It was a warm Friday morning at UA yet the entirety of class 3A was silent. Today was the big practical assessment they had all been expecting and preparing anxiously for, and now after so much preparation and practice, it was finally upon them.
"Now," began Mr. Aizawa. "I'd like to begin by saying that although there will be a winner and a loser for each round of the exercise, the loser can still get good grades on the practical. I'll be assessing your strategies as well as how well you can apply your quirks to attempt to achieve victory. With that in mind, remember that each of you will have a teammate so make sure that your plans include both of you."
A few minutes later everyone had been divided into 10 groups of 2. Everyone had been paired up with the classmate they were expected to be able to cooperate with the most so Izuku had been paired up with Uraraka. Once everyone had been assigned their partners the class waited eagerly for the matches to be called out. One by one matches were being made and executed. No one was allowed to watch the matches as the teachers wanted each student to apply their own knowledge to the practical without the other matches influencing their decisions. Each minute dragged by painfully slowly for Izuku as he was forced to wait for his turn. The anxiety was eating him up from the inside and he was full of nervous energy. His feet wouldn't stop bouncing up and down no matter how much he tried to sit still.
"Hey Deku, are you okay?" asked Uraraka taking notice of his restless behavior.
"Yeah, totally fine" he lied. She gave him a quizzical look.
"Relax Deku, I'll be by your side every step of the way. I won't let you down, we're going to win this!"
Immediately Izuku's head began filling with thoughts and doubts. It wasn't that he doubted her abilities. In fact, he had full confidence in her ability to strategize and hold up in a fight. The problem he saw was in himself and his abilities. No matter which way he looked at the situation he and Uraraka would be at a disadvantage. So what if he knew how to fight. When pinned up against someone with good enough quirk knowing how to find would be useless. Someone with a quirk would always have the advantage over someone who didn't that was just how it was. Before he could reply, though he heard Mr. Aizawa call out.
"Midoriya, Uraraka, you're up. You'll be competing against Bakugo and Kirishima." It was hardly ten minutes later that Izuku found himself in training ground beta pinned up to the most impossible challenge he could imagine.
'How am I ever going to beat Kacchan?! This is impossible!' He was freaking out. Before he could contemplate it further however he was interrupted by Uraraka.
"You got a plan Deku?" The question caught him off guard, but he did his best to steer his attention back to the task at hand. This assessment was basically a large game of capture the flag. Each team had its flag which they could place anywhere within a section of the practice city given to them. Once they placed their flag all they had to do was try and get their opponents to flag back to their base while simultaneously protecting their own flag.
"I should probably take defense," said Izuku. "If I were to engage in combat while trying to find their flag, I wouldn't stand a chance against either of their quirks. You, on the other hand, could do some damage with your fighting skills, and your zero gravity would make searching for your flag a lot easier."
Reassured by this Deku remained vigilant over their base maintaining a close eye on their flag as well as anyone who may be on their way to take it. One can't exactly call it a flag though he supposed as he observed their prize. Although ideally, that was what it was supposed to represent, it was more of just a brightly colored rod; red in his case. The next twenty minutes went by incredibly slowly for Deku. Each breath he took made him feel more and more like the air was trying to suffocate him. His rising heartbeat was a constant reminder of the threat he faced. No doubt Kacchan was going to be going on the offensive, it wouldn't be like him to avoid a fight. Deku's eyes darted back and forth as he observed the nearby streets from his vantage point in their building. He was so focused on his task he nearly jumped when a voice suddenly spoke from his earpiece.
"Deku!" his teammate hissed into his ear. He recovered from his shock quickly and turned on his microphone.
"What is it Uraraka? Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine. Listen, I got their flag, I'm carrying it right now. But I may have gotten a little lost." she said sheepishly. Deku immediately began to search the streets around him, trying to pinpoint her location.
"Do you see any landmarks that might help me find out where you are?" he asked. This would be the easiest way to try and locate her without drawing any unnecessary attention to themselves. The last thing they wanted was to lead Bakugo right to their flag carrier.
"Yeah, I think so, I'm next to the office building with the large pyramid-shaped top. Does that help?" Deku spotted the building in seconds. Located only 5 blocks away the building was impossible to miss. What was also impossible to miss for Deku was Kacchan's menacing gait as he crossed the street that would take him closer to Uraraka's position.
"Uraraka, you need to hide, NOW!" Don't reply, Kacchan getting close to your position. Just sit tight I'll come and distract him."
Deku's heart pounded harder and harder as he approached the building. five blocks, four blocks, three... What was he doing? This was insane! No way would he be able to hold his own against Bakugou.
'I don't have to stand against him though,' he reminded himself. 'Just buy a little time,' two blocks... One. He could hear him now. The heavy breathing of his old childhood friend, filled with pent up rage.
"Uraraka," he whispered into his earpiece. "This is probably going to be loud. When you hear it, I need to take the left street from the front entrance of the building, our hideout will be about five blocks down that street. Get ready." Izuku stepped around the corner onto the street he previously saw Bakugo and froze. There he was standing with his back to him, completely immobile. Then he swiveled around until their eyes met. Bakugo's usual scowl deepened into a snarl.
"You've got a lot of nerve coming this close to me Deku," he hissed through clenched teeth. "You're going to regret having done that." Izuku had just enough time to think, 'Oh crap!' before Bekugo sprang into action and charged him.
"GO TO HELL!" Bakugo yelled at the top of his lungs followed by a powerful explosion blast that sent Deku flying across the street until he collided with another building. Deku felt the air get pushed out of his lungs from the impact and was just taking in a deep breath before his eyes widened and he jumped to one side, barely avoiding Kacchans follow up attack. Deku quickly tried to orient himself and threw a kick at his opponent's exposed gut but he caught his foot at the last moment and pushed him back.
"You're not going to beat me Deku, You will never be better than me!" Despite his fear though Izuku's mind remained clear. It was working. From the corner of his eye, he could see his teammate making her way over to their base. He just had to keep Bakugou occupied for a bit longer.
"You think I don't know what you're your trying to do!" Izuku's thoughts were interrupted by Kacchan's furious shouting. "You think I don't know you're trying to outshine me by getting into UA without a quirk?! Well, you can't take the top spot from me, you useless nerd! I've always been better than you!"
Izuku was stunned for a moment but quickly filled with something else. He was surprised to find that that something else that was beginning to fill every portion of his body, was anger.
"Do you think I'm THAT stupid!" he began to shout. "Of course you're better than me! Did you actually think I was trying to outshine you?! A useless quirkless kid trying to upstand the best student in the UA hero course?! How dumb can you be!" The rational part of Deku's mind was telling him that he should probably calm down and stop what he was saying. But there was also another part of him that knew he needed to say these things and was astonished at the truth he felt of them.
"I had to work harder than anyone has ever worked to drag myself to this position, and even though I made it to UA I'm still the weakest one here! And you're telling me that I'm a threat to you! Pathetic! If you're threatened by someone like me then you can't say that you haven't worked to get here too! That you haven't trained your body and mind to reach the level you're at now! IF YOU CAN'T TAKE ME BEING HERE, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO CALL YOURSELF A HERO!!!"
Deku could pinpoint the exact moment his words registered in Bakugo's head. He roared and closed the distance between them with almost inhuman speed, grabbing Izuku by the front of his costume and lifting him into the air.
"How dare you look down on me!!!" he shouted. Deku felt the anger inside him swell up and with it, he felt a rush of something new. It felt foreign but also familiar, a rush that filled his whole body and began to warm up the inside of his gut.
"I've never looked down on you! I've always looked up to you! Which is why I can't let my team lose this!" Deku felt the heat in his gut rage hotter and hotter, he felt the heat spread to every corner of his body. Kacchan suddenly looked appalled and Deku knew that he could feel it too. He felt a rush in his body as suddenly all the heat in his body began to pack together and work it's way up to his throat. As the heat nearly reached his mouth Deku spoke.
"I won't let you stop me Kacchan! Not ever again. So don't let me stop you either,"
The searing heat reached his mouth now, Deku opened his jaw, and a jet of orange flame burst from it with enough force to nearly propelled Izuku in the opposite direction. Bakugo on the other hand immediately let go of Deku's shirt, but he was too late. That blast from the flames sent him careening into the side of a building where he lay there with shock traced onto every inch of his face. A loud voice suddenly cut into their earpieces.
"Read team wins!!!" Deku began to smile. She had done it. Suddenly though he felt the opposite of what had filled him with energy and he felt as if he were moving through syrup. He felt his legs tremble and the last thing he remembered was seeing the ground coming up to reach his face.