Izuku and Uraraka were standing outside the building that they would soon enter, trying to formulate a plan. Izuku had been thinking a mile a minute since the announcement that they would fight Team D, Katsuki and Shinso. Katsuki alone was a tough customer, but paired up with Shinso and his Quirk, they were almost unstoppable. Brainwashing, with its condition of needing a verbal response to trigger, meant that the most effective counter was to simply take it out of the equation. And, with Katsuki's combat prowess and powerful Quirk, that meant that there weren't a lot of options.
"You weren't one of the students who raised your hand during Homeroom about knowing JSL. Do you know Morse code?" Izuku asked.
"A little, but probably not well enough to be useful," Uraraka said, downcast.
"That's alright. Knowing more than none at the moment is rare, so you're already ahead in that area," Izuku said, getting Uraraka to smile. She had a really pretty smile, he thought, but quickly snapped back into his analysis mindset. "Okay. Uh, let's do this. Using our comms, I'll say the word 'tap', and that'll mean that I've found the bomb. I'll say it twice to mean that I've found Kacchan, and thrice to mean that I've found Shinso. Is that okay?" he thought out loud.
"One 'tap' for the bomb. Two for Bakugo. Three for Shinso. Got it," Uraraka kept repeating the code to herself.
"Do you have that memorized?" Izuku asked, making sure Uraraka had taken her time. He knew that they had limited time, but it was worth it to get on the same page.
"Yes," she answered.
"Alright, after the word 'tap', I'll say the word 'tick' the amount of time correlating to what floor I'm on. So, one 'tick' means the bottom floor, and five 'ticks' means the top. Okay?" Izuku said.
"Yeah. Okay, that's good," Uraraka said, focusing on making sure she remembered the codes.
"Alright. Once the timer starts, you'll remove my gravity and I'll signal to you to let my gravity return. This'll let us start at the top and bottom respectively. I'll start at the top and make my way down, and you'll start here and make your way up. Knowing Kacchan, he won't want to sit and wait for us, so he'll go out and patrol the halls, so stay quiet. He's pretty deaf in his left ear, so if you have to sneak around him, stay on his left side. Luckily, this also works with our code, so he probably won't hear the 'taps' and 'ticks'. We'll search every third room on every floor, then meet up in the middle if we haven't found it by then. Are you ready?" Izuku ran through his plan.
"Yeah. You're really smart, Midoriya," Uraraka said, smiling wide.
"Thanks. I like to run through these scenarios in my head for practise for when I'm a hero. I know it's kinda weird, but-" Izuku mumbled, blushing lightly.
"I don't think it's weird. That's actually a really good idea. You can always practise more," Uraraka said.
The two shared a smile, and the alarm that came through the P.A. system of the building went off, letting both teams know that their battle trial had begun. Izuku looked over to Uraraka, gesturing to her hands. Uraraka, not sure where to put her hands to remove his gravity, just settled for patting him on the shoulder.
Having his gravity removed was strange, but oddly tranquil. Like he was surrendering himself to the universe, and letting it take him to the stars. Izuku began to float upwards, and nodded to Uraraka to enter the building. As he floated up, he used this chance to look into the windows and see if he could find the bomb as he rose toward the roof. He didn't have any luck in that department, but he did see a faint flash, as well as hear and feel the boom that always followed a particularly large explosion from Katsuki.
"Alright, Uraraka. You can release me now," Izuku whispered into his comms.
"Good luck," Uraraka whispered, and Izuku fell to the hard concrete.
"You too," he said back, before rising to his feet.
Izuku looked around the roof and saw a hatch jutting out of the concrete. He smiled to himself, knowing he was right. He had seen this exact model of building during the entrance exam, and it had an identical hatch. UA's budget was massive, but they still reused models for their fake cities, it seemed.
He broke into the hatch and landed on the ground with a soft thud. Izuku looked around frantically, checking if he had accidentally just dropped into the villains' lair. He hadn't and grinned to himself. Izuku snuck out of the room and went to the door two doors down from the room he had dropped into. As he continued checking the top floor, he found it to be completely empty. He did find a room where he was certain the bomb had been, due to the scraps of paper mache that had been left behind as Katsuki and Shinso had struggled to move it.
Seeing a golden opportunity to track the bomb, he checked the doorway for a scratch, thinking that if the boys had been clumsy enough to leave evidence of the bomb's presence behind, they might have scratched up the door's paint as they bumped up against it. Lucky for him, they did. The scratch was grey on blue, and Izuku immediately took off in the direction it was pointed, left.
As Izuku neared a staircase, he slowed to a stop. He wondered if this was a diversion, but thought that Katsuki was far too obvious about what he wanted to be subtle about any trap he could set. He continued down the stairs, thought slower and quieter than before, toward the fourth floor, and continued his search.
About a minute later, when Izuku had almost finished with his search of the floor, the light for the room Izuku was in, shut off. He looked around, not knowing who or what could've caused that other than Katsuki or Shinso getting into the power box for the building. Suddenly, a sound like firecrackers sounded from behind him, and Izuku whipped around to see Katsuki standing there, using small emissions of his Quirk to illuminate the room.
"Tap, tap, tick, tick, tick, tick," Izuku said under his breath, activating his comms.
"What the fuck are you doing, Deku?" Katsuki asked, sneering at him from across the room.
"Hello, Katsuki," Izuku said politely, making sure to draw attention to the fact that he hadn't used his childhood nickname for the blond.
With the use of his real name, and his earlier statement, Izuku was fairly sure that he had caught Katsuki by surprise. He was looking at Izuku like he had grown a second head, and that wasn't entirely inaccurate. Izuku himself knew that he wasn't acting like he had before, but that was simply because he had a Quirk now, and he was beginning to come into his own as a hero in training. He was getting more and more confident with each new day that he had his Quirk, and that was affecting his personality, his attitude and his mannerisms.
Izuku was a whole new person, and he was loving it.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing, Deku? Saying all this shit and parading around like you own the place? That isn't your place in the world," Katsuki asked.
"Oh, you mean like how you do every single day? How is that your right? How do you get to choose what my place in the world is?" Izuku asked back.
"I didn't choose shit! You did! Your fucking DNA is wrong. It always was, but now? Suddenly, you have a fucking Quirk that came out of nowhere that you've started trying to use to beat me! That's bullshit! How dare you try to keep up with future Symbol material?" Katsuki said, legitimately offended.
"That's the thing, Katsuki. I'm not trying to keep up with you, not anymore. I'm trying to keep up with them," Izuku countered, gesturing to the camera in the corner of the room. "You know my past. You know my desire to be a hero more than anything in the world. I'm trying my best to catch up to my classmates because they've all had their powers for over a decade, and I finally manifested mine two months ago. Could you imagine how frustrating that is? Having to actually work for something?" Izuku said.
"I do work! I've worked every minute of every day of my life to be the best! You know that! Everyone does, that's why they let me walk all over them. Because I'm better than them and they know that!" Katsuki yelled.
"They let you walk all over them because you had potential, Katsuki. That's great, and I admired you for it, but that doesn't mean that you can treat everyone as beneath you. That's a villainous attitude," Izuku said, knowing it was a sore spot for Katsuki.
"Hey! I'm not a fucking villain!" Katsuki said, screaming at the top of his lungs.
Katsuki lunged, diving toward Izuku with his explosions thrusting his forward. Izuku had anticipated this, and shot Blackwhip out to the side, reeling himself away from Katsuki's blast. He had barely dodged, but he had done it, grinning as he rolled to a stop on the ground. He slid into a defensive stance that All Might had taught him, and stared Katsuki down from the doorway.
"Hey, Deku!" a voice, but not Katsuki's, yelled.
Izuku knew something like this could happen. He spun around and saw Shinso, metallic mask up, ready to strike. He jumped back, not wanting to get hit by the gauntlets the purple haired boy had on his fists. He had thought that the mask was some sort of distraction device, used to hide when he was talking and when someone else was talking. Izuku had an idea for how to improve the mask and give Shinso a new ability, but that could come after the match. Right now, he was alone, and he had to destroy the mask.
Taking a step back, Izuku aimed his hand out and released Blackwhip, letting it shoot out toward Shinso, who didn't have time to react to the split-second move. Blackwhip latched onto the mask and Izuku yanked with all his strength, pulling Shinso forward by the face. Shinso fell to the ground, and the mask cracked in half, showing that it only looked metallic, and was made with something else.
Suddenly, Uraraka leapt from out of the shadows and wrapped capture tape around Shinso's arms, defeating him in the official capacity they had described to them. A loud horn blared, and All Might's voice announced that Shinso had been defeated, was out of the match, and to simply sit where he was.
"Good job," Izuku said, knowing it was safe to speak again.
"Thanks. Now, what're we gonna do about Bakugo?" Uraraka asked, seeing him standing at the end of the hallway, seething.
"I can handle him. You go and find the bomb," Izuku said, stepping toward Katsuki.
"Are you sure?" Uraraka asked, spinning Izuku around to make sure he wasn't doing anything stupid.
"Yes. Now, go!" Izuku said, giving her the most determined look she had ever seen.
Uraraka understood that this was something that Izuku needed to do alone, and left to find that bomb. Hopefully, Uraraka could find the bomb before Katsuki beat him too badly, but that was up for debate, as the blond would probably continue past a finishing siren anyway.
She ran down the halls and found a split, going left and right. Uraraka chose right, running until she found a staircase. Knowing which floor the bomb would be on, the third due to her havin searched the bottom two already, she immediately ran down the stairs, even jumping down whole flights at once just to get to the fake weapon faster. Uraraka was sure she would sprain her ankle or otherwise hurt herself doing this, but it was worth it.
As she ran, she heard explosions upstairs. Uraraka would never say it, but she was really beginning to dislike that Bakugo. He yelled too much, and though he was Midoriya's childhood friend, that didn't mean she had to like him. Just tolerate him. Even Midoriya knew he was terrible, but they were working with him to distance himself from Bakugo, so they were taking steps in the right direction.
As Uraraka searched the third floor, she wondered how someone so sweet and nice and caring as Midoriya ever got stuck with someone as vile and nasty as Bakugo. How do those kinds of people meet and decide 'you're the one for me', even if one of them went back on that later. Midoriya had said that Bakugo had been good, once, probably just like any other kid, but that didn't excuse the bad person he became.
As she stepped into a room, Uraraka saw the massive fake bomb, with scratches and bumps in it. She stepped into the room, cautious of any traps. Looking around, Uraraka didn't see any obvious weapons that could be used independently of Bakugo, since Shinso had been eliminated. Spotting a few stray grenade looking things, she chuckled at the thought of Bakugo using them as a keychain.
"Midoriya, I found the bomb! Third floor, seventh room," Uraraka called through the comms.
"Great! Touch it, now!" Izuku yelled through the comms, clearly not having a good time on his end.
Just as Uraraka went to lay a hand on the paper mache bomb, a bright light, accompanied by deafening sounds of explosions struck her, and she fell unconscious, knocked into a wall by the blasts.
Just after Uraraka had left, Izuku stared Katsuki down, knowing that he was going to lead with a right hook, like he always did. As Katsuki's breathing got faster and more shallow, he knew the boy was too far gone to be reasoned with. Izuku geared up for a long fight.
"What the fuck happened to you, Deku? You used to be so small, and scared. Now, you're trying to be me. WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU CAN BE ME?" Katsuki roared.
"I don't wanna be you! I wanna be me! I WANNA BE A HERO!" Izuku screamed back.
"Then why?! Why did you just give up? Back then, I wasn't disappointed that you didn't have a Quirk! No! I was upset that I had put my trust in someone that gave up so easily. Somebody so weak! I can't believe I ever considered you a friend," Katsuki said, starting to get control of his breathing again.
"You know, in the back of my mind, this whole time, I wanted us to be those friends again. I hoped it could happen one day, so I just kept following you around like a dog following its master. I realize that just isn't in the cards for us anymore. I accept that. I'm not going to bother you, or try to be your friend, but if you want to, we can talk. We could have a real conversation, but instead, you hate me because I wasn't born special. I hate to break it to you, Katsuki, but the truly special people in this world aren't the ones that have an innate talent for something and leave it at that. The truly special, the truly powerful ones are the ones that want something, work their whole lives for it, and take it, smiling all the way to the top. That's what I'll do, and you're gonna watch me!" Izuku yelled, finally letting out what he'd been wanting to say for years.
"FUCK YOU!" Katsuki shrieked, and pounced.
The two dashed toward each other, Katsuki using his Quirk to propel himself, and Izuku running along the ground. Izuku saw his signature right hook coming up, so purposefully missed his step so that he could get lower to the ground. As Katsuki's punch flew into empty air, Izuku was already behind him, and jumped into the air as high as he could.
Izuku aimed his hands on either side of Katsuki, toward the ground. He then released Blackwhip, letting the tendril latch onto the floor with a harsh thud. Katsuki, only now just reacting to Izuku's dodge, turned around in an instant, and saw what was about to happen. He saw as Izuku pulled Blackwhip back to him, reeling himself closer to the ground and, due to him soaring feet first, kicked Katsuki in the face, sending him flying down the hall, and regaining his footing at the same time.
Izuku watched as Katsuki jumped up, wiping some saliva from his mouth. He glared at Izuku, screaming at him with his pointed expression. Izuku carefully slipped back into his defensive stance, and waited for Katsuki to come at him, which is exactly what the blond did, without hesitation.
Katsuki launched himself forward with a large explosion, and soared toward Izuku at top speed. Izuku got ready to block another punch, but was much too late to notice the change in direction that Katsuki had performed. The blond had fired off a smaller explosion just as he reached Izuku, blinding his enemy for a moment. He had used the kickback from that explosion to hop over Izuku, landing on the other side of him with a metallic thud.
Izuku whipped around, almost impressed, if it weren't for the fact that Katsuki could now blow him away with ease. He had to admit, it was a very good maneuver. He tried to get Blackwhip to latch onto a wall to his side, but he found that the hallway was too narrow, so he'd never escape the blast entirely. He settled for throwing his arms up to shield his head, knowing he had to accept his fate.
The heat came before the sound. He felt it, chewing at his skin, burning through his costume before he heard the deafening sound of the explosion rip through the air, causing a ringing in his ears. Izuku then felt the force of the blast, knocking him through the air and sending him down the hall, tumbling along the cool tiles for the entire length of the hallway until crashing into the wall, cracking that, too.
"Midoriya, I found the bomb! Third floor, seventh room," Uraraka called through the comms.
"Great! Touch it, now!" Izuku said, not caring if Katsuki heard because, as he saw it, they had won.
Katuski smirked, though. That meant that he knew something he didn't. The sound of explosions tore through the headset, causing a high-pitched whine to come through after a second, the line dead. Izuku's jaw dropped, knowing that Uraraka had fallen into a trap, and that he had sent her there. He stood up, his leg aching, and stared Katsuki down.
"Uraraka has been eliminated," All Might called through the speakers, sounding unnerved.
"What did you do?" Izuku yelled.
"What? Oh, that. I just used my support items to their fullest. Y'see, these little grenades here aren't for show," Katuski said, a sadistic grin breaking out across his face as he clutched one of the small grenade-like objects on his belt.
"Oh, no!" Izuku said, putting together some pieces.
"Oh, yes! I can fill them with my sweat and use them as projectiles! Two of them, completely filled, could knock out a grown man with a strength Quirk. I had ten of them originally. I have two left," he said, cackling like a maniac.
"How could you?" Izuku asked.
"How could I what? Win? That's easy for you to ask, you loser!" Katsuki roared, aiming his hands toward Izuku.
Izuku immediately got ready to get out of the way. If those gauntlets worked like how Katsuki had described when they were younger, he was in trouble, and so was Uraraka. He held his hand out to the side, in which a hallway led to a staircase. He was ready to let Blackwhip reel him away from trouble.
"Since you're such a weirdo stalker, you probably already know how my Quirk works. My sweat is like nitroglycerin, and I can detonate it at will. These gauntlets have tanks in them, and they store my nitro-sweat for a monster blast! Like this!" Katsuki said, eerily calm.
"Kacchan, don't!" Izuku said, so panicked that he reverted to his childhood nickname for the blond.
Katsuki pulled back the bracer on the gauntlet, and a loud 'click' sounded out down the hall. The echo filled Izuku's mind. He started panicking, and as his frantic thoughts all jumbled each other up, he fell back on the one thing he could trust; Blackwhip. Not knowing quite what to do with it in this situation, because a blast the size that Bakugo was implying it was would certainly rip through any cover he could hide behind, he started letting the Quirk seep out into his hands, an almost solid form of the dark tendrils wrapping around itself in his palms as he held onto it for dear life, the globs of energy becoming thicker and heavier.
"What? If you're really good at dodging, you'll just get out of the way, won't you?" Katsuki said, his voice breaking.
"NO!" Izuku screamed.
Katsuki pulled the pin that had popped out of the slot the bracer's absence had opened up. He ripped it out, and Izuku knew it was game over. He threw his hands forward, trying his best to protect himself, though he knew it was futile. Almost having forgotten that he had released Blackwhip around his hands, the thick, dense globs of energy expanded outward just as the blast was released from Katsuki's gauntlet.
Blackwhip spread out in a wide area, almost covering up the entirety of the hallway in front of him. Seeing how this could act as a wall between him and the blast, Izuku began to let Blackwhip pour out of him, pushing everything he had out and forcing it to shape itself into a small half-dome in front of him. It was difficult, actually pushing down Blackwhip's full power and forcing it to be static, but he managed it, creating a sort of shield.
Izuku felt the blast connect, pushing against Blackwhip with with felt like the strength of All Might. He pushed back, knowing that Blackwhip could hold, but not himself. The shield stayed solid for a few moments, successfully holding back the explosion from Katsuki's gauntlet.
As Izuku let himself celebrate his control over Blackwhip is where things went wrong. His control slipped as he let himself get distracted, and the shield broke. The blast ripped through and incinerated the Blackwhip tendril that had held out, but that was as far as the heat went. The force, however, continued to tear through the air, hitting Izuku as though there had been no shield at all.
The force blew Izuku back, shattering the wall and making him fall to the ground in the dark, dusty room that was quickly filling with more smoke and dust. The rubble fell around him, some knocking him in the head and torso, but none hurting him quite as much as the blast. Izuku groaned, feeling something inside him change. He felt like his body was on fire, and he knew that it was One for All.
As Izuku opened his eyes, Katsuki was already standing over him, grinning at him like he had won. That look was the single most annoying thing that he had ever seen. He hadn't won yet, because he was still willing to stand back up. He always would stand back up, because that's what a hero does.
Katsuki lifted his foot, and brought it down toward Izuku's face. In a frantic attempt to save himself from possibly being killed by Katsuki, Izuku lifted his arm and caught Katsuki's boot, which stopped easily over his hand. He closed his fist, and the metal bent slightly under his grip. Izuku regarded his new strength strangely, like he was almost giddy.
He lifted his hand to throw Katsuki away so that he could regain his footing, and the blond easily flew into the air and slid down the hall. Izuku looked at his arm which was glowing with a green shine. He had finally summoned the strength enhancement aspect of One for All. He knew that All Might was watching, and he could almost hear his joyous laughter. He'd certainly hear it later.
Izuku looked toward Katsuki, who looked like he'd seen a ghost. The blond stood up, limping on the leg Izuku had thrown him with.
"What the fuck is this, Deku?" Katsuki asked.
"This is my power," he answered simply.
"I thought that stupid Blackwhip was your Quirk!" Katsuki roared.
"I said it this morning. My true Quirk is 'Power Source', Blackwhip is just how I choose to channel that power. I can also do things like this," Izuku said, before shooting off toward Katsuki like a rocket.
It was strange, though. Izuku knew that only his arm had manifested One for All in it. How was he faster than he was a moment ago? Maybe it was a kind of second wind from the relief of finally getting his super-strength to work, but he'd have to think about that later. Right then, he needed to take Katuski down.
"Fine! I can do that shit too, asshole!" Katsuki said, getting into a fighting stance, the first proper bit of non-Quirked technique he'd shown during the battle.
Izuku reached Katsuki and threw a punch that was easily dodged, but it didn't matter. Izuku was just testing out how much strength he had channeled. If it was too much, he would've known, but the amount of power that was surging through his arm didn't feel burning hot, it felt like a nice campfire, steadily burning in the background like an afterthought. It felt perfect. The punch, though connecting with nothing, still threw the air around like one of All Might's punches, though it was considerably less powerful.
Bakugo cocked his fist back for a strike, but Izuku saw him and his overly flashy nature coming a mile away. The blond's fist was thrown forward by smaller, continuous explosions, making it too fast for Izuku to dodge. The hit sunk into Izuku's ribcage, knocking the wind out of the smaller boy and sending him staggering back.
As he focused on catching his breath, Izuku felt the power of One for All slip away from him. The comfortable warmth that had enveloped his arm faded away, and Izuku was left feeling strangely cold. He looked up to Katsuki and saw that he was cradling his own fist, clearly having broken it judging by the way his fingers bent the wrong direction.
"Your body isn't built for super-strength. You broke your fingers trying to emulate my power," Izuku said, backing away from Katsuki so he didn't attack and injure himself further.
"I'm fine! Come on, let's keep going! KEEP FIGHTING!" Katsuki screamed, more at himself than at Izuku.
"Katsuki, if you try to ignite your Quirk in that hand, you'll shatter it completely. You're done," Izuku said, turning on his comms.
"I'M NOT FINISHED!" Katsuki continued to shriek in the background as Izuku turned around.
"Did you hear that, All Might? We're done. Katsuki needs medical attention," Izuku said in his comms, running to where he knew Uraraka was.
"Recovery Girl was already on her way for Young Uraraka," All Might asked through the comms.
"Good. The cameras were probably destroyed in the room Katsuki blew to hell. She likely has extreme burns and a concussion. Katsuki broke all the fingers on his right hand trying to copy my strength," Izuku said, sounding far too proud of himself to be technically worrying about a classmate.
"Alright. Good job, Young Midoriya. I'm proud of you," All Might said, whispering the last part before signing off.
"HEROES WIN! All participants must return to the observation room to get healed and evaluated," All Might called through the speakers in the building.
As Izuku slid into the room, it was a disaster. Everything had a scorch mark on it, and the bomb was destroyed. Uraraka was on the ground, her costume torn almost to shreds. He would have blushed harder than ever before if she didn't have serious burns, cuts and bruises littering her body. Izuku ran over and picked her up, proceeding to run out of the room at top speed and beg the power of One for All to return to his body as he sprinted to the observation room, where he knew Recovery Girl was.
In the observation room, the class was divided. One half had enjoyed the match, liking seeing Midoriya's plans and improvisational skills at work. The other half hadn't particularly liked getting a look at how savage and merciless Bakugo could be, and they didn't hesitate to voice these opinions.
"Midoriya was so cool! His Blackwhip was so awesome when he made that shield out of it!" Kaminari shouted.
"It didn't seem like he knew he could do it, though. He looked like he was figuring everything out as he was doing it, which could be considered impressive, but I think demonstrates a lack of proper training on the combat side of things," Yaoyorozu noted.
"His strength, like, spiked at the end. Was that the power of his true Quirk?" Kirishima asked himself.
"It had to be. His arm was glowing. That was all so much," Sero said, sitting on a seat along the wall.
"Bakugo's anger got the better of him. It was kinda scary," Hagakure said, her trembling gloves and boots showing everyone just how terrified she was.
"He was totally out of control," Jiro said, hugging herself tightly.
Everyone in the room was disturbed, both by Bakugo's fight, and by his surprise attack on Uraraka. All Might couldn't blame them, as he was as well. Not just on a classmate, but a former friend and his successor. It was heartless, and so much more so for his attack on Uraraka. To hurt someone like that without hesitation, knowing how powerful the attack would be is villainous, just as Midoriya had said. Bakugo would have to face consequences.
Izuku was panicking as he busted the door open, carrying an unconscious Uraraka in his arms. He had tear tracks running down his face, and he was trembling. Izuku had obviously been very upset while running over, but was oddly quiet when stepping into the room.
"Where's Recovery Girl?" he asked, his voice an octave deeper than anyone had ever heard it.
"I'm over here, dear," the old woman called from a set of gurneys on the other side of the room.
The crowd parted as Izuku walked over to the gurney, his mouth set in a forced line. He wasn't trying to be emotionless, but his anger at Katsuki had been stirring, and had evolved into an eerie calmness about the whole situation. He placed Uraraka on the gurney as gently as he could, and turned away to walk toward All Might.
"Tell me you'll do something about this," Izuku said, staring his mentor in the eye with none of the shyness or hero worship the hero had come to love.
"Yes. What Bakugo did was completely out of the realm of heroism that I can't find any way for him to avoid punishment," All Might confirmed.
Izuku suddenly fell to the ground, clutching his side. He coughed up a bit of blood, and was helped up by Kirishima. The two walked over to a gurney, and the redhead helped Izuku onto it. He coughed into his hand, and the glove came away with a red splotch on it, making Recovery Girl wince. The woman started to tend to Izuku's broken ribs, but he batted her away.
"I don't need any help. Heal her," Izuku said, weakly.
"I already have. She's healing as we speak, but it'll be slow since she's lost a lot of energy," Recovery Girl said, forcing Izuku to lay back down.
As Izuku and Uraraka were getting healed by Recovery Girl, All Might called the class to pay attention, moving to stand next to the winners. He cleared his throat.
"Who can tell me who the MVP of this match was?" All Might asked, picking the first person whose hand went up, Yaoyorozu.
"While some may argue that Uraraka is the MVP for finding the bomb, or that it was Shinso for employing successful diversion tactics, and … I have nothing to say about Bakugo. I think it is clear that Midoriya is the MVP based on the plan he came up with, the code he invented and the way he showed mastery over his Quirk and his mind," Yaoyorozu said. "His code to avoid getting Brainwashed by Shinso was genius, using a substitute for other codes, like Morse which both of them may not have known. He displayed good decision making skills by asking Uraraka to send him to the roof so that they could search separately, then meet in the middle. Midoriya showed his quick thinking and improvisational skills by using his Quirk in new ways, such as his shield, and his willingness to sacrifice to win, using the power he has admitted hurts his body to pull off a victory," she said, smiling brightly and keeping her posture straight the whole time.
Izuku listened to every word like they had been spoken by a deity about to bless him with the greatest gift of all, a gigantic freaking blush. He looked away, not believing that someone could think all that about someone like him. Sure, he had been improving, but he would never consider himself a genius, or a master of anything about One for All, even if he was quickly progressing with his control over Blackwhip.
"Right. I couldn't have said all that nearly as eloquently as you, Young Yaoyorozu. You've hit the nail on the head. You truly have proved yourself as worthy of your status as a student of UA, as have Young Uraraka and Young Shinso," All Might said, flashing a brighter smile than his regular one toward Izuku.
"Bakugo, on the other hand …" Kaminari muttered, but was punched lightly in the shoulder by Jiro.
"Shut up. He's right there, dude," Jiro said, causing everyone to turn around to see a limping Katsuki in the doorway, being supported by Shinso, who looked to be enjoying his role a bit too much.
The two made their way over to the gurneys, and Shinso helped Bakugo onto one of them, though he insisted on sitting up the whole time. He looked over at Izuku, but looked away as soon as he did. He stared at Uraraka's now heavily bandaged body, no emotions passing over him.
"Bakugo, do you understand what you did was wrong?" All Might asked him.
"What? How? You told me to fight, so I fought! What's wrong with that?" Katsuki asked, causing a lot of small gasps and disgusted looks from his classmates.
"You lost control of yourself in battle, and that can never happen to someone with a Quirk as powerful and destructive as yours. Even before that, though, you employed the use of your Mini-Nades, powerful weapons themselves. You used eight, when one would have sufficed, and two would've been overkill. You may have permanently injured Young Uraraka, even with Recovery Girl's healing Quirk," All Might explained, being seen frowning for the first time ever, for some students. There were times where he didn't smile, but those times were so few and far between that the moments where he didn't, like now, held a lot of weight. He hoped Katsuki got the message.
"Whatever," Katsuki said, looking away from his teacher.
All Might sighed, and Izuku could tell that he was beginning to run out of time in his muscle form by the way his muscles bulged and tensed. Izuku knew that he would either disappear soon, or would make everyone else disappear, of which the former was easier. All Might took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to cough, and turned to his students.
"Everyone, someone else will cover the rest of your class. I need to talk things over with Nezu," All Might said, before disappearing in a burst of speed.
Wind kicked around the room, but not one person had the audacity to marvel at his power. The atmosphere had been brought down by a few hundred notches, and Izuku doubted it was going back to normal any time soon.