The summer heat hasn't left yet, and it seems like before it does, it's planning on hitting us with one last wave of hot wind, no clouds, and direct sunlight. Even indoors, it's hot. Classes haven't started yet, but even my friends who live in the area all note that it's so hot that their phones give them 'warning too hot' notifications now and then. I have to put my device on a wet cloth to keep it cool as I write this.

While writing this chapter, there was some debate on what to focus on and with whom; as you can imagine, the teachers would want to give the students a challenge which would see Monoma paired with, say, Midoriya, as they know he's quirkless, but that seems highly unfair to Monoma as while yes, 'blanks' exist, they're rare, and it would be needlessly ousting Midoriya to his classmates. I must also remember that in canon, class B, except Monoma, all passed…

Chapter 47: The Hard Part

After three days of exams, during which Midoriya admitted he found himself sweating through some of those papers, they managed to get through it. As they handed in their papers, Vlad instructed them that the physical exam would begin soon, so they should prepare. Grabbing their costumes, they all got dressed before being bussed to a different area of the school, one to which none had been.

Getting off the bus, they were met with a large building that seemed to be a fusion of a community center and a small office building; outside the building, a sign designated it as the 'Practical Exam Area – Center Plaza.' Also, there wasn't just Vlad, but all their teachers. "Good, we can now begin the practical exam," Vlad stated as the bus reversed and left.

"I can't tell you who passed or failed the written part yet as we're still grading them, but so far, there are some whose results leave much to be desired." His eyes went over them, lingering on others who started to sweat. "No one's failed them yet. However, even if all of you pass the written part, if you fail, you-you fail, so don't think you're safe yet."

"Yup, little listeners, you want that summertime fun? You gotta give it your all and get some straight As' here!" Present Mic added, though his smile seemed different, more dangerous as the students couldn't help but wonder what was in store for them.

"Sir, what is the practical part? You never told us." Kaibara asked, to which all their teachers shared a look; before their concern, they smiled.

"That was intentional. We wanted you to ask around to find out what it could be. Could any of you state what the exam could be?" Ectoplasm asked.

"We're gonna be fighting some robots!" Tetsutetsu replied, eager to prove that he could demolish anything they sent their way, even if they were 0-pointers.

"You're wrong, too bad!" Nezu popped up from behind Thirteen, laughing at their shock. He noted that Midoriya seemed unsurprised by his presence, to be expected, as his master's file noted she had an uncanny ability to know when others were close. And if Midoriya displayed most of those same abilities as her, this one would always be likely.

"What?" Honenuki asked.

"I figured." Tokage shrugged as that seemed far too easy.

"Yes, well, while in previous years we had exams where you went up against robots, things have changed. We needed to revise our exams with the rise of villain activity." Nezu explained that they were getting them to recall both the USJ class A was involved with and the chaos in Hosu. "Also, while we did wish for you to look into things yourself, we also wanted to teach you a lesson?"

"What, that things can be wrong?" Tsunotori asked, a little miffed that they would be given more work.

Midnight answered, "Correct. While information gathering is an essential part of her work, there will be times when you just can't collect all the critical info, or what you can is misleading for one reason or another. Hence, you need to be flexible."

"Combat against robots is fine and all, but it doesn't help improve or test you all that much. Instead, we want to test you on how you handle combat against better opponents, critical thinking, and teamwork." Snipe explained, which, as annoying as it was, made sense. They had defeated those robots to get into U.A., a task most of them proved good at, and the festival was even more manageable as they knew what to expect. Maybe U.A. had other models they kept for exams, but they didn't hear anything like that from the 2nd year they asked.

"Which is why you'll be split into teams of 2 and have to fight one of us!" Nezu's smile grew wider as the class looked at him in shock and horror.

"The teachers?" The students asked, looking at the assembled teachers and only now realizing why they seemed so eager.

"That seems a little far, right?" Shishida tried to dissuade them.

"A little, try a lot!" Awase yelled; they were fully trained and experienced heroes. How were they meant to beat that?

"Heroes must confront the odds nearly daily and find a means to succeed, so this is just that in a controlled environment. Don't worry; unlike villains, we won't kill you." Nezu reveled in their fear; it was fun to mess with humans, mainly when it aided them to grow.

"How is that supposed to be reassuring?" Rin asked, as just because death wasn't on the table didn't mean they couldn't be made to suffer. Snipe used a gun of all things,

"Moving on! This won't be like your first hero class, where groups are chosen at random. Each pair and their opponent has already been decided." Vlad clapped his hands, drawing attention to the Blood hero. "They were determined with my advisement considering your quirks, skills, and interpersonal dynamics."

The teachers met a few days before the finals could be completed to discuss the state of things. The topic at present is their plans for the upcoming first-year practical exam. "With the League connected to Stain, likely, villain activity will only increase," Nezu stated. This could only be a fact, as his ideology spread fast, even with the villain behind bars.

When fused with the pure, unfiltered evil that seemed to be Shigaraki, that creed catalyzed a violent reaction within the underworld. "It's our job as teachers to consider that rise of crime when we design our curriculums and examinations." He looked towards his employees, fellow heroes, and, for some, friends.

"True, and that means it wouldn't be right to use the same examination style of prior years," Snipe stated.

"Pardon, but why did we use robots?" All Might, their newest hire, asked.

Aizawa leaned back into his chair, tired from handling the exams for his students and his nighttime patrols. The man was scheduled to work another in just a couple of hours. "It was for legal reasons; we got too many complaints about people getting injured in the exams. We ignored them, as being a hero is a dangerous profession."

"But things have changed now; we can't just do the same as we always have, can we?" Midnight asked as U.A. was no stranger to bad press or angry parents. They were a well-known school, but they could get away with ignoring such because they produced results. She wasn't sure they could keep that if they didn't change with the times.

"Still, to go from mindless machines designed from cheap and fragile materials to fighting us seems far too extreme," Cementoss noted, to which Thirteen nodded.

"Yes, I agree that believing they could match up is unfair. We could end up failing half of both classes, and that's being generous." Her statement, to some, might come off as arrogant, but to the people in the room, it was only practical. If first-year students could truly defeat them, they might as well retire.

Present Mic supposed they could be easy on them, but that led to another issue. "But if we go too easy on them, it defeats the whole point, doesn't it? We can't grade their progress if we put them on training wheels."

"None of you are wrong, and we should consider that, but with how things are changing out there, we need to ensure our students have the skills and flexibility to handle it. Also, if I'm not mistaken, we'll be given handicaps, right?" Snipe countered before turning his attention to Nezu.

"Yes, I've already requested the first-year support class to design something for it, and young Ms Hatsume came up with something. It will limit us but still put the students in enough danger to encourage them to think on their feet." Their principal explained, which caused concern over whether a first-year could do it. Still, Hatsume, for all the headaches she gave Power Loader, was probably his best student, not just in class but in the last six years.

"Well, let's look over team compositions then. If this is meant to push them, we should not leave this to chance." Aizawa moved things along, picking up two of his students' files containing their basic details, quirks, grades, personality, temperament, ideology, mannerisms, and other issues that wouldn't be graded otherwise.

"With class A, we have Todoroki. Generally, his grades are all within the green, but he tends to use brute force, overly rely on his ice, and doesn't work well with others." He explained, the room recalling his performance at the Sports Festival and his decisive loss to Kendo. All Might primarily remembered how…disappointed his successor had been with the aftermath.

"Yaoyorozu's nowhere near as powerful, but she's a reliable all-rounder. She lacks spur-of-the-moment thinking, and when things don't go as planned, she tends to freeze up. They'll both be up against me; I'll lock out their powers and engage them up close." Aizawa stated.

"No objections." The rest replied in unison as the man picked up another two files.

"Second would be Kirishima. He's not the sharpest tool in the shed, nor the fastest, but he's a walking brick wall with great interpersonal skills. I don't think a single classmate dislikes him. However, he tends to be overly simple and short-sighted. Sato is similar to Todoroki; he relies too much on brute strength, trying to finish something before his mental facilities decrease without properly thinking it through."

Overall, they didn't sound bad on paper; perhaps they were simple and required guidance from others, but plenty of heroes did so. However, even those pros could function independently. With things changing, they couldn't just train them to those standards but, as U.A. typically did, go further to ensure they produced nothing but excellence.

"Cementoss, I would like them to face you." Aizawa turned to the stoic-looking pro.

"Because I can just keep pulling walls between myself and then? Very well." Cementoss replied, hoping the two wouldn't be so foolish as to charge him like raging bulls.

"Aoyama's something of a glass cannon; his quirk is impressive for ranged attacks, but his stomach means he can't use it consistently. The issue is that he tends to do just that and leaves himself open. Uraraka is somewhat flexible in her approach, but without anything to use her quirk on, she has little use at ranged combat, like Aoyama." Aizawa moved on. All Might also recalls those two. Uraraka had been showing good promise, inspired by Kendo, while Aoyama…well, for a boy with arguably the brightest quirk, he certainly wasn't, his grades being the 3rd lowest in class.

"They should go against you, Thirteen. Gravity vs Gravity, just applied in different ways." Thirteen nodded at that.

Then Aizawa got to the two who gave him the most issues, not necessarily because they were troublemakers but because they seemed to struggle with anything that required extensive thinking.

"Ashido and Kaminari academically are the worst performing in class for one reason or the other. They've shown themselves to be too much of followers with little agency or forethought. They're good to have in a fight but display no skills for calm thought or planning."

"So they'll be up against me then?" Nezu guessed, as those two would doubtless think he was an easy mark when he was anything but. When Aizawa nodded, the chimera giggled. "Oh, how wonderful. I'll ensure they'll be forced to use those big, beautiful brains I know they have."

Aizawa moved on from the fact that he had thrown his students at Nezu like mice to a cat to focus on something else that was giving him trouble because his behavior had already generated 12 different complaints filed by Kendo.

"Mineta has one glaring issue we all know of. He lets his hormones do most of the thinking for him, even when against social norms and school rules. So, I would put him against Midnight. He's bound to encounter conventionally attractive villainesses who will use that against him. If he doesn't break out of that now, he'll only hurt himself in the future." He looked toward his friend and former senior, who smiled, though he could see in her eyes she would enjoy whipping the perverted boy into shape.

"And who would be his teammate? As far as I know, Kaminari is the other…randy boy in class A, but he's nowhere near as bad as Mineta." She inquired, as she had been well aware that those two watched her the most out of all the boys. Still, where Kaminari tried to hide it, Mineta was shameless and eager, like a dog with food. It was a miracle he could keep passable grades in her class when half the time, she was sure her words went in one ear, out the other.

"He'll be with Sero, who doesn't have many issues outside his quirk's strength. But really, he's there to keep a leash on his teammate. As annoying as it is, we've all worked with pros that are…less than desirable in terms of personality and world view." They all nodded or muttered less pleasant words about such; not even All Might or Nezu were immune to it.

But where All Might really only had issues with Endeavour, Nezu's experiences had been people questioning his competence, morality, or when they thought he couldn't hear his, for lack of a better word, humanity. Mineta wasn't like that, but he was problematic to work with when you boiled it down. "Sero's exam will test how well he manages that while leveraging his teammate's strengths."

Aizawa looked towards his best friend. "Present Mic, you'll be up against Jiro and Koda. The former has sensitive hearing and, even with her support items, doesn't have the range or power you do. So, she'll be fighting an uphill battle. Like Koda, as your quirk can drown out any calls for larger animals to attack you or aide them, he'll need to get creative as he won't always have conventionally beneficial animals to call on."

When the radio host/pro hero nodded, Aizawa moved down through the list of students.

"Ectoplasm, you'll be up against Asui and Tokoyami."

"Is there any reason I'm their opponent?" Ectoplasm asked since, as far as he could recall, neither student had many issues they needed to work on.

"Your quirk can create numerous opponents for them to fight. Also, the battle area will be exceptionally well-lit, keeping Tokoyami from using his quirk to its greatest potential. As for the other reason, Tokoyami is over-reliant on Dark Shadow for everything, while Asui tends to act as support or get close for kicks." Aizawa explained, allowing the man to put the pieces together.

"I see fostering their capacity to more effectively work to limit the weaknesses of others while bolstering their strengths. Wouldn't Asui end up doing more then?" Ectoplasm asked as many heroes fell into the trap of over-reliance on their quirks. Yes, they wouldn't break like support items, nor could they be stolen, but they weren't omni-tools. Sometimes, they'll just not be a good fit for the situation.

At this point, you needed to adapt or, in this situation, know how to rely on your teammates while not getting in the way.

"Depends on how they handle themselves," Aizawa replied.

"Power Loader, you'll be with Ojiro and Iida." He looked towards Power Loader, the man sitting with them for the meeting despite not handling any hero course-related stuff.

"Say no more. I can already think of ways to test the martial artist and speedster." The man replied as it had been a while since he got to grade heroes. It'll be fun as he could see how well they could tackle problems from multiple angles like he taught his students in support.

"Hagakure is exceptional at stealth, so surprise there, but she's the weakest of the girls in class. Shoji is the opposite, as he's most likely the strongest of the boys, baring Sato when using his quirk. However, his side makes it impossible for him to sneak up." Aizawa continued.

"Snipe, I'll leave them to you." He looked towards their resident gunslinger, who tipped his hat to him. It would be hard fighting someone he couldn't see, but he had handled threats in the dead of night.

"Which only leaves Kendo and Bakugo. You have anyone in mind for them, Eraser?" Vlad spoke up, the man curious about those two.

Aizawa nodded before he looked towards the Symbol of Peace. "All Might."

"Me?" All Might asked, surprised that he would even be considered for this, while others were unsure about the whole idea.

"Doesn't that seem a step too far? They're powerful and have some of the best grades, but what chance do they have against All Might? Even if he has a handicap?" Cementoss asked. All Might was incredibly powerful; even holding back, he could trounce the two. Kendo could perhaps match him, but she would break her bones if she went too far.

Aizawa did see where they came from, but he had his reasons. "Bakugo is similar to Todoroki, but he's shown the ability to think on his feet and quickly change from overwhelming force from a distance to weaker, more precise action up close. But, he's by far the worst when it comes to co-ops, and he seems to resent Kendo for upstaging his delusions of grandeur."

All Might and the rest recalled how Bakugo and Kendo got into a pointless fight in their first hero class and what it led to. In classes afterward, Bakugo showed little remorse; if anything, he seemed to want a rematch. The festival seemingly only supercharged his worst traits. Not taking first in any events, as he no doubt envisioned, only fueled the flames.

Midnight could even add that she heard him muttering about how Kendo saw him as weak because, in the finals, she didn't fight him with the same force as Todoroki and Midoriya. This was a confusing sentiment when he should know that if she had, she could have killed him, but alas, boys tended to think with their second heads or their points of pride.

"Kendo is practically the best in class. She might not have the top grades academically, but she has shown the most capacity to grow, and it reflects. However, she's your favorite, All Might, and most of the class already knows that." All Might looked a little embarrassed by that, as it seemed like he and Kendo weren't as good at hiding it as they hoped. "Including Bakugo, who only took that as an insult."

"They were put together because of how poorly they would work together. More than anything, their test is to try and reach a point where whatever issues they have won't get in the way of their hero work. Kendo needs to handle having an overly aggressive and temperamental co-worker, while Bakugo needs to get over himself. If they can't fail." Aizawa stated that he was getting sick of the tension in his class between these two. If they wouldn't resolve it under his gaze, perhaps the threat of being pummelled into the ground and failing would do it.

'Harsh, Aizawa. But something I would expect from you.' All Might thought, though, he didn't disagree with it. Young Kendo had mentioned several times that she tried to mend things with Bakugo. Still, the boy had an ego the size of Mt. Lady, and her scoring better than him in the entrance exam poisoned the idea of the two being friends. Her refusal to kowtow to his whims made it harder, which made the number one wonder what sort of upbringing the boy had to have such a warped worldview.

"Are there any concerns or suggestions about those match-ups?" Nezu asked, and when none came, he turned things over. "All right then, let's move on to class B. Vlad, do you have any ideas?"

"Yes, sir." Vlad stood up to explain his choices. "First off, I'll handle Kodai and Bondo's training. Both are far from expressive and tend to be quiet. Bondo's quirk might be challenging, but he's displayed no 2nd moves should that fail."

Vlad then turned towards Cementoss. "Cementoss, Tetsutetsu has similar strengths but, most importantly, weaknesses as Kirishima. You'll be handling him along with Kaibara, whose drill quirk lacks the power to pierce their defenses."

"Understood." He nodded, as perhaps this team-up would be more likely to back up and try a different angle of attack if only one of them could try to smash through.

"Thirteen, you'll handle Tokage and Rin. They have good ranged quirks, but against someone with a quirk like yours, they'll be fighting an uphill battle from the start. They need to find ways to react to and counter someone whose they can't just strike from afar." Vlad explained.

"I can't say I'll enjoy sucking up pieces of a student." Thirteen sighed, as the girl could regenerate lost limbs and didn't seem bothered too much when she had to, but Thirteen focused on rescue to not harm others.

"Principal Nezu, if you can, I'd like you to handle Kuroiro and Kamakiri. The former's quirk is exceptionally useful in traveling through tight spaces and getting the surprise on others. However, he can still be predictable and overly reliant on it. Kamakiri is also incredibly confrontational and needs to learn to tone it back." Vlad directed his attention to Nezu.

"You can rest easy. I'll ensure they learn the error of their ways or fail and then learn it, whichever comes first." The principal would need to change his plans for them, but not by much. He would also need to gather some supplies.

With that explained, the man turned to Ectoplasm, a frown on his face. "Ectoplasm, you might just have the hardest two to handle. Midoriya and Komori."

Midnight could agree with that assessment. "Yes, Midoriya isn't like others. His grades academically aren't the best, but he's no slouch. In and anything physical, he excels with little competition."

"It wouldn't work to set him against All Might as he's not stubborn enough that retreat wouldn't be a factor, nor would any of his classmates be unwilling to listen to him as he's gained their respect since the year began," Aizawa added. If Midoriya had been in his class, he would have done that and paired him with Bakugo, as he had issues with him as well, but Bakugo was an outlier.

"Then what am I testing them for?" Ectoplasm asked as if he had to guess. Midoriya's issue was that he was too confident in his abilities. Still, his match with Kendo seemed to fix part of that issue.

"How well he works with others. Komori's quirk isn't the strongest in most cases, and outside respect, she and him aren't all that close. Your match-up will resemble what you'll handle with Tokoyami and Asui." Vlad explained that the sort of exam they were planning didn't have that much to challenge Midoriya as a person, so they'll focus on his teamwork with an unfamiliar partner.

"That's doable," Ectoplasm noted as Vlad turned towards All Might.

"Moving on, All Might…"

"Now, let's announce the teams and who their foes will be!" Nezu clapped before Vlad held up a little board with such matches. In place of names, they had cute little drawings of the teachers and the students that made them look like they came out of Animal Crossing.

First Match: Vlad King vs. Kodai Yui and Bondo Kojiro

Second Match: Present Mic vs Shoda Nirengeki and Yanagi Reiko

Third Match: Sniper vs. Fukidashi Manga and Shishida Jurota

Fourth Match: Ectoplasm vs Midoriya Izuku and Komori Kinoko

Fifth Match: Cementoss vs Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu and Sen Kaibara

Sixth Match: Nezu vs Kuroiro Shihai and Kamakiri Togaru

Seventh Match: Power Loader vs. Tsunotori Pony and Honenuki Juzo

Eighth Match: Thirteen vs. Tokage Setsuna and Rin Hiryu

Ninth Match: Midnight vs Monoma Neito and Awase Yosetsu

"Wait, that's only 18th students," Tsuburaba asked as he didn't see his picture anywhere, and it wasn't like he could mistake his for someone else's.

Shiozaki raised her hand. "Pardon, but who would we be up against? Are we to wait till it's over so one of you can be our opponent?"

"Oh no, you're not going up against one of us," Midnight's smile set off alarms in their heads as she pointed a perfectly manicured finger toward the sky. "It'll be him."

Midoriya stretched out his field of awareness as far as it could go as a figure emerged at the top of the building, a familiar laugh ringing through the air. "No way…" That figure continued to laugh as she jumped down, landing with a thud before them before they stood to their full height, towering over all of them.

"I am here!" All Might's declared, but for once, not one of them felt relief, only dread and pity for their two classmates who would face him. "And I'll be your foe, students!"

"A-a-All Might? How the hell-Ow!" Tsuburaba yelped as Shiozaki's vine clapped him upside his head for cursing within earshot of her. Turning to her, he remained in disbelief. "Come on, Shiozaki, if there's ever a free pass, this would be it! We're going against the literal strongest man on the planet!"

"I'm sure they wouldn't give us a task that was impossible to achieve." She might have said that, but most of them didn't think she believed it.

"She's quite right, Tsuburaba, else there'll be no way for half of you to pass this," Nezu spoke up; as for as fun as it was to mess with them if they were too demoralized, their performance would suffer. "The time limit for your exams will be 30 minutes. Your goal is to achieve one of two objectives: Either have one or both members of your teams escape from the stage or put one of these handcuffs on your opponent!" He held up a pair of those same handcuffs.

"So, we either run or fight, but is that first part really what a hero would do?" Shoda asked, who had ever heard of a hero fleeing a threat?

"It sounds cowardly, but part of the job is knowing your limits. Think of the escape option as getting away with valuable information on your teachers to pass on pros that could have a better chance at defeating us." Midnight explained, suspecting she knew what he was thinking, and while it was rare and seldom talked about, it wasn't like pros weren't allowed that option.

"If I were you, I would pick the escape option as you're not going up against mooks or each other. You're getting in the ring with us, and the difference between us isn't funny!" Present Mic added with his typical style.

"But…isn't Power Loader the support teacher? How dangerous can he be?" Tsunotori asked, to which Honenuki only sighed, his hand going to cover his face.

"You've gone and jinxed us, Tsunotori. Look at him; that's the smile of someone who doesn't forget." He pointed toward the support teacher, whose face was also hidden by his helmet, but that didn't hide the wide smile he had on his face. One that resembled the sort Hatsume would get as no doubt ideas on making Pony eat those words formed in his head.

"Still, while this is an exam, please take it as seriously as you would any of the threats you could have encountered while on your internships." Thirteen reminded them that this was meant to be an exam, so she hoped they'd approach it with the respect it deserved.

"While running is an option, it shouldn't be your first option. Weigh the situation, your opponent, your environment, and yourselves carefully to make the best decision possible." Snipe advised.

"Midoriya," Vlad spoke, directing attention to Midoriya. "You'll know this better than the rest, thanks to Hosu. Am I wrong?" Midoriya frowned at having the spot on him and the remainder of that entire incident, which rang a bit too close to home to him, especially with how much of the city ended up on fire.

"No, sir. There were plenty of times I either had to step in or step back and sometimes, I didn't know which to do either." While Kendo had rushed off, he had worked with the heroes on the scene to handle things the best they could. Endeavour had arrived, but it wasn't like the man could do everything. Midoriya found himself going from one task to another without rest or explanation. He was just told 'go there' or 'do that,' and he did so, trusting that the heroes knew better.

"That's fine. You're a first-year student, and your instincts haven't had the chance to be refined. This exam will help all of you develop those instincts," Cementoss told him, giving the boy an encouraging smile.

"Of course, I can bet most of you still think of running, right? Well, that would be the best choice, as you're not at a point where you can fight on our level!" All Might's merry laugh made his admittedly factual statement all the more insulting. Midoriya wouldn't lie and say he didn't want to prove the man wrong, even if it would end poorly for him.

"That's why we had the support course whip up some tools just for this," All Might said, pulling out something and holding it out for them. "Behold!"

"Ultra-compressed weights, baby!" Present Mic slid over to him, presenting the items in Al Might's hands like they were a prize on some game show. Though they didn't look all that impressive, being bands with some extra slabs of what must be the weights attached to him.

"Each of us will put on about half our body weight. That will slow us down and force us to burn more energy to move like you typically would." All Might explained as the teachers each pulled out their own and casually put them on, even Midnight with the vixen proving not for the first time she wasn't just a sex symbol as half her weight hardly seemed to phase her. "There was a competition to decide on the design, and young Hatsume came out on top!"

"Wasn't she on Kendo's team?" Kaibara asked, trying to recall if that was true.

"Yeah, she was. Their chariot was filled to the brim with gadgets." Honenuki replied as he recalled hearing the support girl call her creations 'babies' more than once during the event. She even made a pretty big showing when she left lunch early to work on them since she wasn't in the finals and had no interest in watching them when she, in her words, 'could be making tons of babies.'

Odd girl, but what was a little odd?

"So, the weights are there to make the prospect of fighting you more viable, so we all don't just high tail it and run?" Tokage asked, and when Snipe nodded, she mused out loud. "Well, that'll make things interesting."

"It'll be easy to fight against Nezu." Kamakiri looked eager for this, looking down at the principal, who matched his arrogance with confidence and something darker.

"Oh, you'll think that wouldn't you?" Midoriya instinctively knew that Kamakiri, like Tsunotori, would regret his words, but that was a lesson he would probably need to learn the hard way.

"Enough talk. Each team will take the practical on pre-selected stages, each different from the last. The same rules apply: keep collateral to a minimum, don't think we won't dock points if you're reckless." Vlad told them as the teachers turned to walk inside to get ready.

"Kodai, Bondo, you two should get ready. Your match starts in 5 minutes. The rest of you, can you head to the observation room or wait for your exams in their waiting areas? The signs inside will point you where you need to go." With that said, Vlad will join the rest of the staff in the final prep for their exams.

"Tetsutetsu, we should talk strategy for this." Kaibara approached his partner for the exams.

"Who needs a plan when we can always smash our way through?" Tetsutetsu asked, to which Kaibara could only sigh.

"For crying out loud…" As he tried to get his teammate to think about things, the rest were moving, and Midoriya placed a hand on Komori's shoulder, drawing her attention.

"Komori, we should do the same. But first, let's talk about our powers to better understand what we're working with." Midoriya suggested, with Kuroiro looking despondent as Komori agreed to go with Midoriya. Why couldn't he be paired with her? Kamakiri dragged his teammate off so they could also plan things, leaving the rest to follow to continue to debate their actions moving forward.

"Let's head to the observation room first. We can better plan if we know how the teachers will attack us." Tokage suggested that, like the teachers said, they could beat them easily if they wanted, but also if they fought them like they would villains, so who were they going to tackle this?

"Sounds like a plan," Rin replied, as he had similar thoughts. For something like this, even just a small piece of information could be the difference between a passing grade and being forced to attend summer school.

This is late as is, as I didn't want to cut it sooner, so I'll leave things here. The next chapter will cover the first three matches if I can, and then in the next, we'll get Midoriya's match. I'm trying not to rush, though, as I do have plans for I-island, as I often do in my stuff. I try to work the movies into the story as they're canon and offer unique spots for the story.

The next chapter will be out on February 14th

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