Battle Training Part One

It was the next day and Izuku and I found ourselves leaving our respective apartments at the same time.

"Morning." Midoriya greeted.

I yawned loudly with a scratch of my head, "hey."

Last night was a rough one, I had stayed by Naomi's side for as long as she needed me. Which meant I ended up falling asleep with her on the couch sometime around one in the morning.

I didn't want to pry into what had caused her such distress, but from what she would occasionally whisper to herself I was able to piece together a vague clue of what had happened.

Someone had died on her watch, more than that, it was a little girl that had died, and Naomi blamed herself for her death. Considering Naomi was wearing a bloody shirt and was washing her hands, I had a feeling that the child did not die peacefully.

A large part of me wanted to take away her grief, to just dip into her mind and pluck it out. But I did not have the experience in such a deep level of mind manipulation, if I did something wrong I could make her unable to feel anything again at best or brain dead at worst.

The only thing I could do was be there for her like I had promised from the very beginning when Naomi had first decided to go back to being a hero. I hope it's enough because I certainly don't feel like I am.

"You okay?" Izuku's sudden question brought me back to the present.

I must look as awful as I felt if the worried face he was giving me said anything. "Yeah, didn't get much sleep last night."

"Oh, did something happen?"

I raised a brow.

Izuku quickly held up his hands, "not that I'm trying to pry or anything." He said awkwardly.

A snorted, "it's fine Midoriya. And…uh…kind of, but it's not my place to talk about."

"Are your parents okay?" I could see the genuine concern on his face. Heh, leave it to a guy like Izuku to be worried for the parents of someone he hardly even knew.

We had finally left our apartment block and were now walking on the sidewalk toward the train station. The early morning was grey with an overcast sky with a slight chill in the spring air.

"Yeah, everything will be alright…eventually."

The boy nodded unsurely, "well if you say so. Uh…sorry if I was too nosey."

I patted his back with a soft smile. "It's alright Midoriya, you're a good kid, never apologize for caring."

Izuku blushed as he coughed into his hand, "uh…thanks."

We fell into silence for a long moment as we stepped onto the platform and waited for the train to arrive.

"What about you, how's your mom doing?"

"She's doing fine, mom's been really excited for me to finally start on my path of being a hero," Izuku said with a smile.

"I met her the day before school started, she's a real good cook."

Izuku's smile widened as his eyes shone with pride. "I know right, she's the best cook I've ever known all my life."

"I only just started to cook a few years ago, I'll have to ask her for some advice later, can't catch a wife without knowing how to cook you know."

"Shouldn't you be more worried about becoming a hero than getting a wife at our age?"

I dismissed his question with a wave of my hand. "Bah, being a hero has always been like a secondary concern for me."

Izuku looked as if he could not even comprehend that very notion. "Wait what? Why are you at UA if becoming a hero isn't your main goal?"

Maybe it was the lack of sleep, maybe it was the fact that I had faced the very real ugly truth of what hero work really was last night. But I found myself speaking my mind about my life goal much more freely than I probably should've.

"Don't get me wrong, I'll put my all into being the best hero I can be. But the real dream has always been getting my own hectare of land in someplace like Montana or Wyoming, or maybe even Texas, living on my own little homestead, and raising a family."

Izuku was utterly flabbergasted, "a…what….Montana?" The gears in his head were running so fast that they had locked up.

I couldn't blame the guy for his reaction, most people don't go to UA thinking about retiring from hero work. They either don't think that far ahead or have subconsciously accepted that the job will eventually kill them.

I however was not one such person, I don't intend to die until I was old enough to meet my great-grandchildren. I'll do my part yes, and do it to the best of my ability and beyond, but this job won't kill me, no, not if I had anything to say about it.

_______________________________

It was later in the day, Orito-Sensei had just finished his science class and everyone was once again waiting with cautious optimism for today's hero lesson.

"Man I hope we get to do something cooler than watching that crazy old movie yesterday." Said Kirishima.

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll do something fun today," Ashido assured with a smile.

Ida stood up with a serious look on his face. "Speak for yourself Kirishima, but I happened to find yesterday's video quite informative. I for one had no idea how many places one could conceal an edged weapon."

"Eh, the dubbing was pretty weird, they should've just gone with subbed," Tsuyu said with a shrug.

"None of us speak English that well Asui," Kamanari reminded.

"Speak for yourself monolingual." I quipped back in perfect English.

Kaminari looked at me in confusion. "Uh, what did he just say?"

"I think he called you a Mongolian," Jiro informed with a slight smirk on her face.

"You what?!" Kaminari stood whilst shaking his fist at me.

"Shut it extras you're giving me a headache!" Bakugo shouted from across the classroom.

Kaminari's ire quickly turned from me and towards the spiky blond to the far left side of the room. "Oi, I'm not a side character pop rocks!"

Bakugo stood up and slammed his hands down on the table, "you wanna go Pikachu?!"

I needed to stop this before it actually got out of hand, thankfully my awareness had informed me that our teacher was nearby. "Oi lock it up, All Might's here."

"I am here…coming through the door like a hero!" All Might declared as he threw open the door.

Bakugo had sat back down in his chair the instant All Might had opened the door. Whilst Kaminari still kept standing but his previous angry expression had changed a dime to one of excitement the moment the hero had announced himself.

"Woah, he's wearing his silver age costume." Tsuyu pointed out.

"So Manly!"

"Hope this means we get to do something cool today," Ojiro muttered.

All Might stood at the head of the class with his hands on his hips as his blue and red cape fluttered thanks to the air conditioning picking up at that exact moment. "Indeed young Ojiro, today's lesson will pull no punches. Battle training!"

The class burst into excitement

"Awesome!"

"Fight training!"

"Real combat?!"

"Whoo baby, that's what I've been waiting for! That's what it's all about!"

All Might flexed his muscles as he continued to speak. "But one of the keys to being a hero is…looking good!" He pointed to the far wall and at that exact moment, twenty thick metal cases all labeled with our seat numbers appeared from hydraulic power racks that came out of hidden sections within the wall.

"These were designed for you based on your quirk registration forms and the requests you sent in before school started." The teacher spoke.

If the class was excited before, they went absolutely wild as everyone stood up with glee shining in their eyes.

All Might gave us a thumbs up with a sparkling white smile, "get yourselves suited up and meet me at training ground beta!"

"Yes sir!" The class affirmed as one.

___________________________________

We had arrived at the locker rooms, and most of my fellow males immediately went off into their own corners out of sight of everyone else, sighting that they didn't want to 'spoil the big reveal.' I could understand that sentiment, it reminded me of the days when I would hide my Halloween costumes from my friends until the night of to reveal the monstrosity I had arranged for the night.

I remember how one year I went as a literal goblin with my own sack of 'trinkets' as I pinched the behinds of my friends as we bar hopped down the streets of my hometown. Another year I went as an Imperial officer and 'inspected' the various liquors around town to see if they were up to 'Imperial standards.'

While those costumes were for fun and revelry, this costume however was for a serious profession that called for none of my old tomfooleries.

That is why I had my hero costume made of simple design, nothing flashy or eye-catching. After all, I was not in this business to become rich and famous, I was here to help people and chase a high, nothing more, nothing less.

I based the design of my costume on two things, Blade Runner, and a mediocre Ubisoft title known as Watch Dogs. I chose this because I wanted to instill the feeling that I could be anyone, that any person out there could be me. It gave me a type of omnipresence that I hope would instill fear into villains and a renewed faith in humanity for the common man.

The coat was made of heavy dark brown leather, it had a high collar that was lined with cream-colored fur, and had six deep coat pockets on the inside. According to the note found in the case, the coat was also flame retardant and could lightly resist electrical attacks, it happened to also be a good makeshift shock blanket.

Underneath the coat, I wore a black armored-plated vest that could withstand up to thirty ought six rounds of ammunition as well as puncture and blunt force damage from a person with a moderate strength enhancer quirk. Underneath that, I wore a simple white short-sleeved shirt.

For the pants, I went with a simple pair of thick blue jeans that were also flame-retardant, and slightly resistant to electricity.

For my footwear, I wore a pair of rubber combat boots that were designed to compress if something were to drop on them. I've seen what steel-toe boots can do to a man's foot if it's crushed under a heavy weight, it's not pretty.

To protect my identity I wore a plain black baseball cap and a dark grey bandana that covered my entire lower face from the middle of the bridge of my nose downwards. The only thing special about this portion of my costume was that the bandana was made from a material that better filtered out gases than a normal cotton bandana would.

My hands were covered in dark grey fingerless gloves made with a quirk made wood known as ironwood that had roughly the same strength as steel underneath the fabric material that would be able to protect the top of my hands should I ever be in a situation where a mighty pimp slap would be required.

I also had a utility belt and utility bandolier across my chest that had various little gadgets that would aid me in a great many situations. Smoke bombs were a must as I do not need my eyes to see and thus could easily blind my enemies without worrying about affecting my own combat ability.

On top of that, I had various tools for conflict de-escalation such as pepper spray of various potency, tasers, and a nightstick. Not only that I also had tools to detain people such as zip ties, and handcuffs of various strengths. I had asked for quirk inhibitors as well but apparently, that was only allowed for registered heroes.

I also had a few spare communicators that had yet to be connected with the Hero Net, a county-wide intranet that only registered heroes and their staff knew how to access. As well as a simple medical bag with bandages, migraine pills, activated charcoal, smelling salts, medical gloves, a scalpel, disinfectant spray, and thin tubes for emergency tracheotomy.

Despite my many gadgets, there were a great number of pockets and holsters that were not yet filled, those pockets I had deemed would be filled with something Naomi had told me were the two most important tools in any hero's support arsenal. Narcan, and epinephrine.

Heroes by their very nature were first responders, whether that response is to a villain attack or a medical emergency. Naomi, Nemuri, and Itachi had all told me their many stories of the number of people they have saved because they had an EpiPen or Narcan on hand. According to them, those two drugs alone had saved more lives than they had ever saved by directly confronting villains.

I took one last look at myself with the camera on my phone before taking a picture and sending it to both Naomi and Nemuri separately.

-*Hacker voice* I'm in.-

I sent this text to my contact I had named 'MAAAAAA'

I didn't expect her to be on her phone at this time so I wasn't disappointed when she didn't answer right away.

-Yo, where da hoes at?-

I sent that text and picture to a contact I had lovingly named. 'Ara Ara Aunty.'

It was only two seconds that went by until Nemuri sent a gif with a cartoon of a man's eyes that comically popped out of his skull and his heart beating out of his chest.

I chuckled at her reaction and wrote.

-Going to battle training, wish me luck bby.-

I got a gif of her blowing me a kiss in response.

I put my phone away in my locker and a small smile on my face before fast walking out of the locker room with an exciting pep in my step.

Finally, I would be able to use my quirk on people other than experienced veterans, hopefully, all of my training would at least have me equal to all the prodigies that make up the UA hero course.

_____________________________________

I had just arrived to find most of the other students had begun to congregate at the entrance to the tunnel that lead to training ground beta.

"Nice jacket dude!" Kirishima said to Kaminari as he slapped the blond boy on the back.

The redhead was not wrong, Kaminari looked like a lead guitarist in a pop band with his black jacket, white undershirt, and matching black pants and boots. On his head looked some sort of bulky white earpiece with an antenna, more than likely it was some sort of powerful radio that enabled him to communicate or listen to various signals.

"Thanks, man, your costume looks so metal." Kaminari complemented back.

Meanwhile, Kirishima's costume had two red gears on his shoulders and a faceguard around his mouth and jawline. He was otherwise shirtless other than a black cord that ran across his chest. On his legs, he wore baggy black pants held up by a belt with a crimson R set into its center. Around the back of his waist, he wore a ripped half cape that fell to just below his knees, and on his feet were dark crimson combat boots.

"Yo, where's Midoriya and Ishii?" Ojiro asked.

In contrast to a few others in the class, Ojiro went with a more simple costume of a white Karate Gi with black boots and light blue fingerless gloves.

"I'm right here," I said, appearing right behind the boy who asked.

Ojiro jumped slightly "Gah! Holy hell man, don't do that." He chuckled, holding his hand up to his racing heart.

"Nice threads Ishii." Said Sero.

I nodded towards him, "thanks Daft Punk." I called him so because his sleek black rounded helmet reminded me of one of the members of the ancient electric duo.

"You look like a guy who sells fake watches on the street," Tsuyu croaked bluntly.

A chuckle escaped my lips, "thanks, your consume suites you too Asui." Referring to her green jumpsuit she wore along with the large goggles that remind me of the big eyes of a tree frog.

"Let's get this show on the road, we're all here." Bakugo butted in with a growl as he waved the gauntlets that appeared to be giant grenades in my face.

"Midoriya isn't here yet." Ochacho pointed out. She was wearing a skin-tight black full-body suit with a pale pink design down the middle of her torso, two black circles on her chest, and a black rectangle below her waist, running between her legs. There are two more pink patches over her shoulders, both cut off by darker pink armbands that match the thick choker around her neck.

"Everyone who matters is already here, let's go." Bakugo amended before stomping forwards toward the light at the end of the tunnel entrance.

"No way am I letting this guy debut first," Kirishima said stubbornly before he marched after the angsty blonde.

"Wait for me," Ojiro called and rushed to keep up followed by most of the class.

Leaving only Ochacho and me behind, the girl unsurely glanced back in the direction of the locker rooms.

I placed a hand on her shoulder, "it'll be fine Uraraka, save the best for last and all that right?"

She gave me a nod with a smile, "right."

With that, we both walked down the tunnel and met the rest of our class where All Might was waiting for us as heroic and utterly chad as ever.

A few seconds after we arrived, the sound of running footsteps echoed behind us.

I looked over my shoulder to find a boy who was in a green full-body jumpsuit with a red belt, elbow pads, knee pads, and gloves, along with red boots. He also wore a mask with long ear-like protrusions and a respirator designed to look like a broad grin.

"Woah Midorya nice costume, loving the simplistic design!" Ochacho gushed.

"U-Uraraka…uh…wow…you….you look….your consume's nice too!" Izuku stammered.

Damn this kid is down absolutely atrocious.

Uraraka's ever-present blush darkened a tad as she rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "You think so? I think I needed to be more specific, this outfit feels a bit too revealing."

She's right about that, I had half a mind to cover this young lady with my coat, actually speaking of covering the modesty of young women.

Momo's costume showed way too much side boob to be appropriate as she wore a dark red leotard that exposed almost her entire center mass. Around her waist was a pair of cream-colored utility belts and below that she wore dark red boots that went all the way up to her calves.

Call it my Christian sensibilities but I don't think it's appropriate for fifteen-year-old girls to be wearing such skimpy clothing. Even Mina and Asui's costumes were too skin-tight for their age.

Honestly did the person who designed these clothes not know they were meant for children?! If I ever find the designer I'm kicking their ass, don't even care if it's a woman, equal rights mean equal fights.

The only one that was appropriate was Jiro with her rocker girl getup. She wore a black leather jacket, pink undershirt, black skinny jeans, matching black combat boots, and dark blue and pink earphones.

"Man I love this school." Mineta sighed dreamily as he stared at Ochacho's behind.

I gave the boy a light kick in the diaper he was wearing as pants. "Boy learn to rubberneck and stop ogling," I whispered harshly before any of the girls could see what the grape kid was doing.

While 𝘐 couldn't look at the girls, I did acknowledge that he and my other male classmates could, but the least he could do was not make it obvious and not be disrespectful about it.

Mineta galred at me, "white knight."

I narrowed my eyes. "I will bust your ass boy, don't even play with me."

What I could see of his purple-masked face went pale as he quickly retreated to the other side of the crowd.

Thankfully our exchange was unnoticed as All Might continued to speak whilst I was reprimanding Mineta.

"Right, today we will be having battle training where each of you will be grouped into teams of two. One hero team against one villain team! The goal of each team is as follows."

All Might then pulled out a little piece of paper and read from it. "The Heroes win if they capture the Villan team or touch the bomb the Villans are protecting. The Villan team wins if both Heroes are defeated or the time runs out!"

"We will be drawing randomly who will be paired with who and which team will act as the heroes or villains!"

Ida stepped forward in his grey metallic battle armor with a raised hand. "Sir are you sure drawing lots is the best way to pair the groups?"

"Well think about it, pro heroes have to team up with other heroes they don't know all the time and adapt to different types of situations on the fly." Izuku pointed out.

The metal-clad teen nodded, "I see, forgive my rudeness." He apologized to the teacher in a deep bow.

"That's quite alright! Now, let's draw these teams!"

All Might took a moment to pull strips of paper with our names on them out of the white box.

"Team A will be Izuku Midorya and Ochacho Uraraka!" Both teens looked at each other with wide smiles and high-fived.

"Team B will be Kyoka Jiro and Mina Ashido!"

Mina pulled Jiro into a side hug, "alight girl power!" Mina squealed.

"Team C will be Katsuki Bakugo and Tsuyu Asui!" Bakugo gave the green-clad girl a weathering glare which Asui merely blinked curiously at in response.

"Team D will be Fumikage Tokoyami and Toru Hagakure!" Hagakure waved over at the avian-headed teen which he responded with a silent nod of his head.

"Team E will be Shoto Todoroki and Minoru Mineta!" Todoroki sent a disinterested look at the legal dwarf which seemed to put the wind out of the boy's sails as he had tried to high-five the other boy but thought better of it.

"Team F will be Samuru Ishii and Momo Yaoyorozu!" Mine and Momo's eyes met briefly she gave me a friendly smile and a nod which I reciprocated.

"Team G will be Denkai Kaminari and Koji Koda!" Koda sent his partner an unsure smile and a little wave while Kaminari smiled at him with a thumbs up.

"Team H will be Ejiro Kirishima and Mezo Shoji!" Kirishima and Shoji both gave each other fist bumps at the news that their gym bro would be their battle partner.

"Team I will be Rikido Sato and Hanta Sero!" Both boys merely gave each other acknowledging nods

"And last but not least we have team J with Tenya Ida and Mashirao Ojiro!"

"I look forward to battling with you Ojiro," Ida said with a polite bow.

"Same," Ojiro smiled with a bow of his own.

All Might then brought out two more boxes, one on his left was yellow and the one on his right was red. "Now we shall see who shall battle who!" His hands scrambled whatever was inside the boxes for nearly a full minute before pulling out two balls. The ball from the yellow box was white with a single bold black letter while the ball pulled from the red box was black with a bold white letter.

"The first match will be against team A as the heroes and team C as the villains!"

Izuku looked ready to piss himself as he looked over at Bakugo who was smirking madly at the other boy. "Your ass is grass Deku!" The blonde growled.

All Might stepped forward and bellowed, "you have ten minutes to prepare, the rest of us shall watch in the observation room! Remember, while you are encouraged to push yourselves and your quirks to the limit, serious injury to the opponent is not allowed, now go and give it your all!"

While we moved to the observation room, Momo fell into step beside me.

"I don't think we've introduced ourselves. I'm Momo Yaoyorozu," The girl introduced herself with an offered hand.

I clasped her hand with one of my own as we continued to walk and shook it briefly. "Samuru Ishii."

"I remember seeing you at the recommendation exams, you have a flight quirk right?" Momo questioned.

I shook my head, "no, flight is just something I can do with my quirk."

We had fallen behind a bit as we talked and were now trailing behind the rest of the class.

The tall girl blinked in surprise. "It's not? but I was sure…" She shook her head, "no matter if you don't mind me asking, knowing about each other's quirks will help us work better together in the coming battle."

Welp might as well rip off the bandaid now, everyone will soon know what I can do by the time the sports festival goes down anyway. The least I could do is be upfront and honest about it so I can mitigate the suspicion and distrust that will eventually come later.

"I'm psychic," I revealed.

Momo blinked in surprise "Psychic? I'm sorry but your quirk name is very vague. Does that mean you have telekinesis, brainwashing, telepathy, mind-reading?"

I nodded, "yes."

"Yes…yes to what?"

"All of that at once yes."

She blinked once, then twice, then thrice as her brain processed what I had said. "H-how is that even possible, that's four quirks at once?"

"It's actually not, my quirk is the quirk that all other psionic-based quirks are derived, or that's what the doctors theorized."

"I don't understand."

"Well look at it this way, you know Ryukyu right?"

At Momo's nod, I continued.

"Well she has the quirk called Dragon, this quirk allows her to not only grow in size but also have razor-sharp claws and teeth, thick skin that is hard to pierce, and even wings that allow her to fly. Now we do not look at her as if she has the gigantification quirk, the razor-sharp claws quirk, the sharp teeth quirk, the hard skin quirk, and the wings quirk, we simply just call it Dragon. Same with my quirk."

She nodded in understanding, "Oh, I think I understand now."

"Good, because it took me a while to understand it and you're doing much better than I was." I chuckled in self-depreciation.

"Do you have to activate each part of your quirk one by one, what are the weaknesses that we should watch out for in this battle?"

I shook my head, "my quirk is always passively activated, at least the mind-reading portion of it is. I do need to concentrate on the telepathy, telekinesis, mind control, and mind manipulation parts though. However, I can do multiple psionic abilities at once."

"Y-your reading my mind right now?" Momo asked with wide eyes and a bright cheery red blush.

This was what I was worried about, I needed to nip this in the bud before any misunderstandings arise. "No, I have mind shields up to keep people's thoughts out of my head. I will never violate your or anyone's privacy unless express consent is given."

"Are you sure?"

I nodded, "Yaoyorozu trust me, I do not wish to make anyone uncomfortable with my quirk. I can't turn it off but I can control it and have spent years perfecting this control. Please know I won't ever intentionally read your mind but also be aware that extremely strong emotions do at times leak through my barriers. But I can teach you ways to protect yourself from mental intrusion if you still feel uncomfortable."

The girl looked directly into my eyes for any deception, but since there was none to be found Momo relaxed somewhat. "Alright Ishii, I will trust you, and yes I would be interested to learn how to defend myself from mental intrusion."

I was very grateful that Momo was a reasonable person, I do not need the people I'm supposed to be working with regularly thinking I was always reading their minds and knew all of their secrets. "Thank you for your trust Yaoyorozu, I promise I won't take advantage of it. Now we should probably hurry and catch up to everyone."

She gave me a small smile of her own, "right, let's go."

____________________________

Bakugo and Midorya's fight was messy and incredibly emotionally charged. Those two had completely forgotten about the purpose of the exercise and had turned it into an angsty coming-of-age punch fest.

I honestly had no idea what Bakugo's problem was. Did he have a weird superiority complex, repressed feelings for Izuku, or undiagnosed autism? Considering how Bokugo doesn't really understand emotions properly and other social cues I think the most likely answer is autism but I can be wrong since I'm not a doctor.

I watched with wide eyes as Bakugo had just tried some super move that had roughly the equivalent explosive power as a hundred sticks of TNT against a fellow student in an enclosed space no less. The attack was so powerful that it shook the entire building they were in and destroyed a good chunk of the north side of the building in a fiery explosion.

I couldn't hold my tongue any longer, "Sensei, do the regular entrance exams not have a psychological evaluation like the recommended exam has?"

Some of the class turned towards me in surprise, "he was recommended?" Kaminari whispered to Mina.

The rest of the class, other than Shoto and Momo were likewise surprised that I was recommended. Not that I blamed them, UA usually only has about four students a year that get in through recommendations. They very rarely accepted a fifth, just goes to show how this year had higher-than-usual exceptional candidates.

All Might however paid the whispering class no mind and turned towards me, "they do not, but seeing this does pose a question about the efficacy of that decision." The question must have really concerned the tall man as his usual grin had somewhat lessened and he did not shout his answer like he usually would.

My eyes turned back towards the cameras, Bokugo had cornered Midorya against the now exposed ledge of the partially destroyed building with a crazed look in his eyes. The guy needed help, like major help if he ever wished to become a hero. This attitude could not stand, he may still be a child but fifteen is old enough to know right from wrong and he was definitely in the wrong right now with how fucking insane he was being towards Izuku.

Meanwhile, Ochacho and Ausi's fight was not as one-sided. Asui was using her acrobatic skills and frog quirk to the best of her ability. While Ochacho showed off her own athleticism by avoiding the green girl's exceptionally long tongue as it whipped toward her like a snake intended to restrain her.

Asui leaped at Ochacho from behind, capture tape in her hands, the girl was looking to end it now.

However at the last second Ochacho pivoted on her heel and turned just in time to dodge, in the same motion she touched the elbow of her opponent.

Tsuyu was caught off guard by the sudden lessening of her gravity and tumbled forward with her momentum sending her careening uncontrollably.

Uraraka capitalized on her opponent's temporary surprise and sprinted for the bomb.

However, Asui righted herself and used her lessened gravity to her advantage by bounding forward off a pillar in an incredibly fast leap, her tongue ready to lash out at the pink-clad girl.

Ochacho however planned on that, if her slight smirk said anything, she suddenly ducked down and released her quirk's hold on the frog girl.

Tsuyu's sudden change in mass propelled her even faster and sent her crashing into the bomb. Her speed was so much that both girl and the bomb were sent flying through the large open window.

At that same moment, a few floors down. Izuku and Bakugo were still going at it, well more like the blonde was slapping his opponent around. However I suspected it wasn't as one-sided as it seemed, Ochacho had spoken into her earpiece the moment Asui had hit the bomb while Izuku started winding up for a mighty punch. But not just any punch, his entire forearm, and hand were starting to glow yellow as he called upon his quirk.

At that same moment, Bakugo rushed forward, his own palm glowing bright orange as he too drew upon his own power and began to charge another blast.

"They're going to kill each other Sensei, you need to stop this!" Kirishima shouted.

All Might however kept his eyes on the screen, his hand gripping the microphone tightly, ready at any moment to stop the exercise but for whatever reason was not.

I took a step forward next to All Might, "Sensei do you want me to stop this?"

All Might shook his head. "No…he needs this, both of them."

Well if All Might says it's alright I won't intervene. However, I still kept my focus on both of their minds, not quite entering them but staying right outside of the threshold, ready to break in and subdue them if need be.

Since I was metaphorically at the door to their minds, I could hear their thoughts a lot clearer even through my barrier. It was muffled, like trying to hear something underwater, but I could hear Izuku mentally scream.

"𝘕𝘰𝘸!"

At that same moment, Izuku slammed his fist downwards, exploding the ground and sending himself upwards through the destroyed part of the building with the force of the blast.

The move was perfectly timed because at that same moment, Asui and the bomb were passing by and Izuku found himself slamming into the large black rocket-shaped bomb.

"Shit what the hell was he thinking?" I cursed under my breath.

They had no way of stopping their momentum and were going to slam into the ground at highway speeds.

I turned to All Might, "Sensei the test is over, can I…"

"Do it." All Might nodded.

With a heavy concentration of will, I focused my mind on gripping both Asui and Izuku. My head burned thanks to the speed and distance of the targets.

I do not need hand movements to use my powers, but they do aid in helping to visualize what I want to do, it was the equivalent of psychic training wheels. But right now, with the lives of these kids on the line, I had no room for pride.

I raised my hand and thrust forward at the screens, the second I willed it the kids were wrenched free of their holds on the bomb and held aloft in the air.

"Woah what's going on?" Jiro questioned.

"Is this some kind of failsafe?" Wondered Ojiro.

Momo appeared at my side and asked. "You're doing this aren't you?"

I nodded whilst lowering the children gently toward the ground.

"Wait this is you Ishii, so manly!" Kirishima gripped his fist, giving me a toothy grin.

"Awesome, telepathy is so rad." Kaminari was likewise impressed.

"Actually it's telekinesis he's doing Kaminari," Hagakure corrected.

After a few seconds of gentle floating, the two green-clad students were finally on the ground.

All Might placed a large hand on my shoulder, "that was quick thinking young Ishii, thank you."

"It's no problem, sir, I'm going to find some water now so I can take my migraine pills." I left to do just that whilst rubbing my temple.

"You do that, but be ready when your time comes!" All Might gave me a thumbs up.

"Sure thing," with that I left the observation tower to find a nearby water fountain.

___________________________

Unfortunately, there was no water fountain nearby so I had to walk all the way to the nearest bathroom and drink right from the tap in order to take my migraine pills. Call me a bitch all you want but I ain't taking pills raw, did that once and coughed them out, rather not waste money if I can avoid it.

My little side adventure took me over five minutes so I missed the debriefing of the last match.

"Who's up this time?" I asked whilst making my way inside the observation room.

"Koda and Kaminari are the villains against Jiro and Ashido," Asui informed me.

I nodded and hummed in thought, there was no telling how this will go but my money was on Jiro and Ashido. Kaminari while being smarter than the average teen by virtue of even being here, is still not the sharpest tool in the UA shed. And Koda, well Koda doesn't strike me as the type to lead or speak up for himself even if he does have a better idea than the loudest person in the room.

I do sense that Koda is psychically gifted but his soul does not shine as brightly as mine or that one girl in class 1-B or that one boy in General Studies. I forget what his quirk is but I think it has to do with rocks or something. Geomancy might actually be very helpful in this situation as the building they're defending is almost entirely made out of concrete.

Ah oh well, I can worry about this later, right now I had a perfectly good opportunity to strategize with my teammate, I just need to get her to trust me a bit more.

"Yaoyorozu can I speak with you for a second?"

The said girl who was having a conversation with Hagakure and Uraraka turned to face me. "Oh uh, sure."

Uraraka gave the invisible girl a look and both started giggling for some reason. I didn't pay them any mind and led my teammate to a far-off corner.

"Yaoyorozu, I have a way for us to strategize in private while the other teams are taking their turn. If that is something you want, If you don't then we can leave it all for our own turn."

She bit the inside of her cheek for a moment as she thought about it. "What do you have in mind?"

"I can speak to you telepathically and you can respond mentally to me. I won't do this without your consent and if it makes you feel uncomfortable then I will stop immediately."

The brunette thought on in for a bit longer. "Can you try it once just so I can see how it feels?"

I nodded, but just before I could begin she spoke up.

"You won't look too deep in my mind right, just the surface thoughts?"

"Yes, I won't hear anything unless you are actively thinking about it."

She sighed, "alright…do it."

I gave her a reassuring smile as I projected my thought into her mind."𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘮𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸."

Momo jumped slightly as she held the top of her hand, "that's so weird."

"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘵."

"𝘏-𝘩𝘰𝘸, 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴?"

"𝘠𝘦𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘶𝘦."

"𝘖𝘬𝘢𝘺…𝘰𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦, 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘺?"

"𝘈𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘮, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘨𝘰 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘵."

"𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘬 𝘵𝘰𝘰?"

"𝘕𝘰, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘥."

"𝘋𝘪𝘥?"

"𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘩, 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦."

"𝘖𝘩…𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯..."

"𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺, 𝘐'𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥."

"𝘖𝘩 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥, 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦'𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘶𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥…"

"𝘠𝘢𝘰𝘺𝘰𝘳𝘰𝘻𝘶, 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘥."

Her face went beat red, "𝘖𝘩…𝘶𝘩𝘩𝘩, 𝘐'𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴."

"𝘞𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵, 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥."

"𝘐…𝘐, 𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨."

I shook my head, "𝘯𝘰, 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦. 𝘞𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳." Before I could cut the connection Momo yelled in my mind.

"𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵!"

"𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘵?"

She looked down shyly, "𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦? 𝘐…𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘮𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬."

"𝘏𝘶𝘩, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢, 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨."

"𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘶𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵'𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦…"

I cut the connection, I didn't want to embarrass her more by pointing out she was thinking loudly again.

"Well, it was a good try," I said aloud.

"Yeah," She rubbed her arm and blushed a bit. " Thanks for keeping your word."

"You'd keep your word if it was the other way around," I said with a shrug before walking away.

_________________________

After seven more matches, it was finally time for Momo and me to show off our skills, thankfully we were the villain team and thus were on the defensive.

Unfortunately however our opponent was Todoroki, an actual competent opponent. I didn't factor Mineta too much into the equation, as rude as it sounds but I honestly don't see him as too much of a threat.

Whilst we were making our way to training building F, Momo and I used this time to strategize even if it technically wasn't part of the allotted ten minutes we officially had.

"So you know my quirk, what's yours?" I already knew of course, but I don't want her to think I broke my promise and got the information from her mind.

"It's called creation, I can create any nonliving object from the lipids in my body."

"When you say any nonliving object, does that mean anything?"

She nodded, "as long as I understand the molecular structure of what I'm creating then yes."

"That's honestly amazing, the implication of that power…I don't want to be rude but how has the government not kidnapped you?" It was astonishing really, she could pop out nukes on a whim or crash an entire economy, or mass-produce man-made viruses. Any government would enslave her for their own gains if they think they could get away with it.

Momo blushed slightly, "my family is well connected, but they made sure I've received the best martial arts training in all types of weapons just in case." Ah so that's the reason, they must be bankers or a pro-hero family, that or she might be related to the Emperor, hell even all three at once was a possibility too.

The last question made her a bit uncomfortable so I decided to change the subject."Any particular weapon you're good at?"

"I'm partial to the bo staff but I'm good with almost anything."

"That's cool, I've received training in hand-to-hand combat as well as swords and kunai throwing. But I don't think I should be focused on up-close combat in this fight."

She nodded, "yes, we've both seen how skilled Todoroki is with his ice during the exams and the quirk appreciation test. Mineta could possibly even get the drop on us with those sticky balls of his or even sneak behind us while Todoriki keeps us busy."

Despite the phrasing in the middle, Momo's analysis was pretty spot on to what I had thought of as well. "We should try and funnel them and force them to go where we want them to, that way we can at least midgate the chance of Mineta sneaking upon us."

"Then we should find a palace with little windows, but if that's impossible then I can board them up."

I hummed in thought, "good idea, we also don't need to commit to a single floor as I can move the bomb with my telekinesis."

"That sounds like a good backup plan. You also said you can do more than just telekinesis and telepathy did you not?"

"I can manipulate and control the minds of others, but I'm not sure how effective either would be in this situation."

Momo raised a curious brow. "And why is that?"

"I've only ever practiced on my trainers, and that was only after they allowed me in. The only time I've ever used it in a real scenario was when I stopped a guy from robbing a store but his willpower was particularly weak. I don't really know how well I would perform against our fellow students since having a strong will is a prerequisite to even get into this school."

She nodded in understanding, "I see, well I say if it's not effective then don't focus on it and just do what you're most comfortable with."

"Good idea, so does that mean I'll be in the backline and you'll be upfront with your staff?"

"Yes, I don't see a reason to waste resources on me creating ranged weapons for myself when you can provide just fine for our needs."

I nodded at this and asked. "Do you have something that can mitigate Todoroki's ice?"

"Not for something as fast-acting as he has. I could salt the area but I don't think it would work in time to be effective."

"Alright, I think we've got a good strategy, good enough to know what each of us should do but not so rigid that it doesn't allow for improvisation."

"I agree, I feel we have a good chance of winning this."

"Just one more thing though."

Momo tilted her head questioningly. "What is it?"

"If we're in a situation where we need to communicate silently, will you be okay if I used telepathy to talk with you?"

She bit the inside of her lip as she thought on it for a moment, "yes, if it's needed then you may."

I smiled, "thank you for your trust."