11. Battle Trails
-Day 2-
The great thing about waking up with Momo was well waking up with Momo; this morning, the two young lovers barely made it downstairs to grab some energy bars and protein shakes as their morning tryst continued to the shower. As they raced across campus, they barely made it into class with a minute to spare. Mina gave them a knowing smirk as they took their seats.
"You two missed breakfast today?" she said coyly.
"We woke up late," Momo said quickly.
"Must have forgotten to set the alarm," Izuku added.
"I am sure that is what happened," Toru giggled.
Before the conversation could continue, Mr. Aizawa made his entrance; he laid out the plans for the day of regular classes before adding that today would be their first heroics class which would take place after lunch. He ran down the list of announcements for the day before he walked out as Ectoplasm entered.
"Welcome students to the wonderful world of MATH," he said.
The groans from most of the students were amusing, except for Momo and Tenya, who seemed excited.
Math gave way to English with President Mic, which gave way to classic Literature with the pro hero Calligraphy. Finally, the lunch bell rang, and they all shuffled out.
Lunch was a pleasant; Mei and Melissa were there after some introductions to the group. It was a rather lively affair. Mei wanted to drag Kyoka and Hitoshi to the design studio to make babies, causing the purple-haired duo to blush. A quick explanation later had managed to calm them down some.
Melissa was talking to Toru about having her come down so Melissa could create a suit for her, so she wouldn't have to be naked. Toru was overly excited about the prospect and the fact that she learned that such a thing was possible. Momo assured Toru that it would work as Melissa had created a suit for her, allowing her creation to work without having to run around, making the Gen 1 Midnight costume look tame. The table laughed when Izuku commented that he would still like to see that suit one day while Momo furiously blushed and playfully smacked him.
As Lunch finished, the group was making their way back to class. The topic turned to who would be their heroics teacher, and as they entered, it was the topic for most of the course. Everyone was seated with their eyes on the door; the last voice Izuku wanted to hear boomed from outside the door.
"HERE I AM, ENTERING THE ROOM LIKE A NORMAL PERSON."
The class erupted with comments about how All-Might had just walked in, his choice of Silver Age costume, and how cool he would be their heroic teacher.
"YES, CHILDREN, I AM GOING TO BE YOUR HEROICS TEACHER, BUT BEFORE THAT CAN HAPPEN, YOU CAN'T BEGIN YOUR HEROIC CAREERS IN YOUR SCHOOL UNIFORM." The far wall slid open revealing metal cases. "NOW GRAB YOUR HERO UNIFORMS, GET CHANGED, AND MEET ME AT THE TRAINING GROUND, GAMMA. NOW I AM EXTITING LIKE A NORMAL PERSON." With a gust of wind, he was gone.
Everyone grabbed their cases and made their way to the locker rooms; Momo just whispered a brief assurance in Izuku's ear before they got changed. Izuku opened his case and smiled at the letter from Mei and Melissa telling him to kick some ass for them. He did a brief sweep of the costume, looking for anything unusual. To his surprise, there was only one tracking device, and that was on the case itself; his outfit was clean.
Izuku found his way to the training grounds and quickly spotted his girlfriend in her hero outfit: red with white trim and armor reinforcement; a quick access computer for chemical comps was on her wrist with a floating heads-up display. It hugged her figure nicely, but she didn't have to rip her costume whenever she needed to make something.
She walked over and looked at him with a smile. "I like it, Izu."
Izuku was dressed in dark green combat boots, with black leather and Kevlar weave pants, two-tone leather, and a Kevlar shirt black in the center fabric with a gold phoenix; the arms and shoulders were dark green, and he had a half trench leather coat with green fire running down the arms and the same gold phoenix logo on the back. A green utility belt with first aid supplies completed his look.
*Google Vulcan Phoenix for an idea of the inspiration for the look*
"You look pretty good yourself there, gorgeous," he responded. He then managed to look at all their classmates. They all had exciting costumes; Ochaco came over and complimented the couple. She was shy about her outfit until they complimented her, which seemed to lift her spirits.
Izuku walked over to Mina, "Like the print Mina, your costume looks good."
"Thanks, Izuku, you look pretty cool yourself," she responded, "What's the symbol mean?"
"It's a Phoenix,"
"That is great," she said with a smile; she caught him sneaking at her cleavage, and he caught her checking out his muscles. Toru came bounding over well a pair of gloves and shoes, which made Izuku blush a little as he realized that she was naked, which Toru noticed and giggled.
Momo was talking with Ochaco and Ida when "You look divine, Ms. Yaoyorozu," she turned and saw Brighton.
Brighton Freadom's costume was a deep blue, with a silver trim body suit, gloves with armor reinforcement, and a silver cape to finish it off.
"Thank you," she said before returning to Ochaco and Ida.
"You look cool, Brighton," Ochaco said with a smile.
"Yes, Brighton, I think the look fits you, Momo?" Tenya said.
Momo looked at Ida, "Sorry, Ida, I am going to join Izuku. Excuse me."
As she walked over, Tsu fell into step with her. "You ok, Momo? You seem agitated; I like your hero costume, by the way."
"Oh, thank you, Tsu; I like yours as well. Brighton and I don't agree, that's all. Don't let it bother you."
"Ok, I won't pry, but if you need to talk, I am willing to listen," Tsu replied.
"They SAY THAT CLOTHES MAKE THE HERO AND ALL OF YOU LOOK GREAT. TODAY WE ARE GOING TO ENGAGE IN TWO V. TWO COMBAT WITH ONE TEAM TAKING THE ROLE OF VILLAINS WHO ARE GUARDING A BOMB, AND THE OTHER TEAM WILL BE HEROES TRYING TO THWART THEM."
"How will teams be decided?" Ida asked.
"WE WILL DRAW LOTS!" All-Might said with a smile.
"Is that the best way, sir?"
"I CAN UNDERSTAND YOUR CONCERN, YOUNG TENYA, BUT HEROES DO NOT HAVE THE LUXURY OF CHOOSING WHOM THEY TEAM UP WITH WITHIN THE FIELD VERY OFTEN; THIS WILL REPRESENT THAT, NOW, MY LITTLE ZYGOTES, LET'S GET THIS DOG AND PONY SHOW STARTED. EACH TEAM WILL HAVE TEN MINUTES TO BEFORE THE EXERCISE STARTS, SO USE THAT TIME WISELY TO PLAN YOUR ATTACK OR DEFENSE."
"How do we win this thing?" Bakugo asked.
"BY INCAPACITATING YOUR OPPONENTS, HEROES CAN WIN BY USING CAPTURE TAPE; VILLAINS CAN ALSO WIN BY RUNNING OUT THE CLOCK. THERE WILL BE A TEN-MINUTE TIME LIMIT FROM THE START OF THE EXERCISE. AT THE END OF EACH FIGHT, WE WILL CHOOSE AN MVP FOR EACH COMABAT TRIAL."
Bakugo grinned at the mention of being able to beat your opponents into submission; he smiled at Izuku—time to teach that damn Deku his place.
The students all drew lots, and the matchups were announced.
Izuku/Mina vs. Bakugo/Ida
Momo/Denki vs. Toru/Yuga
Brighton/Tsu vs Ochaco/Rikido
Hitoshi/Kyoka vs Itsuka/Eijiro
Shoto/Koji vs Fumikage/Mezo
-Match 1-
Izuku and Mina walked towards the building; Mina glanced over at him. "Well, do you have a plan?"
"I do, but feel free to offer your opinion,"
"Trust me, Izuku; I have no problem speaking my mind." She said with a smirk, placing her hand on her hips.
Izuku smiled, "My bad, Bakugo is probably going to rush us and focus on me leaving Ida with the bomb. They will probably have it on the top floor and move all the stuff out of the way so Ida can use his speed." Izuku paused, thinking, "How corrosive can you make your acid, as in, can you make it eat through the floor?"
"Yea, I can get it through concrete. Why?"
"Ok, I can handle Bakugo; you go find the bomb and use your acid to make it so Ida can't take a straight line; if you can touch the bomb, I will join you and distract Ida while you secure the win."
"Sounds good; if I can capture Ida, I will go for it."
"I trust your judgment," Izuku flashed her a dazzling smile.
-Villains-
Tenya Ida was not keen on portraying a villain in this exercise, but he would do his best to succeed. He had spent the entire time attempting to produce a plan with Bakugo but to no avail. All the explosive blonde would say was to guard the damn bomb while he handled Deku. Ida put together that he was referring to Izuku and that this was personal. He attempted to dissuade Bakugo from this and to focus on the exercise. The final straw was when Bakugo turned and shouted. "I AM GOING TO BE THE NEXT NUMBER ONE FOUR EYES; I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP, JUST SIT HERE AND WATCH MY LEGEND BEGIN."
Ida stopped and just went to work, preparing the room for the best defense he could. His mind wandered to his lunch with Brighton, where Brighton had expressed his concerns that Izuku was manipulating Momo and that he was worried about her. Ida and Brighton had met a few times over the years, and he got along with him rather well; Brighton had made his attraction to Momo rather apparent; it was something Ida could understand; Momo was quite gorgeous, intelligent, and from a very prestigious family. His mother had implied that Ida should attempt and approach her when she found out she was in his class, but that was tossed aside when he found that she was dating someone. He had told Brighton that he should do the same as meddling in their relationship needed to be revised. But Brighton had made a strong case that Izuku had been manipulating her. Honestly, he knew he was utterly ignorant about how relationships were to work from a personal perspective, but Momo didn't seem to be under any control.
"BEGIN!"
Izuku and Mina entered and began to make their way to the stairs; it was strangely silent. Then Izuku grabbed Mina and jumped back as an explosion came around the corner. "DON'T RUN FROM ME DEKU."
Izuku nodded at Mina, who raced to the second set of stairs.
"Who's running PUMPKIN?" Izuku said, his voice dripping with venom.
Bakugo growled and "DON'T LOOK DOWN ON ME, YOU PIECE OF SHIT," He dashed in and fired directly. "YOU ARE NOT BETTER THAN ME! WERE YOU HIDING YOUR QUIRK FROM ME ALL THIS TIME?
The smoke cleared and to Bakugo's chagrin, Izuku stood there unharmed as he had erected a shield with ease. "You see, Bakugo, I look down on you because I am taller than you, and you are a perfect example of what is wrong in this world. Also, I am better than you."
Bakugo went to curse, but then his body stiffened, and Izuku wrapped him in his telekinesis. He pulled him right up to him and smacked him dismissively across the face. "How fucking dumb are you to think I would go through my entire life hiding my quirk so I could play some sort of joke on you." He backhanded Bakugo in the same dismissive manner. "That I would intentionally suffer all the bullshit you and that piece of shit school did to me just for a laugh, all the beatings and the burns so that I could what giggle at home about it." Another slap. "Well, Bakugo, this has been fun. Goodnight, Pumpkin." Izuku just smiled and walked away as Bakugo was helplessly tossed around the room into unconsciousness. Then had his hands bound behind his back with capture tape.
"YOUNG BAKUGO HAS BEEN ELIMINATED."
Mina had made her way to the top floor and was preparing her ambush when Ida's evil laugh and monologue made her laugh, revealing her position; she burst into the room, throwing acid on the floor in front of Ida, halting his assault; she slides along the floor continuing to their game of cat and mouse. Ida heard All-Might's announcement and knew he had to take a risk as Izuku was on his way; when Mina sprayed her acid, he surprised her by leaping over as he came down with an ax kick. Mina slipped to the side and managed to open-hand slap Ida, her hand covered with acid, and began to eat at his helmet. To everyone in the monitoring room, Mina tackled Ida to the ground landing a solid knee to the family jewels, then proceeded to capture the speedster as Izuku burst in.
"YOUNG IDA HAS BEEN CAPTURED; HERO TEAM WINS."
Mina jumped up and pumped her fist. Izuku sympathized with Ida as the boy was holding his jewels.
"Now that just isn't cricket, baby; never hit a man in the jewels," Izuku said with a fake British accent.
"That's why you should always protect the McNuggets, son!" she replied. "But sorry about that, Ida, I was going for your gut," she added sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.
"I understand, Mina; just give me a moment, Izuku; please remind me to visit the support department after class."
Izuku laughed, "I think every guy will do the same thing."
The trio eventually made their way into the viewing room, where Ida received an embarrassing clap from the boys. All-Might cleared his throat, "NOW, WHO SHOULD BE THE MVP OF THE MATCH?"
"Besides Ida's family jewels?" Denki asked as some laughter broke out.
Momo raised her hand, "I think the entire group should, minus Bakugo. Izuku had a plan which Mina agreed to, but she wasn't just going to sit back and be idle. She said she would and did just that when she saw an opportunity to capture Ida. Ida embraced his role as a villain even though he had misgivings about assuming the role. He was saddled with someone who would not listen or even attempt to work together. Also, Izuku may have gone overboard with Bakugo instead of just subduing him a little more quickly."
"A VERY GOOD ASSESSMENT; YES YOU ALL PASS."
Round 2
As Momo and Denki walked towards the building, she handed him some thermal goggles and instructed him to knock out the power when the situation started. It was a bit of a messy struggle, but they managed to subdue Toru, the invisible girl who knew how to scrap. With Momo creating reflective shields, they could deflect Yuga's navel lasers and capture the bomb. Momo was declared MVP. Bakugo rejoined the class as the round ended but said nothing while standing in the corner.
Round 3
Much like Bakugo, Brighton wanted to avoid discussing strategy with Tsu and pretty much ignored her. After trying for several minutes, Tsu just gave up. The heroes entered the building and found their villains waiting on the third floor. When they unleashed all kinds of furniture at them to bury them, Tsu went to leap away only to feel a sudden tug on her leg that slammed her back down; she was buried under the assault of office furniture.
"HERO TEAM WINS, BOMB SECURED!" All-Might called out.
Ochaco and Rikido were in shock as they turned and saw Brighton standing with his hand on the bomb. The villains quickly shook off their shock and went to unbury Tsu; she had a gash on her head, but she shot an angry look at Brighton as Ochaco and Rikido helped her to the infirmary.
Brighton was annoyed that he was not rewarded with MVP due to his lack of cooperation with Tsu.
Round 4
One of the most impressive matches during the trials involved Hitoshi and Kyoka, who faced a significant disadvantage in combat abilities. They had to rely on their creativity to overcome the challenge posed by Itsuka and Eijiro, who used hit-and-run tactics. Even when Hitoshi managed to take control of one of the villains, the other would quickly assault the mind-controlled individual to break free. However, Hitoshi's lack of physical preparation ultimately cost him the match, as Itsuka overpowered and knocked him out. Similarly, Kyoka struggled to break through Eijiro's hardening, which allowed the villains to double-team her and take her down. Nevertheless, Kyoka's impressive move of jamming her jacks into Itsuka's ears almost overtook her and earned her the MVP award.
Round 5
Shoto initially planned to work alone, but he halted to engage in a conversation with Koji. Despite their social awkwardness, the dialogue between the two was intriguing. However, things worsened when Shoto and Fumikage/Dark Shadow engaged in a fierce battle, resulting in Shoto freezing the building and damaging numerous lights with Dark Shadow's power. Mezo succeeded in overpowering Koji, but everyone was shocked by the strength of the timid giant of 1-A before he was eventually apprehended. Shoto's failure to utilize his fire ultimately led to the defeat of the hero team as time ran out. As a result, Fumi was awarded the MVP.
-After Class-
As class 1-A returned to their dorm, they all started discussing the training when Shoto fell into step with Izuku and Momo. "If I had used my fire, could we have own today?"
"Probably, Dark Shadow gets stronger in the dark; your fire would have probably weakened him," Izuku said.
"If that had been real, people would have died." He responded.
Momo sympathetically touched his shoulder, "That is correct, Shoto."
"I don't want to use his fire."
"Remember what we talked about, Shoto? It's not his fire. It's yours. My mom's Telekinesis vs My Telekinesis. But this is also training so we can get better; I am not going to say don't let this bother you, but it should make you think, what if you encounter a villain immune to ice once you go pro?"
Shoto nodded and said nothing else on the way back to the dorms.
The group's attention was redirected when Tsu confronted Brighton about grabbing her leg during the ambush. Although he denied it, Tsu didn't believe him and fled in frustration. This was the most animated they had seen her since they had met her a few days ago.
Later that evening, everyone gathered in the dorms to prepare and eat dinner together, except for Bakugo and Brighton. Shoto remained quiet, mostly observing. It was a pleasant night as my classmates had the opportunity to get to know each other better. They did just that as people sat around the common room going over their homework and seeking help from their peers, they even had an impromptu game night of charades.
Shoto smiled at his classmates' antics as they attempted to act out things for the prize of a plastic trophy that Momo made on the spot. As he walked off to bed, he couldn't stop thinking. "What kind of hero did he want to be? And was it his fire?"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone