh, what?" I also couldn't help but notice the fact that All Might's attention was now squarely on me. Shit. I knew that might happen, but I needed to talk to the kid. I didn't want him to accidentally kill someone, and if All Might wasn't going to help him, I guess I needed to.

"Well, you're Quirk's obviously newly awakened," I played off. "Haven't heard of it happening this late for a primary expression, but well," I turned the fingers of one hand to lightning, waggling them. "I couldn't do this a month ago. Freaked my parents out something fierce when it did, but I went digging and it happens. Sometimes people don't find their Quirk until later, or it evolves to be something more, but it's stupid rare, and only started happenng in the last couple decades."

That was, interestingly enough, not bullshit, though the research I'd done had shown it was still being debated if the Quirks actually changed/awakened later in life, or if the user just never thought to use them, the scientists against the theory blaming the 'changed' Quirks on the laziness or inability of their holders to use them properly instead of addressing the fact they might be wrong.

"Uh, Yeah!" Deku quickly agreed, sweating bullets. "I was really surprised when I got my Quirk! The first time I used it was in the exam, but I had to do something!"

I was actually mildly impressed. The kid was a terrible liar, or at least bad about not showing he was nervous, but he'd managed to roll with my suggestion and work in enough 'truth' to support his statement. However. . . "Wait, you went into the test thinking you didn't have a Quirk? Damn kid, that takes some serious balls!"

"Wow!" Sero chimed, and I noticed that a good portion of the class was eavesdropping. "That took guts!"

"Shut the fuck up!" Bakugo yelled, stomping away. "He's still a loser!"

"Damn, who pissed in his cornflakes?" Sero asked, shaking his head. "Whatever, mad props dude!" he reiterated, giving Izuka a thumbs up.

Ochaco looked at the green-haired boy, "You mean the first thing you did with your Quirk was to save me?"

Midoriya reddened, "I, um, well. . . yes?"

"Oh, that's so romantic!" Mina cheered, causing Uraraka to blush as well, prompting laughter from the class.

We got to the monitoring room, Bakugo waiting for us, and All Might quickly explained that we'd be watching the performances of the others here. While we waited for them to finish preparing, I picked up my conversation with Midoriya, "So, right, newly awakened Quirk. Broke your arm?"

"And both my legs," he agreed with a wince of remembered pain.

Thinking about how to go about this, I held out my own arm. "Grab my hand," I instructed.

He looked at me questioningly, not understanding, and I just waved my outstretched arm. He did. "Okay? Now what?"

I let go, asking, "Why did you do that as hard as you did?"

"I, what?" he asked in turn. "Was it too hard? I-"

"No, why didn't you grab it harder, or softer? Why did you go with that level of strength?" I questioned.

"Um, I don't know, because I didn't want to hurt you?" he said, unsure.

I nodded, "Exactly, so you wouldn't grab my hand as hard as you could?" he shook his head, "Then don't do that with your Quirk."

"Huh?" he replied, completely lost.

Okay, this wasn't working. "So, when I first started working with my new Quirk, I tried to go too hard, too fast. I didn't break anything, thank god, but I got muscle cramps like you wouldn't believe," I told him.

"You think I'm hurting myself by going too hard?" Deku asked, frowning, "But I don't know how else to use it!"

"Why don't you use your muscles as hard as you can? Muscles aren't an all or nothing thing, there's degrees," I stated. "You creep up on it, until you get to the point you can't anymore. For me it was starting with a single finger." I held up my pointer finger, which shifted to lightning. "Then my hand." the transformation spread. "Then my forearm, then my entire arm, but anything else," I pushed it, only for it to all snap back, the muscles in my arms twitching with the lightest of cramps. having let it go as soon as it started to hurt.

Midoriya looked at my now normal arm thoughtfully. "But, even a single finger is too much," he muttered. "Even the smallest bit I can't handle. I thought concentrating it on a single point would work, and it did, or at least it solved the problem, but I still hurt myself, so it's of limited utility, but mutter mutter mutter mutter mutter mutter."

Realizing he was taking the wrong message, I shook my head, "No, turning to electricity is an all-or-nothing thing, I either am or am not, there's no 'half lightning' state. I checked. But yours is a power type Quirk. Instead of going to full, have you tried activating the smallest amount you can? Enough that, maybe it wouldn't even be enough to take out the robots from the test, but is still a bit of your Quirk?"

He frowned, looking down, and closed his eyes. Nothing happened. Deku frowned harder, but was obviously still working at it, obviously wasn't going to say anything else. I shook my head and turned my attention to the front, where All Might was watching me out of the corner of his eye. Shrugging, I pointed to the screen, where the countdown for the next fight was at twenty-four seconds and going down.

At zero, All Might announced: "All right. Begin! Stop those dastardly heroes, or those meddling villains! Or is it the other way round? Doesn't matter, go for it!"

There wasn't any sound from the participants, but Toru and Tokoyamu were talking, while Kirishima and Diabeetus, er, Sato, stood at the ready. Just. . . standing there. Waiting. Bird-boy nodded, starting to walk into the building, while Toru. . . stripped.

"So," I had to ask, "is the rest of Toru's costume some kind of special Quirk-reactive fabric?" It was something that I didn't really remember being touched on, though I vaguely remember hearing how Captain No-Clip had something special so he didn't flash everyone the second he used his power in public.

"Not that I'm aware of," the Symbol of Peace commented off-handedly.

I considered that. "So. . . she's naked? That's. . . um. . . I'm not sure how I feel about that." I pointedly ignored Mineta's sudden interest in the screen she was pseudo-displayed on.

All Might coughed uncomfortably. "Being a Pro Hero means dealing with situations that one is not always comfortable with," he commented, obviously not having thought of the implications. "Look, they're beginning!" he quickly announced, changing the topic.

Tokoyami had entered the unlit building, the solid darkness of his Dark Shadow Quirk, which itself was either self-aware, or his subconscious, growing in size as the bird-headed boy's steps quickened, going up the stairs, level by level until he was at the top.

From the discarded boots and gloves, Toru was. . . somewhere.

Dark Shadow, which was four times the size of Tokoyami now, dragged a claw against the wall, leaving long marks in the concrete. From the way both Kirishima and Sato's heads snapped to the door, even as we could see Tokoyami talking to his Other, I had to assume it made a good amount of noise.

The power responded to its user's statement, likely not quietly, as Kirishima activated his quirk, skin turning hard and craggy, almost rock-like, and Sato grabbed a vial from his pouch, which was lined with them, flicking the top off as he drank. . . a white powder?

Right, sugar, I realized, as his muscles bulged, his Quirk kicking in, increasing his strength five-fold. There was a down-side to it, but I couldn't remember what it was, though I vaguely remembered it being duration based. The muscle-bound man in yellow moved to the side of the door, looking to Kirishima who frowned, before nodding, taking position directly in front of the 'missile'.

Tokoyami stopped a couple dozen feet from the door, and crouched down as Dark Shadow pulled back, then shoot forward and slamming into the door, knocking it off its hinges and sending it flying for Kirishima. The Quirk charged in, only to get blind-sided by Sato's fist, knocked to the side.

The sugar-high hero looked at the projection in confusion, as it rallied and tried to attack him, but the bright, window-lined corner room caused it to shrink, the yellow-clad hero easily able to grab the solid Quirk, trying to go for a hold. It retracted, slipping back into the darker hallway, and Sato followed after it, seeing Tokoyami and turning to go for him instead.

However, in the windowless hallway Dark Shadow swelled, grabbing Diabeetus and able to match his enhanced strength, or at least able to make it more of a fair contest. Krishimi yelled something, which caused All Might to nod to himself, and I wished we could hear it.

As Dark Shadow and Sato struggled, Tokoyami just stood there, watching, not doing anything. Kirishima stood at the ready, looking around, tense and set to react.

Then the bomb moved.

All Might pressed a button on the console in front of him and a buzzer went off. "Good show Ms. Hagakure!" he announced, and the bomb rocked back and forth a little, even as Kirishima dropped his Quirk, shoulders dropping in disappointment.

The lights turned back on in the monitoring room, and the students returned. All Might declared Tokoyami the MVP, and, asking for possible reasons why. Momo held up her hand.

"While Kirishima and Sato had a plan, it was a defensive one, and did not take account of their foes capabilities, nor the resources available to them in their environment. Had they spread debris, Kirishima could have spotted Hagakure's approach before it was too late. Furthermore, Sato followed Tokoyami into the hallway, where he was obviously trying to lure them both, likely to make way for Hagakure. Tokoyami could have tried to force his way through, engaging both of his opponents in an attempt to secure the weapon. However, by creating a distraction and forcing the attention of the others on himself, he allowed his teammate to secure victory instead of seeking to do so for his own glory. As such he acted as a true hero, and thus deserves the title," Momo lectured.

All Might stared at her, "Um, Yes. They could have also moved things around the weapon that Ms. Hagakure would have had to move to get to it, giving Mr. Kirishima a chance to stop her, but that was most of it. Good Job!"

Reaching into the boxes, he pulled out the next team to fight, Aoyama Jiro as the heroes, against Shoji Sero. The latter jogged off, to go set up while the former took off at a sedate pace, knowing it'd be another ten minutes before they could begin.

As the lights dimmed, I noticed a flickering green glow coming from the back corner. Turning to look, I saw it was Midoriya. A tiny spark of green lightning sprung from his elbow, twisting around his arm. It disappeared, and it was another several seconds before another jumped along his clenched fingers.

Glancing around, I'd noticed that both Todoroki and Bakugo had spotted what was happening to their classmate, the others staring at the screen as the fight was about to start. Drifting back towards him through the crowd, I also noticed that Deku's arm and glove was glowing, ever so slightly. Not enough to cast any light, but just enough to hint a little at the bit of power held within, only visible because of the dark of the room.

"So, got it?" I whispered, causing Midoriya's eyes to snap open.

"I. . . I think so?" he muttered back. "But it's barely there."

I shrugged, "Then double it." At his look, I explained, "If this is the smallest fraction you can hold, double it. It should still be tiny, but easier to keep steady."

He nodded, eyes closing again, and the glow brightened ever so slightly, the sparks a little larger, but still very subtle, completely silent and barely casting any light. "Can you double it again?" I questioned, and he frowned, wincing slightly as the light increased once more, Tokoyama and Asui both glancing back as well.

Holding up a finger to my lips, they stayed quiet, even as Bakugo huffed and made a show of looking back to the screen.

"I. . I think so," Midoriya muttered, "But it's starting to feel. . . tight."

"Then back off a little," I immediately commanded him, quietly. The glow decreased. "And we've found your pain point, at least for now. Remember what the second and third settings felt like, then use it between twice minimum and four times minimum, until you get a handle on it, then push it forward."

He nodded, before he frowned again, eyes opening to stare at me. "Why. . . why are you helping me?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Because we're classmates and heroes?" He continued to look at me, not really believing that. "Also, I don't want to get hit as hard as you threw that ball, and I don't want to dodge what I think is a hit, only to zig when I should've zagged into the line of fire as you try some 'I was punching past you' BS, only to be shot through, like, three walls."

"I wouldn't do that!" Deku yelped in dismay.

"Students, please pay attention, the next round has started!" All Might commanded, Jiro and Aoyama already having made their way inside, the girl plugged into the wall and listening hard.

"Not on purpose," I whispered, moving my hand in a 'calm down' gesture, "But we're training, and accidents happen. So often that 'training accident' is an entire classification of accident. Just hit me with three percent, which might break a rib or something, and I'll be happy. Well, not happy, but Recovery Girl can patch me up," I amended, "so there'll be no hard feelings."

Izuku nodded, and All Might cleared his throat in an 'I can hear you' gesture. The two 'heroes' were making their way in, Aoyama spotting the hidden cameras and smiling for them, which was actually impressive, as Jiro kept tapping the walls with her jacks to keep track of the 'villains'.

Speaking of the villains, Sero was setting up lines of tape everywhere, and had taped several cardboard boxes to the 'bomb', to try to make it harder to get to, having taken All Might's suggestion to heart. Shoji was crouched down, dupli-arms pressed against the ground and probably listening to Jiro as much as she was listening to him. A mouth on the end of an arm was talking to Sero, likely relaying the Heroes location and actions to his fellow villain.

Honestly, it was kind of interesting how both sides had a similar capabilities, but likely thought the other side didn't.

Oh, Jiro just jerked, pointing upwards while tapping her headphones, possibly hearing Shoji narrating their progress. Arms-strong, however was much less visually expressive, so if he realized they could hear him talking about hearing them, we couldn't tell.

Shoji's tentacles grew mouths, which he pressed down to the ground as well, Sero putting his hands over the sides of his helmet. Then, when, Jiro stopped on the top floor and jacked in, the mouths seemed to expand, sending the jacked-up heroine recoiling back, shouting. Aoyama said something, which caused her to flip him off, and they closed on the doorway as she rubbed at her ears, Sero throwing up a few quick additions to his webbing.

Beam-Boy, with a fairly unnecessary pelvic thrust as he smiled in what I'm sure he thought was a seductive manner at the camera, blasted the door in, which was immediately caught in the webbing, the force tearing down some of the tape. There was a moment as the heroes stared in, not actually seeing the villains, before Jiro made a run for the door. Sliding down, she narrowly passed under Arms-Strong's grasping hands for his hidden position next tot he doorway.

As she stumbled to her feet, she barely got out of the way of another strip of tape from Sero, as Aoyama followed her in, blasting Shoji, who'd turned to grab her, in the back. However, the heroes didn't keep their momentum as Sero went on the offensive. Beam-Boy dodged, but his cape was caught, dragging him back as Edna Mode's admonishment played in the back of my mind.

Giving it is his all, Yuga yelled something, Jiro hitting the ground as he fired seemingly indiscriminately, belly beam carving through the tape set up across the room, sending it fluttering down and blasting both villains back. The 'weapon' was mostly protected, but the cardboard boxes covering it were blasted to shreds, giving the heroes a clean shot.

Sero's second shot of tape wrapped the human laser cannon up, All Might declaring, "Yuga Aoyoma has been captured!"

Both villains started to close on Jiro, but she rose and took a ready stance, jacks plugging into the tops of her black boots. The air rippled in front of her, what I knew were amplified sound waves slamming into them, physically blasting them back even as they tried to cover their ears. Aoyama couldn't move to protect himself, and grimaced as he was rolled back. Shoji hunkered down under the onslaught, but Sero had been mid-jump, and was blasted right out one of the tall, wide windows that lined the room.

The class gasped, but Sero was able to reach out and stick to another building with his tape, swinging down to safety and, not breaking stride, ran right into the building's front entrance, bee-lining it for the stairs.

Jiro unplugged from her hidden speakers and ran for the bomb, unable to both blast and move, having to watch her footing as she avoided the downed tape. Shoji took a few haltering steps, but shrugged off the effects of her sonic attack and gave chase, his path much clearer of Sero's creations.

The girl had a lead, but Shoji's longer legs let him catch up, missing his first grab as she ducked down over the larger man's first swing. Launching herself forward, she was inches away when Shoji grabbed her, wrapping his webbed dupli-arms around her, trapping her completely.

However, Jiro wasn't done. One jack shot into the man's arms, as she hit him with a sonic blast at point blank range, and while he did stagger, he kept his grip on her, possibly tightening by her grimace, and didn't fall towards the 'weapon'. Occupied as he was, though, he didn't spot Jiro's other jack, which stabbed between the shreds of cardboard boxes, into the metal of the 'missile', which shivered before it split open from the sonic blast she pumped into it, probably hitting the resonance frequency needed to crack it open like an egg.

Again the buzzer sounded, All Might announcing, "Heroes win!"

Sero stopped his mad dash up the stairs, head shaking, but continued to climb up to help. Aoyama was unwrapped, carefully, and everyone returned back to the viewing room. "Any guesses as to this match's MVP?"

Unsurprisingly, Momo raised her hand once more. "Sero," she proclaimed.

"No, it's Sero!" the Pro-Hero disagreed, or, agreed. "Oh, you guessed it! Yes, he worked well to prepare for his foes, scored a capture, and even with his unlucky hit, he was able to slow down the heroes without even being there! Even blasted out a window, he was able to recover and would've been back in the fight in a few more seconds! Very cool, young man!" he congratulated, not-Spider Man beaming at the praise.

"But that's not to say you other three did badly. Quite to the contrary! No, all of you did very well for rookies, and I'm sure you'll all become even greater!" All Might told the other three, who brightened up as well.

With two out of the three fights done, it was looking more and more like I, or more specifically Bakugo, was going to end up against Midoriya, canon clashes unable to be denied.

All Might pulled the next set of combatants, the names appearing on-screen behind him.

Heroes: Koda Ashido Versus Villains: Midoriya

Or not.