Izumina heard another explosion as she rounded a corner. Her cape billowed behind her before flopping over her shoulder as she made the sharp turn. She huffed before clicking a button on the side of her neck guard, vacuuming up the blue fabric through the sides before it fell against her shoulder blades as a hood.
"I won't do so much damage that this fight gets stopped, but I'm gonna get close!" Izumina heard Bakugou's voice boom throughout the hallway. She must've been getting close.
Sprinting down corridor after corridor, Izumina followed the sound of muffled voices and fighting. Not wanting to risk mishearing the shuffles, Izumina decided against using her air quirk as a booster, and she knew better than to risk teleporting in a building she wasn't familiar with. It would be a waste of concentration and energy to teleport to the end of a hallway just to turn and do the same to another.
"My 'Deku' isn't always going to mean 'useless'!" Izumina spun on her heels as she recognized Izuku's voice and sprinted down the hall she thought she'd heard it from. "Kacchan, my 'Deku' means 'You can do it!'"
Izumina noticed Uraraka's pink hero costume and slid to a stop behind the girl. She glanced over Uraraka's shoulder to see Izuku and Bakugou engaged in a ferocious battle. Izuku's face mask had been torn in half, revealing a mess of curly green hair on one side.
'Jeez! Did Kacchan blast him in the face,' Izumina exclaimed internally. Izumina noticed as Uraraka's eyes widened at Izuku's words. Surprised by how much her words had affected him.
"Deku," Bakugou growled as he stood from the floor. Izumina wondered if Izuku had managed to knock him down before she'd arrived. "Even though you're scared..." Bakugou's claw-shaped hands emitted sparks in a threatening manner.
Izuku's jaw clenched, to which Izumina stepped forwards without thinking.
"Oh, Izumi," Uraraka muttered upon realizing the girl's presence. Izumina grimaced at the boys before her, barely hearing Uraraka's words.
"That's what I hate about you!" Bakugou screamed furiously. Izumina knew this wouldn't be a civil fight. It could get ugly in so many ways, and Bakugou had already admitted his intent to push the limits of the fight. Izumina felt her hands curl into fists at her side.
"Stop it..." Izumina's voice was barely a whisper, but the boys heard it nonetheless. Both pairs of eyes fell on Izumina, who stepped towards them slowly. "Enough with all this hatred! I get that you guys don't get along, but saying you hate someone who's done nothing to you is just cruel, Katsuki!"
Izumina internally scolded herself as she felt tears begin to brim her eyes, blurring the corners of her vision. Both boys stared in shock upon seeing the girl get so emotional in the middle of a training exercise. Izumina sniffed before aggressively wiping her eye with the back of her hand.
"Izumi..." Izuku started, but she cut him off before he could finish.
"No! I get that you need to fight for the sake of this exercise, but words matter! You hear that, Kacchan? Words matter more than anything in the world!" Izumina tensed as she felt a tear slip down her cheek. Her cheeks flushed a light pink knowing that her classmates would be seeing her like this, however, she couldn't stand to see her two oldest friends fighting like that. If she could even call Bakugou her friend still. Izumina recalled the feeling she'd felt when Izuku told her Bakugou had told him to kill himself. She remembered that feeling, as though someone had punched her in the gut.
Words... It pained Izumina to know that people could take them for granted. How they could throw them around so easily. How nobody understood the pain she felt not being able to talk to her father at home. They should know better.
Bakugou's gaze hardened. He was angry. Angrier at that damned nerd than he'd ever been in his life. He'd tricked him, and lied to him for years... and for what? To make him look like a fool and laugh behind his back? Though nobody could deny that Bakugou emanated murderous intent, a small part of him twinged at the sighed of Izumina crying. It was pathetic. But yet, he couldn't help but remember how she had cried when he and Deku fought for the last time at Aldera. He hated watching her cry, and he hated knowing that it was because of him even more.
Just then, the communicator in Bakugou's ear went off. "Hey, Bakugou," Iida spoke over the radio. "Give me your status! What happened?" Nobody could hear Iida's words but Bakugou at that moment, and Bakugou was done with distractions.
Bakugou angrily raised a finger to his earpiece before speaking. "Just shut up and defend," he ordered as his gaze briefly flickered from Izumina to Izuku. He stared Izumina down, her green eyes matching his red ones defiantly. "I'm really angry right now!"
Izumina's lip twitched as she heard Bakugou's sudden declaration. It took a moment for her to realize he must've been talking to Iida.
"I'm not asking about how you feel!" Iida spoke, unheard by the three heroes surrounding Bakugou.
"You already managed to lose Aho! Guard better!"
"Aho? Do you mean Yūsha? Hey!" Iida exclaimed but it was too late. Bakugou had already hung up.
Bakugou threw his arm down dramatically before sparks ignited in the palm of his hand. Izuku gasped, realizing what was about to happen, before yelling. "Izumi, Uraraka, go!"
Bakugou blasted himself forwards, propelling himself with the force of his explosion.
Uraraka grabbed Izumina's arm and pulled her away from the boys just as Bakugou kicked at Izuku's head, to which he only narrowly blocked with his forearm. "Let's go," Uraraka exclaimed, tugging at Izumina who stared transfixed at the boys.
Izumina looked over at Uraraka, snapping out of her daze.
"Deku," Izumina called, causing both boys to glance in her direction. She inhaled sharply before yelling. "You can do it!"
Izuku's mouth trembled into some meek attempt at a smile, while Bakugou's glare only darkened.
"Looking away? You must be sure of yourself," Bakugou exclaimed.
Though it pained Izumina to do so, she followed Uraraka down the corridor, flinching every couple of seconds as she heard explosions and grunts coming from behind. She shook her head to clear her thoughts before taking the lead. "Iida should be guarding the bomb not too far from here. Follow me."
Uraraka nodded, exhaling in understanding, as she followed Izumina.
Izumina's gaze hardened as she retraced her steps from earlier. Without slowing down, she wiped her eyes with the back of her glove.
Noticing this, Uraraka attempted small talk. "You and Deku are close, right? What's the deal with Bakugou?"
Izumina concentrated on the metal walls of the building, as to not take a wrong turn. "Yeah, it's a long story."
Uraraka glanced over her shoulder at the way they'd come. "Do you think it was alright to leave Deku alone? Should one of us go back to help?"
"No," Izumina answered. The memory of Izuku telling Bakugou off at the end of last school year flashed through her mind.
"You've always been a hero... at least to me... Let me do this!"
Izumina knew she'd have to start letting Izuku fight his own battles. "He can handle himself," she told Uraraka truthfully. "Right now, he needs us to get to that bomb... So that's what we're going to do."
Uraraka's eyes widened at Izumina's sudden change in demeanour. One never would've been able to tell she had been crying only moments before. Uraraka still didn't understand why Izumina had shed tears after such a small exchange of insult between Bakugou and Deku. The whole relationship between the three of them must run deeper than she'd initially thought...
Suddenly Izumina thrust out her hand, causing Uraraka to stop behind her. Izumina analyzed the corner, certain that this was where she'd come from. Uraraka peeked past Izumina's arm and into the room. "We found it," she whispered, her eyebrows knitting into a look of determination.
Izumina nodded, stepping away from the corner to put a little more distance between Iida and them.
"Now we just have to tell Deku and hide until he gets here," Uraraka reasoned.
Izumina shook her head disapprovingly. "Kacchan is powerful. He'll put up a hard fight. I don't think we should wait for Deku to do this. With the limited time we have, it'd be too risky."
"Well, what should we do," Uraraka asked.
Izumina scratched her chin. "I'm supposed to be a hostage... Technically, I am on the hero team; however, All Might didn't give me any capture tape, so I won't be able to demobilize Iida. Additionally, I started this training tied to the bomb, so it will mean nothing if I get to it. To recover the bomb successfully, I think you'll have to do it, Uraraka."
Uraraka gulped nervously. "So, I'll have to stop Iida, and recover the bomb?"
"Not necessarily," Izumina smiled supportively. "I may not be able to demobilize Iida, but I can keep him preoccupied. With my teleportation I may be able to catch him off guard, but with his engines, it'll be tricky to keep him in one spot." Izumina was about to propose a possible plan, but before she could she heard Iida's voice. She placed a finger over her lips and gestured for Uraraka to glance into the room with her.
As the two girls peeked around the corner they caught Iida talking to himself.
"Bakugou is a natural at being bad, but that fits this training perfectly." Iida huffed, humming as though he'd realized something. "Then I must also devote myself to being a villain. That's right. This is another trial to turn me into a man who will not bring shame to the Iida family. Become a villain... Be dyed with evil in order to become a hero!"
Izumina raised an eyebrow curiously as she watched Iida stare at the floor intensely. Then she struggled to stay quiet as he turned away from the floor. Even with a helmet on, Izumina could sense the wide-eyed, evil expression he wore.
"I am... extremely evil," Iida exclaimed, laughing maniacally like a stereotypical cartoon villain.
Izumina and Uraraka had to duck away from the corner quickly as both of them struggled to stifle their laughter. Uraraka spat into her hands as Izumina tried to shush her through the suppression of her own giggles. Luckily for both the girls, Iida was too busy getting into his role and practicing his evil laugh to notice them.
"He's taking this so seriously," Uraraka choked, trying her best to stay quiet but ultimately failing. Izumina burst out laughing.
Iida turned on his heels towards the entrance, immediately halting his evil laughter. "Have you arrived, Uraraka?"
Uraraka gasped before awkwardly rounding the corner and exposing herself. Izumina sighed, knowing that now there was no point in hiding their presence.
"Ah, Yūsha. I knew you'd tell the heroes where we were as soon as you'd managed to escape. Though I must admit, I'm shocked you didn't get into any altercations with Bakugou, considering he'd known of your escape."
Izumina smiled, slightly amused by how Iida was trying to act like a villain.
Iida pointed at Uraraka dramatically, placing his other hand on his hip. "I knew you would come the instant Bakugou ran off by himself. Your quirk allows you to make the objects you touch float. That is why I put away all the things on this floor before you arrived. Now you cannot play your little tricks! You have blundered, hero!" Iida laughed maniacally once more.
"He's starting to look... like a villain..." Uraraka stuttered.
Izumina scoffed. "Maybe if he were in an 80's cartoon."
Uraraka raised a hand to her ear. "Deku," Izumina heard her whisper. "Iida found us. Sorry!"
'Apparently, everyone gets a communicator but me,' Izumina thought.
Izumina watched as Iida's laughing stopped and said: "I'm evil!" Approaching them slowly. It was all quite comedic in Izumina's opinion.
"Right now, he's slowly..." Uraraka explained, but stopped for a moment to listen to, what Izumina assumed to be, Deku on the other end. "The middle of the fifth floor."
Izumina leaned closer to hear what Izuku was saying. "Almost directly above." She tapped Uraraka on the shoulder.
"We probably don't have much time left either. If I'm right, there should be roughly six minutes left. If we don't finish soon, Iida and Kacchan will win."
Uraraka nodded. "Did you hear that, Deku?"
Izumina thought she heard Izuku mutter "I can't lose this fight," before signing off. Whether or not he'd heard her though was unspecified. Izumina knew Izuku and her thought alike, which meant he had most likely been keeping the time limit in mind.
Suddenly, Izumina heard what could only have been a huge explosion. She fell to her knees as the ground beneath her shook. Uraraka and Iida stumbled too. "What's going on?" Izumina felt panic rising in her voice, though she tried her best to keep it from showing. 'Please don't let that be Katsuki and Izuku... That's way too overboard.'
Once the floor had stopped shaking Iida thrust his hand up to his earpiece, turning away from the two heroes. "Bakugou, answer me! Did you do that? What in the world did you do?"
Izumina's jaw clenched, knowing for certain that Bakugou had indeed gone overboard. She hoped Izuku was okay but knew that if she and Uraraka didn't act now, they would lose the advantage they'd just been given.
"Uraraka," Izumina exclaimed before teleporting behind Iida and grabbing his arm.
"This is our chance," Uraraka exclaimed, realizing what Izumina meant. Izumina pinned Iida's arm behind his back, trapping him in a hammerlock as Uraraka rushed forwards. "If we retrieve the weapon, we'll win!"
Iida pivoted to the side and used his engines to speed backwards, successfully throwing Izumina off him. "I won't let you, heroes!"
Iida rushed towards Uraraka, but Izumina stopped him with a blast of air, knocking him to the side. Izumina jumped in front of him, in an attempt at putting herself between him and Uraraka.
Uraraka touched her fingertips together, a soft pink glow emitting from them before she leapt into the air.
"She can make herself float now, too?" Iida turned his gaze and made to stop Uraraka.
"Release," Uraraka exclaimed, connecting her fingertips once more. "It's a special move that's hard on my body!"
Iida activated his engines and prepared for take-off, but Izumina knew she had to do something.
Izumina rushed Iida and jumped to kick him, but at the last second, Iida zoomed forwards, pulling the paper-mache bomb to the other end of the room. Izumina blasted air in his direction but missed, failing to analyze where he'd be correctly. She'd underestimated his speed by just a hair, but it was enough for Iida to get to the bomb before Uraraka.
The change in wind pressure, and the force of Iida's engines as he passed, knocked Uraraka off course mid-air. Uraraka gasped and squealed as she fell, having not expected to land so abruptly. She tumbled until she hit the wall, landing on her back with her legs in the air.
"Uraraka!" Izumina exclaimed as she teleported to the girl's side and helped her to right herself. "Are you alright?"
"Ouch," Uraraka mumbled, rubbing her head. "Yeah, I'll be fine."
Iida laughed maliciously. "Your quirk is not a threat if you cannot touch anything. I'll hold out until the time runs out!"
Izumina's brows furrowed. She didn't want to hurt Iida, and with her quirks, it was hard to go all out. For now, she was limited to her teleportation, the quirk she was most comfortable using, as well as her air and water manipulation. In a room filled with concrete and metal, her earth manipulation wouldn't do much good either.
'Even if it isn't my fire, three quirks are better than one!' Izumina turned towards Iida and raised her hand in a threatening manner, similarly to how Bakugou used his quirk, however her fingers were more relaxed, less restrained.
A small orb of water appeared over her hand.
Uraraka's eyes widened, watching Izumina's action attentively. Iida, pressed his hand to the surface of the bomb, readying himself for another attack. The boy tried to hide his surprise, but he was shocked at what the girl was doing. He hadn't realized her manipulation quirk allowed her to create water from thin air.
"How are you doing that," Iida asked in a deep, villainous voice. "There's no water in this room. I thought you were only able to manipulate the air."
Izumina's gaze darkened. She didn't like talking about her quirks. She knew it would be hard to pass her quirks off as one, however she hadn't intended for anyone to question her so soon. "I'm absorbing the water from the air. Water vapour can be found in nearly everything. I mean, it's only one hydrogen atom and two oxygen ones."
The water bubble expanded, growing in size until Izumina had to hold it above her head with both hands.
"Deku," Uraraka mumbled into her earpiece. Izumina flinched upon hearing his name.
'So he wasn't blown to shreds afterall...' Izumina thought, grateful that he hadn't taken the full force of the blast from earlier. If it had the power to shake the building, Izumina knew it had the strength to blow Izuku away.
Without looking away from Iida, Izumina addressed Uraraka. "What is Izuku saying?"
Uraraka listened intently. "Okay," she replied through the communicator before mumbling Izuku's plan to Izumina. "Deku wants us to go to the pillar by the window," Uraraka spoke softly to avoid the possibility of Iida overhearing.
'The pillar by the window...' Izumina thought. 'Izuku wouldn't tell Uraraka to do that unless he had a plan. But Iida isn't likely to let us move around the room without keeping the bomb at a safe distance. We need a distraction."
Izumina brought her hands back before throwing them forwards, shooting the ball of water in Iida's direction. "Uraraka," Izumina exclaimed, "Let's go!"
Uraraka nodded in understanding, hearing Izuku's voice from her earpiece at the same time as Izumina. "Let's go, Uraraka," Uraraka sprinted to the pillar by the window as Izumina jumped to the side, changing the direction of her water bubble just before it hit Iida.
Iida, confused, jumped to avoid the water. Izumina, however, had predicted his move and successfully engulfed the boy from the waist down.
"What the?!--"
Izumina smirked before teleporting to the pillar across from Uraraka. She grabbed the structure for support, keeping one arm extended towards the water. "You won't be able to use your engines from in there!"
Just then, a massive explosion was heard. The sound echoed throughout the building as windows crashed and glass fell to the streets below. Izumina stumbled as the ground beneath her feet shook before a giant blast of air broke through the centre of the room and out the roof. The pillars around the room snapped like twigs, but they had been enough for Izumina and Uraraka to stay on their feet.
Uraraka used her quirk to make the pillar lighter, before swinging it like a baseball bat and swatting away the debris before it could hit her. "Sorry, Iida! Improvised special move-- Comet Home Run!"
"You call that a home run?!" Iida punched at the water encasing his legs but found himself unable to move from the waist down.
Izumina immediately teleported to Uraraka's side and thrust her arm away from the bomb. The ball of water, along with Iida inside of it, swished to the other end of the room. Iida folded like a rag doll as the sudden movement caused him to lose balance. "Now, Uraraka," Izumina exclaimed, knowing that the debris and Iida were well out of their way.
Uraraka connected her fingertips, emanating a faint pink glow, before jumping over the hole in the ground. Izumina shot a blast of air in Uraraka's direction, ensuring that she had enough of a boost to make it over the crater in the ground.
"Release!" Uraraka exclaimed before opening her arms and landing on top of the bomb, hugging it happily. "Retrieved!"
"Yes!" Izumina pumped her fist in front of her, releasing the water bubble and dropping Iida on his knees in the corner of the room.
Iida screamed, his eyes widening behind his helmet in shock. "No...! The weapon...!" His words echoed throughout the building, which looked more like a chasm from where they stood, looking up at the countless floors that had been demolished right through the centre.
Izumina helped Uraraka off the bomb before turning towards the hole and leaning over it. 'Izuku and Katsuki must be down there.' she thought. She turned towards Uraraka and Iida and saluted them with two fingers. "I'm going to check on those two. Good fight, Iida! Nicely done, Uraraka!" And with that, she hopped down the hole, creating a funnel of wind around her feet to slow her descent.
She landed on her feet in a kneeling position, to avoid landing weirdly on her ankles. Not too far from her, were Bakugou and Izuku, surrounded by a cloud of smoke that made it hard for Izumina to see them.
"You are underestimating me, aren't you?" Izumina recognized Bakugou's furious voice through her impaired vision. She stepped forwards, squinting to see the boys' faces.
"I wasn't... going to use it..." Izuku's weak voice strained through the smoke.
Izumina felt her chest tighten as Bakugou's teeth grit. The smoke from around them cleared and Izumina found herself standing next to Bakugou, both of them staring directly at Izuku.
"Because I can't use it..." Izuku said. His arm was raised above his head, his hand clenched tightly into a fist. Everything from the fingertips down to his shoulder was a sickening shade of purple. Broken... he had broken himself again. "Because my body can't handle the impact... Mr. Aizawa said so, too... But..."
Bakugou's eyes widened as he saw first hand what happened when Izuku used his quirk. An expression of worry flashed across his face involuntarily.
"...this was all...I could think of..."
It took a second for Izumina to comprehend what she was seeing, but once her mind had digested it, all the fears and worries from during the boy's fight flooded over her, tenfold.
"Izuku!" Izumina's legs moved on their own, carrying her to the boy's side just as he collapsed to the ground. Izumina caught her friend with one arm, her knees buckling under his weight before she managed to get a hold of him by placing her other hand on his chest.
"Hero... Hero team... wins!"
Izumina heard All Might's voice over the speakers of the building but ignored it as she carefully laid Izuku's broken, unconscious body on the dirty floor.
"You idiots!" Izumina's eyes pricked with tears as she held her hands over Izuku's arm and poured all the healing quirk she could into her palms. Her hands glowed a shade of lavender purple as the swelling in Izuku's arm subsided. "This was just a training exercise!" Izumina choked on the lump in her throat, unable to easily articulate how angry she was. "You went too far!"
Bakugou watched helplessly as Izumina kneeled, hovering over Izuku. His mouth hung open, shocked at how badly injured his rival was. He hadn't meant for things to go that far. He'd lost himself in battle. But worst of all... he'd lost to Deku.
Izumina felt her head lob as her vision became fuzzy. Using her water quirk to such an extent had made her dehydrated, and she had yet to learn how to heal without taking part of the person injured's pain upon herself. Her hands began to shake as she felt wounds from months ago, injuries she hadn't felt since the entrance exam, open on her skin.
Izumina felt Bakugou's hand on her shoulder but ignored it as her head lobbed once more. She struggled to fight the fatigue she was feeling. Knowing that if she gave in for even a moment, Izuku's suffering would be prolonged.
"Aho..." Bakugou said as his hand slid down to her bicep and pulled her softly.
Izumina tried to shrug him off but Bakugou kept his hold.
"Aho, you're hurting yourself..."
"Let me go!" Izumina yelled, knowing that if Bakugou really wanted to he could pull her weak form away from Izuku in a heartbeat. "He needs me!"
Bakugou pulled on her arm once more, trying not to hurt her more than he already had. "You can't help him if you're hurting yourself in the process. Even I know Deku wouldn't want you too."
Izumina's strength wavered as she slumped backwards, her arm twitching as though it had taken some of the swelling from Izuku's upon itself.
Bakugou caught her and pulled her into his embrace, knowing that if he didn't hold her close she would run right back to Deku's side.
Izumina choked on a sob as she trembled in Bakugou's arms. "Y-you... You went too far..."
Bakugou felt his heart skip a beat as Izumina's hand gripped the fabric of his shirt. She had no fight left in her, and yet, she was still trying to fight.
Bakugou exhaled.
"I'm sorry..."