"Begin!"
Nearly every team instantly headed straight for Midoriya's team. And Noriko's team was no different. But before anyone could reach his team, they flew into the air using the support course student's gear. Not long after they landed, Midoriya's team ended up going back into the air. Bakugo used his quirk and propelled himself into the air after Midoriya's team, leaving Noriko, Sero, and Kirishima with smoke in their faces. When the smoke cleared, Noriko saw Bakugo get blocked by Tokoyami's dark shadow.
"Bakugo's been separated from his team!" Present Mic exclaimed as Sero shot some tape out of his elbows and it wrapped around Bakugo's waist, pulling him back to the team. Noriko helped catch him. "Is that even allowed?!"
"He never touched the ground so technically it's ok," Midnight answered.
"You gotta warn us when you do that," Noriko growled as Bakugo repositioned himself.
"Shut up," Bakugo retorted.
"Now who wants to take a look at each team's point's so far? It's been several minutes, so let's get those rankings put on the screen." Present Mic said before the scores appeared on the screen and a gasp was heard from the audience. "Hold on. This is an unexpected turn of events. Other than Midoriya, class 1-A isn't doing too well."
Noriko glanced up at the scores, but her attention was quickly turned to Bakugo as another student pulled his headband off. Noriko turned to look at the person who stole the headband and saw a student from class 1-B.
"Even Bakugo is losing!" Present Mic yelled.
"Your class is too small-minded. Think bigger." The student, who Noriko heard was Monoma, said.
"No way!" Noriko exclaimed as Monoma put Bakugo's headband around his neck.
"What did you say!" Bakugo screamed. "Get back here!"
"Midnight said the obstacle course was just the first game, and we figured they wouldn't put that many of us out of the games right off the bat," Monoma said. "Assuming they'd keep at least 40 students for the next game, all we had to do was make sure we stayed in that group as we ran. From our spots in the middle, we could fully observe the quirks our rivals had and judge their abilities. Only a fool would obsess over winning the preliminary round, wouldn't you agree."
Noriko felt irritation fill her as she glared at Monoma and Bakugo asked, "You planned this as a class?"
"It wasn't totally unanimous, but I'd say it's playing out well. It's better than chasing after a temporary frontrunner like a horse with a carrot waving in his face." Monoma said. It was clear he was trying to taunt Bakugo, but Noriko knew that would end poorly for him. And maybe for her too. "Oh, while I have your attention, you're kinda famous, aren't you? For being attacked by that sludge villain. You'll have to tell me about it sometime. It must be strange to find yourself in the role of the victim."
Noriko glanced up at Bakugo, who looked like he was going to murder Monoma. That boy sure knew how to provoke someone.
"Change of plans," Bakugo growled, Sero and Kirishima looking up at Bakugo with fearful eyes. "Before we take down Deku, we're gonna kill every last one of these B-list idiots!"
Monoma's teammate said something to him and Noriko heard the last part of Monoma's reply, "...you know how these things work. Heroes are always being hounded by villains desperate for some kind of revenge."
At this point, Bakugo was shaking with rage. Noriko looked up at him, slightly worried. "Bakugo, you need to calm down. If you let him provoke you, you wouldn't think straight. That'll only make it harder for us to get our points back."
"Shut up! I've never been calmer." Bakugo yelled, making a small explosion when he punched his fist into his other hand. "Can't you tell? Now we're going after them!"
The team ran toward Monoma's team and Bakugo yelled as he stretched out his arm and aimed an explosion toward Monoma. Monoma avoided the attack. When they turned around to be met with one of his explosions.
"Wow. I see why you like this quirk!" Monoma said before quickly touching Kirishima's hair.
"Weird! That guy had your quirk!" Kirishima exclaimed.
Bakugo growled and swung his arm at Monoma for another attack, which made contact.
"You both have impressive powers," Monoma said as the smoke cleared to reveal him with his arm hardened the same way Kirishima's does when he uses his quirk. "But I think you'll agree mine's better."
"He copies quirks," Noriko said, the connection suddenly clicking in her mind.
"Yeah," Bakugo agreed.
"Very good," Monoma commented as Noriko noticed a group approaching them from behind. It was like the class 1-B teams were teaming up with each other. "So you figured it out."
Noriko stomped her foot on the ground and made a wall of ice rise up from the ground as liquid cement was shot toward her team.
"Nice one, Hiromi," Kirishima complimented. "I would've been cemented to the ground if you didn't block that attack!"
"Yeah," Noriko said as Monom's team started to run away. "They're getting away. I thought you wanted to go after them Bakugo."
"I got it!" Bakugo yelled. "Let's get our points back!"
"Right!" The team chased after Monoma, who had attempted to use the cement as a distraction to get away. Though, they hadn't managed to get too far and were still in reach of Noriko's quirk.
"Ice Girl, freeze them," Bakugo ordered.
"Quit calling me that," Noriko growled as she stomped her foot and trapped Monoma's team in ice.
"Hey, losers!" Bakugo shouted as he jumped up and hurled himself through the air toward Monoma's team. One of Monoma's teammates made a solid wall of air to attempt to block Bakugo. But since they couldn't move away, Bakugo punched his way through it and grabbed their headbands. Then, Sero pulled Bakugo back to the team just like he had the first time Bakugo flew into the air.
"Team Bakugo got two headbands and moves to third place!" Present Mic announced as Monoma's team managed to get out of the ice and start running away. "The final moments of the game have been full of a crazy turn of events!"
"We told you to warn us before you jump!" Kirishima scolded.
"Whatever, this means we're advancing," Noriko said.
"We're not done!" Bakugo shouted, hitting Kirishima in the head. "We're going to be the indisputable champions of this game!"
"I couldn't brace myself earlier when I jumped. Get closer! We'll get our points back from this idiot, then go for the big one!" Bakugo shouted. "Ice Girl, freeze 'em again!"
"It's Hiromi," Noriko growled as she used her quirk to trap Monoma's team again.
"Elbow guy! Tape 'em!" Bakugo shouted.
"My name's Sero!" Sero shouted as he shot tape out of his elbows that went past Monoma's team.
"Hiromi, put some ice in front of us!" Bakugo ordered.
Noriko set a layer of ice in front of them. Then, Sero reeled in his tape and they slid across the ice, quickly closing the gap between Noriko's team and the frozen team in front of them. As they got closer, the student in the front blew out another wall of air to try to shield his team from Bakugo, but he punched right through it and stole Monoma's remaining headbands.
"Bakugo's a merciless force!" Present Mic shouted. "That was a shield break heard around the arena! And I can't wait to watch the replay!"
"We're going after Deku and Todoroki," Bakugo said as the team turned their attention to the wall of ice, "Hiromi, break that ice!"
"The game is almost over!" Present Mic shouted. "Time for a countdown!"
"Got it!" Noriko yelled as they ran over to the ice wall and placed a hand on it before it quickly started to melt and shatter.
Bakugo didn't waste any time waiting for them to get closer to Todoroki and Midoriya. He jumped into the air with his explosions in an attempt to reach Midoriya and Todoroki in time. She could hear the countdown and before she knew it the timer hit zero.
"Time's up!"