Chapter 9: Battle Trials, Part 2
Momo wished Midoriya had had more time to tell her about Bakugo.
She had a few guesses on the type of things he wanted to tell her—Bakugo had attempted to assault Midoriya for absolutely no good reason yesterday, despite being aware that a teacher was watching—but it still would've been nice to hear his full insights. He clearly knew the explosive blonde very well.
Still, pro heroes had to take on dangerous individuals with little to no knowledge of them all the time, she reminded herself. She would just have to deal with a less than full accounting of Bakugo.
"So, any ideas on how you want to handle this?" she asked her teammate as the two approached the building.
Ojiro shook his head. "You're the recommended student. I'll follow your lead."
Momo frowned. "That doesn't mean your input is less valid than mine."
He shrugged. "Okay, but I don't really have any input," he said. "Kind of difficult to when we only met everyone yesterday. Frankly, it seems too early for us to be doing this sort of exercise."
Momo wasn't certain she agreed with that, though debates about the curriculum would have to wait for another time.
"It's a shame that we ended up on the hero team, so I can't fill the building with traps like Midoriya did," she mused aloud.
Ojiro nodded. "Agreed, but we've got to play the hand we've been dealt," he said. "Personally, I'd just go for a straightforward assault myself and adapt as necessary."
Momo hummed thoughtfully. Given the time limit and their Quirks, she supposed they didn't have too many options. Still, she was loathe to go in with "just attack head on" as their only plan.
"Bakugo doesn't strike me as the sort who has time for niceties like patience or cooperating with team mates," she said, recalling how he'd asked if he could just win by "destroying" the opposing team when All Might had first explained the exercise. "I think he'll come looking for us and leaving Iida to guard the bomb."
"That gives us an advantage, then," Ojiro said. "We can double team Bakugo and then Iida."
"Not if we use up nearly all our time capturing Bakugo," she countered. "Assuming my intuition about how Bakugo will approach this is correct, I think it will be better if you went ahead and found the bomb while I deal with him."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Ojiro asked, frowning. "Bakugo's clearly no slouch."
"Neither am I," Momo said, doing her best to sound confident and ignore the fact that she'd never been in a real fight in her life before. "It's a risk, but I think it's one that's worth taking. If I can capture Bakugo, we can work together to secure the bomb. If I fail or the result is a stalemate, you can make an attempt at getting to the bomb on your own."
"All right," Ojiro said. "If you feel up to it, then I'm fine with this plan."
Momo nodded, hoping that she hadn't just made a terrible mistake.
"Time starts now!" All Might announced.
The two of them went into the building, moving as briskly as they dared. Neither of their opponents had a Quirk that was particularly conducive to setting traps, and she was very confident that Bakugo would view doing such as cowardly, or some such nonsense. She wouldn't put it past Iida, but with a ticking clock to worry about they couldn't afford to be overly cautious.
They hadn't been inside the building for two minutes when they heard a series of loud pops rapidly approaching them. Momo gave Ojiro a look, and the tailed boy nodded.
Bakugo rounded a corner a moment later, an absolutely feral grin on his face.
Momo knew it was unkind and unwise to judge people based off of appearances and not very much knowledge of them, but in that moment, she stronglysuspected that the blonde teen wanted to be a hero mainly so he'd literally have license to attack other people with his Quirk.
Ojiro didn't waste any time in making a retreat, giving her one more brief nod before rushing off down one of the adjacent hallways.
"You think you can take me one on one, Ponytail?" the explosive student demanded.
Momo scowled. The impromptu nickname, if something so uncreative could even be called as much, didn't sit right with her, mostly because of the contempt that dripped from her opponent's tone when he used it.
"It's a calculated risk," she replied, quickly forming a bo staff.
"It's a stupid decision," Bakugo scoffed. "Don't think I'll go easy on you because you're a girl."
"You'd better not."
With a chuckle, he launched himself forwards, fist flying in a massive right hook. Momo retaliated with her staff, intending to hit him before he could touch her, but an explosion erupted from his other hand, changing his trajectory at the last moment. He just avoided the arc of her swing, altering his own attack so it connected.
"Ah!" she cried out in pain as his fist impacted against her side and she went flying, an explosion adding to the power of the attack.
I think I understand what Midoriya was trying to warn me about now, she thought, pressing a hand to the throbbing pain in her side, even as she scrambled back to her feet.
Despite the pain, and his uncouth attitude, part of her had to admire the sheer skill he displayed when using his Quirk.
"Prissy bitch," Bakugo sneered. "I'll bet you think that that getting good grades or whatever means you know shit about the world. Well guess what? You're just another useless extra."
He launched himself at her again, propelling himself forward with his explosions and launching a savage kick directly at her head, forcing Momo to retreat a couple of steps to avoid the strike. He immediately followed up with another punch, not letting up for even an instant. It was all Momo could do to keep him at bay with her staff. She knew that it would only take a few more hits like the one he'd opened with to immobilize her.
Not good, she thought. I can't just fight defensively, not if I want to win this!
"What's the matter, Ponytail?" he taunted. "Realizing that a real fight is more than you bargained for?"
"Just trying to get a feel for how you approach combat," she countered, before using her staff to vault over to him, intending to hit with a kick of her own.
"Dumbass!" he roared, hands popping and smoking as he moved to intercept her.
Then another small explosion burst forth, changing her course just a little bit and causing him to miss. Coming down for a graceful landing, Momo lashed out with her staff, catching him in the abdomen with the butt of the weapon and then bashing him across the back when he doubled over from the first blow. He staggered backwards out of her range before a third blow could land, cursing loudly.
"What the fuck, Ponytail?!" he snarled. "That looked like…"
"Your Quirk? Indeed," Momo agreed. "Midroyia approached me yesterday, since he believed I could help him use his Quirk more intelligently. In return, he did an analysis of my own and pointed out that I could use it to imitate a surprising number of otherQuirks. Most of them would require information from the Quirk holders themselves, but he knows yourQuirk so well that he was able to provide me with everything I need to know."
She held up her free hand, the pinkish glow of Creation briefly appearing in her upturned palm as she made a small portion of the nitroglycerin-like substance his Quirk produced. A tiny amount of a chemical that reacted with air was all it took to ignite it, and a fireball briefly sprang to life in her hand to punctuate her point.
It stung less than she would've expected. She had no doubt that she didn't have nearly the resistance to the explosions that Bakugo himself did, but it seemed that her Quirk offered her at least some degree of protection from her own creations. Good to know.
"Bitch!" Bakugo snarled, lunging at her again.
Momo retreated a step, this time making colorful streamers erupt out of one her thighs. The thin reams of paper flew directly into Bakugo's face, momentarily blinding him, and she took the chance to strike with an open palm, fire and smoke erupting at she made contact with his shoulder, causing him to howl in pain and fury.
The explosive blonde redoubled his attack, but it was clear that having a facsimile of his own Quirk turned against him, or perhaps just his own burning rage, had thrown him off his game.
He has much more practice at this than I do, she thought as she used a combination of an explosion and another staff grown from her upper arm to push herself out of the path of one of his attacks. But that's not helping him as much as it should here. He's not used to doing this in such a cramped space.
"You were asking me if I was taken off guard by a real fight?" Momo asked. She was panting, but if her muscles were crying out in protest, the adrenaline was preventing her from feeling it. "What about you? Unaccustomed to fighting someone who actually hits back?"
He growled wordlessly and launched himself at her. She dodged the initial blow, quickly realizing that it was a feint. He altered his course with another explosion, swinging his fists.
Momo managed to dodge well enough that he merely grazed her with the blow. She hissed as the flames of the explosion licked at her, but aside from some pain, she didn't think he'd done much other than blacken a portion of her already damaged costume.
She detonated another couple of explosions, filling his field of view with sickly sweet-smelling smoke, then retaliated with three sharp jabs from her staff.
Time to end this, she thought.
Just as the grenade-like gauntlet on Bakugo's left arm released a soft "ping!" sound, and her opponent's feral grin from before returned.
"I guess the shitty little stalker told you this already, but my palms excrete something like nitroglycerin instead of normal sweat," he said, holding an arm up. "What he probably didn't know is that, assuming the support company honored my request, this gauntlet's been storing up all the excess fluid the entire time we've been fighting."
Momo's eyes widened.
"Bakugo, stop this!" All Might demanded over their earpieces. Momo had nearly forgotten that a teacher was viewing and listening into this. "Are you trying to kill her?!"
"She won't die so long as she dodges!" he yelled, pulling the pin on his gauntlet.
Momo reacted without thinking, and it was probably the only thing that saved her. Firing off a pair of explosions powerful enough to burn her palms, she launched herself to the ceiling. Creating a couple of climbing picks, she dug into the plaster and held on for dear life as a column of white-hot flame filled the hallway just beneath her, the heat enough to make her wince.
Then, it was over. Momo tumbled painfully to the floor.
"Still think I can only beat down useless wimps?" Bakugo asked, looking down at her with contempt.
"Enough!" All Might barked. "This match is over! The villain team is disqualified!"
Momo hated how relieved she was at that. Almost as much as hated how she couldn't stop shaking.
The mood in the observation room was sober when the four students returned, to put it mildly. Most of the students present were more than a little shocked at having witnessed such unrestrained violence during a training exercise, and their first training exercise at that.
All Might awarded the title of MVP to Yaoyorozu, praising her creative use of her Quirk, which wasn't exactly a difficult call, considering Ojiro and Iida hadn't really done much and Bakugo's actions had gotten his team disqualified. That done, he briefly lectured the class on the need for restraint during real hero work and the importance of heroes not letting their emotions running away with them in the field, pointing out that extensive property damage or even loss of life could easily occur otherwise.
Still, it was obvious that he wasn't exactly prepared for this situation, the famous Symbol of Peace projecting significantly less confidence than he did normally. He seemed particularly awkward and unsure about what to do with a completely unrepentant Bakugo, saying only that he'd be discussing the matter with their homeroom teacher.
In a way, it made All Might seem a lot more human and less like the invincible demigod he often appeared to be, Izuku mused, as the huge man rapidly looked through the little notecards he'd prepared for himself, obviously searching for an answer that wasn't there. It only made sense, Izuku supposed; someone could be the best in the world at one thing and a complete rookie at another.
It was probably a good thing to remember that even the number one hero didn't always know what to do or have all the answers. He probably would've been a lot less devastated after All Might had told him he couldn't be a hero if he'd kept that in mind, Izuku thought.
Eventually All Might declared that they had to move on and sent the next two teams off to run the exercise.
They'd have to use a different building; after Bakugo's attack, they couldn't be sure that the first one was structurally sound.
With the teacher and the rest of the class now paying attention to the next matchup, Izuku took the opportunity to make his way towards Yaoyorozu.
Talking to a girl—especially one as attractive as Yaoyorozu, and especially when she was in her revealing and now somewhat damaged hero costume—was still pretty intimidating, but she looked so scared and shaken at that moment that he never thought about not speaking to her.
"Are you okay?" he asked quietly.
"I'm fine," Yaoyorozu said, though it was clear she was anything but.
"Hey," Jirou broke in. "You don't need to be all strong right now."
Uraraka had also come over. "We won't think you're weak or anything," she agreed. "What you did back there was super impressive. And it's okay if you're not okay right now."
Izuku was enormously grateful to the other two girls for jumping in to offer reassurance as well. "You did just go through something really terrifying," he said.
He almost added that he understood what it was like to be facing down the full brunt of Kacchan's fury but then stopped himself. The last thing he wanted to do was to make this about himself.
Yaoyorozu nodded, looking a bit more composed and not a little relieved. "Thank you, everyone. I am…" she hesitated for a moment. "I will be fine."
"And you'll go to see Recovery Girl after class to get those burns taken care of," Jirou added.
Yaoyorozu's lips quirked with the ghost of a smirk. "That as well."
"Don't you think some form of punishment for that stunt is in order, Eraserhead?"
"He was a teenager put into a simulated combat scenario," Aizawa said. "The whole thing was just asking for trouble. You shouldn't have been the one running that exercise to begin with."
The symbol of peace held back a sigh. His entire first day as a teacher had been more difficult than expected. Thankfully there had been no more incidents with the battle trials following Bakugo's use of his gauntlet, but that had frankly been enough. On top of that, his time limit had forced him to literally sprint away from his students immediately after class. Lacking an outfit other than his hero costume, he'd had no choice to hide out in one of the teacher's lounges and rest until he regained some use of his muscle form.
"Perhaps not," All Might allowed. "But it's too late to go back and undo that. But it's not too late to address the fact that young Bakugo ignored a direct order from a teacher and unleashed a potentially lethal attack at another student."
He'd sought out Eraserhead once he regained some freedom of movement, quickly finding the man cocooned in his sleeping bag in another, more central teacher's lounge.
So far the conversation wasn't proceeding like he'd expected.
"I've viewed the recording. It's clear he didn't intend to kill her," Aizawa said. "Frankly, it would've required her to do essentially nothing to save herself, especially considering how versatile her Quirk is."
"Some rookie heroes have been known to freeze up in combat, never mind students," All Might pointed out.
"Any hero student who couldn't act to save herself couldn't be trusted to act to save others and would therefore have zero potential," Aizawa retorted.
There were a lot of things that All Might found uncomfortable about trying to be a teacher, something he knew very little about, especially after spending so many years as a pro hero, a career he'd long known virtually all the ins and outs of. He decided that chief among them was that he wasn't sure which of them was being the unreasonable one here.
"For someone who was throwing around threats to expel students on day one because you felt they weren't taking the course seriously enough, your reaction to this is surprisingly lenient," he remarked.
"I work to weed out students with no potential, which doesn't include Bakugo," Eraserhead replied.
The number one hero decided to try a different tact.
"You know, young Yaoyorozu's parents could make things very difficult for UA over this, and they're more likely to do so if the student who did this receives no punishment," he pointed out.
All Might could tell immediately that he'd said the wrong thing.
"And here I thought the symbol of peace was above worrying about the politics of a situation," Aizawa said. "I'm not going to alter my treatment of a student because another's parents are wealthy and well connected. Good day." He said, gathering up his sleeping bag and departing the lounge.
"Deku, you want to tell me what the fuck that was about?"
Izuku held back a sigh as the angry shout halted his departure from the school. He knew what was coming, and under other circumstances, he would've been genuinely apologetic. He'd known that Kacchan wouldn't be happy about the discovery that someone could imitate his Quirk, and that he'd like it even less knowing that it was the result of Deku sharing his "stalker" knowledge, but he'd gone ahead and given Yaoyorozu all the information she'd need to do it anyway.
He hadn't been able to resist after she'd been so nice and so eager to help him just because he was a fellow hero student and had cheerfully given him permission to do an analysis of her Quirk.
And maybe he'd hoped to impress a pretty girl for once in his life, was that so wrong?
Okay, silly question. So far as Kacchan's concerned, it definitely is, he thought.
"What do you mean, Kacchan?" he asked as mildly as he could.
"Don't you play dumb with me, idiot!" the explosive blonde snarled, totally missing the irony of his own statement. "You know what I'm talking about! You helped Ponytail rip off my Quirk!"
"I asked her for help with mine, and in return I gave her an analysis of her own," he said evenly.
"You told her how to imitate mine!" Kacchan raged. "You used your goddamn creeper knowledge to help someone else imitate my Quirk!"
"She didn't think it was creepy," Izuku retorted. "And it did help her, which was what I was trying to do. Besides, it's not like the way your Quirk works is so secret. Pretty much everyone in Aldera knew the basics by the time we'd finished middle school. She's smart, she could've figured it out on her own pretty quickly."
If anything, the explosive teen only looked more furious at this reasonable argument.
"You don't get it, you useless nerd!" Kacchan growled. "You helped her rip-off my Quirk! What is wrong with you?"
"Me? I'm not the one who fired a bazooka at a classmate in a training exercise!" he snapped.
The decade between Kacchan getting his Quirk and Izuku getting his power ring had taught him it was never a good idea to meet the blonde's anger with his own, that Kacchan would just escalate and unleash more fury and violence until he got his way, but he couldn't stop himself this time.
And to his surprise, Izuku found that a small part of him wanted the explosive blonde to turn this into an outright fight.
He could shrug off any attack Kacchan might unleash on him, but attacking Yaoyorozu was a very different matter.
Izuku saw Kacchan's eyes flash and knew that an attack was coming.
"Young Bakugo!" All Might swooped out of nowhere, placing a massive hand on Kacchan's shoulder. "I realize that it may have been disturbing, to essentially have had your own Quirk turned against you in the battle trial! However, heroes must be prepared for all manner of surprises! You have the makings of a pro, young man, but you need to learn to control—"
"Get off of me, All Might," Kacchan interrupted in a low growl.
The number one hero looked taken aback, probably unaccustomed to people reacting that way to him.
"I'll become a hero who surpasses even you," he vowed, before turning and stalking off, not even noticing that Izuku had already taken the opportunity to quietly depart the scene.
Chapter 10: Election
The second full day of classes at UA saw a huge crowd of reporters milling outside of the school, looking to find any piece of information they could about All Might. Izuku stammered out something incomprehensible when one of them asked him a question and then scurried inside.
I'll probably need to work on that at some point. Seems like most heroes are always talking to reporters, unless they're underground pros, Izuku mused as he made his way to the main building, face burning.
He very briefly considered going the underground route, then discarded the idea. Someone who basically turned into a living nightlight when they raised their defenses would make a terrible underground hero. Also, it would be hard to make people feel safe the same way All Might did if no one knew who he was. That seemed relevant.
Hopefully UA would help prepare them for dealing with the media eventually. For now, he'd just avoid the reporters as best he could, he decided.
He arrived at the classroom only a few minutes before Aizawa did. Everyone quickly sat down at their desks and quieted down, not wanting to invoke the ire of the teacher who'd casually thrown around threats of expulsion on day one.
The perpetually bedraggled looking pro gave a tiny nod of what might've been satisfaction. "Good work with yesterday's battle training," he grunted. "I looked over the recordings. Bakugo, grow up already and quit wasting your talent."
The explosive teen scowled darkly but didn't argue. "Yeah."
"Now, onto other business," Aizawa said. "Today, you're going to have to pick a class representative."
There was a brief moment of stunned silence as the class processed how utterly normal that was, then everyone was volunteering all at once, half the class shouting as they tried to convince the others that they were the right choice for the job.
Izuku smiled even as he shyly raised his hand. In normal schools, being the class rep just involved some extra work and thus wasn't a coveted job. However, for hero students, the role meant getting leadership experience before even graduating, which could be a big boost for a freshly licensed hero looking for a job at an agency somewhere.
"Enough!" Iida barked, abruptly quieting the others. "The only proper way to pick the person who will occupy this sacred office is democratically! We must choose our leader via an election!"
"But we haven't known each other long enough to build any trust," Asui pointed out.
"And won't everyone just vote for themselves, anyway?" Jirou asked.
"Which is why anyone who's able to earn multiple votes will definitely be deserving of the post!" Iida countered.
Jirou looked like she wanted to ask what they'd do if everyone got only one vote, but Iida was already asking Aizawa if he was okay with this method of selecting the class rep. Aizawa, who was already in his sleeping bag, just grunted out, "I don't care so long as you decide by the end of homeroom."
With no better prospects for settling the matter by the deadline their teacher had imposed, they all agreed, or at least didn't protest as Iida handed out slips of notebook paper to serve as ballots.
Izuku almost voted for himself without thinking about it, then changed his mind, writing another name instead. He wasn't really sure if he was cut out for any kind of leadership position anyway.
Once everyone had filled out their makeshift ballots, Iida collected them with far more formality than the election of a class representative really warranted, and minutes later, a full list of how many votes everyone received was on the board.
I got two votes?! Izuku thought, shocked.
Normally it wouldn't have been a very impressive tally, but in this case it put him firmly in second, behind only Yaoyorozu, with three votes, and in front of nearly everyone else, with only one, or zero in a few instances.
"Who the hell would vote for Deku?!" Kacchan snarled angrily, having received only one vote like most of the rest of the class, presumably his own.
Iida, meanwhile, had gotten zero votes, which was more than a little surprising, considering how enthusiastic he'd been about the role himself.
"Fine," Aizawa sighed, emerging from his sleeping bag. "Yaoyorozu is your class rep, and Midoriya's the vice rep."
The raven-haired girl smiled brightly. "I promise to do my best as your class representative!"
Izuku was just glad that being the vice rep meant he didn't need to say anything.
Okay, so fate seems to keep shoving me into situations where I'm with the intimidatingly attractive girl. This is fine, Izuku thought.
Tomura had never been a fan of games where you had to avoid the NPCs, the exceptions being the ones where the player was a stealthy predator of some kind, swooping out of the shadows to slay his unsuspecting prey.
That wasn't what today was about, however. Much as he would've liked to have left a trail of disintegrated paparazzi in his wake, he knew he'd completely fail in his mission if he drew any attention before he had his objective in hand.
It was way too early to be drawing aggro from the heroes.
Still, he mused as he carefully made his way toward the UA barrier, he could tolerate some stupid stealth segments before slaughtering all the heroes and shaking this shitty society to its very core.
After all, lots of great games had annoying segments you just needed to tolerate before you got to the really fun parts.
The cafeteria was a bustle of activity and noise, quite unlike the small, elite private schools that Momo had attended up until now. Privately, she had to admit she found it a bit jarring—it was surprisingly easy to forget that there were multiple tracks aside from the hero course—but she was confident she'd grow accustomed to it soon enough.
Also, it certainly wasn't the case that everything that was different at UA was bad. She'd never had such a large crowd of acquaintances to eat lunch with before!
It felt a bit too early to call them all her friends just yet, but she was feeling optimistic about it. Indeed, she didn't think it was too presumptuous to think of both Jirou and Midoriya as such already. Ochako and Iida clearly were both only present because Midoriya was, so it felt a bit too early to think of them as friends yet, but it was entirely possible they would get there eventually.
"Congratulations on getting elected, Yaomomo," Uraraka said between enthusiastic bites of rice.
Momo smiled at the nickname. "Thank you."
Midoriya nodded. "Yes, congratulations," he said. "I have to admit, I'm a little glad I'm only the vice rep. Even though I volunteered for the role, I was worried about whether or not I could really do it."
"I think you'd have done fine. Not that I believe you're a bad choice of course, Yaoyorozu," Iida added, to which Momo nodded in acknowledgement. The blue haired boy turned back to Midoriya. "Your grit and decisiveness in a pinch make you perfectly suited to lead. That's why I voted for you."
Momo suppressed a smile at the shocked look on Midoriya's face. "So that's why you had zero votes despite wanting the role yourself," she said to Iida, having been wondering about that.
Iida nodded. "Ambition and suitability are different matters," he said. "I humbly made the choice I felt was best."
"A very mature decision, then," Momo said.
"Hang on. I voted for Midori, too," Uraraka said, ignoring the way the freckled boy did a double take at either that information, the nickname, or both. "So who did you vote for, Midoriya?"
"Oh, um," he stammered for a bit before regaining his composure. "I voted for Yaoyorozu."
She blinked. "So, you could've been the class representative if you'd only voted for yourself."
"Yeah, I guess so," Midoriya replied with a shrug, clearly not regretting it.
"May I ask why you voted for Yaoyorozu instead of yourself?" Iida asked, tone carefully polite.
Momo understood that he was afraid of insulting her if he came off like he thought Midoriya had made a mistake, but she wanted to know as well.
"Um, after Mr. Aizawa's assessment test on the first day, I went up to Yaoyorozu and asked if she could help me use my Quirk more intelligently in the future, and she was really eager to help a fellow student," he explained. "She really wanted to see everyone in the class help lift each other up, so I thought she'd make a great class rep. That, and she's really smart."
"Midoriya, that's so nice of you to say!" Yaoyorozu exclaimed, her usually dignified exterior momentarily forgotten.
Midoriya's face turned so red, that with his green mop of hair, he greatly resembled a tomato.
Uraraka grinned, a surprised expression quickly changing to a knowing look. Momo probably would've noticed that, if not for the high pitching wailing that suddenly started sounding from all around them.
"What is that?" Iida shouted over the din.
"It's a level three alert!" a panicked looking upperclassman told him. "It means someone's breached the UA barrier! This is the first time it's happened in my three years here! We need to evacuate!"
"Let's go!" Momo said, rather unnecessarily, considering a great rush for the exits was already underway.
Iida was praising the ability of his fellow UA students to evacuate rapidly, but the attempt of everyone to evacuate all at once was rapidly becoming a dangerous stampede.
The UA barrier seemed impregnable when we went in this morning! Momo thought, even as she struggled to keep her balance in the dangerous press of people. What in the world could've gotten in?
She decided they needed to find out. "Midoriya! See if you can get a look out the windows!" she shouted to her vice rep.
Thankfully, Midoriya didn't hesitate, judging from the flare of emerald light that came from nearby. Also thankfully, he was pretty close to the windows already, so getting a look outside didn't require aggressive use of his Quirk.
"It's the press!" he shouted above the noise.
Her brow crinkled as she wondered how on Earth a bunch of reporters had managed to get past the barrier before discarding the question as unimportant for the moment. Untucking her shirt, she quickly activated her Quirk, forming a megaphone from her abdomen.
"Attention, everyone!" her amplified voice called out, causing several people near her to wince. "It's just the media! Everyone, remain calm!" The effect was nearly immediate. The panicked rush slowed, until everyone was making their way for the exits rapidly, but not so rapidly as to risk trampling their fellow students. Momo breathed a sigh of relief, lowering her megaphone.
From a distance away, Midoriya managed to extract an arm from the press of people long enough to give her a thumbs up, causing her to smile. It looked like she had passed her first test as the class rep.
After the teachers investigated the cause of the alert and ordered the students to return to their respective classrooms, the rest of the day passed normally, and soon enough the final bell signaled the end of classes for the day.
Once Class 1-A was dismissed, Izuku quickly gathered his things up and made his way out of the main school building. A small crowd had gathered by the spot where the barrier had been breached, though the hole had long since been filled in by Cementoss. The new, unpainted concrete clearly marked where the opening had been.
Izuku had only a passing interest in examining the area now; he thought he might've been able to figure something out about the Quirk of the person who did it if he'd been able to take a look at the damage before the repairs, but he had little hope of deducing anything useful now. Still, he used the minor spectacle as an excuse to linger.
He only had to loiter for a few minutes before he spotted Yaoyorozu exiting the building. Izuku immediately jogged towards the raven-haired girl.
"Oh, hello, Midoriya," she greeted him. "I thought you'd already left the campus for the day."
He shook his head. "I wanted to ask you how you're doing."
She smiled. "I'm quite well. The alert was rather alarming, but I'm glad we were able to restore order, and of course I'm very happy about us becoming the class reps. I think we'll work well together."
"Um, yeah, I do, too," he said, feeling some heat rising in his face but managing to push onwards. "But that wasn't what I was talking about, actually. I…saw the look on your face when Mr. Aizawa told Kacchan, er, Bakugo, to grow up and left it at that."
It had been a quick thing. Though he had only known Yaoyorozu for a few days; Izuku definitely got the sense that she rarely lost her composure for very long. Still, he'd seen the brief flicker of surprise and then dismay that had overtaken her expression before she'd schooled her features.
"Oh, that," she said, mood clearly lowering. "Yes, I was rather surprised about that. When All Might said he was going to discuss it with Mr. Aizawa yesterday, I took it as a given that they'd do something."
"All Might tried to have a talk with him after school," Izuku said. "Kacchan…didn't seem very receptive to it, though."
"I'm not surprised," she said flatly. She shook her head. "I expected they'd actually punish him in some way, though. But it seems Mr. Aizawa felt it didn't merit that. Perhaps it wasn't so bad as it seemed to me?" She added in a smaller voice.
"Mr. Aizawa also tells us time is so important and limited that we shouldn't be taking more than ten seconds to quiet down after he comes in. Then he takes a nap during class time," Izuku pointed out.
Yaoyorozu's lips curved in the hint of a smile. "True."
A beat passed in awkward silence. "What did your parents say about it?" he asked.
"I didn't give them the full details," she confessed. "I just told them we did a training exercise and my team won because the opposing team was disqualified."
"…do you think they wouldn't care?" he asked with a sinking feeling.
"No, quite the opposite!" Yaoyorozu was quick to assure him. Seeing his questioning look, she continued. "I went to a private middle school for the children of wealthy parents. I knew several people who liked to throw around their family's influence and the threats of legal action when they didn't immediately get their way, and I never wanted to be like them. I suppose I also feel that, as a hero student, and a recommended student at that, I should be able to deal with this myself."
"The 'student' part is just as important as the 'hero' part," Izuku said gently. "And we just started. I don't think anyone would expect us to be able to handle everything a pro hero could already."
She gave a little hum of acknowledgement. "May I ask you something, Midoriya? If you'd been in my shoes, would you be reporting Bakugo, or just letting it go?"
He grimaced. "I'd let it go," he said reluctantly. "But…"
Izuku trailed off in frustration. It felt like there were a million reasons why he would just shrug and move on, but that she shouldn't have to, yet he couldn't seem to put any of them into words.
"Why do you call him 'Kacchan', if I may ask?" she inquired after he was quiet for a few moments.
"We're…we used to be friends," Izuku answered. Mogo had convinced him to admit that the explosive blonde wasn't his friend anymore, but it still felt strange and a bit sad to him to say it aloud. It was easier than it had been, though, now that he had other friends. "A long time ago, before his Quirk came in. I couldn't pronounce 'Katsuki' back then, so I called him Kacchan instead."
"You've known him for a long time," she noted. "Has he always been like this?"
Izuku shrugged. "More or less. He never gets punished for it, though. Everyone knew he'd be a great hero someday, and none of the teachers wanted to mess that up for him," he answered. "He never did anything as…extreme as yesterday, though. I guess seeing someone copy his Quirk really snapped his brain. I knew he wasn't going to be happy about it, but I didn't think he'd get that mad. I'm sorry about that."
"You have nothing to apologize for," she said firmly. "Bakugo alone is responsible for his actions."
Izuku blinked. On a logical level, he knew she was right, but there had been so many times in the past where Kacchan had hurt him, and the teachers had scolded him for upsetting the hot tempered boy, that the statement felt like a radical one to him.
"Anyway," Yaoyorozu said, "I appreciate you checking on me, though I won't be asking my parents to sue UA. Perhaps it's not the wisest course, but it feels like the one I need to take right now."
"Okay," Izuku nodded. He wasn't happy about it, but he'd be lying if he said he didn't understand it. "If you feel like that's what you need to do."
She nodded. "It is. Hopefully the teachers will be more vigilant when it comes to Bakugo going forwards. And if not, I now have a truly excellent vice rep to help watch my back."
Izuku was pretty sure steam came out of his ears after that.
Chapter 11: USJ, Part 1
"Good morning, everyone," Momo greeted the rest of the class, arriving in the crucial few minutes when she could expect all her fellow students to be present but Aizawa had yet to arrive. "I went to see Ms. Kayama earlier today about something, and while I was there she was able to give me some documents with useful information we all should have. She allowed me to use the copier in one of the offices, so I was able to make enough for all of us."
"The kind of helpful action that's to be expected of a good class representative!" Iida exclaimed. "Truly you were the correct choice for the role!"
"Thank you, Iida," Momo said, caught somewhere between pleasure at the praise and exasperation at the blue haired boy's shouting. "Midoriya, would you please assist me in handing these out?"
"Sure," he agreed, quickly taking half the stack from her and moving to distribute it.
"What is all this stuff?" Sero asked as Midoriya gave him one of the modest stacks of stapled papers.
"Information about the school's alarm system, so we won't be taken by surprise again like yesterday," Momo answered. "As well as information about the various resources that the school provides us, if necessary."
It was really all information that they should've either been told or otherwise received during orientation on the first day but hadn't due to their teacher deciding to instead give them a surprise Quirk assessment test. Momo didn't think it would be very productive to come out and say that, however.
As though summoned by the mere thought of him, their homeroom teacher appeared in the doorway just as Momo and Midoriya finished handing out the papers, stepping out of his bright yellow sleeping bag as he walked in. The perpetually bedraggled looking man eyed the neatly stapled stacks of papers that all his students had suspiciously before seeming to shrug them off as not worth the effort to investigate.
"You're getting quicker about getting to your seats, that's good," he said. "Anyway, today's class is going to be a special one, conducted by myself, All Might, and one other pro hero. Also, we'll be taking a field trip in order to practice rescue training."
That got excited reactions from the class, though Momo was pretty sure she heard Bakugo grumble something about how he'd rather destroy villains than save "extras."
"You have the option to wear either your hero costumes, or, if you feel they wouldn't be conducive to this kind of work, your PE clothes," Aizawa continued. "Either way, get changed and be down by the front entrance in ten minutes."
"All right, everyone, please enter the bus in an orderly fashion," Yaoyorozu told the rest of Class 1-A, exactly ten minutes later.
Izuku took a quick head count as everyone else boarded, reaching the unsurprising conclusion that everyone was present and accounted for. "I'm surprised that we're going on a field trip this early," he remarked as he and Yaoyorozu boarded the bus at last, followed by Mr. Aizawa, who was curling up in his sleeping bag before he'd even collapsed into one of the seats.
"That's UA for you, I suppose," Yaoyorozu replied briskly as the two of them found seats and buckled up.
The bus began to move a moment later, with the students chattering excitedly. It seemed almost unbelievable that, less than a week after starting at UA, they'd be dressed in their hero costumes and heading off to a special facility to practice rescue training, but here they were.
It was like a dream come true, if Izuku said so himself.
"Hey, Midoriya," Asui spoke up. "I generally just say what's on my mind, and I'd like to ask you a question."
"O-Oh, what is it, Asui?" Izuku asked, just stopping himself from reaching out to touch the Green Lantern ring he wore.
"Call me Tsu," she said. "And I wanted to know why Bakugo's always calling you Quirkless when you're clearly not."
Izuku couldn't help himself this time and shot a quick glance in Kacchan's direction, but the explosive blonde wore a bored, annoyed look, rather than an expression that suggested an imminent eruption.
He noticed Jirou and Uraraka looking at him intently, clearly wanting to know the answer themselves. Izuku wondered if they'd been curious about it but had just felt it was rude to directly ask.
Then he realized he'd probably been quiet for too long.
"I, um, got my Quirk late, really late," he explained. "And we've known each other pretty much since we were babies, so for most of our lives I've been 'Quirkless Deku' to him."
"It's really unmanly that anyone ever called you that," Kirishima remarked. "But you're neither of those things now! And I'm sure you weren't useless before."
"Indeed," Yaoyorozu agreed. "Despite what you say, I still believe your Quirk is more versatile than even my own. And I'm sure your analysis skills predate your Quirk awakening."
Izuku blushed ferociously at the praise, getting a giggle from Ashido. "Oh, does someone have a crush?" she asked in a singsong voice.
"Don't make such accusations," Yaoyorozu scolded in her best class rep voice.
The horned girl was completely unfazed by the reprimand. "But it is true, though, Midoriya!" she said to him. "The most popular pro heroes have Quirks that are strong or flashy, and yours is both! Only Todoroki and Bakugo can really hope to compete!"
"I can do way more than compete with that shitty nerd!" Bakugo snarled. "I'll leave him in the dust, just you watch!"
"Bakugo—" Yaoyorozu began, frowning.
"We're here," Aizawa broke in, rising from the floor of the bus as it came to a stop. "Look sharp, everyone."
The group quickly disembarked the bus and headed inside the massive, domed facility.
"Whoa!" the students gasped in awe as they saw the inside, seeing the array of simulated disaster zones. It looked like something out of a movie, or maybe an elaborate theme park.
"Welcome, students," spoke a tall figure in a puffy white hero costume, complete with full head helmet. "To the Unforeseen Simulation Joint! I built this facility myself. Here, you can find simulations of every natural disaster you could possibly imagine."
Uraraka's face lit up. "Oh my gosh, that's the rescue hero Thirteen!" she exclaimed. "She's the best!"
Aizawa stepped forward, and the two UA teachers had a brief, hushed conversation. Izuku noticed Thirteen hold up three fingers, following by the underground pro's expression turning to one of annoyance.
Could it be that All Might already used up all his time for today? He wondered.
Finished with their short discussion, the teachers turned back to their students. "Before we begin today's exercises, I'd just like to say a few things," the rescue hero said, before launching into a brief speech about the dangers of Quirks when used carelessly.
Izuku smiled at the way Uraraka was practically vibrating with excitement at getting to learn from her favorite hero. Honestly, he didn't see why it annoyed so many people when he did this sort of thing.
Maybe it was just way more endearing when a cute girl did it? That seemed entirely plausible, really.
"Warning," the ring abruptly whispered into his mind. "Unidentified spatial portal detected."
Izuku blinked, turning to look at the fountain in the middle of the huge facility just in time to see a hole in reality open up, and a man with a severed hand gripping his face to emerge from it, followed by dozens of other figures, including a giant with an exposed brain.
Well, that can't be good, he thought, bringing up his protective aura even as Aizawa took notice and warned the class to get back.
"What the heck's that?" Kirishima asked. "More robots like from the test?"
"Is this another test?" Mineta asked nervously.
"Don't move," Aizawa ordered the class sternly, pulling down his goggles. "Those are villains!"
For the briefest of moments, Momo suspected the whole thing might be another "logical ruse" like from before. However, the great crowd of villains who emerged forth from the portal, especially the huge figure with the exposed brain, made it abundantly clear that what she was seeing was real.
"Thirteen, get the students to safety!" Aizawa ordered the other pro. "I'll hold them off while you all evacuate!"
"Mr. Aizawa, you can't, your Quirk isn't suited for—!" a certain green haired teen was protesting.
"Midoriya!" she called out.
His green eyes met her darker ones, and she saw a kaleidoscope of emotions run through them with almost shocking clarity, starting with a desperate desire to prevent someone from getting hurt or worse and finally settling on acknowledgement and acceptance that, as vice rep, his place was at her side, helping her get their fellow students to safety.
It felt like they'd had an entire conversation without either of them speaking a word. Momo would've likely thought it was remarkable, if they weren't in an insane, extremely dangerous situation.
Midoriya jogged forward to her side just as Aizawa leaped down the stairs, taking him away from the raised central area of the USJ and toward the cluster of villains and thugs.
"Hurry, everyone, we need to get to safety immediately!" Momo urged the class on.
"I cannot allow that," a deep, surprisingly cultured sounding voice spoke as a wall of inky darkness sprang up from nowhere, blocking the class's escape route.
"Greetings," the darkness coalesced into a humanoid shape with glowing eyes and a metal brace of some sort around the neck area. "We are the League of Villains. Excuse our boldness, but we're here to kill the Symbol of Peace. Do you know where we might find him? We were told he was supposed to be here today."
For a brief moment, no one spoke, too shocked that any villain would so casually proclaim such an audacious goal.
"His schedule was changed then?" the villain asked. "No matter to me. My job remains the same regardless."
His body lost cohesion again, and suddenly most of the class was surrounded by swirling dark miasma.
"You won't get to do anything if I kill you first!" Bakugo roared, hands popping with small explosions as he rushed forward.
"A real man faces enemies head on!" Kirishima bellowed, eagerly joining the explosive teen's charge.
"No!" Momo shouted at the two of them, fearing their wild attack would get them killed.
To their credit, they came surprisingly close to landing their attacks on their foe, something the villain himself was quick to admit. "Hmm, though students you may be, you truly are the cream of the crop," the misty figure said. "Too dangerous to keep you all in one place, to be sure!"
The darkness spread out again, then leaped at them all like a predator lunging at its prey. Momo abruptly felt like she was falling, terror and confusion gripping her before she landed hard on her rear on a rocky surface. The adrenaline kept her from feeling any pain, and she reflexively sprang back to her feet as the mist withdrew like a curtain being pulled aside.
Momo looked around rapidly, almost wildly, taking stock of the situation. She was in a rocky area—probably one intended to simulate mountain rescues, her frantically racing mind concluded—surrounded by a large number of villains. To her immense relief, Midoriya and Jirou had come along for the ride, she noted while creating a bo staff from each thigh, handing the extra one to the other girl.
"Heh, looks like that creepy hand guy was telling the truth about how this was going to go down," chuckled one of the villains, a burly man with horns like those of a ram. "Three hero kiddies presented on a silver platter."
"Stay back!" Momo shouted, brandishing her staff. "I'm warning you!"
Another one of the villains laughed. "You really think you can threaten us? We outnumber you by at least five to one!"
"Count again," Midoriya said.
There was a flash of green light, and then suddenly jade doubles of the other 17 members of class 1-A appeared and charged at the villains, catching them completely by surprise.
A laugh burst out of Momo's mouth before she'd even realized it was bubbling up inside of her, and she lashed out with her staff at the nearest villain, while Jiro plugged her jacks into the speakers built into her costume and started blasting away at their foes.
It was chaos, but considering it easily could've been a slaughter, Momo wasn't about to complain.
"Thank you for evening the odds, Midoriya!" she said as she struck a villain who ventured too close with her bo staff.
The trio of students fought furiously for what seemed like a very long time but was probably only a couple of minutes, trying to subdue the villains or at the very least trying to create a gap that would allow them to escape. Being completely surrounded by villains was far from ideal, to put it mildly.
"Hey, I really don't want to complain, considering how much worse things would be without these holograms here," Jirou said, even as she blasted a villain using one of the speakers built into her costume. "But…these guys don't seem as impressive as the ones you made during Aizawa's test."
Momo belatedly realized that she was correct. Izuku's constructs were displaying none of the skills of their classmates, let alone their Quirks, unlike the constructs he'd made the Quirk Assessment test. Instead, they were acting like so much dumb cannon fodder.
Which was still useful, given the situation, but wasn't exactly ideal.
"I'm not used to controlling so many constructs at once," Midoriya said through clenched teeth.
Either one of the villains happened to overhear them over all the fighting or was smart enough to realize that the emerald hero student was having trouble. "This hero brats' tricks ain't shit! Just charge them and they'll die!"
Several of the other villains obeyed, rushing forwards in a renewed charge with Quirks blazing. Several of Midoriya's constructs were destroyed, though he recreated them a second later, the green figures forming a luminous wall between the villains and the real hero students. Meanwhile, Momo and Jirou furiously attacked the villains who managed to squeeze through.
This situation isn't sustainable. I need to come up with a way to get us out of this! Think, Momo, think!She urged herself, mind racing as her body fought largely on autopilot.
She needed a nonlethal way to take out all the villains, preferably all at once, one that wouldn't harm Midoriya and Jirou, but what could she make that would…?
It suddenly came to her, and Momo would've smacked herself in the forehead if she'd had a free hand; she couldn't believe how dense she had been not to think of it immediately.
She managed to catch Midoriya's eye and, not wanting to say anything to tip off their foes, reached up and covered her mouth and nose with a hand, giving him a meaningful look. She watched as her fellow student's currently glowing eyes briefly filled with confusion before widening with comprehension.
Good, she thought, certain that Midoriya had taken her meaning. Now she just had to warn Jirou and—
"Ugh!" the other girl hissed in pain, clutching her shoulder as an attack from one of the villain's Quirks grazed her.
Never mind, Momo thought, deciding she didn't have time to wait another moment.
She activated her Quirk, the glow of Creation appearing over her face, and a moment later she was wearing an oxygen mask. That done, she used Creation again, the familiar purplish light now covering every exposed portion of her skin, even though she tapped into her fat reserves far less than she had for many other things.
Pink gas began to billow out from her body, rapidly spreading in all directions.
"Smoke screen!" one of the villains shouted, and Momo smiled beneath her mask as the world disappeared into a fuchsia haze.
The sound of bodies collapsing to the ground filled the air for several seconds afterwards. Then…silence.
"Midoriya?" she called.
"I got it," he replied, voice distinctly muffled.
A powerful gust of wind blew through the air, sending the gas away and revealing their surroundings once more. Momo looked up to see Midoriya with a glowing green gasmask on his face, and an equally emerald, oversized oscillating fan getting rid of the last of the gas before he dispelled both constructs.
All the villains were completely unconscious, laying passed out on the ground around them. Unfortunately, so was Jirou. Momo quickly removed her oxygen mask and created a small vial of smelling salts, then squatted down next to the other girl, waving them under her nose.
"Ugh," Jirou moaned as she came to, weakly pushing the vial away from her face. "What happened?"
"I created gas just like the kind Midnight makes. I'm sorry I knocked you out, too," she said hurriedly, even as she carefully capped the vial, not wanting to accidentally rouse any of the villains. "I wanted to warn you and create a mask for you, too, but it seemed like there was no time. I know that Midnight's Quirk is less effective on women, so I hoped you might stay conscious, but—"
"It's okay," Jirou interrupted, raising a hand. "Under the circumstances, I'm not about to complain."
"That was brilliant," Midoriya said, eyes shining. "I never would've expected you to be able to create Midnight's gas already."
Momo allowed herself a small smile, a dusting of red appearing on her cheeks at the praise. "I didn't expect her to know the chemical formula for it off the top of her head when I went to ask her about it this morning," she said, making a mental note to thank the R-Rated hero again when she saw her next. "But never mind that now, we need to decide what to do next." She added, forcing her mind to get back to the task at hand.
"I don't think there's an exit anywhere near here, so we should probably try to rejoin the rest of the class and the teachers," Midoriya said.
"Agreed," Momo nodded. "Let's make our way back toward the plaza."
"Uh, shouldn't we tie these guys up, first?" Jirou asked, gesturing toward the villains who lay unconscious on the ground.
Midoriya frowned. "I could bind them with constructs, but they'd disappear if I were to lose concentration too badly or run out of power."
Hmm, so Midoriya's Quick has a stockpile element to it as well, interesting, Momo noted, filing away that bit of information for later.
"I could create zip ties, but putting them on all the villains would take forever," Momo added.
"Midnight's gas should keep them all passed out for hours, assuming no one shows up and does anything to take them up," Midoriya said. "Unless some of them have Quirks that give them heightened metabolisms, but there really weren't any obvious signs of that sort of thing from them, and—"
Momo placed a hand on his shoulder, gently bringing his rambling to a halt before he could go any further.
The material of his costume was surprisingly thin, and his deltoids were like granite, she noted, quickly shoving the thought away.
"Given the situation, it would probably be best to just go," Momo said. "The authorities should be here long before they wake up."
Jirou shrugged. "Okay, you two are the class reps, so if you're sure, I'll follow your lead."
Momo nodded. "Let's go."
Chapter 12: USJ, Part 2
"Oh man, this is really, really bad!" Mineta whined as Asui unceremoniously tossed him and Kaminari onto the deck of the boat that floated in the middle of the USJ's flood zone. "These villains are going to kill us! We're gonna die!"
Asui had grabbed both of her classmates when the trio had appeared in the flood zone after that one villain had warped the class to various locations. She hoped the small one didn't make her regret grabbing him, but he was already making a good start at it.
"Mineta, I understand that you're afraid, but you have to calm down," she said, voice quiet but stern.
"Yeah, seriously dude, panicking won't help anything," the electric boy agreed.
"How am I supposed to not panic?" Mineta demanded. "There's a ton of villains out there, and they're ready to murder us!"
"Mineta, I get that it's scary, but freaking out will only make things worse," Kaminari reiterated, though he looked plenty worried himself.
"How do you expect to be a hero if you go to pieces like this?" Asui added.
"Oh, screw you both!" Mineta spat. "You're acting like being calm in this situation is normal, but this is only our second hero class! Being terrified is normal!"
"It's not like we're not terrified, or at least, I know I am," Kaminari said. "This whole situation is bad, especially for me."
"What do you mean, Kaminari?" Asui asked, putting a finger to her chin.
"My Quirk is Electrification. I can emit an electric charge and zap people who I touch," he explained. "But it can be difficult to control, especially when I'm stressed, and being soaking wet only makes it worse. If I get freaked out enough I just emit one big discharge that messes with my head for a while."
He gazed out over the railing of the ship at the group of villains floating in the water, failing to notice his two classmates exchanging a grin.
"Sorry about this, Kaminari," Asui said.
"Sorry? What—?"
His question dissolved into a yelp of surprise and alarm as both Mineta and Asui shoved him hard, causing him to go falling overboard. The electric boy flailed wildly before plunging into the drink.
Almost immediately, there was a loud crackling sound, followed by the villains crying out in pain before abruptly going silent.
"Wheeey…" Kaminari slurred dopily.
Mineta and Asui exchanged a brief fist bump.
"You think they're dead?" the frog girl asked.
"Nah," Mineta replied. "Water's not that great a conductor of electricity, and given the sheer mass of liquid in this lake, the shock would've been less than lethal and…wait! Did you not realize that before you helped me push him?!" he demanded, wide eyed.
Asui just gave him a blank look.
Mineta swallowed. Damn, frog-boobs is ice cold! Better not get on this one's bad side!
"Uh, we should probably make sure all those guys are floating face up," Mineta stammered. "D-Don't want to just leave them to die, after all. Then grab Kaminari and get out of here."
"I'm on it," Asui said she jumped over the side, splashing down gracefully into the water.
"Hero class girls, man," Mineta muttered to no one in particular as he climbed up and over the short railing before diving in himself.
He never noticed Asui's smug little smirk.
"So, you're the final boss, huh?" Aizawa grunted as he charged at the villain wearing all the severed hands.
"Fifteen seconds," the hand villain noted, ignoring the teacher's question and evading his foe's capture weapon with jerky but somehow deft movements. "The cannon fodder we brought along aren't smart enough to notice, especially with the way you're constantly running around, but every now and then your hair stops floating. And your duration is getting shorter. Your power's no good for long battles, is it?"
He lunged, managing to place a hand on Aizawa's elbow, causing the fabric of the man's shirt and then the skin and flesh beneath to start disintegrating.
"Get off me!" Aizawa grunted, striking the villain with a fierce kick and sending him tumbling to the ground.
"So cool, Eraserhead," the villain said as he got to his hands and knees. "This battle doesn't play to your strengths, but you dove right in. Almost won, too, but you made one major mistake…I'm not the final boss."
Aizawa released a cry of pain and surprise as the massive figure with the exposed brain rounded on him, appearing from seemingly nowhere and slammed him to the ground.
"Meet the Anti-Symbol of Peace, Eraserhead," the hand villain rasped. "The bio-engineered creature known as Nomu. It was made to kill All Might and given multiple Quirks. You don't stand a chance."
A scream managed to rip itself out of Aizawa's lungs as the Nomu broke his arm like it was nothing. The Nomu then grabbed hold of his head with one enormous hand, palming the pro hero's skull as easily as most people could do the same with a piece of fruit.
Damn it, I know I'm nullifying his Quirk, but he's still so damned strong! He must be in the same league as All Might! Aizawa thought with frustration. This could be the end for me…
Just as he was sure his skull was about to shatter like an egg, a huge green fist slammed into the side of the Nomu, sending it flying off of the underground hero.
"What the hell?!" the hand villain hissed.
Aizawa forced himself to look up despite the way his entire body seemed to throb with pain, seeing a jade All Might doppelganger standing protectively beside him.
Most people would've just been relieved. The perpetually bedraggled man would admit to some of that, but his initial reaction was a mixture of annoyance and exasperation.
Exasperation because of course Midoriya needed to use an All Might construct. Annoyance because he had to insert himself into this battle rather than leave things to his teachers, risking the possibility that he might draw the villains' wrath.
Though he did notice that there was no obvious energy strand linking Midoriya to his construct, as seemed to always be the case with him. Looking closer, he spied a green glowing thread, as thin as a length of fishing wire, starting from the bottom of the All Might construct's foot and running along the ground. Following the direction it went in with his gaze, he was just able to spy Midoriya, Yaoyorozu, and Jirou hiding behind some rocks, peering out at the scene unfolding in the central plaza.
He might've smirked if he wasn't in so much pain. At least the boy could exercise a little common sense.
"No, seriously, what the hell is this Green Might crap? A decoy? A summons?" the hand villain demanded, caught somewhere between fury and confusion.
Aizawa activated his Quirk, doing his best to keep his gaze on the Nomu.
He didn't think that Midoriya's construct could defeat that beast. The boy's Quirk was powerful, and it was obvious that the All Might construct was stronger than his typical ones—the thing was nearly opaque, almost like it was made of living jade rather than a hologram—but even with its Quirk disabled, the Nomu was terrifyingly strong.
Still, Midoriya might be able to keep that monster busy for a bit, and every second they could buy was more time for the heroes to arrive before students died.
"You know what?" the hand villain snarled. "I don't care what that is! Nomu, kill it!"
The monster charged the construct, and the two became a blur of black and green as they traded blows.
"My god, they're brutal," Jirou breathed as she watched the battle from their hiding place just off the USJ's main plaza. "Midoriya, are you really able to keep this up?"
"Yes, barely. Raw power's not actually a problem, but it's hard for me to think fast enough to keep my construct moving as quick as that thing," Izuku grunted, not taking his eyes off the fight for a second. "Ugh, I didn't approach this right. Didn't expect it to be so tough."
"How is it still so strong?" Momo wondered aloud. "Mr. Aizawa seems to be cancelling out its Quirk. It shouldn't have any special abilities right now."
"I, uh, I've been listening in on them, and that one villain with the hands was talking about how that thing was bio-engineered to kill All Might and given multiple Quirks," Jirou said.
"What?" Momo hissed, barely suppressing a yelp of shock. "Is that even possible?"
"Hand guy seems to think so," Jirou said. "And that thing is crazy strong even with its Quirk cancelled out by Mr. Aizawa. Frankly, I'm pretty impressed you're able to keep it to a standstill like this, Green." She added, turning to Midoriya.
He gave a little grunt of acknowledgement before he went back to focusing everything he had on keeping his construct in the game.
"So, it may be possible that what the villain is saying is true," Momo mused. "If that's the case, then that monster is extremely dangerous."
"Especially if it's actually anywhere near as strong as All Might," Jirou added grimly.
"We have to do everything we can to disable it or at least keep it busy here, or who knows what the hand villain will order it to do," Momo said. "Midoriya, it looks like it all rests on you now."
"You got this, Green," Jirou added, mustering as much encouragement as she could.
Midoriya smiled, even as he continued to stare at the battle with the intensity of someone who knew lives were on the line, his left hand wrapped in a death grip around his right wrist as the tiny beam of light that connected him to the All Might construct flowed out of it.
Aizawa should've known better than to feel hopeful. Years of working as an underground hero had taught him that the moments you allowed yourself even the smallest shred of optimism were the most dangerous.
Unfortunately, it was just human nature when a very bad situation suddenly started looking like it might not turn out so terrible, so he'd let himself think that at the rate the green construct was going, maybe Midoriya could keep the Nomu busy until the heroes showed up.
Which was when the hand villain, who he'd completely ignored in his focus on keeping the Nomu's Quirk (or Quirks, if the villain leader was to be believed) decided to kick him hard in the ribs.
Already battered and beaten by the Nomu, Aizawa released a cry of agony, automatically closing his eyes as a grimace overtook his features.
Naturally, this meant that monster was no longer under the effects of Erasure.
"Nomu, destroy that thing already!" the hand villain screamed.
The underground hero turned back just in time to watch as the Nomu put its fist through the All Might construct's torso.
He was a little surprised when the strike was accompanied by the sound of breaking glass; he never would've expected it to sound that way when one of Midoriya's constructs was forcibly broken.
Then pink gas began to erupt out of the rapidly fading construct, and he saw shards of glass falling to the ground just before the vapors spread and completely obscured his vision of the Nomu and the immediate area around it.
"What the hell?! Nomu, get out of there! Nomu?!" the hand villain roared.
There was no response from the previously obedient beast. Aizawa frowned. That looked like…
The gas rapidly dissipated, revealing that the Nomu was lying face down on the ground, quite unconscious.
"Nomu, wake up! Nomu!" the hand villain shrieked, reaching up and scratching at his neck with quick, jerky motions. "What the hell is this?! What could possibly do this to Nomu?!"
"Somnambulist," Midoriya called as he, Yaoyorozu, and Jirou emerged from their hiding places.
"That thing is apparently supposed to be an Anti-All Might, but it's definitely no Anti-Midnight," Jirou said with a smirk.
"Your trump card is down for the count, and the thugs you brought here aren't up to the job of defeating UA students," Yaoyorozu said imperiously, brandishing her bo staff while Midoriya recreated Green Might, along with constructs of several other members of the UA staff. "Surrender and come quietly."
"Damn it, damn it, damn it," the hand villain said to himself, scratching his neck harder, enough that he was at risk of making himself bleed. "I knew that even the new students wouldn't be pushovers, but they're not supposed to be able to take out Nomu. We can't have come all this way only to get sent back to the title screen before we even see the final boss!"
"Tomura Shigaraki, I too am disappointed, but it seems we have no choice at this point but to cut our losses," the mist villain said nervously.
"It's can't end like this! It can't!" Shigaraki growled, seemingly lost in his own little world.
"Tomura Shigaraki," the mist villain spoke again, a bit more loudly. "If we withdraw now, you may yet have another chance at your goal. Not if we're captured here and taken to Tartarus!"
"…fine," Shigaraki growled. "Get us out of here, Kurogiri."
"No!" Midoriya exclaimed.
A great green hand appeared and surged forward, grabbing the metal brace on the warper villain's neck. The misty figure let out a grunt of alarm, but he managed to keep enough composure to open up a new portal around himself. He, Shigaraki, and the Nomu vanished and the portals closed, severing Midoriya's construct in the process.
There was a thunderous bang almost as soon as they were gone, something knocking the huge main door to the USJ off its hinges.
"Fear not, students!" All Might's booming voice sounded through the facility. "I am here!"
Part of Aizawa wanted to be exasperated at the number one hero for his late arrival, but he knew that the ringleaders had left behind all their cannon fodder thugs, and such villains could still pose a threat to freshly minted hero students like the members 1-A. With both himself and Thirteen down for the count, he had to be grudgingly grateful for the way All Might went to work tearing through the remaining villains.
Then Midoriya, Yaoyorozu, and Jirou were rushing over to him. He opened his mouth to scold them for breaking cover and attacking the villains like that.
"Please don't try to talk, sir," Yaoyorozu said, while Midoriya created a construct of a stretcher. "We should be able to get you some medical attention soon."
He grunted, deciding it could wait until later, and that now was a good time to finally pass out.
"Is he okay? It seems like he lost consciousness," Midoriya said worriedly, even as he used his powers to carefully load Aizawa onto a green stretcher he'd created.
"His heartbeat is steady," Jirou reassured him. "I think he just passed out from the pain." She added, getting a grimace out of Midoriya.
"Let's get him outside," Momo said. "I'm sure there are emergency vehicles on the way now, and we'll want the ambulances to find him right away."
"What about the others?" Midoriya asked. "The plaza should be safe now, and he'd probably want us to see to the other students first."
"Now that All Might's here, I'm sure he'll rescue anyone who needs it," Momo replied. Also, she doubted their teachers would want them tangling with villains any more than necessary.
Midoriya looked reluctant, but agreed, and the trio headed for the entrance, the stretcher carrying their teacher floating on its own.
"You did amazing back there, Midoriya," Momo said after a few seconds of silence. "That you were able to hold off that Nomu creature for as long as you did was very impressive."
Midoriya blushed. "Not as impressive as you being able to duplicate Midnight's Quirk so soon!"
Momo felt a little warmth in her own cheeks at the enthusiastic praise. "It wasn't difficult, once she gave me the chemical formula," she protested. "And you were the one who gave me the initial idea to copy the effects of other people's Quirks, including hers."
"But you ran with it," he countered. "And it was a brilliant idea on your part to hide a canister of Somnambulist gas inside of my construct! It could've been…bad if you hadn't come up with that."
"Oh gosh, just get a room already, you two," Jirou huffed.
"Jirou!" Momo scolded, while Izuku erupted into panicked mumbles and turned so red he resembled a tomato.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" Shigaraki Tomura raged as he rematerialized in the bar.
"Shigaraki…" Kurogiri began, hoping to calm the young man.
Shigaraki ignored him, picking up a shot glass that was sitting on the bar. It immediately began to crumble to dust in his grasp, but he somehow still managed to hurl it quickly enough that there was a sufficient amount of intact glass for a spectacular shattering sound.
A television seated on the far side of the bar came on, though the picture displayed only the words "Audio Only."
"Calm yourself, my young apprentice," a voice rumbled from the TV's speakers. "The end result may not be what you desired, but it was better than it might have been. You did manage to escape with Nomu, after all."
"But we didn't even get to the final boss!" Shigaraki protested. "Those damned UA brats managed to send us packing before All Might even showed up! Like we were just a bunch of damned scrub lords!"
There was a brief pause before the figure continued. "UA students were able to defeat Nomu?"
"Bunch of cheaters, they spawned a decoy All Might and then managed to sneak the sleep effect onto Nomu!" Shigaraki seethed.
It took a few minutes, but Kurogiri and the mysterious figure were eventually able to get him to convey the series of events that had led to Nomu meeting with defeat before All Might had even made an appearance.
"And somehow the damned cheaters were able to fill that green All Might copy with gas like the kind Midnight makes, like they were able to duplicate her Quirk somehow!" Shigaraki seethed, still raging as he finished his story. "The stuff completely knocked Nomu out, and then Kurogiri convinced me we needed to retreat."
"A UA student was able to duplicate a pro hero's Quirk, you say? And another who can spawn creations able to keep up with Nomu? Fascinating," the mystery figure spoke. "Do you know which students managed this?"
"It's safe to assume that it was one or two of the ones who came out to confront us following the Nomu's defeat," Kurogiri said. "However, it's difficult to say which one, I'm afraid."
"No matter. The Sports Festival will reveal more, I'm sure," the figure paused. "Don't fret, Tomura. As I promised you, you can try again as many times as you need. And while this didn't go as you had intended, you certainly managed to acquire some interesting information."