Hey guys, I'm back. Yes I'm alive! It's just that I've been busy with life and finally starting writing something original and making stuff on Twine(the platform), self isolating, the usual. Before self-isolation and some family problems I won't get into.

I've also had writer's block when writing the fight scenes, and when I get around to it, I get distracted by other ideas. But I've learned how to work through it, plus ultra.

Anywho, a few have asked me why only the hero team had radios to communicate with when the anime had both teams communicate with radios. Well my reasoning is actually quite simple, I actually forgot.

To be fair, in canon the "villains" rarely made use of it, yes I include the other "villains." In this fic, my reasoning is that the villains actually had five minutes to prepare and it seemed like the bomb could actually be moved which was a good enough edge while the heroes get communications. Also, from the short montage we got in canon, a lot of teams actually opted for not moving the bomb and decided to just fortify their position. Probably because of Yaoyorozu's comment about treating the thing as an actual bomb, though I did find it suspicious that she didn't chastise Iida for casually moving it first….

Well enough of that. READ, ENJOY, and, REVIEW!

I don't own MHA/BnHA

Katsuki hissed as he grabbed his shoulder.

His support items worked exactly as he described in the costume design he submitted. If there was one thing he had to complain about, it was how finicky his support items were about how he positioned his arms. He had done various image training to position his arms just right to make the most of his support gear as soon as he got the manual and so far his gear has worked like a charm. Wasn't too hard, it was actually pretty close to how he normally used his quirk. He fired off his quirk and his gear took the brunt of the force. It also allowed him to store and contain his sweat and fire off a large concentration at once. It was annoying but it seemed like things were finally going along as it should.

That is until the green bastard flicked something at his throat and fucked everything up. Classic Deku.

He had used that storage feature before in the previous building, but this time he tried storing as much sweat as the thing could handle. To say that the explosive result was unexpected would be an understatement.

Not only was he unprepared for the force, his arm was also out of position. Had it been his regular explosions, it would probably be a minor thing he could easily ignore, but it fucking wasn't. It was a huge blast that blew out part of the building...THAT he definitely felt. His arm was more or less okay thanks to his support gear but his shoulder took the bitch of it.

He slowly pushed himself up as he coughed.

He groaned a bit as he shook his head, trying to get a feel for his surroundings.

Then something hit him, right in the middle of his forehead.

Mina was in shock. She just eyed the-the, just...the utter damage the blond did. She knew she would see some strong people in UA but she didn't think-

"Ashido, I'll leave Iida to you!"

"Huh?" she let out in surprise, her mind slowly catching up to what she heard. She turned to see Izuku aiming his fist at Bakugo, one eye closed.

"Aimforthechest, aimforthechest," she heard him mutter before she heard something so brief she couldn't even describe it.

"GAH!" she turned to see the blond hold his forehead.

"Eek! That was not the chest," Izuku quickly said as he stood. "If, If you-WANT ME!" He was clearly forcing himself to yell, Mina noted. "K-COME GET ME!" Izuku shouted before he turned and ran to the stairs.

It was quiet for a moment. Izuku's frenzied steps were accompanied by the draft now rushing into the building.

"Deku...DEKUUUUUU!" The blond roared with red eyes as he blew himself to his feet and quickly passed Mina in pursuit of her partner.

Once again, Mina was dumbstruck, unsure of what to do.

"Bakugo, it's obviously a trap!" She heard Iida shout, "wa-ah-ah-OOofphm," she could practically feel him fall.

She looked at the doorway then at the direction Iida's voice came from. Mina swallowed a lump in her throat. She really didn't like how everything was playing out, or how her partner just dumped Mr. Stiff on her for that matter. But for the moment she had a goal, something to focus on!

"Bakugo," All Might spoke in the microphone, "do that dangerous attack again and I will stop the match," he warned with a stern voice. Though his voice sounded calm, his mind was all over the place. There was that equipment Bakugo had, the complete willingness to use it, and then there was whatever Midoriya had done. He had many reasons to stop the match and just as much to keep it going!

"WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT!" Mineta shouted while pointing at the screen as he and many other students were just shocked at the amount of damage their blond classmate did.

"That was nuts, man," Kirishima said, eyes glued to the screen.

"Is that really a support item?" Tokoyami asked, his beak slightly agape.

"How the heck did something like that get approved," Sero asked, eyes glued to the screen.

"They probably didn't expect it to be this strong, ribbit," Asui offered, a lot of the students nodding to her logic.

"Still…." Sato trailed off.

"Aw man, can we actually die from this exercise," Mineta asked in fear as he gripped his spherical hair.

"I'm sure All Might would step in before it got that serious," Yaoyorozu replied, though she did crease her brow in worry.

"He hasn't stopped it yet so it should be fine," Jirou pointed out. "Maybe."

"Hey that guy's got Bakugo chasing him," Kaminari said while pointing at the screen.

"Do you guys think he thought it through," Hagakure asked.

"Maybe," Shoji said with a shrug.

I didn't think this through, Izuku thought to himself as he ran.

"GET DAFUQ BACK HERE!" He heard Bakugo shout from behind him followed by the rhythmic sounds of explosions.

Instead of running downstairs, he ran up to the next floor, hid behind the door as Bakugo blew past him, content on following the drying acid trail Ashido had left behind.

As soon as Bakugo passed him, Izuku quickly ran up to the last floor, but not before Bakugo realized what had happened and gave chase again.

His entire plan was just to have Bakugo chase him and hope he can do something until time ran out.

In hindsight, he probably would have had a better chance had he gone down instead of up. He didn't think All Might would allow anyone to run a few blocks away, but running to a few different buildings seemed alright. Though now Izuku understood why people seemed to make bad choices in horror films.

Thankfully the last floor had a lot of weird turns and short pathways; it was as if the designers ran out of room and decided on filling the entire floor with small stalls, separated with plywood for walls instead of having stores. Similar to a cultural festival only made out of small, tightly packed, student made stalls. There were a few places that lacked stalls, particularly at the corners, maybe to give people breathing room?

It was maze-like in how disorienting it was and the walls went all the way up to the ceiling. Izuku had no idea who or why anyone would bother designing such a floor, let alone a building like this. Whatever the reason, it made it difficult for Bakugo to do sharp turns with his quirk and he couldn't fly over the stalls because of the walls, or at least he seemed hesitant to blow his way through.

Izuku stopped running when he noticed something. He couldn't hear the explosions!

He turned to look behind him as he caught his breath. He did not see or hear Bakugo, his quirk, his cursing, nor his footsteps.

He's not using his quirk freely, Izuku noted. Izuku didn't have that much of a head start and Bakugo can be frighteningly fast when he wants to be. He should have caught Izuku earlier.

But he didn't. Did that giant explosion hurt him earlier? Izuku wondered. In the end, Izuku shook his head. Guessing wasn't going to help him.

He quickly limited it to two possibilities:

-Either Bakugo had decided to try a more practical approach, like stealth;

-or, he had given up on Izuku entirely in order to go after his teammate, the bomb, or both.

As horrifying as the later would be, Izuku was willing to believe it was the former. He shook his head and decided to keep running down the very disorienting path. Doubting himself now was only going to lead to trouble.

He only managed to take a few steps before he was forced to stop.

From just a few feet in front of him, an explosion erupted from the wall! A series of loud explosions blew the stall in front of it asunder!

"'Yer not gettin' away this time, Deku!" Bakugo shouted as he walked through the hole, clutching something in his right hand.

Paper? Izuku briefly wondered before he promptly discarded any and all thoughts. He quickly turned around and ran back the way he came!

He didn't feel the need to look behind him, he fully expected Bakugo to chase him. As he ran he could hear explosions, but they weren't behind him.

Just as he made the fifth turn, the plywood wall to his left exploded into wood fragments!

"IAHH!" He let out a cry of pain as the bits and pieces impacted with his tender arm and face. Before he could even react, he was forced against the edge of the adjacent wall.

"I TOLD YOU! YER DONE, DEKU!" Bakugo shouted, his spit splattering against Izuku's face!

He was pressing his left forearm on Izuku's neck, pinning him to the wall. Izuku grunted, finding it hard to breathe. He glanced at Bakugo's right hand, the paper, it had numbers and words on it in a specific arrangement.

A floor plan! Izuku realized.

While Izuku was busy running away through a series of unnecessary turns, Bakugo had somehow gotten ahold of the floor layout! He knew how the path was set and knew which walls to destroy to make his own path!

Bakugo dropped the paper, balled his right hand into a fist!

"Eeeeep!" Mina let out as she narrowly avoided Iida's grasp! "YA GOTTA BE KIDDIN' ME!"

"I am a hero!" She heard Iida shout from behind her, "a hero is capable of adapting under any circumstance!"

Mina skated away using her quirk to slide down the hall with Iida hot on her trail.

Mina might have been a tinsy bit too overconfident with her odds on handling Iida. The guy clearly had a good handle on his quirk, Mina gave him that, but she assumed that he was easy to trick and outmanoeuvre. That thought nearly took her out of the fight.

"Skate as you might," she heard Iida say behind her, "I will catch you in the name of justice, fiend! Then the only place you'll be skating in is the rink of the law, where you'll be on ice!"

"Are ya trying to be cheesy or make a pun!" Mina shouted as she made another turn, not particularly interested in hearing the answer. She spared a glance at Iida, he too made the turn. "How are you even moving in that pose!?"

Iida looked like he was either squatting or taking a dump as he slid his feet forward with his quirk being used as a sort of rocket to help his motion along. Honestly, it looked as if he was farting his way forward!

Turns out that even if he couldn't stand still or move as he would like, he could still use his quirk and he was not shy about taking a fall if he thought it would be to his benefit. Meaning Mina had to jump over him a couple of times.

Then he started to dry, not as fast or evenly as Iida seemed to like but it was enough to give him more mobility. Mina managed to coat his legs in mild slippery acid again, but he was prepared for it.

Deciding that she needed to get more distance, she tried skating away to buy herself time to think of something. That ended with Iida following behind her using her acid trails to help him along.

"Say what you must, but ultimately, your quirk will be your undoing!"

"Seriously, dial it back!" Mina shouted as she started skipping and jumping around, hoping that Iida would mess up and give her some breathing room. But Iida proved to be just as nimble as she was. Not only was he following right behind her he was also landing and sliding with exceptional grace that still somehow made him look lame.

"Arrg!" she let out in frustration.

Up ahead was the room they entered the building through, with a hole in the floor and the ceiling.

"Try this on for size!" Mina shouted as she slid her feet together, making a wide acid trail and jumped over the hole in the floor. She landed while producing acid, hoping that the long jump would at least shake his balance for a few seconds.

"I reject this challenge!" Iida shouted as he suddenly dashed around the hole, his feet unhindered by the slippery acid, capture tape in hand and attempted to capture Mina.

"HUH?" Mina ducked at Iida's first lousy attempt. Quickly, she used her hands to purchase the floor, with a bit of acid burning holes for her fingers to grasp, and helped her move out of Iida's reach. Just in time two, because she managed to dodge his second attempt.

"So close," she heard him mutter.

"Hey! What gives! Weren't you following along my acid trails!" She shouted as she slid around the hole while pointing at Iida. "Shouldn't you be slippery!"

"Oh? And you learned that how? By glancing at me through your peripheral? Hardly the best way to pay attention to your environment or your opponent," he chided with one hand pointing at her (not with a single finger)like some sort of robot claw while the other was used to push up his glasses at the bridge. "Now, then. Surrender and tell me where the bomb is!"

"It's in the cardboard shop!" Mina shouted.

"Really? But I was jusssss…you're lying to me, aren't you?"

"Pff-what-noooo," Mina scoffed, "I wouldn't do that to a hero," she said as innocently as she could manage while she slowly used her quirk to slide away.

"YOUR WORDS AND YOUR ACTIONS CONTRADICT ONE ANOTHER!" Iida shouted while he continued to point at her with his hand while the other did chopping motions near his head.

Then he dodges the narrow stream of slippery acid Mina sent his way.

"Not sure how I feel about this," Kaminari said. "I mean those two feel like a comedy, even though I can't hear what they're saying," he pointed at the screen with Iida and Ashido. He then pointed to Izuku and Bakugo, "while those two feel like a horror story. I mean, did you see the way he busted through the wall? I could picture him saying 'Here's Bakugo' with an axe and a crazed look."

"Oh hey, I was just thinking that too," Sero admitted.

"He does have a crazed look," Tokoyami muttered in mild exasperation.

"Despite how he acts, he's able to think pretty well," Yaoyorozu said with a hand to her chin.

"He acts like a total thug though, isn't he supposed to be a hero," Hagakure said.

"Yeah, he's got Midoriya but the throat," Mineta pointed while Uraraka let out a worried whine.

"Hey what's Midoriya doing," Jirou asked as she pointed at one of the screens.

As quick as he could, Izuku moved the capture-tape over the bicep of the arm that was held to his neck. He saw Bakugo's eyes dart at the thing before they went wide, no doubt realizing what Izuku was trying to do. Izuku had managed to grab the roll with his right hand while his left hand held on to the end of the thread.

Please work, Izuku pleaded as he let go of the thread but kept a firm grasp of the roll. His gamble paid off.

He ducked down as soon as he felt Bakugo pull his left arm away from Izuku's neck.

Bakugo caused an explosion with his right hand, directed at where Izuku would have been, his arm moving out of reflex. As he did so, he winced in pain, something that Izuku noted.

Izuku surged forward, barreling out of Bakugo's grasp through Bakugos's right. Bakugo grunted in pain.

"Fucker!" Bakugo hissed out through his teeth in pain. He managed to set off another explosion, but by then Izuku was out of his range, and kept backing away until he realized that there was a wall behind him.

He's still following the rules, Izuku noted in relief, otherwise, Bakugo wouldn't have reacted the way he did. Sure, there was a possibility that he could have "captured" Bakugo, but as he expected, Bakugo was quick to react. Still, it did make him predictable to a certain extent.

Sadly that relief didn't last.

What little advantage the floor's arrangement gave him previously had now become a disadvantage. Maybe if he got a hold of the paper with the layout, which was nowhere to be seen, he could think of something. Though he doubted he'd be able to understand it fast enough with Bakugo hounding him.

Izuku didn't think Bakugo memorized the entire layout in the short amount of time he had, but he was willing to bet that Bakugo had a better idea on how the path was set than he did.

The path to his right was open, there was also the hole Bakugo created to his left (though he'd first have to get past Bakugo first) not to mention the path behind Bakugo. He doubted that he could run away fast enough with Bakugo being as closed as he was (injured or not). Even if he did somehow escape Bakugo's sight, it would just open him for an ambush. He didn't know how much time was left, but he doubted he could run long enough to matter anyway.

That said though...

He ran down the hall he came from.

Trying to run away when Bakugo has the advantage is a mistake, but an even bigger one would be thinking he had a fair chance against Bakugo, regardless of his injury.

"GIT BACK HERE!" Bakugo shouted.

Izuku dug into his pouch and felt around. He used up most of the colored balls on Iida, he has maybe two handfuls left and he doubted Bakugo would give him time to prep a shot.

Still, "better than nothing," he muttered as he pulled out a handful, turned, and chucked them at Bakugo.

Bakugo didn't even bother, he took the marbles head on with a frustrated look. Though he nearly lost his footing for it.

He snarled as he reached for his belt and pulled off one of the decorative grenades with his good arm.

Izuku's eyes went wide as it dawned on him that the decorative grenades might not actually be for show.

"Hey, you're not the only one," he began as he pulled his arm back, "who can throw SHIT!"

Using his quirk, he used an explosive force to shoot the grenade at a velocity Izuku couldn't track, passing him and detonating behind Izuku.

"HUAAAAAAAH!"

Mina glanced up when she heard the explosion, but she put it out of her mind. She was worried, but the annoying guy came first!

"Oh come on!" She whined in frustration as Iida jumped to a wall and kicked off it to avoid the large hole Mina produced.

"Make as many holes as you want, villain!" Iida as he reached behind him and pulled out a can and popped it open with a single hand and began to chug it.

Soda? What the heck? Mina thought to herself, noting how dry her mouth suddenly felt as she stared at the can.

"Like this tasty beverage," he said, "your luck will soon run out!" And with that he finished the can while Mina wondered if he was working on how he would market himself or if he was still trying to be clever.

"Now then. Surrender!" He demanded.

"Okay, fine you win," Mina said putting her hands up.

"Wa-wait really?" He asked in surprise, his form loosening up.

"OBVIOUSLY NOT!" Mina shouted as she ran into another department store while he was mildly distracted, this one seemed to be for glasses.

This is going nowhere! She thought to herself. No matter what she did, she was only tiring herself out and getting one heck of wicked thirst in the process!

She melted the walls and entered into another store that seemed to focus on selling toothbrushes and exited into the other hallway.

Who the heck designed this place?

She quickly shook the thought and focused on trying to figure out how to deal with the annoying guy on her tail.

The guy had gotten used to her slipper acid and could avoid whatever hole she made. Mina's more agile than he is, can melt her way through most walls, and can better maneuver her body out of his reach, especially if she melts hand holds into the floor. Meaning it was basically a tie for the two.

Mina isn't the smartest girl in the world, she knew that, but she was smart enough to realize the loser would be the first person to tire out. And by the looks of it, it was going to be her.

"Arrg!" She let out in frustration as she skated away, hearing Iida right behind her. Her mind working furiously to come up with a solution. Holes failed and no matter how slippery-

Her mind stopped on that word.

"Right, that's not all I can do!" She said to herself in revelation.

She dashed into a department store, hole already made. And circled back around to one of her acid trails.

That one! She thought to herself as she spotted the one that was supposed to make Iida slip inside hole inside some map shop, but he jumped it.

She skated as fast as she could and and slid into the room feet first, using her left hand to melt a hand hold into the wall to help her turn. She slid into the room, straight into the hole she made earlier!

With her free hand, she made as much acid as she could muster and made it as sticky as she could! She fell into the hole, glad her acid had enough pull so that she didn't hit the floor hard, still broke off though.

Hm? Wait a sec, Mina thought to herself, if Mr. Stiff was right behind me then-

"WAAAH!" Came Iida's surprise shout from above.

CRASH!

Mina's body flinched at the sound, she could practically feel the impact. She didn't see, but if she had to guess, he tried to slide and fell.

"Holy crap, are you okay?" Mina asked out loud without thinking.

"Arrrg...Though I may fall, and my body might be daunted by the bonds of pain and this...slightly sticky goo, I shall rise from my carelessness and deliver on to thee the justice that is so rightfully deserved, villain!" He proudly proclaimed despite how evident it was that he was in pain!

"...Dude, you need to chill!"

The grenade had destroyed the nearby stalls and sent Izuku stumbling towards Bakugo!

Bakugo wasted no time closing the gap between himself and Izuku with his explosive quirk!

As he neared, he cocked his right arm back, adrenaline masking the discomfort, and shot his fist forward, burying into-

-at the last second Izuku managed to lean into Bakugo's punch, the fist missing Izuku's face by a hair, his body crashing into Bakugo's with Izuku headbutting Bakugo's right shoulder. That last one, pure accident, but it helped Izuku right himself.

"GAH!" Bakugo let out in a stunned mixture of pain and surprise. Izuku didn't waste the opportunity, he quickly snaked his arm around Bakugo's right arm!

"Even injured, you still favor your right arm when attacking!" He shouted as he pivoted his body, and flipped Bakugo over and onto his back!

Bakugo's entire body was flipped, his back crashing down on the hard floor!

"You always have in the past," Izuku finished.

A year ago, Izuku couldn't have even been able to imagine doing such a thing, but right here right now, it was reality. After undergoing All Might's harsh training for days on end, he was far more than capable than the person he used to be before he met All Might!

Sadly, he didn't get to relish the thought for long.

"Fuckoff," Bakugo wheezed through his gritted teeth.

While it could hardly be called an advantage, Bakugo took advantage of it all the same. He took advantage of the fact that his right arm was still pointed at Izuku's chest! Even though he was shocked, winded, and in pain, both new and old, Bakugo still had enough presence of mind to activate his quirk!

BOOM!

Before Izuku could react, he was suddenly without breath as his back smacked against the floor a couple feet away from Bakugo.

Bakugo let out a pained groan through his teeth as he grasped his right shoulder, the adrenaline still rushing and numbing, but it was obvious that the pain still lingered.

Izuku was still on his back, trying hard to get air back into his lung. He couldn't, but he was able to remember something similar happening when he trained with All Might. It was a small accident, nothing major, but All Might's advice at the time was a huge help.

Izuku sat up right, managed to get small breaths in, but more importantly, he exhaled. When you inhale, your diaphragm tightens up to be pushed away for the lungs to expand. When you exhale, instead of tightening up, the diaphragm relaxes and pushes back the lungs to expel air. When your diaphragm spasms, it tightened up, so you have to get it to relax. He managed to get his breathing under control and stand up.

Bakugo was also standing up, but nursing his right shoulder as he did so.

Izuku spared a moment to look himself over. The costume his mother had spent so much time on is ruined. The upper portion of the tracksuit now has a huge burnt mark. The flesh beneath it was in pain, but Izuku could deal with it. He looked back at Bakugo.

There was no point in running away anymore, Izuku knew that. Bakugo would just use grenades again, or whatever object he could get his hands on. If his explosive pitch could work with a ball and grenade, than something similar was still an option Izuku should consider. Aside from that, Izuku really didn't have much of an option but to fight up close.

His new trick with OfA was far from safe and took time to set up, but Izuku wasn't sure sacrificing a finger to use OfA at 100% was an option either. At worst he could accidently kill Bakugo. So really, there was only one option.

Izuku brought his shaky arms up into guard he had seen on various medias before. As he did so, he couldn't help but entertain an odd thought. Through out all the months he trained under the greatest hero ever, forging stronger body to contain OfA's awesome power, it never occurred to him to ask said hero how to fight.

Bakugo seethed as he got into a stance.

"What? You finally gonna use your quirk, you finally gonna fight, huh Deku!?" Bakugo shouted with pure rage.

"I'm going to fight," Izuku answered in a low voice and harsh voice, before he gritted his teeth. "Kacchan!" He said loudly. Even as his body trembled, an odd sense of courage filled him, prompting forward. "I'm going to fight! I'm going to fight because I want to win! I'm going to fight because I, I, I want to surpass you!"

"Surpass me? You ain't doing shit, Deku!" Bakugo used his quirk to surge forward!

Izuku stiffened, but waited for the moment Bakugo attacked with a right swing. It never came.

He was caught complete by surprise. Bakugo had opted to use his left to cause a blinding explosion. Izuku closed his eyes and took a punch to his face.

He saw stars. The world went black and he stars before he felt himself hitting something. He shoot his head, but his vision was swimming. A wall, he was leaning on the wall.

Bakugo had maneuvered around Izuku.

"Favor my right, huh, lets see!" Bakugo shouted as he used his right leg for round house kick delivered to Izuku's back.

"GAH!" Izuku let out, but Bakugo wasn't done.

As he delivered the kick, his right arm(despite the pain in his shoulder) was in a good enough position for his quirk to do damage. Right after the kick was delivered, Bakugo set off another explosion that sent Izuku rolling into one of the stalls!

Bakugo quickly used his left arm to create a small explosion to balance himself.

"How about that, on the fucking nose! You noticed my shoulder," Bakugo commented nursing said shoulder, "and you think you know me. You honestly thought you could win!? Your beneath me, Deku!"

Izuku had a few more cuts to his costume, and his body underneath it, thanks to the fragments of the stalls. He had managed to get his breath under control, his hand landed on a nearby piece of bamboo. He grasped it as as he pushed himself to his feet, his back still facing Bakugo. He did quick spin, throwing the bamboo at Bakugo with the added momentum of spin!

"URK!"

As the object sailed through the air with a direct collision course with Bakugo's face, Izuku reached into his pouch and pulled out the capture tape. His only saving grace was that he didn't actually have to beat Bakugo in a fight, he just had to get the capture tape around him!

Capture tape in both hands with enough(eyeballed) slack, Izuku rushed at Bakugo who didn't even bother dodging object heading for face. He simply brought his left hand up and used his quirk to deflect it!

Izuku charged forward with a battle cry!

Bakugo using his quirk to blast himself forward, and caused a smaller one to propel his right hand forward and snatch the tape right with his right hand, surprising Izuku.

Their bodies crash into each other, but Bakugo was able to adjust himself before Izuku. With his left hand, he grasped Izuku's shoulder and headbutted him!

Izuku's was toppling back with a pained cry, but he didn't get far due to the grip he had on the capture tape, the same one Bakugo managed to ripped out of his hands as his body fell.

Izuku landed on his butt, when vision stopped swimming, he focused on Bakugo who was right in front of him. He could only watch in horror as Bakugo tossed the capture tape at a stall and shot his left hand at it, activating his quirk and blowing the stall, the tape, and the wall behind it asunder!

"Urr!" Izuku let out as he shield his face from the explosion. When the dust settled, there was nothing left of his capture tape, the stall was reduced to debris, and there was a hole in the wall.

"Oi oi, weren't you going to fight?" Bakugo asked angrily as he turned to look at Izuku with red eyes. "When are you going to use that quirk of yours, huh, Deku!"

Izuku didn't respond, he could only watch in horror.

"Well c'mon then! Stop pussyfooting around and use your quirk!"

Izuku didn't say anything, he just trembled.

"I SAID FIGHT!" Bakugo shouted as pulled his right arm back.

"ALIEN CHEST BURST!" A certain girl's voice came from the hole Bakugo made.

"HUH!" Bakugo turned only for a foot to crash into his chest!

"HUUUUF!" The force sent him landing on his back by foot with a pained gasp!

"WaAa!" A girl's voice let out before landing on the floor. "Owies!"

"A-ashido!" Izuku let out in surprise,

"In the flesh!" She announced as she sat up and winced in pain. "Man, it's a good thing I found this," she said holding up a sheet of paper Izuku recognized as the floor plans Bakugo had earlier. "Though the holes and the screaming made it easier to find you, to be honest."

"WAY TO GO MINA!" Kirishima shouted.

"Oh man, I forgot about her," Sero saaid.

"I know," Kaminari said, "I was afraid to look away from the two fighting."

"I was scared just watching, ribbit" Asui said.

"I just wanna know how I can get grenades," Mineta said.

Mina quickly reached into the cavity between her breast and pulled out her roll of capture tape.

Just as she was about to try and wrap it around Bakugo's nearby leg. Bakugo spotted her and brought his hands up. He quickly used his quirk to position his body away from them and dissuade whatever attempts Mina would have made.

"Wah!" Mina let out as she shielded her face.

Bakugo then followed that up by using his quirk to set off a series of explosions to push him faraway from the two, his back sliding along the floor.

"Ah-jeez, what can't that guy do!?" Mina whined.

"Ah, Ashido wha-what are you doing here? What about Iida?" She heard Izuku ask, she turned enough to meet his eyes.

"What am I-HELLO! We're partners!" Mina said loudly, "we're supposed to stick together and help each other!"

Izuku just stared at her in a mixture of awe and stunned silence.

"ARG! YOU ASSHOLES ARE DEAD!" Bakugo shouted from far away, causing the two to look at him. "YOU HEAR ME!"

"Don't suppose you have a plan that involves the two of us," Mina quickly asked.

"May-maybe," Izuku said, "But, Ashido, what about Iida?"

"Just call me Mina, Midori," Mina suddenly said, "besides, Ashido's a mouthful to say anyway. Plus, I think we should worry about the crazy blond in front of us."

"Ah, um, right," Izuku agreed.

"Bakugo! Bakugo!" Tenya shouted through communicator.

The pink fiend had ditched him and had probably rejoined the green menace! So naturally his heroic(?) partner(in training) is in trouble! Sadly, the blonde was not replying back.

"Curses! Did he drop his communicator?" he wondered out loud as he made it to the stairs. Normally, even if Bakugo didn't reply back, he could hear Bakugo grumble(and shout). He kept pondering as he began to climb. "Either way I need to….?"

He paused when he spotted a metal door frame, it was damaged, no doubt for ease of transport and to make drag lines, but he could still tell it was door. He was about to ignore it when he spotted the name engraved on the metal.

"Wait...isn't this from that barbershop?" Tenya wondered out loud. The door was smaller than the hole in the doorway, but that's to be expected. The doorway probably had to be melted to make room for the bomb. But the door bothered him. He knew he shouldn't but he stopped moving up and inspected the door more closely.

"Wait a minute...this door...doesn't have a lock on it," he found.

While it could be brushed off as a simulation, the simulations were actually realistic. It made no sense for the door not to have some way to lock. He dropped the door and rushed back down, and looked for a nearby shop with the doors intact, meaning he had to walk for a bit. He found one made of metal...it had a lock on it.

"This doesn't make sense...unless...no, no it can't be!" Tenya said to himself as he rushed back to the barbershop while avoiding the still wet acid trails and holes the pinquette made.

When he got there, he search the nearby shops.

Right away, he found similar door to the one he found in the stairwells, crudely hidden inside a nearby shop and this one did have a lock on it.

"But this means that the barbershop had two doors, it would have been wide enough for the bomb to move through. There was no need to melt the door way. So why did they bother melti...unless...the bomb...never left the building!" Tenya let out in stark realization.

"Looks like he figured it out," Shoji said through a mouth he made on one of his webbed-arms, watching as Iida went back to the building

"I'm just surprised it took anyone that long to realize what had happened," Yaoyorozu said with sigh.

"I wonder if he'll figure out where the bomb is," Jirou wondered out loud.

"Ah. He doesn't have much time left though," Hagakure pointed out.

"Hm," Tokoyami hummed in agreement, "that said, I'm more interested in the fight."

On screen, the villains went back into the weird maze of stalls and plywood walls, prompting Bakugo to follow the two.

"They're real! Are you friggin' kiddin' me! Those weren't decorations!" Mina shouted as the two villains jumped through another hole Bakugo made earlier.

"Yeah! And remember what he did to the ball during the quirk assessment," Izuku said loudly while running beside Mina. He had the floor layout clutched in his hands.

"How could I forget, he-" Mina paused as her mind caught up to what Izuku implied, "Oh c'mon! That too!" She whined loudly.

"That's why we have to make it hard for him to throw a grenade at us," he explained as a part of the wall, to their right, blew to bits in front of them.

Mina quickly grabbed Izuku's hand and quickly melted the a hole in the opposite wall.

"YOU CAN'T RUN FOREVER!" Bakugo shouted at them, his explosive quirk blowing holes in to the wall as he pursued them.

"LIKE HELL WE CAN'T!" Mina shouted back.

Though the two villains knew he was right.

It wasn't hard to see that Izuku isn't in the best of shape after being kicked around by Bakugo, even the way he moved showed that he was forcing himself. Mina had just escape her cat and mouse game with Iida only to immediately get into another one with Bakugo, even if she didn't say anything, her ragged breath and profuse sweating made it obvious.

The two were at their limits and they knew it, but they had a plan. Not a good a one, probably, but a plan nonetheless.

"I'm running out of time," Iida said as he got done combing the third floor of the building the entire exercise started on. He already checked the two most likely rooms on the floor first, but the rest of the floor looked untouched.

"Not here," he said as he peered back into the room with a hole in the wall that led to the other room with the hole that led to the other building. He quickly ran around the debris Bakugo left behind and ran to the stairs!

"Floors 1 and 2 are out, I was coming up those floors," he muttered to himself, he started running up to the stairs. "The fifth floor is out. He maybe rambunctious, but I doubt he could miss the bomb. I just checked the third floor, so that means," he got to the fourth floor and found that the door had been melted just enough to fit the bomb through.

"Bakugo probably cut the investigation short, so it's gotta be on this floor!" He shouted as he re-began his search in earnest!

Izuku went left while Mina went right.

"Grr!" Katsuki growled out loudly as he paused. He was fully intent on kicking the crap out of the green haired bastard, but the pink witch went right and she was actually the capable one of the two.

It might be better to deal with her out first and not worry about any other surprises.

So Katsuki chased her.

She was definitely more annoying of the two in terms of actually being able to do something. She melted the walls when he chased them. If he took of her, than he'd have no more interruptions!

It didn't take long for him to catch up to her.

She glanced back at him.

"Ah crap!" She shouted loudly. She sprinted down the path of turns, avoiding going into any of the holes int he walls, all the while shouting: "CRAP! CRAP! CRAP!"

They eventually ran down a straight path, Mina ran to the right and made the turn.

Bakugo quickly closed the gap between himself and the pinquet just as she was making the turn.

As he did he caught something at the corner of his eye.

It was a certain green haired boy with his arms extended, colored balls nestled between his fingers and thumbs.

Katsuki eyes went wide as he realized his blunder, before he could do anything else, Izuku had flicked the two balls at Bakugo!

"FAWK!" Katsuki shouted out in pain as the balls collided with his body! One hit his left arm near his shoulder, the other hit him in the side. It didn't hurt anymore than being shot with paintball, without wearing protection(meaning it was still, very much, painful), but it surprised him.

As he turned to face the bastard, only to feel himself get hit with something wet and warm from behind, mainly around his legs.

He turned around to see the pink girl spraying him with a stream of fluid coming out from the palm of her hands, an action that caused him to slip on the slippery fluid that pooled on his feet.

He quickly used his quirk to avoid from failing out reflex, but he quickly found his head getting covered in fluid that stung his eyes. Then he got tackled from behind.

There was no way in hell the two could make a sure-fire plan to take Bakugo down, but what they could do was make opportunities to absush him.

When Mina let Izuku look at the floor layout, even if he didn't know where they were, he could see how the path was laid out, specifically around the center.

The plan the two agreed on was a simple one. Mina would makes holes as they ran away from Bakugo, hopefully getting Bakugo to make more holes into the walls as well. After every corner or close to the corners got a hole, the two would separate. The one that Bakugo chased would shouted loudly, to catch the other's attention, said other would set up an ambush a long one of the many holes either burned or exploded into the walls.

For whatever reason, Bakugo chose to chase Mina down, resulting her yelling "CRAP!" a lot.

So Izuku ran through a few holes to get to her general direction and waited to spring the trap.

After getting the drop on Bakugo, Mina blinding him and making him lose his footing, Izuku sprung to action and tackled Bakugo!

The two went straight to the ground!

"MINA!" He shouted, trusting that it was all he needed to shout!

That trust was quickly rewarded.

Mina quickly pulled out the tape from inside her shirt, already rolled out, and quickly approached them.

Sadly, plans don't always work as you hope.

Bakugo blew both himself and Izuku off the ground and then away from Mina, the two boys shot down the hall, the same one Bakugo had chased Mina from, with a series of explosion. Bakugo somehow landed on his feet and had no problem sliding down the hall with is explosion.

"FUCK OFF!" Bakugo shouted, using his explosion to spin himself!

Faster and faster he spun, but Izuku was relentless. He had his arms over Bakugo and he was not going to let go! Even as he body was swung by the force, he still kept a bear hug on Bakugo!

Then the two smacked into a stall, some sort of height gimmick. Izuku didn't care. What he cared is that it loosened his grip, enough for Bakugo to break free.

"Get off!" He shouted.

Izuku fell to the ground, Bakugo stood above him staggering and trying to stay still while breathing raggedly, yet he's still able to glare down at him intently.

He raised a hand and pointed it at Izuku...then Mina tackled him with the capture tape!

"OH C'MON!" Bakugo shouted in frustration as he caused explosions to prevent himself from hitting the ground, but further down the hallway, away from Izuku. Mina, despite the violent explosions, attempted to wrap the tape around him.

Bakugo used his quirk to spin him again and used that opportunity to pry her hands off him by elbowing her in the ribs, and he was not gentle.

Mina let out a pained cry as she recoiled away from Bakugo, and right into stall that crushed rather easily upon impact.

"Quit interrupting, damn it!" He shouted as he pointed his hand in front of Mina. Mina tried to get out of the way, but the most she could do was stand up, whatever the stall was supposed to be, the wreckage weakened her footing. Izuku had gotten to a knee and turned to see the altercation. He could see Mina past Bakugo, had she melted the rubble, should could easily roll, but she didn't. She was going to get hit by Bakugo's quirk.

As Izuku saw this, he couldn't help but think of the words Mina said earlier. They were partners, they help each other.

He was barely thinking when he did it. He didn't have the right angle but the thought didn't come to mind.

His hands were clasped together in front of him, his right hand a fist, the left keeping it steady, his right index finger pressed against his thumb like it's about flick something. The aim, was Bakugo's back at an angle.

He flipped the switch in his mind, the power rushing to his two chosen digits. He let the switch drop back to off.

It was reckless, it was stupid, it bordered on homocidal intent, it might even count as suicide in roundabout way.

As soon as he let go of that switch, he barely waited to flick his finger.

The power waned like it had before, but it was still stronger than the flicks he used earlier to launch the colored balls at Bakugo.

A concentrated stream of pressurized air made its way to Bakugo as a wave of pain shot through Izuku.

Mina could only watch as the hand came up, the said gauntleted hand glowing red, then a gush of air hit Bakugo, knocking him forward and into the wall to her left. The blonde let the explosion loose, but it just blew the wall and some of the debris working against Mina.

She did not waste the opportunity and tackled Bakugo once more with the capture tape in one hand.

"Hey!" Bakugo shouted in surprised as Mina used her freehand to get grab the tape from her other hand and slid her hand down the slack while pulling the tape the other way. "Get off!"

"Sure thing!" She said, as she stopped pushing and instead kicked his feet, moving it slightly and unleashing her slippery acid through the soles of her feet. Predictably, he tried kicking back, and lost his foot for it.

Mina managed to push him while pulling the capture tape while sliding her on it's length, a slight pain registering, but she didn't let it bother her. Bakugo's back hit the floor with a pained cry. Mina quickly mounted him before he could recovered, looped her the two ends of the tape and tightend it.

Bakugo quickly brought his arms to attack Mina, but it was too late, the tape was already wrapped around him.

"BAKUGO HAS BEEN CAPTURED!" All Might suddenly announced. Bakugo froze, much to Mina's relief, he held a shock expression before he let his back hit the ground and let his head back. Not the Mina cared. She looked at her left hand, where the pain come from. She had a bleeding paper/tape cut that was starting to sting.

"Hey, Midori we won," Mina said, still looking at her hand, "but check it out, I got like a long paper cut," she directed her bleeding palm at Izuku. She looked up. Her eyes widened.

"Ah, s-sorry about that, I d-don't have any ba-band-aids," Izuku forced out as politely as he could manage, he had fallen on his butt and was sitting up. He held his right hand with his left, his discolored right index finger and thumb were bent backwards at an angle they shouldn't. His body trembled and he had tears swelling in his eyes as he gritted his teeth.

Mina cupped her mouth with her uninjured hand as her skin blanched just imagining that happening to her own hands and the pain that would accompany it.

"Ah," she got off Bakugo and quickly walked to Izuku, "ar-re you..." Mina didn't know what to say.

"Wh-where's Iida?"

"...who cares? Yo-your fingers!"

"I-I've had w-worse," he said through the pain, "is-is you're hand fine?"

"My han-da-dude-your fingers!" Mina nearly shouted.

"I-I'll be fine, but the exercise-th-there's a chance Ii-ida could find t-the bomb. Yo-you should go a-ahead without me and s-stop him."

"Err," Mina looked down the hallway and then back at Izuku. She made a choice.

"Give me your hand," she said.

Izuku looked up at her in surprise, "huh?"

"We're partners! We're sticking together!" She declared.

"But-"

"No buts villain bud, now c'mon, give me your hand!" She said extending her arm.

Izuku just stared at her with a bit of shock. He raised his right hand up.

"No-That-the-the other one genius!"

"Ah-s-sorry."

"THIS DOESN'T MAKE SENSE!" Iida shouted while gripping his hair.

He just got done searching the entire fourth floor, and...he found nothing! He even checked some of the items suspiciously lumped together, and found they actually had a layer of dust on them.

"I don't understand, did Bakugo...not investigate the fifth floor thoroughly?" He wondered as he wracked his mind, his nerves flying off the handle, tentatively aware that the exercise could end at any time.

There was a chance that Bakugo could capture the two villains...but the green menace is as a devious as real criminal and the pink menace is witty and athletic enough to pull one over on Bakugo. So he sincerely doubted it.

"I'll just trust Bakugo to handle them long enough for me to find the bomb, but I need to live up to my end!"

"BAKUGO HAS BEEN CAPTURED!" All Might announced through the speakers.

"..." Iida could only gap in silent horror. Bakugo lost...and Iida had nothing to show for it!

"Ugh, where's did they hide the bomb!" He shouted. He suddenly turned and ran out of the room through the door way, only to knock over a barrel that gave him a light stumble. Thankfully he didn't fall (again), but he did collide with a wall(again).

"This has been a trying day," he muttered to himself. "Huh?" he noticed something. He looked at the room though the doorway to his left. Then he looked at the wall in front of him. "That's funny, it feels like...ah, not the time," he shook the thought out of his head.

He had a decision to make and he had to make it fast!

Go back down and in the hopes that he missed something, or go up to the fifth floor with the assumption that Bakugo overlooked the bomb.

After a minute, Iida made his choice.

He ran down to the third floor.

"He's irritating, rash, brash, and uncooperative, but he's not completely crass. I'll have faith that he searched the fifth floor thoroughly!"

When he made it to the third floor, he ran to the room with the hole that led to the other building.

"C'mon Iida think, the rest of the floor was left untouched by those villains, the bomb has to be here! Or at least some clue to its whereabouts!"

He scanned the room, even moving some pile of junk out of the way, but he couldn't find clue, instead that room and wall on the second floor above kept bothering, nothing extensive or time consuming(given the circumstance), but nothing was obvious.

"Don't think about it, at worse the room's shorter than...shorter than..." he stopped whatever he was doing as another realization hit him.

"The room's shorer than it should be! The wall was bigger and took up a lot more space than it should when seperating two rooms! And that room is right above," Iida turned to face the hole in the wall seperating two rooms, the very one Bakugo made earlier, "that room!"

He quickly sprinted into the room!

Izuku and Mina just rushed out of the stairs and were approaching the barbershop. With any luck, they should be able to reach Iida before he-

"The exercise is over," All Might's voice come through the building's speakers. Izuku and Mina stopped in their tracks. "I won't lie," All Might said, "it was a really close call. However, regardless of the result, I want you all to know that I saw you bring out the very best o yourselves, take pride in the work you have done."

Izuku and Mina both looked at a nearby camera.

"The Winners are….THE HEROES BY A SINGLE SECOND!"

After the two heard that, they couldn't help but feel all the fatigue and weariness of the past 15 minutes coalesce into their body in an instance.

"Dang it…." Mina couldn't help but say. After all that effort, they lost. And what made it worse

"S-sorry," Izuku apologized, catching Mina's attention, "I...if I only I could use it better, if only I didn't-"

"Hey," Mina said cutting him off. "Don't-don't worry about it," she said with a small smile. "I mean we're here to learn, and, well, you doing better than before right?"

"I-I guess," Izuku agreed.

"Bedies, it' wasn't a total loss," she said, causing Izuku to look up at her to find her looking back at him with a toothy smile and her gold iris and black sclera eyes, and slightly redder cheeks. She jerked a thumb behind her, "we were able to knock that jerk down a few pegs, that's gotta count for something, right?"

"Ah...y-yeah," Izuku said, as he looked away with a light blush on his face.

"How clever," Iida huffed as he sat by the bomb. "Either by error or design, the room the bomb was in is shorter than stated on the diagram, making the walls thicker. So they melted a hole in into the wall and hid most of the bombs inside, using rubles to disguise it as a wall. And both Bakugo and I skipped it entirely because we didn't think that it could be hidden inside a wall. Not only that…."

A single second. He won by a single second. Not the best win, but still a win.

He couldn't help it.

"Well someone's happy," Asui said as she and the rest of the class see Iida shouting.

"I'm just surprise something so juvenile as that worked as long as it did," Yaoyorozu commented.

"Only off by a second, though," Hagakure pointed out.

All Might didn't say anything. He just looked at the screens in ausement. Iida was shouting something, Izuku and Ashido were reacting to Iida's celebration, and Bakugo was slowly standing up with a weird look.

He focused back on Izuku.

Well, who wins and loses isn't important in the grand scheme of things. What matters is that tey managed to discover things about the way fight and grow. All might thought to himself. And you've certainly grown.

All Might spoke into the microphone: "Alright, all meet back here for your general report, and remember, you all did a great job."

Author's note:

My belief is that in a partner setting, partners should influence each other to a degree. I hope this went well with last week's chozen theme, will probably edit this later with a better explanation, lemme know what you hated and enjoyed. I wanted to post this last week, but with all my classes turning into online classes and having other commitments, I've had my hands full. I hope these brought a little joy to those struggling through this rough times.

Please leave a review, tell me what liked and didn't like and what you hope to read in the future.

This is me telling everyone to stay safe where ever you are.