I couldn't help but feel bad for my teacher as he was pelted with a stream of questions.
"I... I'll answer all of your questions!!" All Might pulls out a booklette, 'A script?'
A quick explanation of the training shoots out of his mouth, and I'm reminded of a western game.
"And the teams shall be decided by drawing lots!"
"Is that really the best option!?" Iida stiffly asks at my right, looking cool in his armor, "Well, in the real world heroes have very little say in who they team up with in any given scenario so, this would be the best."
"Ah, I'm sorry for getting ahead of myself!" Iida bows and Kumo snickers at my left, which earns him a small elbow jab.
"It's alright, lets just get this going!!" All Might pumps a fist in the air.
Teams:
A- Izuku & Iida
B- Todoroki & Shoji
C- Yaoyorozu & Hagakure
D- Bakugo & Uraraka
E- Ashido & Aoyama
F- Koda & Sato
G- Kaminari & Kyoka
H- Tokoyame & Asui
I- Kirishima & Mikumo
J- Sero & Ojiro
"I have a great feeling we will be a great team, Deku-kun." Iida says with a small bow. "A-ah, yeah! I-I believe we w-will also!"
"Alright!! The first battle will be between," All Might yells out once everyone is in their pairs, he reaches into the two boxes beside him that are labelled 'Hero' and 'Villain' "A team as the heroes!!" He shouts as he raises a white ball with 'A' painted on. "And D team as the villains!!" He shouts as he raises a grey ball.
Me and Kacchan look at eachother, and he scowls. I stare into his eyes and flash him a determined smile.
"The villain team goes in first! In five minutes the hero team can sneak in, and the timer will start. The rest of us will be watching via CCTV!" He then looks towards Uraraka and Kacchan, "Uraraka. Bakugo. You two need to adopt a villain mindset! This is practical experience, so go all out. Don't hold back! Though I will stop you if you take things too far..."
They both head inside the building, Kacchan radiating immense rage as he passes me.
Iida and I lean against the railing on the sidewalk, both intently studying the floor plan of the building.
"Deku-kun," he starts with a formal tone, "Why is it that Bakugo-kun seems to be against your entire existence?" I sputter at his choice of words, "Ah, should I not have asked?" He looks at me worriedly. "N-no, its f-fine Iida-kun!" I cough a few times and then look at the taller boy, "W-well, I was a late bloomer. V-very late b-bloomer. Like, just last s-summer late b-bloomer." He looks shocked as I continue, "a-and, because of that I-I-I was considered q-quirkless for a l-long time, e-even though I showed a-a-all the signs of g-getting a quirk. Q-quirkless people a-aren't treated th-the best, K-kacchan become m-my biggest b-bully. S-strong prey o-on the weak. My brother protected m-me though." I sigh softly and look to Iida, "I-i think he may tr-try to go for me a-alone to prove h-he is still stronger." He nods and points to a part of the floor plan, "I believe this is the safest bet on where the bomb will be," I nod in agreement, "so while you distract Bakugo-kun, I shall make my way there to face Uraraka-chan." "She p-probably has a lot of loose objects to use her quirk on." I try to control the stutter in my voice, not wanting every time I talk to take a minute longer than it has to. He nods, just as All Might announces us going in.
We hop into an open window on the first floor and slowly make our way to the staircase. Kacchan is likely to be on the third floor, which proves so far to be the case as we make it through the second floor with no issues. Halfway through the third floor is when I start smelling Nitroglycerin. "Iida!" I jump back and push Iida with me as Kacchan blasts around the corner with his palm out.
A massive explosion hits the wall, I turn towards the smoke in a fighting stance, "Are you ok, Iida-kun?" "Yes, are you?" I nod in response and watch as Kacchan clears the smoke with a swipe of his arm. "Nice dodge, but I'd prefer you fight me like a man instead of running." I let the power roll through me, my skin getting brighter than dulling again as green lightning dances around my body. "Go Iida." I quietly say to my teammate. I hear him run off behind me and Kacchan snears, "Telling him to leave so he doesn't see how weak you really are?" I decide to channel that bit of Kumo in me and shoot back with a smile, "No, I just thought you wouldn't want one more person to see you get humiliated." 'That was too easy to say... Oh god I'm becoming my brother!!' Kacchan growls and blasts himself at me, "THE FUCK YOU SAY!?"
I grab his right wrist as he goes for the move he always leads with, then place my hand on his chest, "Predictable." I push him by his chest at full force, causing a blast of wind and for him to crash into and through the wall to my left. I stand at the hole in the wall, facing Kacchan as he coughs. "You've always called me useless, Kacchan. Even calling me Deku because of the Kanji in my name, but do you know what my friends made me realize not so long ago?" He sits up and shoots a glare at me, "Deku doesn't just mean 'useless.' My Deku will mean 'You can do it' from now on."
"Tch," he stands and rotates his shoulder, "Ya think this sudden confidence will change anything?" He readies his palms to blast forward and I slightly crouch into a stance, "This doesn't change the fact that you're just a worthless pebble in my path to victory!!" He blasts towards me and leads with his right again, but I can tell he is bluffing, so I send a high kick to his chin. It catches him off guard and he gets sent back, this time landing on his feet with a stumble.
I jump at him while clicking my mouth guard into place with my left hand, and sending a right hook at his side. He steps back enough for me to graze him. He hops back again to get some distance, "Stupid fucking Deku, when did you learn how to fight!?" "Didn't Kumo tell you multiple times? 'If it wasn't for that quirk of yours, Izu could beat your ass.' I've known how to fight all along, I just needed the field to be a little more even." I jump at him again but stop short and duck under a left swing, then slamming my right fist into his stomach at 5% so I hopefully don't do any internal damage.
He flops back down on the ground and I grab the capture tape from a pouch on my belt. He gets up quickly and swings at my jaw, I dodge backwards and he knocks the tape from my hand. '...dangit.' I dodge another punch only to get blasted back by an explosion to my stomach that sends me back through the hole and into the hallway.
As I get up a distinct sound makes its way to my ears. 'That was... kinda menacing.' "Ya hear that, Deku? My gauntlets are fully loaded." My eyes widen and I brace for the worst, "Since your enough of a stalker to know how I fight, there is no doubt you know how my quirk works. These gauntlets store up my sweat and you can piece together what that means." He raises his left arm and aims it right at me. He slides back the pin looking part of the gauntlet to hook a finger in the actual pin.
"Young Bakugo, are you trying to kill him!?" All Might yells out from the speakers, "Ain't gonna kill him if he dodges!!" He then pulls the pin and I jump to the side. "You idiot!" I yell and punch at Kacchan full force, the wind pressure enough to stagger him but not to affect the explosion. I look to my right at the torn open wall and heavily damaged floor and ceiling of the hallway and several rooms till the outside of the building. "That would have killed me you jerk!" While he is still dazed by my sudden punch I dash at him and tackle him to the ground, quickly punching him in the face with 3% to try and knock him out. It doesn't fully knock him out, just daze him further so I grab his capture tape in his suits pocket and tie his wrists together. I leave him there and walk towards the direction of the stairs.
I press my finger to the communication device in my ear and whisper, "Iida-kun, how is it going with the bomb?" "D-deku-kun... don't open... any doors on the... fourth floor..." "I-Iida-kun? What happened?" After a couple seconds of radio silence I quickly make my way up the flight of stairs and through the fourth floor, noticing many opened doors with random junk in the doorway. 'Did Uraraka-chan use floating debris at every doorway as a trap..? If thats true, Iida-kun most likely has a concussion and Uraraka-chan must be nauseous from keeping everything floating.' As I now dash around the halls I come across a passed out Iida with a discarded helmet and a comical bump on his head. "Wow... poor Iida." I set him up sitting against the wall and continue my search.
Its about the tenth door I cautiously open that reveals the bomb, yet no Uraraka-chan in sight. I slowly slide my head in while looking up to see if there is any debris, which there is none. I take a step back from the doorway and think of multiple possibilities... that is until I hear a small noise coming from the opposite side of the room and past the bomb. Distinctly sounding as if someone were throwing up. 'Well at least I was right.'
I slowly walk into the room, checking my surroundings to see if it were just a cover up for an ambush. Nothing gives that away, so I make my way to the bomb unharmed and reach out for it...
"The Hero team wins!!"
———————
I walk out with a still unconcious Iida-kun on my shoulder and a very exhausted and apologetic Uraraka-chan at my side. "I didn't realize he would take literally every hit..." she says with a tone giving away that she still feels ill. "Its no worry, I'm just surprised you were able to hold all that stuff at once!" "Well, Bakugo-kun kinda pushed me too... haha..." I don an amused smile, which quickly fades at the memory of Kacchan brushing away my hand once the excursive was over. 'I thought that after this he would see me as at least someone that wasn't another pebble, but I should have known better. His ego won't allow him to accept this defeat so easily, but I hope it'll help us mend our relationship in the long run.'