Ochako melted into her chair as the results of her written exams were passed to her. She hadn't been confident that she would score very highly, but she had done well! Her score wasn't excellent or anything like that, but it was more than enough to pass. That was all she'd really been looking for. Ochako's whole body tingled with satisfaction, and all the tension that she'd been holding in the last few weeks just vanished in the blink of an eye. If she had to guess from the chatter around herself, she'd landed right about in the middle of the pack regarding final scores, maybe even a little ahead of the middle. That was an exhilarating thought, that her performance on a written exam was above-average. It wasn't often that Ochako had excelled academically in middle school, so it gave her a little bit of a rush to know that she was doing well in that regard, and at UA, too. Even the one who got the lowest grade in the class, which seemed to be Kaminari from the chatter around the room, had still passed all of his exams, which meant that he had to be head and shoulders above the rest of the country in the academic aspect of their education.
Tuning into the chatter between her classmates fully met Ochako with some interesting information. Momo had gotten the highest scores out of all of them, as everyone had expected. Next up was Iida, which didn't surprise Ochako in the slightest. That boy was smart, he was just prone to letting his personal feelings cloud his judgement and prevent him from seeing something that was often right in front of him. In a classroom, none of that mattered, so he was quite the intellect. Third place — Ochako thought it was fun how everyone immediately started talking about it like it was a leaderboard — was Izuku, which Ochako had also been expecting. His talents were more focused on battlefield strategies rather than book learning, but he was still far ahead of most others in that area, too. He'd helped Ochako study for the exams and was probably a big factor in her scoring so highly. She had to make it up to him somehow, even though a part of her knew that he would never ask for compensation. Too bad she wasn't asking.
As the class talked away in small passing periods and their lunch blocks throughout the day, Ochako grew increasingly aware that they weren't really done just yet. They still hadn't taken the final exam for their foundational heroics class. From what she could gather from some of the others, they might have assumed that if they passed all their general classes then they got to stay in the hero track. She wasn't so sure that was true. The quiet feeling of smugness from their teachers throughout the day made her think there was something more, a test of their abilities as heroes-in-training as well as their abilities as mere students. Something else was coming. Looking over at the boys she'd fought alongside in Hosu that night, she could tell that each of them thought the same thing as she did. There had to be something else. It wouldn't be UA if they didn't pull the rug out from under 1-A as violently as they could and call it a learning opportunity. That was probably not as positive as she'd put it if she were speaking out loud; she supposed that Izuku and Todoroki must have been rubbing off on her more than she thought.
That afternoon, they suited up and met Aizawa outside some hub between all the different training grounds UA had laid out across its campus. Ochako's costume fit differently than it once did, since she was slimmer than she'd been when it was made, and at the same time solid, powerful muscles had taken the place of soft, rounded curves. The costume was baggier around the hips and thighs, but had tightened around the biceps. She was due for a resizing, but hadn't gotten around to it yet, so the costume was just a little bit uncomfortable as she met up with the rest. Izuku joined up with her shortly after that in the hoodie the same sterile white as his hair, layered over the bodysuit underneath. She could just see the individual lines of muscle that highlighted his strong legs, the legs of a sprinter, through the skin-tight suit, but ignored that for now. Todoroki's costume had probably changed the most out of any of them since starting school, since he'd started out wearing basically regular civilian clothes with one half of his body iced over, and had later — just before internships, if Ochako remembered it right — transitioned to a different costume altogether, a dark blue jumpsuit with white boots and a number of attachments to his belt and harness that regulated his body temperature, according to Todoroki himself. The hero students assembled in front of Aizawa, and he began his address to the class.
"You've done well. Every single one of you passed their written exams, which doesn't always happen. Take pride in that. But don't let it go to your head," Aizawa said, adding the last part as he glared at Kaminari and Mina when they began cheering. "That being said, you're not quite finished yet. There's one more challenge you must overcome if you wish to ace this term." Some students, Kaminari and Mina in particular, started complaining under their breaths, but Aizawa continued as if he didn't hear them. "Your practical exams are special this year. We've never done it exactly like this before, so feel lucky that you get to be the method through which we stress test this format." Aizawa grinned so wide that it sent shivers down the backs of half the students around Ochako. If their homeroom teacher was enjoying something, that wasn't usually a good sign for them. "Come on out!"
There were half a dozen half-spoken questions about what he meant before it happened. The front door to the building outside which they'd assembled opened, and five people walked out. The most immediately recognisable one among them was All Might, but it soon became apparent to Ochako that every single one of the men and women assembled was a teacher of theirs. All Might, Thirteen, Cementoss, Present Mic, and Power Loader strode out to meet them, all wearing their regular hero costumes in addition to bands on their wrists and ankles that Ochako had never seen before. Now that she's seen them, Ochako could spot them on Aizawa as well. What were they? Aizawa drew her attention away from the mysterious additions to their hero costumes.
"You lot are going to be split up into groups of three, with one group of four to account for the empty seat. Each of the groups will go head to head with one of the pros you see before you," Aizawa said. That caused an uproar, as most of Ochako's classmates complained about the unfairness of it. The only ones who didn't react whatsoever were Todoroki, Iida, Izuku, and — for some reason — Shoji. Ochako had always been intrigued by that aspect of Shoji, how he could simply accept anything. "Calm down. It'll be an uphill battle, but don't worry. We commissioned students in the support course to make handicaps for us so that it's possible for you to win." A relieved sigh travelled through the class. "Possible, not likely. Remember, we're all still strong pro heroes. You've gotten a taste of this before, some of you more than once, but this exam is all about how you work together to overcome an enemy that is overwhelmingly more powerful than you. Try not to die."
That set the class off again, murmuring to themselves and reacting exactly how Aizawa wanted them to. Ochako resisted the urge to panic, and wondered who the group of four would be, and who they'd be going against. In the best case scenario, she would be in the group of four with Izuku, Iida and Todoroki to back her up, and it would be against someone like Power Loader, because Izuku and Todoroki had area-of-effect attacks and that would disrupt Power Loader's digging. Ochako doubted that she would just be handed the best case scenario, though. She was proven right just moments later.
Aizawa organised the groups with a design in mind, that much was obvious to Ochako, but the purpose of it all was lost on her. Cementoss took Kirishima, Sato and Kaminari to start their exam without missing a second. Kyoka, Koda and Shoji were put up against Present Mic, who Kyoka seemed to be actively dreading. Thirteen tried to be cheerful about it, but Mina, Aoyama and Toru weren't feeling very optimistic about their chances. Power Loader led Sero, Tokoyami, Ojiro and Tsu — who unfortunately made up the group of four — off to his own corner of the campus. That left six students remaining that hadn't been sent off, and two teachers who were still hanging around. Aizawa and All Might were intimidating as they silently stared and let Ochako, Todoroki, Iida, Izuku, Mineta and Yaoyorozu stew in the quiet nervousness they were all exuding and absorbing from one another. Ochako hoped she wouldn't get assigned to All Might. She didn't know what she would do if she was made to fight her teacher, her mentor, her idol. On the other hand, she didn't really want to fight Aizawa, either. She was beginning to catch onto Aizawa's mindset with this one. There was no good choice.
"Mineta, Iida, Uraraka, you're with All Might," Aizawa said casually, as if he didn't know that the three students' will to go on shattered as he spoke their names. "That means that Yaoyorozu, Todoroki, Midoriya, you're up against me."
Ochako broke out of her despair for a moment to look over at the other group. Izuku was going to be fighting Aizawa. That was a recipe for disaster. Sure, Aizawa could erase Izuku's Quirk easily, so nobody was going to get hurt, but their relationship was already weird. What would happen if Aizawa won? What would happen if Izuku won? Ochako couldn't tell if the look of amusement on their teacher's face was because of the fact that they'd been put together, if it was Izuku's look of cold determination that was causing his smirk, or if he was just imagining what he was going to say to Izuku if he didn't pass the exam. Was it supposed to be rigged? Ochako smiled as she realised that Izuku had never relied very heavily on his Quirk in combat in the first place, not for direct attacks. Taking away his Quirk was taking away one of many tools in his arsenal. Ochako almost wished she could be in Izuku's group just to see the look on Aizawa's face when he lost spectacularly to Izuku.
Unfortunately, Ochako wasn't so confident in her own ability to win against All Might. Sure, she had Iida on her side, which she was grateful for, and Mineta's Quirk was useful despite his personality being a bit of a pain to deal with, but she didn't think even the three of them working together would be able to come anywhere close to defeating All Might. She recalled that All Might was wearing the handicaps, too, as they broke away from the other group and started heading toward their exam arena. They were made to bring him down to a level that could be beaten. How does a simple support item reduce seemingly infinite strength to a manageable level for high school students, though? Ochako couldn't think like that. That's the kind of thinking that means defeat before the fight even begins. There had to be a way. All Might wasn't infinitely strong. His true form showed that with more clarity than she really needed. The point still stood. There had to be a way. She'd find it and win, just like Izuku did, just like they all had back in Hosu.
Izuku walked along the main road of Ground Delta, a fake residential neighbourhood adjacent to Ground Beta, where the entrance exam had been held. Todoroki and Yaoyorozu walked ahead of him in silence while he crouched down and pressed his fingers down onto the road for a split second, before he took his hand away and observed the reaction. A patch of the road the size of a manhole cover cracked apart and shattered into a dozen shards of cement. The hole they left behind when Izuku replaced his glove and stuffed the shards into his pockets was about the depth of his pinky finger. He rose to his full height and ran up to Todoroki and Yaoyorozu, falling in step with the two taller students and trying not to feel like they were looking down on him when they literally had to look down to make eye contact with him.
"What was that for?" Todoroki asked.
"My Quirk isn't very useful in close-quarters, so I like to make my own weapons," Izuku explained.
"I can create tools for you if you're in need of help," Yaoyorozu said as the palm of her hand shimmered with pink and blue sparkles. She then pulled a six-foot quarterstaff out of her sparkling palm as if she were a video game character equipping something from her inventory.
"Shouldn't you save your Quirk for when it really matters?" Izuku asked.
"That's a good idea," Yaoyorozu said. She looked around as they walked, concentration clear on her face. "Do either of you have any ideas on how to counter Aizawa?"
"No," Todoroki said with a frown.
"A couple, yeah," Izuku breathed as he looked over his shoulder the same way Yaoyorozu was. Aizawa was an ambush predator, so they needed to make sure their situational awareness was perfect, otherwise he'd use that opening to take them out as fast as he could. "We need to blind him. He can't erase the Quirks of people he can't see. Those goggles he wears prevent that, though, so it'll be hard. My other idea is to destroy his binding cloth. That reduces his mobility and attack power by a lot. Other than that, I've got nothing. What about you?"
"Your Quirk would be ideal for that second plan, Midoriya. However, I can create a few tools relevant to the first," Yaoyorozu said. Little dolls materialised in her hands with a pink and blue sparkle. She handed one to Izuku and Todoroki, and kept one for herself. Izuku went to slide his doll open, but she stopped him. "Those are flashbangs. Open them if you want someone to be blinded. Those goggles prevent Aizawa's eyes from getting damaged, but if things go our way they should still hinder him."
"If things go our way? That'd be a refreshing change of pace," Izuku said with a grin. To his surprise, Todoroki's expression actually shifted slightly in response to the joke. One day, he'd make Shoto Todoroki laugh. One day.
"I'm inclined to agree," a voice said from up in the air, getting closer as the sentence went on.
The three students looked up to see the dark figure of their teacher, his binding cloths flowing around him like the threads of a spider's web. Izuku had just enough time to note the irony of that being the first comparison to come to his head before his body was moving in response to the threat. He deactivated the gauntlets and picked the shards of debris out of his pockets. Izuku threw the fragments of the road at Aizawa as he fell toward them, but they stayed in their solid forms. He'd planned for them to disintegrate mid-air and get in Aizawa's goggles to block his vision, but that could only mean one thing. His Quirk wasn't working. Izuku reconstituted his gauntlets and dodged Aizawa as he came down between himself and Todoroki, who shifted his right foot forward as if to use his ice on him only for nothing to happen. The three students paused as they all came to the same conclusion, which Aizawa voiced not even a moment later.
"You don't get why I'm your opponent, do you?" Aizawa said with a smirk. "It's because all three of you depend on your Quirks to have any sort of viability in combat. If you can see me, I can see you, and if I can see you, then you've already lost."
Izuku went for a punch, but Aizawa ducked under it and gave him one in the ribs in return. Todoroki tried a high kick as Aizawa straightened again, but the same thing happened. Aizawa ducked it and swept Todoroki's grounded leg out from under him, causing Todoroki to fall to the ground hard. Yaoyorozu came in with her staff, which Aizawa had to abandon another attack on Izuku to evade. He leapt back out of the range of the quarterstaff and used his binding cloth to pull himself up onto a street light. The binding cloths then lashed out at Yaoyorozu's staff and yanked it away from her, even though she held on tight and kept it from being pulled out of her hands. Breathing in too deeply made his side ache from the hit to the ribs, but Izuku bared his teeth and leapt to Yaoyorozu's aid. Her heels slid on the road from the force of Aizawa's yank, but Izuku helped her pull back on the staff. The cloths retreated, and Yaoyorozu stumbled back with the staff in both hands. Todoroki quickly climbed to his feet and his hands went to the flashbang that he had stored in his pocket.
"These goggles are anti-flash. You can't hurt me with a flashbang, even if the idea is sound," Aizawa said. "Without your Quirks you can't put up much of a fight, can you?"
"Then why are you hiding up there?" Todoroki asked with a snarl as he brought his empty hand out of his pocket. "Clearly you're not able to just end it."
"That's simple," Aizawa said as he leapt from point to point and landed on a rooftop across the street from them. "The numbers advantage you have is too great, and one of you has a weapon I can't just erase. So keeping my distance is advantageous to me right now, and it's wasting time for you. You had twenty minutes when this started. How many have passed? Do you know?" Aizawa grinned as he looked down at them, his eyes hidden by the angular goggles that somehow came across as menacingly hollow due to the dark shadows between the yellow bars. "You better find a way to beat me without your Quirks or evade me for longer than a few moments at a time. Otherwise, you lose."
"Bring it on, then!" Izuku yelled, crossing his arms and making the gauntlets clang together.
Aizawa laughed and leapt from his perch. He soared through the air, his binding cloth streaming behind him, and came down on the students with a much more aggressive style than he had before. The opening attack was an axe kick aimed at Todoroki, who dodged it and tried to slip a punch under Aizawa's guard aimed at his stomach. Aizawa twisted his torso around Todoroki's fist and landed in a crouch beside him, then transferred all of his momentum with a high kick that drove his heel right into Todoroki's ribs, causing him to grunt in pain even if he didn't allow himself to be pushed away by the attack. Yaoyorozu came in with the staff and tried a downward swing to slam the end of the staff right onto Aizawa's head, and Izuku went for a kick aimed at his teacher's chest at the same time, since he was still low to the ground. In the blink of an eye, Aizawa caught Izuku with his binding cloth while he and Yaoyorozu were still in the backswing of their attacks, pulling him off-balance and causing him to stagger toward him. He then rolled to the side and behind him, and pushed Izuku with a kick to the lower back. That caused him to stagger into the way of Yaoyorozu's quarterstaff attack, which he flinched away from as he found his footing again.
Yaoyorozu abandoned her attack and instead rushed forward, pushing her staff right toward Aizawa's clavicle, pushing her staff end-first down into his collarbone, as he was still crouched down from the roll. Aizawa then leapt upward, releasing all the tension in his crouched legs in a burst of speed that propelled him into the air above Yaoyorozu. He then caught her in his binding cloth and spun her over himself and back down to the street, where she tumbled and fell to the ground in a manner that looked painful. Izuku and Todoroki sprinted toward Aizawa in retaliation, even though Izuku figured they both had to know it was a lost cause without their most powerful weapons available to them. He figured they were both also realising just how big the gap was between the two of them, two of the best hand-to-hand fighters in their class, and even a relatively unknown, underpowered pro hero like Eraserhead. Aizawa had said it himself a few times, that he abused ambush tactics and utilised his binding cloth because he couldn't rely on a Quirk that simply defeated his enemies for him. All his attack power was his own skill. Izuku wondered, as he rushed toward his teacher again and ignored the aching in his ribs, how Aizawa would have fared against the Hero Killer. He pushed the feeling of inadequacy out of his mind and channelled the frustration he felt toward himself and his weakness into strength. He wasn't sure that was how it worked, but if not, he'd make it work like that. He needed to win this.
Izuku and Todoroki were in sync as they approached Aizawa. They'd fought with and against each other a couple of times now, so they knew generally how the other operated. It was a little clunky now that they couldn't use their Quirks, but a lot of it carried over. The way Todoroki moved didn't change because his Quirk was erased. Izuku could tell when he was getting ready to attack by the way his posture changed in the second before he threw a punch, and he'd go for a low kick to force Aizawa into dodging one or the other, but not both attacks. When Todoroki would attempt to sweep Aizawa's legs out from under him, Izuku would go for a high tackle. When Aizawa tried to bind Izuku with his capture weapon, Todoroki attacked to free him and catch Aizawa while he's distracted. All the while, Yaoyorozu attempted to get some swings in with her staff when the two boys distracted him with their hand-to-hand attacks, all of which he dodged, but there was a bright side. Judging by the rigid scowl he wore on his face and the utter silence from Aizawa, it seemed to be taking considerable effort on his part to remain untouched by their flurry of kicks, punches and swings, and Izuku thought he saw a bead of sweat be flicked off his forehead after a particularly hasty dodge. It took effort from Aizawa to so definitively overpower them. That was something Izuku thought he could take advantage of, if he had some time to think.
Izuku leapt back from a kick aimed at the side of his head and put his hand in his pocket to rest it on the tiny depiction of Yaoyorozu in doll-form. According to her, they wouldn't actually hurt him, just slow him down for a while. He had to trust that they would at least do that much. Izuku held it in his hands for a moment, just long enough for Yaoyorozu and Todoroki to spot what he was doing. Then he twisted the little cap that made up the top half of the doll and threw the thing at Aizawa, who was in the midst of dodging a swing of Yaoyorozu's staff, which had somehow ended up in Todoroki's hands. Todoroki and Yaoyorozu dodged back and covered their eyes with their hands, but Izuku watched further. Aizawa caught the doll in one hand and looked at it with a smirk. Izuku didn't dare risk looking any further, though, and shielded his eyes just as Aizawa noticed that the top half of the doll was loose. What sounded like the top half of the doll popping off the bottom rang out, and then a flash like lightning lit up the inside of his eyelids, even as he hid his face behind his arms. The sound was like a gunshot, and Izuku wasn't ashamed to admit that he flinched so badly that he actually yelped. To his surprise, it wasn't as loud, nor was the flash as bright, as he had been expecting. Was it because they were outside in the middle of the day?
The three of them brought their arms back down from their faces, and found that Aizawa had disappeared, because of course he had. They weren't safe, though, because he could simply repeat the ambush trick he'd pulled off the first time. A flash of pride did have Izuku grinning, though, at having been the one to force Aizawa into retreating. There also was an upside to being left alone despite that fact not making them any safer than they had been just seconds ago. It gave them time to think and prepare, and Izuku had an idea after getting confirmation that even though a flashbang was a viable weapon against Aizawa, despite it not affecting him in the long run because of those goggles.
"I didn't expect you to be so sensitive to the bang, considering that you grew up around Bakugo," Todoroki said as they all started running again. His expression didn't change, but his tone was a little lighter.
" Now you like jokes?" Izuku groaned. He felt a little pang of regret as he realised that it was true that he'd lost his sensitivity to loud noises ever since Bakugo had gotten expelled from UA. That left Izuku with a pain in his chest for some reason that he didn't have the time to examine right that second.
Izuku, Todoroki and Yaoyorozu pressed on. They had an exam to pass, by any means necessary.
Ochako's heart was already pumping and the exam hadn't even really started yet. Telling first year hero students to just casually fight and win against All Might was insane! She guessed it wasn't very casual even for the teachers, but that wasn't the point. The point was that it was crazy! Ochako ran along the main road of Ground Beta alongside Iida and Mineta, and tried to ignore the extremely vocal despair that Mineta was processing through a series of cries and shouts. They needed a plan. She was All Might's student, she should be able to take charge! Technically, they were all All Might's students, but she was different. Ochako was supposed to inherit his power, so she had to be able to lead heroes if she was going to be the next him. Iida was running slightly ahead of Ochako and Mineta, keeping an eye out for any signs of trouble, but he was probably just as nervous as she was judging by his complete and utter silence. Iida loved talking. The only times that he went dead silent were the times in which he didn't know what he could possibly say — his robot brain froze up. He had to be scared. Mineta was definitely scared. Ochako needed to do something.
"Okay boys, how about we talk things out and come up with a plan before we go rushing into this?" Ochako said. Iida and Mineta both stopped running and the three of them stood together in the middle of the road. "What are we all good at?"
Iida took a second to think, but then his face lit up. "Mobility! All of our Quirks give us the ability to move quickly."
"Exactly," Ochako said with a grin. "So I think evasion is how we win this. There's no world where the three of us are going to overpower All Might. But we might be able to dodge him long enough that we can get through the do you say?"
"It'll be difficult. On the other hand, nothing has been easy at UA. I say we follow your lead, Uraraka," Iida said, and crouched down as his engines revved.
"Are you two serious?" Mineta yelled. "All Might's gonna destroy us anyway!"
"Yeah," Ochako said. She looked down at him and, unfortunately, knew what would give him the courage to work with them. The smile she sent his way had his expression flipping from terrified to bashful, somehow, in about half a second. It would've been flattering if it had been anyone else. "But think of it this way. A hero never goes into a fight knowing they're gonna lose, even if they're up against an opponent way above their level. You've gotta believe with all your heart that you can do it, because the better part of power is will power!" That was what she'd learned from her fights in the sports festival, anyway. Just standing up against an overwhelming force meant that a person was strong.
Mineta looked up at her with wide eyes and his jaw hanging wide open, while the parts of his face that were exposed by his mask turned bright red. Again, she would've been flattered by his obvious crush on her, but it was Mineta. He was that way with every girl who could stand to be in the same room as him. "You—" Ochako doubted she would ever want to know what he had been about to say, but luckily he cut himself off for once. He nodded and seemed to collect himself, before turning back to the stretch of road before him with a grimly determined look on his face.
"Trying to strategise?" The booming voice that they were all familiar with shattered the silence with a thunderclap as All Might appeared in a blur of speed in front of Iida. The force of his stop forced Iida to stagger backwards, and he only regained his footing once he was several paces behind Ochako and Mineta. "That would be smart if there was a way to conquer this awesome power!"
"Go!" Ochako yelled, and started running.
She didn't know where she was running to, but Ochako had to move, so she chose a direction and ran. That direction turned out to be right at All Might, according to her legs. She only made it about halfway to him, though, before a flash of movement had him disappearing in a blur of colour. She looked around immediately and found All Might appear right behind Mineta, who spun around and threw one of the balls on his head at him. Even though the attack had been at point blank range, All Might was more than fast enough to avoid it, as he then disappeared again in a display of his insurmountable speed. All Might was then standing over Ochako, who he looked down at with a grin wider than the one he'd given the others. Ochako yelped, and as she turned to run away from the giant towering over her, tapped herself on the shoulder and used her Quirk on herself. She took a few leaping steps across the ground and then shot off into the air toward one of the buildings on the right side of the street, pushing off that toward the row of buildings to her left, and continued on in that attempt to build up speed for a getaway move. She looked back as she got further away from All Might and spotted Iida kicking into high gear and speeding along the ground beneath her, and Mineta throwing his little purple spheres ahead of him as he used the ones underfoot as trampolines, like a train capable of laying its own track. The three of them fled, leaving All Might in their dust — literally, in Iida's case.
"You're running away, are you?" All Might called from behind. Suddenly, he was ahead of them, standing a few metres ahead of Iida, who wouldn't be able to slow down from a dead sprint in time to avoid him. "You're not even crawling from my perspective."
Iida had to know that there was no chance of him dodging whatever move All Might used on him in the next few seconds. He pushed his engines harder, blue fire streaming out of his exhaust pipes, and leapt up with a spin so that he could bring his foot around and drive it into All Might's face in a devastating kick that cracked the cement he had pushed off of. All Might lifted his arm up and blocked the hit with just his forearm, and it was as if nothing had even happened for all he was pushed back or forced to strain against the force of the attack. He then hit Iida with a casual palm strike that sent the boy flying back through the air and tumbling along the road when he hit the ground. Mineta took a chance while All Might seemed to be distracted by the laugh he let out as he watched Iida climb back to his feet. One of those tiny purple balls flew toward All Might's face, and he swatted it away without even looking at it. Except it didn't fly away from his hand despite his strength. It stuck. Ochako, bouncing back and forth across the street in a mimicry of Gran Torino's style, the technique belonging to the man who'd personally taught All Might everything he knew, realised something as she watched All Might try and fail to fling the ball off of the back of his hand. That could use that. There was a way for them to take advantage of a weakness that All Might had. It was just a weakness that hadn't existed until that very moment. It wasn't very nice, but Ochako was willing to be a little mean sometimes if it meant reaching her dream someday.
"Guys!" Ochako yelled. "Group up!"
She dropped down to the ground and observed All Might as he continued trying to unstick the ball from the back of his hand. He seemed to realise that he wasn't going to be able to get it off of him while Iida and Mineta huddled around her. She quickly explained the plan to them in hurried words as All Might continued to rattle off whatever monologue that he was likely making up on the spot.
"We can't overwhelm him with raw power, so what if we weigh him down with a bunch of stuff and make it hard for him to move?" Ochako said.
"Don't think I'm out of the fight because one little ball hit me," All Might said as he suddenly towered over her.
Ochako's body moved on its own. She whirled around and pressed her hand against All Might's stomach, and a pink flash enveloped him for an instant before it dulled and vanished. There was barely a moment to register how pressing on All Might's stomach had felt like trying to punch a steel beam. Then, in the moments that followed, All Might began to rise. His feet lifted off the ground and he began floating up into the air from the force of Ochako's push combined with her Quirk activating. It had been purely reflexive, but it had bought them some time to set up her plan, as All Might then displayed an inability to adjust his power properly to stop himself from flying off down the street due to the air pressure generated by his strength. The number one hero helplessly sailed down the street away from the three students, which meant that they had time. Ochako looked at the others, who all seemed to understand what she was thinking.
They took off toward the exit once again, and Ochako hoped that her accidental power move had given them enough precious seconds to succeed as she bounced down the street.