Chapter 7: Battle Trials

Summary: Finally, some action! And poor Katsuki suffers more than one blow to his ego...

Chapter 7: Battle Trials

The next day was a little chaotic. While all Hero Course students were required to take all Hero Course classes, not all of them were at the same place academically otherwise. Izumi and Momo were the biggest outliers, having long since completed enough University-level work that they'd already received multiple degrees. Momo already possessed Associate Degrees in Business and Science, with all of her general education requirements fully covered for Bachelor Degrees in the same. She would be finishing the remaining requirements for both during her time at UA. Similarly, Izumi was in an almost identical situation with degrees in Engineering and Computer Science. Unlike Momo, however, Izumi also had specialized certificates in Quirk Studies. She would not be pursuing her Computer Science degree farther, instead focusing on Engineering and Quirk Studies. Given that her connection to 2B gave her what was essentially a form of Cyberpathy, she didn't really need any farther instruction in Computer Science, making it an easy decision for her.

While Momo and Izumi were the most radical outliers, they were not the only ones with differing goals. No one without a considerable degree of basic intelligence passed the demanding requirements of the UA written entrance exam, which made it little surprise that over half of Group A had already completed at least some University level courses. Often through advanced programs at the quality high schools most had attended. Jirou had enough room in her schedule to take some music courses, Iida was already halfway through a mechanical engineering degree that would help with his Quirk, Sato was taking culinary arts extras, and even Bakugo was taking a few highly specific chemistry classes.

All told there were actually only five out of twenty students in Group A that were not taking classes from other tracks…and that played havoc with schedules. Thankfully, UA was a University for Heroics first and foremost, and had long since figured out how to balance everything. The Hero Course specifically had two centralized blocks of courses, one in the Morning for theory and another in the Afternoon for practical work. Each held sessions three days a week, in order to allow recovery time between days. Shorter, more specialized, heroics related courses were held at various times, with multiple teachers during the remaining two weekdays. This allowed students to slot them in when and where they could, around their other desired programs. Generally, it was possible to take up to two additional classes on a core day, or up to four on a non-core day.

As a result, they spent their morning doing an overview with Midnight. During the two hours of 'theory,' they had covered what they had learned from the Quirk Assessment Test, as well as addressed general questions about everything from Support Gear Requests to the general syllabus for the Heroics department. Afterward, however, they had all split up and hurried to their own interest-specific classes. Some of them were lucky enough to have met up for lunch, with Izumi and Momo being joined by Jirou, Iida, and Tokoyami for their own. For the most part, however, they didn't see each other until they returned to the Heroics department for their afternoon practicals. Which is where they all waited with bated breath to find out who their Special Heroics instructor would be. Sure, Izumi and Momo already knew, having had a couple of meetings between the reveal of his teaching at UA and classes actually starting…but they'd been sworn to secrecy on the subject. And most of the other students seemed to think he was likely to be teaching the upper years, rather than them.

His entrance, therefore, came as a complete surprise to almost everyone. And even Izumi and Momo were taken aback by the way he chose to enter. What with the door suddenly flying off its hinges…

"HERE I AM! BUSTING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A TYPICAL HERO!"

Everyone gaped…except 2B. Her pod form actually slumped a little and played the sound of a palm hitting someone's face. The sound broke the silence, causing Momo and Izumi to nearly do the same thing in reaction…only to be rapidly swept away by the chatter of excited classmates exclaiming over his appearance and the idea of being taught by him. All Might flashed his famous smile, letting everyone get it out of their systems for a few moments, before clapping his hands together with a touch of One for All. Neatly gathering their attention with the mild air pressure that released, he cleared his throat.

"Yes! I'm sure you're all excited for your first day of practical heroics! As I'm sure Midnight has already explained, she and I will be swapping off days. Yesterday, I was with Group B, today with you, and your primary Heroics instructors will be with you in alternating sessions with me. I will focus on special topics, while your primary instructor covers more basic-but-essential forms of training. Today, we'll be diving right into the deep end with…"

All Might held up a plain looking card labeled BATTLE TRAINING. There was an immediate return of excited comments, which he let flow for a few moments, before expertly regaining their attention. After years of managing to more-or-less herd reporters, a classroom of teenagers wasn't that difficult.

"Right! Battle Training! And for that, you'll need something else!"

Raising his other hand even as he lowered the card, he revealed a remote control…and pressed the largest button on it. Around the room, slide-out drawers popped out of the walls. Twenty of them. Each revealing a somewhat large case.

"Costumes! Per your requests, along with any information in your Public Quirk Registry, your initial costumes have been prepared by one of several support companies! Keep in mind, these are early versions, unlikely to be perfectly what you wanted…but they are a great starting point! Find your case and head to the changing rooms. Then meet me at City Site Beta!"

With that, All Might was gone as quickly as he'd arrived, having been in the class less than ten minutes total. Something which Momo and Izumi both noted, nodding to themselves as they realized he was carefully rationing his time. It was a disconcerting reminder for the future, but one they were slowly becoming uncomfortably accustomed to. With that thought offsetting the positive mood All Might's appearance had put everyone else in, they were the first two to find their cases. Momo's was notably more compact than the others. But both of them already knew why that was. Grabbing their cases seemed to jump start everyone else, sending them scrambling to find their own so they could all make their way to the changing rooms.

The changing rooms were…heaven and hell for both Momo and Izumi. Despite the knowledge that they were dating and its implications, societal norms ruled here, and none of the girls thought anything of stripping down in front of the two of them. They had both tried to be good previously…but Ashido's loudness and habit of prancing about naked had made it hard from day one. They had both noticed that they weren't the only ones stealing appreciative looks, either. Ashido did so rather blatantly, and Jirou did so quite a bit more circumspectly. Which actually did help them feel a bit less guilty for their own stolen glances. Today, however, any idea of modesty had apparently been completely disregarded by Ashido…who had somehow found her way over, only half dressed, to frown a Momo's mostly empty case.

"What's up with your costume, Yaomomo? I don't think even Midnight's first costume only consisted of a utility belt and a few weapons? And are those…protein bars?"

Trying not to be drawn to the exotically colored nipples on full display, Momo stopped helping Izumi adjust her own costume. Grinning lightly as Ashido got distracted by the movement of her own breasts, preening just slightly at how easily they distracted the other girl, Momo still answered the question.

"Ah. My costume needs are unusual. Here, I'll show you why they didn't make anything for me."

Momo was nothing if not confident in her body, so she didn't hesitate to step out from their little alcove where everyone could see, despite being completely nude at the moment. Having sensed something was up, as well as heard Ashido's loud comment, everyone had looked up…just in time to see Momo light up like a Christmas tree. Izumi noted that it only lasted about three seconds this time, proud that Momo had managed to shave another second off her previous best. She had been practicing it a lot.

The result, of course, left everyone but Izumi blinking. First that was to clear their vision…but then there were quite a few dropped jaws at the high-tech looking Battle Suit that Momo and Izumi had designed. The initial design had been red and gold…but with it being full body, they'd ultimately ruled that a bit too garish. Instead, it was mixed grey and black, with highlights in an electric, glowing blue that gave it a very 'cyberpunk' feel. The glow effect could be shut down for stealth…but really gave the suit some extra pop when it was on. Not to mention night visibility when she wasn't trying to sneak.

The suit was also, notably, very skintight. As in, it was literally all-but-adhering to Momo's skin, having been created from it. It was built up just a little in a few places to conceal what needed to be concealed, as well as provide space for a few of its features…but for the most part it was just Momo-shaped with an extra few millimeters of composite armor. Not having wanted to freak people out, Momo had opted for a visor instead of a full helmet. At least for non-serious combat ops. She could easily switch it out for the full helmet model in a second or two. And for now, it let everyone see her beaming smile as they all gaped at the armor. Predictably, Ashido was the one to break the sudden silence.

"Holy shit, Yaomomo! That's seriously badass! Makes you look hot as fuck, too! Serious 'cyber warrior goddess' vibes!"

That comment actually was enough to make Momo blush a bit, but she was visibly happy with it as well, causing Izumi to suppress a giggle as she went back to her own costume. Strictly speaking, Izumi could actually do something like what Momo had done, using her inventory. In her case, however, it was better to have a created costume first, then convert it to data later. Objects, like her swords, that were summoned out of pure Quirk Energy and Data, cost her a bit of ongoing power to maintain. Objects that were made somewhere else first and only converted later for storage were the next best thing to completely free to take in and out of her inventory. They cost almost nothing to summon and had no maintenance cost at all, not beyond the extremely small thread of power she used to maintain the inventory in the first place, at least.

Sadly, it did mean that her gear wasn't quite up to the durability of what she could summon. It was, however, well beyond what a first year would normally have access to, having been custom made for her with the Yaoyorozu's advanced facilities. It was actually part of the contract for them to be allowed to use some of the materials in her costume themselves, so it wasn't charity, just a mutually-beneficial business deal. The entire costume paid direct homage to 2B, being heavily based on the battle dress the YoRHa Android had originally worn. The only three major changes were the lack of a boob window, the slits at her thighs not going quite so high, and the thickness of the material in places. Specifically, it had been thickened up with a little bit of armor on her forearms and shins, mostly to add impact force, it had to be said. Given that even her base form was provably bulletproof at this point, armor for defensive purposes was a bit redundant. At least for any armor that wouldn't have impaired her movement.

There was one final change that wasn't immediately apparent, as they hadn't been able to replicate the visor with current technology. She would need to summon it, along with a 2B Pod to feed it more comprehensive sensor data. When she did, it would look much like the advanced Hero Scouter that was Momo's visor. In other words, like an actual visor instead of a blindfold. Seriously, even 2B was suspicious that someone designing the original YoRHa models had been a pervert. None of them had been able to come up with any other reason for all their units to appear blindfolded. On that subject, if the look of the Battle Dress wasn't admittedly rather striking, Izumi might have balked at the fetish potential of it as well. As it was, it being a homage to 2B, as well as her slight changes to make it a bit less sexualized, had let her sell herself on it.

Well, that and she liked the way Momo looked at her whenever she wore it. It was distinctly possible that said look had a little something to do with her choice as well. Though if it did, she wouldn't be admitting it even to her girlfriend anytime soon…

... ...

Once everyone had gotten over Momo's armor transformation, it hadn't taken them too long to finish suiting up. The small delay had resulted in them coming out after the boys. But not by much, with one or two of their male classmates clearly arriving just moments before they had. Fighting an urge to blush as several sets of male eyes lingered on her and the others, Izumi focused on their uniforms to distract herself. As she did so, she started frowning. There were some choices here that definitely shouldn't have made it through the support company's design teams.

Some, like Iida's, were clearly of professional quality. Nearly as much as her own in Iida's case, which made sense given his family connections. Others, though…Kirishima didn't have a shirt. No matter the durability his Quirk gave him, he didn't maintain it all the time. Not having some sort of basic ballistics weave was almost as stupid as if Hagakure had just run around naked, rather than having the DNA coded cloth that had actually been in her case. Making a note to talk to him about it, as well as one or two of the others, she shook off her concern and tried to focus on All Might. Though, as she spotted another less-than-a-good-idea on someone, she mentally filed away the thought that it might also be worth bringing some of the costumes up with Midnight-sensei.

"And here you all are, LOOKING LIKE HEROES! The clothes might not make the man, but those costumes are a reminder for all of you that, as of today, you're no longer just students! You're all Heroes in Training! Now, let's get started on today's exercise!"

Iida had been vibrating in excitement and quickly asked All Might if, since they were in the Mock City from the exams, they were going to do urban combat exercises. A few others tried to interject questions of their own, but All Might quickly silenced them with another tiny air pressure clap, only answering Iida's question directly. Admittedly, the others had all been pretty irrelevant. Or downright stupid.

"Not quite, young man! While most of the crimes the public sees on TV happened outdoors, the truth is that the vast majority of actual heroing happens indoors! Drug deals, home invasions, human traffickers, and heists of all kinds. All are far more likely to result in you confronting villains inside! Which is why, today, we'll be jumping two steps ahead. You'll be split into teams of two, one side playing heroes and the other villains…in a manner of speaking."

As All Might took one of his dramatic pauses, Asui spoke into the moment, throwing him just a bit off kilter.

"Isn't this a little advanced?"

All Might blinked, having lost his mental balance for a moment, but recovered quickly.

"In a manner of speaking…yes! However, throwing you into the deep end serves a purpose. With Midnight's Quirk Assessment, you got a good handle on how dangerous your Quirks can be. Now, since you'll be up against human opponents rather than robots, you'll be forced to confront the difficulty of using your Quirks to disable, without causing serious harm…or bringing the building down on you!"

All Might didn't let his next pause go unfilled, bringing out a small box.

"The other factor is, it must be said, that right now is one of only three chances we'll get this year to put each of you into a truly realistic setting. One where you have a minimum of knowledge on your enemies, and the same sort of limited knowledge on your randomized ally. In the real world, you'll often be paired with a random hero responding to the same crime. Worse, you'll do so with little to no knowledge about the criminals' Quirks. This lesson is primarily one in which we will measure your current ability to adapt. Midnight will go over the results with you in your next theory lesson, so do your best! But don't worry too much if you make a mistake! Like with the Quirk Assessment Test, today is primarily about establishing your personal baselines. We need to know where each of you are at so we can help you improve!"

His explanation seemed to reassure a lot of the class, tension leaving their shoulders. After their day and a half with Midnight, they weren't as touchy as they might have been with Aizawa…but they hadn't forgotten his brutal approach either. Or the fact that he was apparently considered one of UA's best instructors. Izumi felt the relief too, but she'd also noticed something. Asui's comment had derailed part of the explanation. Half raising her hand, she asked a question…

"You said some of us would be playing villains 'in a manner of speaking.' What did you mean by that, sensei?"

All Might actually gave her a quick, grateful glance for getting them back on track. Huh, he must be more nervous than he looked. Maybe he was just leaning on what he'd learned with Group B yesterday? Midnight had mentioned that the classes had swapped days, because of the need to redo Day 1 for their class…

"I meant exactly that! Our scenario is like this…"

The entire class blinked as All Might pulled out a cheat sheet…

"The villains have a nuclear bomb somewhere in their hideout. The heroes must try to foil their plans! To do that, the good guys either have to catch the evildoers, or else recover the weapon. Likewise, the Villains must either capture the heroes, or run down a 15-minute timer. At which time it will be assumed the weapon went off."

All Might put the cheat sheet away, holding up a roll of brightly colored tape instead.

"Both teams will be given rolls of Capture Tape. Wrapping the tape around any part of an opponent 'captures' them. Likewise, anyone I declare as disabled is out, no exceptions. As none of you have demolitions training, simply touching the bomb will count as a win for the heroes. Neither team is allowed to destroy the bomb or remove it from the building. The roof does count as part of the building, if you wish, however."

Somehow, Izumi was fairly certain that the caveats were things that had been added because of Group B getting sneaky and bending the rules a few times. She was tempted to find a loophole of her own if she was on the villain team. Doing so on the hero team might be a bit counterproductive to the point of the exercise, sadly.

"Now, back to young Midoriya's excellent catch! While this scenario is one of heroes vs villains…functionally either side could be considered to be the heroes or villains. Can someone point out an alternate scenario that would fit a such a role reversal?"

Everyone hesitated at the sudden audience participation, but after a few moments several students raised their hands. All Might picked Todoroki for reasons known only to him, and the cold-toned boy answer in…very few words.

"If the bomb were a VIP."

That…needed some expanding, even if Izumi got it immediately. Thankfully, All Might was happy enough to do said expanding.

"An excellent example! If, in this situation, the bomb were instead a VIP…than the 'villains' from our first scenario outline would be his protection detail! They would be trying to either outright defeat the attackers, or else keep the VIP alive until backup came. The 'heroes' would instead be 'villains' attempting to kill or capture the VIP. The scenario isn't exact and you should keep the original in mind for your actual assignment. But, when you break down your actions afterward, try to consider it in both directions."

Even the students that had been looking confused at Todoroki's taciturn answer were nodding now, and All Might used their moment of understanding to move things along.

"Now. Each of you needs to draw a ball from our box here, so we can get started. As well as pairing your earpieces to my channel for farther instructions. All of you do have one, yes? I know it's required on the forms, but we had one instance yesterday where someone didn't receive an earpiece suited to their anatomy."

There were quick confirmations that everyone did, indeed, have at least a basic com set. Most of them were attached to Hero Scouters of various types. Monocles, glasses, visors, or built into helmets, in most cases. There were one or two students without an obvious Scouter system. But that was their own choice…even if they were sort of crippling themselves not to have one. They and the network they connected to had become nearly standard issue for heroes at this point. Something that had, incidentally, made Izumi rather wealthy. Numbers were picked, partners found, and then All Might drew from another box to set up who would face who. He didn't announce those, however, so that no one would be given too much of a planning advantage. He then did something that no one expected…but Izumi and Momo probably should have.

"Alright! I'll be up in the control room to run the scenario. There's an open com feed between rooms, so students remaining here, feel free to ask questions so long as they are pertinent. The first Villain team is Yaoyorozu Momo and Kirishima Eijiro, the first Hero team is Mineta Minoru and Asui Tsuyu. Both teams, take the stairs down. Hero team, stop at the room at the base of the stairs. There's an area there for planning, including a blueprint of the villain building for you to use. You'll have ten minutes to prepare. Villain team, you have the same ten minutes, but can head straight out to the building."

All Might briskly chivied the teams on, then vanished up to the control room. Where Izumi was almost certain he would power down to his smaller form to conserve time. It was a neat system, and one which caused Izumi to abruptly wonder if there were more reasons for All Might to teach a First Year class than just his successor being present. After all, First Years would have no frame of reference for his behavior being odd. She spent all of three seconds considering that, before discarding it for the moment to focus on the feeds showing each team…

Oh dear. This was going to be a slaughter, wasn't it? Momo was simply using the massive boost her lipid-to-matter conversion ratio had gotten from One for All to trap the ever-living hell out of everything. And every single trap was disabling in some fashion. Izumi would know, given that those traps were mostly designed by Momo to allow her to fight Izumi, before Momo had gotten One for All. She suddenly felt very sorry for…well, Asui. She'd already caught some comments from Mineta that she hadn't liked. In fact, his comments about Momo made her wish she'd been paired against him. Just so she could make certain he had a proper Fear of Izumi's Rage where Momo was concerned. Oh well, that would have to happen another day. For now, she settled in to watch.

She was impressed, three minutes into the match. Namely, because Asui had lasted that long before getting trapped. Mineta had not. He'd been taken out seconds into the first room by a combination flash-bang and bolo launcher. One of the bolo balls had smacked square into the midget's junk, too. Which Izumi felt was simply Karma at work. Asui's goggles had apparently protected her from the flash, and she'd managed an incredibly agile dodge of the bolos. The sound had clearly caused her some problems, but Momo must have stepped down the power as a precaution, as the frog-girl had been able to continue on, despite her partner's elimination.

Asui had, deftly in some cases and by the skin of her teeth in others, manage to avoid a farther seven traps, before Kirishima had confronted her in the first stairwell. He'd apparently been unwilling to rely on traps alone and had cornered her into a fight, one which Asui had done fairly well in. She couldn't actually hurt him, despite her leg strength, however, and had attempted to escape when she'd realized that fact. Unfortunately, she'd 'escaped' right into another trap, finishing the match in the villains' favor.

The next match had been even more lopsided, with Todoroki and Uraraka facing Aoyama and Sero. The hero pair had been utterly bulldozed by Todoroki's sheer power. The match caused Izumi to frown, as there was effectively nothing to be learned from it. Other than that some situations were essentially unwinnable, she supposed. But that didn't seem like a great lesson for their first day of practicals…

The next set of teams had, thankfully, been a much better matchup. Sato and Iida as Villains had defended from Heroes Ojiro and Tokoyami, and the match had resulted in the first win for the hero side. While Sato and Iida had worked quite well together, neither of them had been able to do more than stall Dark Shadow. They might have done better had they discovered the Quirk's weakness. But as it was they'd been essentially forced into a fighting retreat, using Iida's speed to play keep away with the bomb. Unfortunately, once Sato's Quirk Backlash began to kick in, he's been quickly outsmarted by Ojiro. After that, the trio of Dark Shadow, Ojiro, and Tokoyami had cornered Iida. They'd gotten the bomb just thirty seconds before the buzzer, making it by far the closest match yet.

That match had been followed by Villains Koda and Hagakure versus Kaminari and Shoji. That match had gone…oddly. Koda had summoned help from hundreds of birds, turning the inside of the building into a rather horrifying Hitchcock-film-like environment. Which would have done well against most people, but Kaminari had extremely good AoE effects with his electricity. His control sucked and he'd fried his brain by the time they reached the control room, but he'd kept the current low enough to manage several discharges, basically wiping the birds out. Hopefully only stunning them, or else UA would be low on bird population for a while…

This had left Shoji vs the two villains quickly, as Hagakure had managed to slip capture tape on the mostly-shorted-out Kaminari. Unfortunately for the villains, Koji was not a fighter…and Shoji could hear Hagakure moving. They'd managed to stall, but only for two minutes before Shoji got a tentacle on the bomb, winning for the Heroes with three minutes to spare.

And then it was, finally, Izumi's turn. She quickly found her way into the planning room with Jirou, who was partnered with her as part of the Hero team. Quickly memorizing the building layout provided, she turned to smile at her partner, who was clearly nervous but trying not to show it.

"So, your Quirk is obviously related to your Jacks. You showed off enhanced hearing and the ability to shatter concrete with resonance frequency yesterday, but what about the boots and gloves?"

Jirou's answer was prompt, even if she started fiddling with one earjack as she answered. A nervous tick?

"Amplifiers. My Quirk does some amplification on its own, but not enough for a ranged attack. The boots and gloves let me project sound much more strongly into anything I'm touching. It can shake the ground pretty bad, or really fuck up someone's insides. But both of those are bad ideas here."

Izumi processed that, then nodded. Yeah, shaking the building you were in apart or potentially killing a fellow student were both 'bad ideas.' Hmm…

"I wonder if some of the gear I brainstormed for Present Mic would work for you? The sonic canons in particular would give you a mid-ranged punch. They would actually be a lot more practical for your Quirk too, I think. Oh! And the boost gear!"

Jirou blinked as Midoriya started muttering. Her lips Quirked and she reached out to snap her fingers in front of Izumi's face. Izumi blinked at her…then blushed as she realized what she'd been doing.

"Sonic cannon sounds like a hell of an idea, Green. And I'd love to talk to you about it. But we kinda need to focus on what we actually have right now.

"…Right, sorry. Um…I know a bit about Bakugo's Quirk. He produces a nitroglycerin-like substance from his palms, which he can then detonate at will. Ashido, from what I saw yesterday, seems able to secrete Acid of various potencies from any point on her body. Technically, I could probably just blitz them, but Bakugo is powerful enough that the two of us fighting might bring down the building."

Jirou grimaced.

"Yeah lets…not do that. Any other ideas?"

Izumi hummed, then nodded.

"Yeah, why don't we do this…"

... ...

The moment All Might told them to go, they put their plan into motion. Jirou and 2B, who was piloting one of the larger Pod designs they'd come up with over the years, headed around the side of the building. Seeing the Pod's perspective via her tactical visor, Izumi waited until they'd reached the blind spot Izumi had spotted on the building's blueprints. It couldn't be seen from the windows of any floor, which meant there was no way for their opponents to see Jirou grabbing the concealed handles in the base of the Pod. Moments after Jirou secured her grip, the Pod rapidly lifted up toward the roof, carrying its passenger along for the ride. Satisfied that part was working out, Izumi grinned and prepared to do her part. What she was planning was more than a little mean, but she still had enough left over ill-will for past-Katsuki that she was going to find it immensely satisfying. Projecting her voice so that everyone in the building would be able to hear it, as well as those back in the waiting room via a surreptitiously hacked speaker, she got started...

"Hey! Boom-boom boy! Do you remember that time where you were running from your mommy, streaking naked through the house, and accidentally set off an explosion right on your dick?! Man, that was hilarious. Good thing you weren't stronger back then or you might have ended your family line for good!"

She could practically imagine Katsuki's face as his brain record screeched. She could certainly hear the faint tell-tale signs of his anger building in the echoes of fire-cracker-sized explosions.

"Or how about the first time you used a curse word in front of your parents? That was even better! Your mom's punishment, forcing you to wear the most girly dress in her fashion catalog for a week? That was hysterical!"

Ah, the explosions were moving now. Predictably straight towards her. Excellent.

"Then there was the time you accidentally walked in on your mom and dad! Were you scarred for life when you saw what your dad was wea—"

Katsuki blasted right out of a second story window, murder in his eyes as he used both gravity and his explosions to accelerate toward her.

"Shut up you stupid nerd-bitch! I'm gonna turn your insides into outsides!"

Izumi almost giggled at the awesome mixture of mortification and rage turning his entire face a mottled red. Despite the impressive speed he'd managed to build, Izumi's reflexes were more than up to the task. With a graceful spin, she moved out of his way with a taunting sort of flourish. After her recent sparring with Momo, he was just so…slow.

"Awww, Kats, not feeling nostalgic? Why, it would positively wound your mother's heart to know you'd forgotten how many of those dresses she had to replace, since you kept earning more time stuck in them by burning the things!"

Katsuki, much like Mineta, had quite a bit of impact resistance granted to him by his Quirk. Combined with a last second detonation to slow him, he'd managed a rough landing. Spinning to face her, snarling incoherently, he lunged, again boosting his speed with explosions. Izumi had to admit, his straight-line speed was more impressive than anyone in class short of her, Momo, and Iida. But, at least for now, Izumi was still the fastest of all of them.

Dodging again was child's play…but this time she didn't just dodge. Instead, she slipped the blunted bokken she'd summoned through Katsuki's non-existent guard. There were obvious and blatant downsides to both of your hands pointing backward, as Katsuki proved the hard way when the air left his lungs explosively. Impact resistant he might be, but physics were physics, and the blade she'd held in place with both muscle and telekinesis had been something of an immovable object to his very-stoppable force. A last second twist of her wrist and application of pressure avoided him getting a serious injury…but also left him spinning through the air, his flight ending as he slammed into the building across the street.

Completely stunned and gasping for breath as he was, not even Katsuki's willpower could get him moving fast enough to avoid having capture tape looped around one leg a moment later. Izumi grinned at him as All Might declared him out, then she took off into the building at a jog. She suspected Jirou and 2B would be able to handle Ashido…but better to make sure she was in place to provide some backup just in case! She'd take a minute or two to arrive, though, in order to give the others a chance to learn from the exercise.

Just as she arrived on the third floor, where her tactical visor was tracking 2B and Jirou fighting the surprisingly agile Ashido…the exercise ended. Ashido had stayed in place just a moment too long, letting the stepped-down concussion rounds that 2B was firing hit her. Jirou tagged her an instant later with her jacks, pumping her heartbeat into the pink girl, the vibrations completely disrupting her opponent's system for long seconds. Long seconds Mina didn't have as Jirou quickly used her own roll of capture tape, eliminating the second member of the Villain team. Izumi cheered, walking through the door to congratulate her, even as All Might announced their victory…

...

After a quick review of the match with All Might, the hero made a flashy exit and the class headed back to change out of their hero costumes. Most were in good moods, even some of those that had lost. Though the few that had been utterly overwhelmed were obviously a bit down. Among the girls, only Asui had been so overwhelmed, and only in a way that had actually shown her abilities in a relatively good light, so the mood in the girl's locker room was quite positive. Not unexpectedly, Ashido was the most talkative.

"Oh man! I didn't even think about what it meant that Izumi has 2B! And unlike Dark Shadow she can run off in one of those drone things! But hey, that fight was pretty cool! I got to show off my awesome dodging ability…and we got hilarious dirt on Bakugo! Was the thing about him almost blowing his junk off really real?"

Izumi was a bit startled at the question, but laughed at the half-naked Ashido prancing into her space again.

"More or less, yes. He was only like five and a half, though. So it really didn't leave much of a mark. I think he was more mad that his screw up let his mom catch him, at the time. Honestly, the dress thing was funnier, since we were seven when that happened."

Ashido's eyes went vacant as she imagined it, then fell away from Izumi's alcove, snickering even as she struggled out of her costume. Speaking of costumes…

"So, I noticed a few of the boys had some…questionable costume choices. Stuff that shouldn't have made it through the approval process by the support company. I know Momo and my outfits are fine, but did anyone else have issues? Remember, Midnight-sensei told us to take note of anything, since today would be the first time we used them."

Everyone answered in the negative, but then Jirou piped up.

"Nothing actually wrong with mine, so far. But I'm curious about the stuff you mentioned before the fight. Sonic canons? I've been trying to figure something out for ranged usage since I first started taking the idea of being a hero seriously. Are those what they…well…sound like?"

Giggling at the exasperated tone Jirou used for the near-unavoidable pun, Izumi cheerfully began talking through the idea. Momo, once she finally managed to reabsorb her suit fully, chimed in with some thoughts of her own…

... ... ...

A/N: Two notes!

First, I don't like canon Bakugo. At all. However, he won't be getting bashed in this fic. Why? Because this isn't canon Bakugo. He's not going to play a super important role, so it won't be obvious immediately, but being separated from Izumi actually ended up being a good thing for Bakugo. He's still a self-admitted asshole, but he's a lot less violent about it and doesn't have a bone to pick specifically with Izumi. The content of this particular chapter was mostly because I found the idea of Izumi's method of dealing with him both hilarious, and a good way to show that Izumi has developed a bit of a mischievous sense of humor...

Second, purely for the curious, the matches were MOSTLY random. I put everyone into a randomizer and kept triggering it until I got the only thing I cared about. Specifically, Jirou being paired with either Izumi or Momo. Regardless of if I add her to the pairing or not in time, I still intend for her to be part of their friend group. And one of them being paired with her during the Battle Trials was a good way to get that rolling. Everything else was randomized and I wrote from there. Apparently, Bakugo and Izumi were fated to face each other, even with a randomizer thrown in. Go figure.