38

Chapter 38: Heroics – Friendly RivalryNotes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The merging of their schedules had brought forth some interesting changes for the Hero Course classes. 

For one, having three teachers at once made the period of Heroics different. Not worse, mind you, just different. 

Sure, having more eyes on them, ready to point out mistakes and ways of correcting them, was a boon for the students. All Might, Eraser Head, and Vlad King had different professional experiences, encompassing most of the spectrum from Daylight to Underground Heroics, and that meant that they would give different advice, which was usually good. 

On the other hand, most of the students had been caught by surprise by the abrupt change of pace. Those from Class A hadn't expected the precision and lateral thinking under Kan's gruff tone, just as those from Class B hadn't been prepared for the cutting words and logic hidden behind Aizawa's apathetic exterior. All Might balanced their stiffness with his lively presence, but only up to a point. He might have been the Number 1 Hero, but his teaching experience was noticeably lacking in comparison. Having triple the years on the field wasn't that useful if he couldn't explain things in the right way. 

Setsuna had joked about the trio playing their own version of "Good Cop, Bad Cop," something like "Loud Prof, Gruff Prof, Glaring Prof," since just adding a "Worse Cop" to the common form didn't cut it. 

- Could've gone with "Terrifying Prof" for that one... - the greenette mentally shivered as she kept herself out of the man's direct line of sight. 

"Better safe than sorry," her Granny always said. For once, Setsuna was inclined to follow her suggestion to the letter. 

She moved her focus to the teachers, waiting to hear what they had prepared for them. Fridays seemed to be the perfect day to leave them all exhausted after training. 

"Today's exercise will see you divided in teams of four, but it won't be as allies!" All Might roared, making their eyes move to Vlad King for the rest of the explanation. 

"We will be simulating a rare yet possible scenario: a fight between more than two parties," the grey-haired man said. "Yes, Tsuburaba?" 

"Conflicts against Villains aren't usually that complex, are they?" the teen asked as he lowered his raised hand. 

"Right. Most of the fights you may see portrayed on television would be street fights, easy to comprehend as a simple 'Hero vs Villain,'" the teacher replied with a huff. "But sometimes your adversaries may not be from a single faction, especially during operations against large syndicates." 

"Indeed! Just because they're Villains, it doesn't mean that they will be collaborating between themselves!" All Might offered. 

"Yes. Imagine, if you will, a mission in which you should be storming a distribution facility that procures weapons to as many clients as it can. The Heroes have data on the distributors, but little to nothing on the buyers. Taking the operation down as soon as possible is of the outmost importance, so the Heroes can't wait for every unforeseen enemy to vacate the premise. As the bust happens, two rival gangs enter the fray, unsure if they were betrayed or if they were the targets to begin with. The situation would quickly develop into a free-for-all, making it harder to secure an objective and keep casualties to a minimum," the Blood Hero presented a scenario he had personally experienced. 

"The people in your same group will be your adversaries," Eraser cut things short, letting out a weary breath. "Consider this a mission in a residential area. If you destroy the building, damaging it beyond repair, you're out. If you're caught in capture tape, you're out. If you get out of the premises, you're out. Same goes for fainting, though I hope you will keep yourselves in check. If more than one person is left standing by the end of the allotted time, everybody will have failed." 

"To keep things interesting, we'll keep half of you here and divide the participants before the building's entrances! You won't know for sure who your adversaries will be until you meet them! Let's see, the first half will be..." 

All Might clicked on his tablet, making twenty names appear on the screens of the monitoring room. The shown students were guided out of the room by Eraser Head, as the Hero would stay closer to the action. 

Thanking her luck of being in the second round, Setsuna let out a sigh of relief. 

After a few minutes of waiting, Vlad King talked into his microphone. "The students are in place. All Might, let's start with the first four." 

"Of course!" The buff man pressed on his device once again. 

Four profiles were drawn from the groups, the cameras moving to follow them for the duration of their turn. 

Setsuna's eyes widened for a moment before she let a sly grin appear on her face, her gaze moving to the screen showing her Class Representative. "Oh, my..." 

Her sensitive ears caught wind of some interesting reactions in the meantime. 

Jiro was shaking her head, sighing. "Did somebody listen to Chargedolt's prayers?" 

"I doubt that," Mineta commented. "He's not here, so he's gonna miss it." 

"I don't know about prayers, but this is gonna be a damn blast to watch," Awase grinned by his side. 

"I sure as hell ain't losing a moment of it," Mina concurred, savoring the soon to be spectacle. 

She could have heard wrong, but she felt like Midoriya had chuckled at that. 

The buzzing was quickly interrupted for the sake of moving on with the exercise. 

"Get ready, you're in the first group," Mr. Kan stated, his microphone connecting to the four selected students.

Ochaco ended her stretching exercise as the starting bell rung to signal the start of the match. 

The girl heard Toru and Kirishima wish her good luck when she entered, but her brain was already elsewhere. Following Ryukyu's suggestions, she focused to get in the optimal mindset for combat as she thought of her possible adversaries. 

She could exclude a grand total of twenty-five people from the classes' roster, but the group was still too large to attempt a precise guess. She understood the importance of the surprise factor, but didn't Mr. Kan say that Heroes should have had data on one enemy at the very least? 

The building was large rather than tall, the maze-like structure spanning hundreds of square meters on only two floors. She would have to look around for a while... But maybe that was for the best. The important part was being the last one standing, wasn't it? 

- Should I swoop in after the fight's started? Not too heroic, but it would be a smart play... What would Mr. Aizawa think? - 

After two minutes she discovered that her opponents weren't of the same mind, because a loud bang came from the opposite side of the building, echoing cleanly through the empty halls. Everybody would surely converge on the newly presented objective soon enough. Ochaco opted to close in quietly, hoping to get an advantage, even if only by knowing who the others were. 

She was grateful for her choice when something came at her out of the blue from behind a wall, making the girl jump back to evade the attack. Had she been running, the blow would have hit her square in the chest. Instead, she had only been invested by a cloud of chalky smoke and some small debris. 

"Hey, Itsuka. Trying to give me a heart attack?" she asked, smirking a bit. 

"Sorry, hadn't seen you there," the redhead joked, retracting her fist. "But I can't really let go of my chance at a rematch, can I?"

"Did Kendo say something cool? It feels like she did," Mina turned towards Kyoka, who just huffed. 

"Don't look at me. It's way outside my range." 

"Yeah, come on, look at that intensity," Yosetsu grinned. 

"They're just beating the shit out of each other," Togaru shrugged, "no need for lofty talks." 

"But speeches are half the fun," Neito pointed out with a smirk, knowing how the mantis teen didn't share that particular view of heroics. 

"Fuck that," Togaru growled. 

"I agree, Monoma. It is half the fun." Izuku concurred, surprising half of the students. Neito would keep giving him weird glances for a while. 

Hitoshi was the first to wake up from the shock, speaking after a snort. "Yeah, that sounds like you." 

"Should we start keeping track of the monologues?" Shoto asked, inadvertently causing more people to chuckle. 

"Want to compare notes? We have a tally for Monoma's," Sen offered, making the blonde snort. 

"What was that?!" Setsuna interrupted the banter, bringing the group's gazes back on the show, only to see white light everywhere.

- Well, that just happened, - Itsuka thought with a grimace, her eyes closed tightly to try and diminish the blinding pain caused by the flashbang. Even noticing it before the explosion hadn't been enough to evade its effect. 

The martial artist couldn't see, and her ears were ringing, but she expected the next attack to come in the next few seconds. The blinding effect was short, so she had to run until she could get back her bearings. Ochaco must have been following her same train of thought, because Itsuka felt the girl's movements going in her same direction. 

She might have pictured Hagakure's power for a second, but the stun grenade was a clear sign of a bigger threat: Momo Yaoyorozu. 

"We have to-" Ochaco's words, which were barely louder than the ringing in Itsuka's ears, were interrupted by an electric shock that made her muscles contract and let out a pained groan. 

That specific sound made Itsuka react without thinking. A week spent covering the brunette's back against opponents completely out of their league hadn't been for nothing. 

Her right hand grew as her fingers formed a tight wall, the closest thing she had to copy Ryukyu's wings' movement. The wind pressure she could generate wasn't on the Heroine's level yet, but it would be enough to give them space. It wasn't of the same level as the one generated by Midoriya's flicks, but the air blast sent them and their opponent to opposite sides of the room, crashing against the drywall. 

- Dammit, it's the last time I forget to keep my feet on stable ground, - she thought as she groaned, getting up and rubbing her eyes. 

With her sight working once again, she took in the situation. Ochaco was directly to her left while Momo was about fifteen feet in front of her, hidden behind a wall. She knew who she feared the most out of the two. Not to take anything away from the brunette's guts, but she didn't have the gift of making every item from an arms dealer's catalogue appear in the span of a heartbeat. 

She saw Ochaco's gaze move on her from behind her visor, an interesting smirk slowly making its way to her face. 

"Hey, Itsuka, want to team up?" 

The proposal would have surprised the martial artist if she hadn't been thinking the exact same thing. 

"Sure," she groaned, letting her expression copy Ochaco's, "let's make Ms. Tatsuma proud." 

Ochaco's only answer was her cracking knuckles.

"Huh, so that's allowed too?" Minoru mused as the girls helped each other up. 

"Mr. Kan, is it fine if we do that?" Manga asked. 

"It is," their teacher nodded, his gaze stuck on the screens. "But the goal hasn't changed." 

"It's a gamble," Setsuna commented, shifting on her seat, "they can take care of the competition more easily this way..." 

"But they're opening themselves to a possibility of backstabbing," Neito ended. 

"Yaoyorozu is dangerous enough to warrant that much," Shoto stated, a hand moving to rub the spot where he'd been shot at.

Her trap had ended into a colossal fiasco. Alright, perhaps not a colossal one, but a fiasco, nonetheless. 

The lure had worked almost perfectly, letting her approach two of her adversaries as they were already engaged in combat. Momo had waited for a third one to appear but, having no such luck, she had proceeded with the plan anyway. She had moved swiftly, paralyzing Ochaco before she could react to her presence. She would have gotten Itsuka as well, if only the redhead had tried to run away to buy time as she had expected her to do. 

The plan would have probably worked on most of their classmates, but she just had to encounter a duo who had shared an internship, and a great one at that. Said pair was now approaching her with no intentions of giving her a second chance to strategize. 

Could she still salvage the operation? Could she buy enough time? Or could she win without it? 

Twirling her staff, Momo received Itsuka's first blow and answered it with a light electrocution. The metal was bent, but the martial artist's body tensed to the point of temporary immobility. She didn't manage to make use of the window in the girl's defenses as Ochaco was right behind her, hands poised in a way she had never seen before. Her friend hit her on the arm, having Momo jump back to evade the five-fingered grip and abandoning the broken weapon with a last tentative swing to the brunette's side. 

The raven-haired girl threw a few firecrackers—the kind that wouldn't cause irreparable damage, only dizziness—against the two, partially halting their assault. Ochaco had moved back to shield herself, but Itsuka had simply endured the explosive noise and heat with the back of her hand. 

The martial artist charged with purpose. Momo estimated that her fist would punch her through a few walls and into an early defeat. She raised both arms, now covered in plate mail, to absorb part of the hit, keeping her eyes on the attacker and gritting her teeth. Yet, nothing ever reached her. 

She had not accounted for a sudden force to knock Itsuka from the side, kicking her in the opposite direction. Only Ochaco's quick intervention and the removal of the girl's momentum managed to save her from what would have been Momo's fate. 

The heiress recognized the ribbiting before she could see her friend's figure. 

"Thank you, Tsu," Momo smiled gratefully. 

"Don't mention it, ribbit," the frog girl shrugged. "Two versus one didn't seem fair." 

"Mirko wouldn't agree," she giggled as she procured herself a new weapon. "She'd say 'Only two?! Bring an army next time,' at the very least." 

Tsuyu hummed. "Let's show them the lessons she's beaten into us, ribbit."

"This is fucking crazy," Yosetsu cursed as Tsu's kick met Itsuka's fist, the resulting force sending them both back flying. 

"Language," Ibara chided, annoyed at the constant influx of profanities. Yosetsu and Togaru were too much for her to deal with. 

"What a mad banquet of darkness..." Fumikage breathed out, impressed as the rest of them. 

"I wouldn't want to find myself in the middle of that," Hiryu trembled, already knowledgeable on how much Itsuka's hit could hurt. 

"Mm," Yui agreed, only outwardly calm. 

"What the hell did Mirko and Ryukyu teach them?" Hitoshi questioned, unable to compare his own (albeit useful) internship to the stuff he was seeing. 

"A lot, apparently," Sen huffed. 

"Who's gonna make it to the end though?" Mina asked, bringing forth thoughtful and uncertain expressions. 

One of Mezo's mouths moved around Izuku's shoulder. "What's your take on it?" 

The greenette smiled, shaking his head lightly. "Can't say for sure. Ochaco and Kendo are more tired. Momo's not as good in hand-to-hand yet. Tsu has the advantage currently, but she's taking a lot of hits." He looked at the countdown in the corner of the screen. There was barely more than one minute left. "I guess it'll come down to who's ready to go Plus Ultra."

- Or play dirty. - 

Tsuyu bounced off a wall just in time to see it crumble beneath Itsuka's fingers. The drywall was breaking under her feet after every jump, so it wasn't like she trusted it to withstand the power of [Big Fist], but the way Itsuka's digits and palms were moving left her wondering. She might not have fought directly against the redhead during the tournament, but she had seen her moves and none of them resembled what she was currently doing. 

Mirko had been right to tell them that fighting against Ryukyu's interns—whose name she hadn't cared to remember—would have been fun. 

Now, a week hadn't been enough to turn Tsu into a battle-junkie. She still wished to become a Rescue Hero, possibly entering a sea-side Agency or establishing her own. But the girl would have been lying if she said that she hadn't gained a liking for the thrill of battle after her stay with the Rabbit Hero. Honestly, it was either that or giving up, and the Asuis hadn't raised a quitter. 

The frog girl's expression was as deadpan as ever, but she understood why Mirko kept a grin as she fought. 

Her kicks were evenly matched by Itsuka's punches, though the redhead had a much greater melee range. Tsuyu could use her tongue, but the other girl's reaction time could have given her a chance at grabbing it, and that would have spelled the end. Momo and Ochaco were also going all out, and the eventual swap in sparring partners made the whole exchange chaotic and—despite Mr. Aizawa's grumbling—fun. 

Tsu felt like she could have kept fighting for an hour more, but the sudden ringing of the exercise-ending alarm in the building brought a stop to their fighting. The four girls stopped in their tracks, looking slightly up and sighing at the sound. 

"Damn. We've run out of time," Itsuka commented, with a shake of her head. 

Ochaco huffed. "Just when things got interesting," she lamented. 

Momo let out a tired chuckle. "We can always have a rematch later." 

"Ribbit, I'd like that," Tsu conceded. "Should we go outside?" 

"Yeah..." Itsuka looked in her direction, seemingly confused. "We're usually told to leave the building when the bell rings." 

"They must have forgotten. Let's just- Wait." Ochaco sniffed, weirded out by something. 

Tsuyu felt her head get lighter. Was there something in the air? 

"Yaomo-" Tsuyu turned to look at the raven-haired girl, only to see her wearing a respirator. 

"I'm sorry, but time was running out. Had to resort to plan B," Momo excused herself to her friends as their legs gave out under them. 

- Damn it, ribbit. -

"Are we sure she didn't intern under Kayama?" Kan asked over the teacher's line. 

"If only," Aizawa sighed. "I've been told she pulled worse back in her days." 

"Yeah, I trust you on your word," the other huffed. 

"Send the bots in. We gotta ventilate the building." 

Kan proceeded to comply as the students behind him exchanged opinions on the battle. 

Izuku laughed a bit as the rest of his classmates gushed over the fight. Most had been impressed by the combat and the ending. 

"Damn, Yaoyorozu sure is ruthless when she wants to be," Yosetsu said with a whistle. 

"S-Scary," Kojiro mumbled, Koji agreeing with a few small nods. 

"If you ain't got the balls to fight, why are you even here?" Katsuki scoffed from his spot in the back, making some turn to him with harsh glances. 

"Is he always such a pleasure to be around?" Setsuna asked Mina. 

"He's got his moments," the pinkette shrugged. 

"Excuse me if I don't fucking believe you," Togaru grumbled. 

"Odds are you'll get to fight him in an hour," Izuku said, shifting the attention away from the blonde's lack of manners. 

"Ah! That'd be lucky as hell." 

"Kamakiri, please refrain from spouting such profanities," Ibara's burning gaze moved on him, making it clear that she saw no differences between the two foul-mouthed teens. 

"Yeah, yeah," Togaru annoyedly replied, letting the reproach go in one ear and out the other. 

"Let's just see who's next," Kyoka sighed, hoping to avert a screaming match.

Momo watched as the three girls started to wake up. The heiress knew that the dosage had been under her control, but she had still asked to stay with them until they regained consciousness. Thankfully Mr. Aizawa had acquiesced to her request, only adding a quick "Good plan," before moving back to watch the second match. 

Tsuyu was the first to open her eyes, raising herself up immediately after and turning towards her. Even spending a week sleeping side by side had not given Momo any insight on what could be going on behind the frog girl's eyes. 

Momo watched as Tsuyu stared at her for a few more seconds before talking. "Good fight," she croaked, the sound stirring the others awake. 

"Mm... Where are we?" Ochaco asked as she rubbed her eyes. 

"Under the monitoring room. Since you were only sleeping and had no heavy injuries, Mr. Aizawa didn't think it was necessary to send you all to the infirmary," she explained. "How do you feel?" 

"Just fine, ribbit." 

"Groggy, but that's fine considering what happened," Itsuka yawned, stretching her back and getting her feet onto solid ground. 

"Oh, yeah, everything's fine. Replicating the alarm to make us drop our guards was smart as hell, Yaomomo," the brunette stated as she rose from the stretcher. 

"Yeah, you got us good," Itsuka shook her head, her expression showing frustration and respect. 

"Thank you," Momo sighed as she received her friends' praise. She appreciated it, but it had been her plan B for a reason. 

"Ribbit, but you're unsatisfied," Tsuyu remarked, her tone still neutral as she watched the creator girl with a finger on her chin. 

- Terribly perceptive of you... - 

"I... Yes," she acknowledged, making the frog girl let out a concerned croak. 

"What? Why?" Ochaco turned to her with concern in her eyes. Itsuka's gaze followed, but she kept her silence. 

Momo sighed. "I had to resort to a trick to win." 

"I don't see how that's a problem," Itsuka's tone was as thoughtful as Ochaco's. 

"Let me guess, ribbit. You've been reading those comments on your fights during the Sports Festival again," Tsuyu stated. 

Momo felt a lump in her throat as she swallowed. 

She had found the online discussion by chance during one of the few hours of rest the Rabbit Hero had given them. Momo's studiousness had brought her to rewatch her matches to see what could be improved upon while her curiousness had made the girl click on a comment with her name on it. The contents had not been kind, stating that her methods were underhanded, brutal, and unfit for heroism. That first comment had been followed by many, many others, all sharing the same level of disapproval.

"How could they show something like that?" "How ruthless! What if my children wanted to emulate her?" "Can anyone just wield a gun and play Hero nowadays?" "Look at that cold-blooded bitch. Scary!" 

Momo had spent close to a half an hour falling deeper into the rabbit hole before Tsuyu had called, asking her to turn off the lights for the night. The heiress had put aside the matter for the time being, as Mirko had done her best to run them ragged, but the thoughts hadn't left her head. 

Her internship companion had probably seen her lost in her depressing research. She wondered if she had also heard her as she tossed and turned that entire night. 

"Perhaps, yes," Momo let out a strained chuckle, starting to face the ground. 

Ochaco or Itsuka must have shown questioning faces, as Tsuyu answered their worries with a "Dumb people saying stupid and unkind stuff." 

As much as she could agree on the adjectives, the considerations in those comments weren't all wrong. Her methods weren't as openly heroic as people were used to seeing. 

Momo's body wasn't made for fighting as much as others were. Her musculature worked more to support her Quirk-related weight than to gift her supernatural strength. She could make up for that shortcoming with strategic thinking and a myriad of items, but that wouldn't put her on the same level as most Heroes in the eyes on the public. 

What could she even do then? She wasn't going to forsake her methods completely, as that would have been sheer madness. Her mind was a tactical one and the "Heroic" road to success only rarely coincided with the most efficient method. 

However, these were her friends, people she could have fought against without resorting to dirty tactics. She wanted to fight fair and square, but she hadn't. Her response to the prospect of failure had been a betrayal of the girls' trust. 

"I wanted to ensure my win in the exercise, so I prepared a backup to fall on if my assault were to fail, as I usually do... But I... I didn't want to use it against you all. It was an underhanded trick, I'm sorry," she said as she closed her eyes and bent her head. 

"I-" 

Before she could lower it further, Momo felt a light chop hit her head.

"That's stupid, ribbit." 

She found herself circled by a pair of arms, then two, then three. A group hug wasn't the response she had expected. Her social skills still required polishing it seemed, if her friends could surprise her so simply. 

Opening her eyes, she was met with Tsu's wide and clear orbs, practically staring into her soul. The other two were smiling sadly on her sides, holding her close. 

"Never apologize for being the smartest in the room, Yaomomo," the greenette spoke. 

"Yeah!" Ochaco interjected. "Who cares about what some assholes think!" 

"Agreed," the redhead said, "but it's not that easy to stop thinking about it, is it?" 

Momo shook her head. "N-No. I know that I shouldn't be putting myself down, but..." 

"I get it, I had my fill of those talks when I entered my first competitions," Itsuka sighed before asking, "Do you want to talk about it?" 

"I would like that," Momo nodded, showing a hint of a smile. 

"Let's meet in the dorms, ribbit," Tsu proposed. "Some conversations deserve a nice cup of tea." 

"We could even have a little party with the rest of the girls," Ochaco giggled. 

Momo appreciated many things in her life, but few compared to having friends that supported her. She was grateful for every moment in their company. 

"Yes, let's," she accepted, the dejection giving way to some deserved elation.

Notes:

Also titled "Team Ryukyu VS Team Mirko - Part I"

Hey, the fact that she's a badass doesn't mean that people won't say shit about Momo, 'cause the public won't ever stop looking for things to bitch about. But I think that having a dozen people reminding her that she's great is better than three phrases from Shoto, as nice as he was.

Fluff incoming.