Chapter 50 - A Battle to Remember

(A/N: 1k words last chapter, 2.6k words this chapter. So I wrote 3.6k in 1 sitting :O)

Using the gears Momo made, Tokoyami is now clad with a gas mask, earpiece, and night vision goggles. She even handed him some mini grenades to distract Izuku should he slip away from dark shadow and aim for him. It's loud enough to work but not bright enough to weaken his quirk.

Tokoyami looked at the devious amount of traps planted within the floor and walls and thought to never make Momo his enemy. "Do we need to go this far for Midoriya? What if he gets hurt?" Tokoyami said into his microphone.

"I have a feeling even this isn't enough," Momo, who had slid into the hiding place she made, said. Her body had used too much fat and was left with little to no energy, but the smile on her face wouldn't make anyone think she was weak for even a second. 

This time, Momo had managed to make the most amount of items she had ever made in one sitting. She didn't know why but she felt like if she did not do so, they wouldn't even stand a chance.

Tokoyami might be strong, but so is Izuku, and he might even be stronger. Before the game, Shoji had spilled the two of them what happened in the changing room. If Izuku is that strong without his quirk, imagine what he would be when he used it.

"But they sure are taking their time," Tokoyami said, feeling tired of the long suspense. He and Dark Shadow had been hiding in ambush from the very start and the wait started to take its toll on them.

"They activated my traps on the floor below and just then, a few of this floor's entrances. He should be here in about a minute," Momo had long predicted that they would send some sort of decoy to scout and trigger her traps so she laid easily triggerable ones near the entrance.

Soon, another series of explosions occurred, tensing Tokoyami's palm even more. This would be his first real hero (villain) battle and couldn't help but feel excited. 

"They're sending in birds to activate everything Yaoyorozu-san!"

"It's fine. Most of them will only set off minor explosions! Keep vigilant–", Just as Momo tried to calm Tokoyami down, she saw a figure sliding through the series of traps that got set off.

Momo had set a series of traps from sleeping gas to explosive darts but Izuku had repelled most of them with his quirk with the remaining barely doing anything to his suit. In that brief moment, she saw with her night-vision goggles Izuku holding his breadth and relayed that information to Tokoyami.

She had set the trap in a way that forced Izuku to run around to evade and allowed Dark Shadow to catch up to him. Being a creature of the dark, Dark Shadow had perfect vision of Izuku's position and enlarged its claw to reach for his legs.

Feeling something dangerous, Izuku jumped backward and felt the gushing wind brush through his previous position. Even after the attack, Izuku almost couldn't discern which was the darkness and which was Tokoyami's quirk.

Izuku then saw it lift its claw and revealed a set of menacing yellow eyes. Using it as the anchor, Izuku swung his sword at the eyes while using Bansho Ten'in to attract its head towards the edge of his sword.

Dark Shadow saw Izuku's swing and wanted to fly away before feeling a force pulling its head towards the sword. It tried once more to fly away and deemed it to be futile. Instead, it enlarged both his claws to block the sword.

Tokoyami who stood quite far behind felt the impact Dark Shadow received from Izuku's attack. Even though he didn't experience the attack, his telepathy connection with Dark Shadow allowed him to understand how strong it was.

Dark Shadow was pushed back by quite a lot and it saw Izuku who ignored it and was rushing towards the nuclear bomb.

"MOMO! USE THE TASER!" Tokoyami screamed to Momo and telepathically told Dark Shadow to bring Izuku to a certain spot. It followed the command and stopped holding back.

Enlarging its form, Dark Shadow now stood at an impressive three meters tall with its head almost reaching the ceiling and claws as large as the nuclear warhead. Its size didn't slow it down as it rushed closer to Izuku.

Izuku kept an eye on the troublesome creature even as he ran. He saw its now much larger eyes and decided it was too powerful for the current him. 

Izuku dashed towards the room's edge, evading its violent and enraged attacks while beginning to destroy every blackened glass pane he passed. Izuku noticed Dark Shadow flinch as sunlight pierced its body after the first window was destroyed.

By the fourth window, Dark Shadow had shrunk to half its original size but kept its ferocity as it finally caught up to Izuku, who was now only five meters away from the nuclear weapon.

Izuku attempted to push Dark Shadow away, but it clawed its way back in. With his quirk, he threw his sword at the creature, who caught it in its hands.

Even after all that sunlight, it was still powerful enough to warrant Izuku to stop moving and focus on dealing with its advances while slowly breaking the remaining windows. 

'This crow is more troublesome than I thought,' Izuku thought, feeling the sweat on his forehead increasing. He had not expected to find an equal match so quickly. Even though it was a staged fight, Izuku was still amazed by how powerful the often docile crow can be.

While Izuku was still in a stalemate with Dark Shadow, Tokoyami rushed towards the nuclear warhead and wanted to lift it away. Izuku felt movement from afar and caught a glimpse of Tokoyami who almost reached the nuclear weapon. Their eyes met, but Izuku failed to notice Tokoyami's mouth moving ever so slightly. 

Just as Izuku was about to end the stalemate and catch Tokoyami, from behind him, he heard water flowing, or rather, falling from above. In that slip of a moment, Dark Shadow used its last push to throw Izuku's sword away and rush to pin Izuku down.

Izuku didn't bother with Dark Shadow anymore as he realized what was about to happen. When the water fell down, He saw a hint of red running away from his position after throwing several items.

He also saw her taking a gun out and shooting at the floor and realized he was in an impossible situation. 'Fucking hell this bitch,'

When Izuku saw the approaching crow, which had shrunk even more, he used Shinra Tensei to push away all the water in his immediate vicinity and braced himself for impact. 

He had expended too much energy to push the force of nature away and dry his body at the same time, so, Izuku chose the lesser poison and took the brunt of force head-on. Seeing him not evading, Dark Shadow shrunk its claws and hit Izuku with only the blunt side of its body, knocking the two far away from the nuclear warhead.

Even if it was just a collision with its body, Izuku could feel his body cracking under the pressure of the impact. He collapsed to the ground as Dark Shadow, who had shrunk down to the size of Izuku's arm, sat on top of him. 

Izuku wiped his forehead and felt blood on his fingers. It was the most amount of damage he had gotten ever since he arrived in this world.

Izuku saw Dark Shadow being called back as a pale figure approached him. He saw her crouch down and showed a weak smile before sitting down and releasing a long sigh. "I've never felt more tired,"

"Now you're showing yourself?" Izuku said, a bit annoyed at his loss. Even if he knew he would have won had he approached them by letting all the sunlight in first, it wouldn't change the fact that he had lost. "Also, you look worse than me, Momo,"

Momo had lost a lot of weight, almost dangerously so, as he could see a faint shadow of her ribs showing. She had pushed herself even further than he had. 

"I felt like I had to win no matter what," Momo said, flashing a content smile towards him. Izuku couldn't hear a hint of regret in her words and shook his head. 

He hadn't expected the rich girl in his class to be not only not spoiled, but also so determined. He felt slightly better knowing that his defeat had come against someone like her. 'I guess I shouldn't half-assed this hero shit any longer,' he thought.

"IZUKU-KUN!"

Izuku and Momo were surprised and turned their heads only for them to gawk in surprise. 

Tokoyami, who was merely inches away from the nuclear warhead was knocked down, and beside him was none other than Koji who just slammed Tokoyami with a broken floor tile from behind.

"I'm sorry, Tokoyami-kun…" Koji apologized to the downed Tokoyami as he went over and carried the nuclear warhead toward the pair with a smile on his face. He'd never yelled so loudly in his life, but he'd also never knocked out one of his friends, so that was something.

"Ha…ha…" Izuku chuckled a tired laugh, not expecting Koji to actually man up and go into the battle. The furthest he expected Koji to go was to command the birds and that was it, but this was a welcome surprise.

Just as Izuku was about to give Koji his credit, something clicked in his mind and ignored the pain in his body to push Momo onto the floor, pinning her down.

Koji was surprised at the development, but not Momo herself who unusually gloated, "What's wrong Izuku-kun? Congratulations on the win,"

"Where's the real warhead, Momo," Izuku asked, a bit frustrated that she had not once, but twice now robbed him of his win. "I have ways to make you talk," He threatened, crushing the tile near Momo's face,

"Try your best then, Hero," Momo said, not afraid of Izuku's threats. And just as Izuku was about to open his mouth, All Might's voice sounded, announcing the end of the trial with the Villain team as the winner.

Izuku sighed and couldn't believe he lost twice in one day, both to the same team no less. Once was him underestimating them, twice was him being plain ol' stupid. He rolled over and lay down beside Momo, who had now let her Villain persona go, and apologized to Izuku and Koji for all she and Tokoyami had done.

"You sure got roped into the villain role easily," Izuku said.

"It helps when Tokoyami is my partner," Momo showed a sheepish smile, a bit embarrassed of her act during the trial. Though, even if it was just for a brief moment, she had fun.

"So this one is a fake?" Koji asked, not understanding how they could be fooled until he ripped the warhead open only to reveal it was made out of cardboard.

"Yes. The real one is made out of light steel but no one knew of that information," Momo said and continued, "The real one is bigger and is on the roof. I had Dark Shadow carry it up right after we saw you go into the building,"

Izuku thought for a while and realized he would have had enough time to search the whole building had he not wasted time doing recon or talking to Koji when instead he could have blasted through everything but decided it was all for the best to not think about all the what ifs.

Although his body was still hurt, it was now manageable after the short rest. All Might had called for them to either wait for him upstairs or go downstairs and Izuku decided he did not want to be carried down by All Might, ever.

Koji offered to carry Tokoyami down first, which he did, leaving Izuku and Momo lying down. Izuku pushed himself up and offered Momo his hand to help her stand.

She took his hand but couldn't keep her balance and almost fell down if Izuku hadn't caught her shoulders. Feeling her frail body, he couldn't help but be amazed at how far she had pushed her limits. 

"I think I'll wait for All Might," Momo said apologetically and asked Izuku to leave and let her down.

"If you're alright with it, I can carry you," 

"I don't mind but, shouldn't you rest as well?" Momo asked, afraid that Izuku was pushing past his limits just to help her. While he didn't say anything, the blood on his body proved to her that he was exhausted enough in his own right.

"I'm not weak enough to pass up the opportunity to carry the heir of the Yaoyorozu family in my arms," Izuku joked, causing Momo's pale lips to form a smirk.

"I'll take you up on that offer then,"

Izuku allowed her to wrap her arms around his neck while he lifted her thigh and carried her in a princess carry. It wasn't the first time for him to do this as he had often done so with Inko, Mitsuki, and even Toga, so he was nonchalant about it.

Momo too was too tired to think about it and let Izuku lift her body. She herself knew how light she currently was and thought that was why Izuku offered his service. 

"You shouldn't abuse your quirk this much. I think you're now lighter than the fake warhead,"

"I know, I don't want to do it again as well. I feel extremely lethargic," Momo answered before joking, "Though maybe I will when we fight again, maybe next time you'll be the villain,"

"Mnn, I'm sure I'd make a better villain than you," Izuku chuckled, half-joking, and carried her down the stairs of their first clash, step by step.

~~~~~

Meanwhile, a few moments ago~

Bakugou, who was previously feeling happy that All Might commended his resolve, was now fuming in anger. The battle between Izuku against Tokoyami and Momo had just ended with Izuku lying on the ground with a bloodied head.

Most of the girls and some of the guys did not expect to see Izuku or anyone for that matter shed blood, much less of Momo's extremely frail figure, and couldn't help but gasp in worry. 

While they did so, some others were gawking at the power level Tokoyami and Izuku had shown. Bakugou is the one affected the most after seeing how powerful Izuku actually is.

'This fucking twerp has been holding all this back this whole time?!' He thought, clasping his first so tight it almost shed blood. Even small explosions were heard as his sweat began to burn in frustration.

Every time they "fight", it is always one-sided, and yet when he finally witnesses his true power, it is when he is facing someone else much more powerful than himself. 

Beside him, Shouto Todoroki also began to see Izuku and Tokoyammi in a new light. They were two powerful students he did not expect to encounter and solemnly swore to not let himself be overtaken by them. No matter what.

As the dust settled and everyone stopped worrying after All Might told them the two pairs were only tired but overall safe, Mina screamed and pointed at the screen where Izuku held Momo in a princess carry, 

"AAAAAA!!!" She said before turning to Ochaco beside her and telling her to act fast else Izuku was nabbed by someone else. Ochaco blushed but soon escaped from Mina's clutches and ignored her nonsense ramblings. 

All Might secretly thank Mina in his mind as she had turned the somewhat somber atmosphere lighter and told everyone to meet at the trial site to discuss the results of said trial.

~~~~

(A/N: I'm so tired. 2 chapters today since there might not be a chapter tomorrow since ITS T1 VS WBG BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, give me stonesssss!)