Chapter 7: Wounded Pride

As soon as Bakugo began blasting the building All Might had tried stopping him. "Bakugo-shounen stop it!" All Might pleaded through the microphone, but the angry teen wasn't listening and continued tearing apart everything in the way of his blasts.

"Is he insane?! This is just a training exercise!"

"His hands… are they burnt?"

"Does he really hate Midoriya that much?"

The class is feeling uneasy.. I didn't expect the first exercise to go this badly. All Might thought. "Bakugo-shounen I have to disqualify you!"

No response, only the sound of explosions came through.

"Bakugo-shounen!" All Might tried again. This isn't good, he's putting everyone in danger! All Might turned to face the class. "Everyone please stay here!"

"Sensei?" But All Might had already rushed out of the room at that point.

The world turned into a blur as All Might moved faster than the eye could see, concrete forming a grey world as he sped by the buildings.

The large hero reached the building just in time to see the upper floors collapse. No! Am I too late? The dust parted and slowly two shadows in the air were revealed. All Might sighed in relief. "Villain team is disqualified!"

Kacchan, did you really want to win against me this badly!? To go so far to put yourself and everyone around you in danger!? Izuku glared at Bakugo, who stood still in shock, even after hearing All Might's words.

Izuku calm down, you're still holding onto your friends.

Oh… right. Izuku gently let his friends down onto safe ground before bringing his gauntlets back to his body. Izuku heard a loud thud while doing that. What? Bakugo was on the ground, completely knocked out.

He overstrained himself, it's only natural. Still I can't believe he'd go so far in his attempt to win.

Izuku stared at Bakugo's body. Smoke still fizzled as his hands and arms burnt and his fingers looked like they were almost broken, especially his pinkies. The rest of his body was far from untouched either. Clearly some rubble had managed to get through his barrage and hit him, his body was covered in dark bruises exposed through the tears in his costume. Some of the more sharper pieces left cuts, staining bits of his clothing red.

He always obsessed over being at the top, but I never saw him like this before. Izuku heard his friends' breathing relax as they walked towards him.

"Thank you Midoriya-kun." Iida turned to the armored boy. "I can't believe Bakugo did that, he never seemed like he was heroic, but to do that just to beat you…"

"Are you okay Izuku? He must have hit you pretty hard with those explosions." Uraraka asked Izuku.

"I'm okay, my armor repairs itself on it's own. It should be repaired just enough for me to pull myself out of here now." Izuku attached his gauntlets back to his armor and began to clear the rubble surrounding him, that was when All Might showed up.

"Is everyone all right? I'm sorry I let this exercise escalate to such a degree." All Might called out as he landed on the roof.

"Yes sensei!" Iida promptly responded while Uraraka gave a simple nod.

"Kacchan's the only one who is still injured." Izuku responded.

"Kacchan?" All Might tilted his head. "Ah, you mean Bakugo-shounen. But didn't you also get hit with a blast before getting into your armor? And what about your ears from earlier?"

"My armor helps heal me." Izuku had just cleared all the rubble surrounding him and pulled himself out. "I'm really not injured!" Izuku undid his transformation, showing himself to All Might.

"It… heals you?" All Might stared at Izuku for a few seconds before speaking again. "I see, if you truly feel fine then you can return to class."

After that, All Might escorted his students to the viewing room and sent Bakugo, on a stretcher, to the nurse's office.

When the three students reached the rest of the class they were bombarded by words.

"I can't believe that Bakugo blew up the entire building! Just for a training exercise!"

"You did a great job of taking that guy's explosions!"

"I hope the next battle won't be so crazy."

All Might cut through the rest of the voices with his loud voice. "Everyone! I know that the first session did not go as planned, but we can still use it to learn!" He pointed towards Iida. "I'd say the best in this match was Iida-shounen!" The teenager made a surprised noise as All Might faced the rest of the class. "Does anyone know why?"

"Yes All Might-sensei!" A girl with black hair in a large ponytail raised her hand. "It is because Iida-san adapted the best to the situation. Bakugo-san ignored the exercise and destroyed the building, leading to his disqualification. Midoriya-san entered without his quirk active, which allowed Bakugo-san to get a strong first strike against him. Finally, Uraraka-san revealed her location when she arrived in the weapon room." She looked towards Iida. "Iida-san was able to prepare the room for his opponent's arrival and kept the weapon away from her until the match was suspended."

Izuku pursed his lips. She's right, in combat I shouldn't leave myself unprotected.

Even I didn't expect him to be that strong, you'll need to be stronger for future battles. We'll go to the beach again today.

Eh? Are you planning to teach me something Omega?

You'll learn how to use the energy blast I used during the entrance exam.

That move!? Isn't that a bit much?

Your battles will only become more intense as time passes Izuku. You'll need every part of my power if you want to succeed.

It'll only get harder from here on out huh? My journey to become a hero.

The rest of the exercises continued without issue. Some hero teams finished quickly, while some villain teams were able to hold out for much longer. After each battle the class analyzed what had happened during the exercise. Izuku had learned the names of all his classmates by this point and had gotten to know them better as they finished the school day. The students poured out of class as the final bell rung.

"Izuku-kun? Where are you going?"

The green haired boy stopped and turned around, facing Uraraka who had been heading to the school entrance. "I need to talk to Kacchan. That fight made me realize a few things about him."

Uraraka's eyes widened. "Even after everything he's done to you?"

"Even after everything he's done to me I know he wants to be a hero even more than I do. That's why I want to make sure this doesn't leave a dark mark in his mind." Izuku gave Uraraka a reassuring smile before walking to the nurse's office.

"Izuku-kun…" Uraraka stared at Izuku's back as he slowly disappeared into the crowd of students leaving school.

The teenage boy arrived at the nurse's office shortly afterwards. He pulled open the door… his mouth widened in shock and he took a step back. Kacchan… looks so weak. The normally aggressive boy sat on the side of his bed eyes staring downward, back slouched, his bandaged arms lay lifelessly on his knees. Recovery Girl glanced at Izuku before stepping outside and giving the boys the room.

"Deku." His eyes still hadn't faced Izuku.

"Are-" 'Are you okay?' Those words would only hurt him here. A memory of a child Izuku holding his hand out to Bakugo in a stream of water surfaced. "I've changed Kacchan."

Several seconds passed. In that silent room it felt as if it had been years before Bakugo responded.

"I risked everything to beat you. I even risked those guys to beat you. So then why-" Bakugo's head slowly faced Izuku. "are you still standing there, perfectly fine, while I lost like this?" His face was a mixture of confusion and anger. Brows heavily wrinkled. His eyes almost looked like the glare he gave Izuku yesterday, but lacking that intense anger he always seemed to have. "A hero never loses, how can I become a hero if I can't even beat you, Deku?"

Izuku met Bakugo's eyes. "Kacchan, you lost the moment you put them in danger. A hero can't put himself and other's in serious danger like that. Recovery Girl taught me that."

Bakugo grit his teeth in annoyance. "So you're telling me that you don't think of me as a hero, huh."

"Idiot." Izuku's eyes narrowed. "We're here to learn how to become heroes. Pull your head up Kacchan. I won't be the only one challenging you here. It wouldn't be like you to give up like this."

"Heh, what are you doing giving me a pep talk you shitty nerd." Bakugo's head lifted up and he faced Izuku, giving him his usual sneer. "Like I need you to remind me this is a hero school."

The green haired boy smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow Kacchan." He turned around and walked out of the room.

"Your quirk lets you self heal huh."

Izuku turned to the side to see Recovery Girl.

"I heard from the other teachers. Quirks that can heal are extremely rare. Even mine just accelerates the body's natural healing process." She focused on her hand. "Are you able to use that power to save others?"

Izuku frowned. "My armor can only heal the person using it."

Recovery Girl frowned back. "I see, that's a shame. Still, even though your quirk can heal you don't use that as an excuse to be reckless." With that their conversation ended and walked back into the nurse's office, her cane thumping against the ground.

Later that day, Izuku went to the beach to train with Omega. Omega had told the boy to enter the water and use his sword charge attack there. Unknown to both, a pair of glowing eyes watched from the shadows.

AN: Sorry about the long wait for this chapter, I really needed a break with finals and how it exhausted me for a while. Chapters probably won't be updating as frequently as they were before. Now off that topic and holy crap 4k+ views, 61 favorites, and 81 followers! Thanks so much to all of you who like my story!

So I left a bit of a cliffhanger at the end, who do you think it is that's watching them? Also I just want to say that the story won't be following canon that closely anymore. Expect some bigger changes in future chapters! Also yeah, I couldn't think of a good Mega Man Zero song name that would work well for this title. I'll still try to use one when I can though.