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Chapter 5 An Explosive clash

The class has just finished their lunch and are waiting for their teacher for Foundational Hero Studies.

"I can't wait to see who's teaching us!" Kirishima said with a smile. The class was clamoring in their seats with the exception of Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, and Bakugo. Izuku had an idea about who their teacher was and was more concerned with what they would be learning. The door to the classroom opened and everyone paused.

"I am here… Coming through the door like a normal person!" All Might flung himself through the doorway with flair and the class lit up with excitement. All Might was wearing his silver age costume, a red suit with striped designs entered by a circle in the middle of his chest and a cape held on by armored clasps.

"I will be your teacher for Foundational Hero Studies. This is where we develop your skills and hone what it takes to truly be a hero. And today will be…" He reaches behind his back to pull out a card. "Battle training!" Each student showed eagerness for this class except for Izuku who was still concerned about what Aizawa said to him.

All Might then gestured to the wall beside him as a hidden shelving system opened up to reveal hero costumes for each student as assigned by seat number. "So, everyone will change into their costumes and join me at Battleground Beta." All Might walked off as the students grabbed their costumes and made their way to the lockers.

Later

All Might stood at the entrance to Battleground Beta, waiting patiently. "They say that the clothes make the hero, and you all definitely look the part!" He exclaimed as the students made their way out of the tunnel. (They all look the same as cannon other than Izuku).

The last to arrive was Izuku, who had designed his costume based upon a picture of Kazune's ancestor. He is wearing a loose dark green haori with only the right sleeve present. His arms are covered with skintight black sleeves that end with white fingerless gloves. He has a red and white striped utility belt and dark green hakama pants. The pants are covered with red marks made to look like cuts. Instead of shoes, he has red foot coverings designed to protect the tops of his feet. As a final addition, his wrists and shins have weights that sit flush against the limbs. These were suggested by All Might as they would be a form of training, and a restriction so that he does not cause unnecessary damage.

Izuku looks himself over, noting how his sleeves are made of a Kevlar hybrid designed to be cut and fireproof. He begins flowing through various kata to test his movement, feeling pleased that it is nonrestrictive.

"Your costume is so cool!" Uraraka points out as her and some of the other students take a look at him.

"Don't you feel cold in that." Jiro askes with a blush. A gust blows through the area, making Kirishima and Momo both shiver at the feeling, while Izuku is not even phased at the temperature.

"Not really." The girls also take note of how he is developed due to the fact that they can see most of his torso exposed. He may not be as bare all as Kirishima, but he is taller and looks more defined.

"Now, let's begin with today's lesson. Since you all did your quirk assessment yesterday, today we will see how you fare in battle! We will be doing one on one battles." All Might gestured to the box behind him with two holes on it. One labeled hero, and the other villain. "The battles will be decided by lottery and last ten minutes total. The goal of this is simple. If you are picked as a hero, you are to capture the villain within the time limit using this capture tape." He Holds up a roll of tape for the class. "And if you are a villain, you are to avoid capture until the time runs out. You can use whatever means necessary, but you cannot leave the area for this test."

The students perked up at the thought before Kaminari spoke up. "Excuse me All Might. But why choose by lottery?"

All Might grinned at the question. "The reason for this is that you will not always have a choice on who to fight. If you are the only hero in the area when a villain attack occurs, it is your responsibility to stop it, despite not knowing everything about the villain. This is also why we wait to pick until right before the battle." The students would have felt reassured at the statement, if All Might hadn't been reading from a script the entire time.

He then reached into the box behind him and pulled out two slips of paper. "First up for the scenario is Bakugo Katsuki as the villain. And Izuku Midoriya as the hero!" The two mentioned teens froze at the mention of their names, not thinking they would have to fight so soon.

The rest of the students cleared the area and made their way into a viewing booth with All Might. Meanwhile, Izuku and Bakugo were having very different thoughts.

"Finally, I get to beat down on the nerd without holding back. This will show him for making me look like a fool all these years."

As Bakugo was fuming over his imaginary embarrassment, Izuku was thinking of what Eraserhead had said to him the other day. "So, I have to hold back to prevent unnecessary injury. I guess One for All will take a side seat today."

"All right, You two will have 10 minutes to complete your objectives. At any time I may stop the match, so respect any call I may make. Ready?" The screen showed both Izuku and Bakugo nod at the confirmation, with Bakugo wearing a near manic grin. "Begin!"

Bakugo rocketed across the street, right arm reared back with the intention of finishing the fight in one blow, but as he swung, Izuku grabbed the back of Bakugo's hand with his left hand. Before Bakugo could react, Izuku threw a knee strike against Bakugo's left temple, sending the sand haired teen careening across the street and into a stop sign. The class looked on in shock at the ruthlessness displayed, before noting the explosion sounds echoing through the street.

Bakugo stood up, hands smoking and obviously enraged. "Why the hell aren't you using that quirk Deku? Am I not worth it or something?!" Rather than answer, Izuku simply moves back to his ready position.

In the Observation Room

"All Might sensei, why isn't Midoriya using his quirk? Wouldn't it be much easier for him?" Uraraka asked, voicing the concern of the class.

All Might grinned in response. "Worry not young Uraraka, Young Midorya is just keeping his promise to restrict himself till he learns better finite control over his quirk. His techniques are very dangerous and if he uses too much force, can become lethal. But he understands this and is willing to restrict himself especially when sparring with classmates."

The class seems placated at the response, and become engrossed in the artful exchange between the two students. One showing great control and adaptability with a quirk-centric fighting style, and the other showing pure martial prowess. Bakugo is throwing blast after blast at his former prey, while Izuku is either deflecting the attacks at the wrist, or blocking with his forearms. After what seems like a few minutes Bakugo jumps back and points his right hand towards Izuku, with his left hand holding the pin in his grenade shaped gauntlet.

"Just to let you know, these bracers are designed to store any excess sweat that I don't use and contain it. And if the support department made his thing right, then I can ignite all of the sweat at once for a colossal blast." Izuku tensed up at the description, his mind figuring out just how large an explosion that would be.

"Young Bakugo, don't set off that blast, that is too much for a student to handle!" All Might's voice boomed over the intercom.

"As long as he dodges it, he will be fine. Now Eat it Deku!" Bakugo pulls the pin.

BOOOM!

An explosion the size of a semi rips out towards Izuku. Izuku's body sparks with green electricity, but before anyone can notice, the cameras cut out, leaving All Might and the rest of the class viewing static.

Bakugo's vision is obscured by the smoke as he looks on towards where his opponent was standing. 'The loser should just drop out if he wasn't able to take that.' Bakugo started to walk forward, ready to end the match.

"That was much more powerful than usual, you really are amazing." Bakugo whipped around to find Izuku, looking mostly untouched after his attack. His haori was lost in the blast, and he had some minor blast marks on his chest, but he looked otherwise untouched. He looked back at the clearing smoke to find the haori ripped to shreds. "If I hadn't designed my clothes to be blast proof my top might not have been enough to dampen the blast."

Bakugo's hands begin to smoke, showing his frustration before he throws an overhand explosion at the green haired teen. Izuku hits the hand up, causing an explosion to rip over them.

"I looked up to you for the longest time, you had such talent with your quirk and were praised by everyone for it, but you know what?" Izuku simply talked while deflecting the barrage of blows thrown at him. "Beyond your quirk, you really have nothing else that makes a hero. You're cruel, insecure, and belittle and attack anyone who dares to think that about you. Even your fighting is one dimensional."

Bakugo becomes even more angry winds up to attack again. "You think that you're better than me, you useless fuck!"

"Kyotoryu: Hikara Kyukou." Izuku shoves the teens hands to the side before setting his own in a prayer position, he then jabs at Bakugo's shoulder joints, causing the teen's arms to hang limp. "Kyotoryu: Violet". He then preforms a double palm strike at his opponent's sternum and stomach, sending the teen flying across the field.

"You worked hard to develop your techniques, but you never considered fighting without your quirk. Once you know that, it becomes easier to beat you." The young sword began to walk towards his downed opponent. "And I know about how you fight, because I like to catalog quirks and their users. And the first one I wrote down was yours." Izuku stood before his former bully, and without words, they knew that their relationship would never be the same. Izuku reached to his belt and pulled out his capture tape, ready to finish the match when…

"Time is Up! Now everyone to the battlefield to evaluate them."

Soon after

"So, can anyone tell me who won the spar?" All Might stood in front of them, with Izuku on his right, and Bakugo on his left. Both looked a little roughed up, although Bakugo was the worse out of the two.

Momo raised her hand. "Although Midoriya did win as far as the fight goes, the objective was to capture your opponent before the time ran out. Were this a real villain attack and not a training exercise, Bakugo could have chosen to flee rather than battle head on. Since Izuku was unable to capture, it is his loss."

All Might nodded at the evaluation. "Exactly. Remember, victory does not rely simply on fighting. There are always other factors at play such as potential escape and innocents being at risk. So, keep that in mind as we continue on with our matchups."

The rest of the class went on with less action in the matchups. Todoroki overpowered Ilda by freezing him at the beginning, preventing the upright teen from running. And Sero's quirk was pretty much designed for capture, easily binding up Aoyama. Mineta also had an easy time, with his quirk immobilizing Sato, allowing the diminutive boy to flee for the time period. And the other's battles were very nondescript. During this period, Bakugo was sent to recovery girl, where he had to stay for a minor concussion along with bruising of his ribcage and temporary nerve damage, while Yaoyorozu was able to make a topical ointment for Izuku which treated the burn marks he sustained.

At the end of the day, Bakugo left the nurse's office and found Izuku near the entrance to the building.

"Deku! I hope you realize you were just lucky today!" Bakugo began to tell off his former target before the teen turned around with an almost pitiful look.

"Is that all you think that was? That I was lucky?" Izuku was a sick of how his childhood friend treated him and after his win, finally felt on with confronting the sand-haired teen. "I worked myself to the bone to get to where I am. I practiced day and night, training myself for years just to get a chance at my dream! Whereas you just had everything handed to you. A great quirk, talent, praise. I didn't receive any of that! If I didn't get my quirk late then I wouldn't even be here!"

Bakugo was dumbstruck at the outburst, never expecting something from the usually quiet and introverted Deku. "What the hell does that mean you Deku? I worked hard to be able to fight with my quirk."

"Well what are you without it?" Bakugo was taken aback at the question.

"There are a lot of heroes who can only fight one way and are useless without their quirks. What if you had to fight someone like Aizawa-sensei? Someone who can cancel your quirk, how would you beat them?" Izuku was looking at his bully with contempt at this point.

"If you think that I won today because of a fluke then the next time we have to spar, it will be the same. I learned how to fight long before I had my quirk and am improving everyday. Outside of your quirk, you have nothing. So I won't be just a stepping stone for you. If you want to be the Number One hero, then you will have to take it after me, because I obviously want it more than you." Izuku walked away at that, leaving his bully behind.

'Nothing without my quirk…' Bakugo ponders to himself as he heads home alone, not knowing that they had an audience to their conversation.

End of Chapter. To start off with, sorry about the late release. I have been busy working at a camp over the summer and starting up college again so I haven't had time to write much lately. Now onto the chapter. I decided to change the format of the first Hero development course due to a difference in character. This Izuku is much stronger than cannon and can demonstrate that skill without hurting himself, thus making his options for fighting a bit more widespread. So I wanted a battle between him and Bakugo to reflect the theme of their later fight in the manga. This also is a good way to demonstrate just how dangerous Kyotoryu is. With mainly passive fighting, Izuku was able to incapacitate Bakugo using only a couple of major techniques.

Next chapter will take a major shift from the episode format, by taking a look at the first week of Class 1-A and focus more on character and story building. I'm going to be busier in the coming months so don't be alarmed if it takes me a while to get it out.