Not powerless

Chapter 22: Friends

So far, the second battle trial in their first ever heroics lesson was proceeding as expected. Kirishima and Uraraka were deep in conversation while Iida attempted to do the same with Bakugo. The blond wasn’t even listening. Toshinori called for them to begin and Bakugo ran off, leaving his partner behind. Realistically, Iida would have been better to patrol, but of course Bakugo wanted to get in on the action as soon as possible.

The hero team stuck together as they entered the building. Given Kirishima’s quirk, he could perhaps be forgiven if he charged in, but Izuku was glad to see he was showing at least some caution. Bakugo snuck up on them on the second floor. He swung around a corner and aimed an explosion at them. Kirishima pushed Uraraka to one side and took the blast with his hardened body. There was no sound so they couldn’t hear what was being said, but Kirishima ran forward to engage Bakugo while Uraraka ran off.

The ensuing fight was relatively evenly matched. Kirishima’s hardening was a good counter to Bakugo’s explosions. When blast after blast failed to make the red head yield, it only served to make the blonde even angrier. The explosions grew even stronger, and Bakugo got creative. He took advantage of Kirishima’s hesitation to fly all around him, throwing blasts at different parts, trying to find a gap in the hardening.

Kirishima wasn’t doing badly by any means. He’d actually landed a few good hits on Bakugo, and if what he felt from the boy was any indication, they hurt quite a bit. Unfortunately, Kirishima didn’t have enough endurance yet to constantly use his quirk like this. They’d been fighting for nearly ten out of the fifteen minutes and he was getting exhausted. He kept his hardening up as much as he could, but the blasts were starting to punch through. Izuku did not like the bloodlust he was feeling from Bakugo.

“This is going too far All Might,” he said.

“Don’t worry, I’ll stop things if they get out of hand.”

“They already are! This is just training. There’s no reason for Bakugo to be this relentless.”

“It just means he’s taking things seriously.”

Izuku grit his teeth. He was barely concentrating on what Uraraka and Iida were doing, and only vaguely aware of the other people in the room grumbling similar sentiments to him.

On screen, Kirishima tried making a tactical retreat. It was a solid move, giving him a chance to rest. Unfortunately Bakugo was hot on his heels and cornered him in a long corridor. He levelled one of his oversized gauntlets at Kirishima and Izuku froze. There was only one thing those could be filled with. He didn’t hear what was said, but he felt the small excitement in Bakugo and the rush of fear in Kirishima.

“Stop the fight!”

“Young Mikumo, just because your friend isn’t doing as well as you’d like, it doesn’t mean you get to call off the fight.”

“Look at what’s happening! He’s gonna kill him!”

Toshinori looked away from Izuku and his eyes widened.

“Bakugo, don’t you dare pull that pin!”

Bakugo didn’t stop. Would he be able to make a shield from this distance? Kirishima braced, summoning whatever reserves of strength he had left. Bakugo pulled the pin. Whatever excitement he had been feeling rapidly gave way to worry and concern as the blast built but by then it was too late. A great plume of explosive fire erupted from the gauntlet. The cameras in the corridor were fried and even the control room shook from the force of it.

Nobody moved for a second, but then Toshinori quickly spoke into the comms, trying to reach Kirishima. The only reason Izuku wasn’t throttling the man right now was that he could See the boy. He was mostly unhurt, still scared but not in serious danger.