Chapter 7: Ticking Time Bombs
After their scary yet thrilling orientation, the girls found themselves waking up much earlier the next day, filled with boundless energy. Why? Because, if an orientation for a Hero School was that exciting, the girls could only imagine how fun their first day of classes would be. Exactly how much fun was the first day of UA going to hold for our heroes?
And the answer to that… was not so much fun.
The lack of fun wasn't because of any of the students in Class 1-A getting expelled, as no one got expelled at all after the Quirk Apprehension Test. It wasn't because of Bakugou, who seemed to glare even harder at the girls this time around whenever they would pass by each other. It wasn't even because of Aizawa, who didn't stay that long with them anyways, as he only saw them for homeroom.
No, the lack of fun was because of what had to be the most boring thing ever created by mankind: schoolwork.
Yes, apparently UA High, despite being the top Hero Academy in Japan, still functioned like a normal school in some ways (to Buttercup's chagrin). Before they could ever get close to Hero Training again at the end of the school day, the girls had to sit through Math, History, Science, and language classes.
Of course, due to their extensive knowledge from being homeschooled by the Professor, the girls had no trouble in keeping up with their classes. And thankfully, the teachers decided to be lenient for the first day and hand out light work. But, that still didn't prevent the boredom that set heavily in the girls' bones, causing them to direct their interest to menial things, such as a window view or some crushed pencil lead that could be organized into a small pile.
The good news was that the classes went by fast. As science class finally ended (and Buttercup was only 5 seconds away from smashing her head into a wall), Bubbles made a realization that cleared the severe case of boredom away as quickly as clouds clearing after a storm.
"We have Hero Foundational Studies next!"
Hearing this news made virtually everyone in Class 1-A sigh, not bothering to hide the visual relief on their faces.
"It's about time." Buttercup huffed as she leaned forward and plopped on her desk, "I've been staring at the wall for so long, I actually started to go cross-eyed."
Blossom looked at her sister and shook her head.
"You know, you could've at least been listening to History class. How they talked about the origin of Quirks and Age of Heroes was fascinating, you have to admit."
Buttercup shrugged. "Eh. I've read those stories on the Internet so many times that it just became regular old history to me."
Before the girls could continue their conversation, the door then bursted open, grabbing everyone's attention.
"I AM HERE!"
At that moment, other than the announcement, there was total silence. But of course, the silence didn't last long as the owner of the signature catchphrase, a certain smiling blonde, waltzed in, wearing an extravagant Hero Costume.
"OH MY GOSH, IT'S ALL MIGHT!"
"He really IS a teacher here?!"
"NO WAY, NO WAY, NO WAYYY!"
The girls found themselves fangirling over All Might just as much as their classmates, as they cheered and squealed. As they did, Bubbles took a moment to ask Blossom a question.
"All Might's a teacher too?! When did that happen?" she asked.
For a second, Blossom thought about it. Did All Might ever mention that he was working at UA when the girls received their entrance exam results? But that brief period of thought was over in an instant, as Blossom's hero-obsessed fangirl side took over and she shrugged.
"Don't know, don't care," she said simply before calling to All Might, "ALL MIGHT, I LOVE YOU! I REALLY REALLY WANT AN AUTOGRAPH!"
As the cheers went on though, All Might silenced them almost immediately after he raised his hand, wearing his signature grin.
"Yes, my dear students!" All Might declared, "I am equally excited as you all for this class. Why? Because it's our very first session together!"
After he said this, everyone clapped, their cheers taking a little longer to quiet down.
"Now, I suppose this is where I start with the motivational teacher's speech about how this is going to be a fun year of learning and new experiences. But, I won't bother to waste your time with that, especially with you all so eager to get out there and blast stuff. So all I gotta say is go on down to the locker rooms, where your NEWLY MADE Hero Costumes are waiting, and change! When you're done, meet me outside of the school at Ground Beta!"
With that, All Might left the room. A split second passed before a stampede of way too excited classmates pushed their way out of the classroom frantically. The Powerpuff Girls were one of the firsts out the door, and rushed down to the girls locker room.
As they filed in with the rest of the Class 1-A girls, they found a set of futuristic drawers waiting for them. Each drawer was labeled with a name, with their chosen Hero Costume waiting inside for them.
Quickly, all of the girls scrambled for their Hero Costume, until everyone held their folded costume in their hands. As Blossom grabbed her costume and looked down at the neat pink shirt on top, she recalled the time when she and her sisters had finally decided on a costume.
The day before school orientation…
"Let's be real. We need to lose the dresses." Buttercup said.
It was the day before school orientation, and the Hero Costume deadline was closer than ever. The girls needed to submit the final designs of their costume by midnight, or else they were going to end up with no Hero Costumes to wear. And yet they still found themselves constantly making last minute changes and redesigns to their costume sketches.
After hearing Buttercup's words, Bubbles looked distressed. The two had been clashing over the matter of having a dress as a costume. While Bubbles insisted on keeping the classic dresses, Buttercup protested against it, providing a suggestion of another clothes article the costumes could take the form of.
"I told you, Buttercup. I don't wanna wear shorts! I want my nice and silky dress!" Bubbles whined.
Despite being in an argument, Buttercup looked surprisingly patient. While she wasn't exactly calm, she wasn't going off the rails like she normally does in a dispute.
"Look, Bubs. I get it. You want to stick to tradition. But, you have to understand. We are not 5 anymore. We can't be running around in dresses, unless you want more people mistaking us for toddlers instead of Heroes." Buttercup sighed.
Bubbles pouted. "I don't care if people think I'm a baby! I like my dresses and nobody's opinion is gonna change that, got it?"
"It's not just what people think about it. The dresses have always created some problems. They would get stuck in things easily, and I once saw you get blown away like a piece of paper by a strong wind because of your dress puffing up like a parachute."
"That wasn't the dress's fault! That wind was out of control! Someone should scold it for that." Bubbles protested.
Buttercup groaned. "Ugh! Just admit it, will you? As cute as they are and even though those dresses are the only dress I like to wear, they need to go. Blossom, back me up here!"
As the bickering went on, Blossom had been looking down at the costume template, sketching the costume. And when Buttercup whined to her, Blossom looked up with a neutral expression.
"No need. I have already finished a design that will please both of you."
Buttercup gaped. "Oh, come on! Why do you always gotta butt in with your ideas-"
Blossom cut Buttercup short as she showed her the design. After looking at it for a few seconds, Buttercup grabbed the paper and brought it closer, looking hard at it. Bubbles pressed against Buttercup's side, looking at the paper too.
After looking at it for a few more seconds, Bubbles and Buttercup looked up with wide and sparkling eyes.
"This… is… PERFECT!" they shouted in unison.
Blossom tossed some hair behind her shoulder and smiled smugly.
"I know it is."
Present Day
At the entrance of Ground Beta, Class 1-A walked out into the sunlight to proudly show off their new costumes. Fabrics, accessories, and colors of all kinds composed diverse and impressive outfits.
And while the girls admired their classmates' fashion senses, they believed that theirs was the most impressive of all.
The girls' new look slightly mirrored their old one. They wore a sleeveless, black-striped shirt that corresponded with their signature color (Blossom is pink, Bubbles is blue, and Buttercup is green). They also styled their hair like they always did; Blossom with her red bow, Bubbles with her pigtails, and Buttercup with her messy bob.
But, the similarities ended there. Instead of a dress, they were wearing what had to be Buttercup's dream clothes article: shorts. With the openings rimmed with white, the shorts (which also matched the girls' corresponding color) were just as airy and light as a skirt, accompanied with a black belt to secure the loose-fitting shorts to the girls' waists. Over their shirt, they also wore a sleeveless jersey jacket (light pink for Blossom, light blue for Bubbles, and yellow for Buttercup) with a monogrammed P on it. They also wore colored boots that came up to the top of their ankles, edged with white like their shorts.
Two new accessories were added. Gloves, specifically black and fingerless ones, were worn over their hands. The second one was a black choker that circled the girls' neck. From it hung a single charm that differed among each girl (Blossom had a pink heart, Bubbles had a blue diamond, and Buttercup had a green star). While the gloves were meant to help the girls with their power, absorbing the shockwaves felt when punching something with super strength, the choker was simply there for fashion.
In conclusion, even with the major outfit change, the girls were absolutely in love with their costumes.
"Bubbles, stop twirling or else you'll get dizzy!" Blossom fussed.
Bubbles, who was jumping from foot to foot and spinning like a ballerina, still continued as she replied.
"I can't! I just feel so light on my feet! And these SHORTS, omg. They don't even FEEL like shorts! It's like I'm wearing my dress again!" she giggled.
Buttercup smirked. "Told you the shorts were a good idea."
Bubbles finally stopped spinning, as she started to get a little dizzy like Blossom said. But, she barely minded it, as she swooned.
"Ooh, I wish Tako was here to see me. Think you could make a costume design for him too?"
Blossom rolled her eyes. "Not unless he suddenly comes to life and decides to be a UA student."
Buttercup, meanwhile, was in the middle of stretching, grinning from ear to ear.
"Man, I feel PUMPED! I feel like I can take on the world! In fact… where's an Arena Trap so that I can kick its face in?"
Blossom crossed her arms, yet smiled. "Normally I'd dismiss your excitement to fight as cockiness. But I gotta say, I'm excited too. We can finally show our class how the Powerpuffs roll!"
Just then, All Might spoke, drawing the class's admiring attention once again.
"Look at this class! Oh, I just love your Hero Costumes. As you can see, your costume is an important thing that makes you stand out from all of the other Heroes, something that is really encouraged to wear when doing Hero Work. But, let me not waste the class away by talking about Hero Costumes. We have an exercise to complete. So, follow me if you please."
After that, Class 1-A followed All Might to a nearby building that loomed over them, casting a semi dark shadow over the sun. As he stopped next to a red bucket on a high stool, All Might spoke again.
"See this building over here? This is one of many sites of your first Hero Training exercise. For simplicity, I'll name it… a Battle Trial. Now, before we go over the rules, there are a few things you must know about being a Hero. Every day on the job, Heroes encounter many situations that involve not just strength, but quick wits and strategizing. That is especially true, when Heroes have the job of infiltrating a Villain's hideout to confiscate a stolen payload. In this kind of situation, the Hero must be vigilant and calculating, as well as adaptive and cunning.
"With that being said, here are the rules. Everyone will draw lots and will randomly be placed in groups of 2. The team of 2 is then paired with another team, and each team will get a role to play. One team is the Heroes, and the other team is the Villains. Your role determines what you must do to win. For Villains, they must either protect their payload for the time allotted, or capture the Heroes in a rope that I will provide. For Heroes, they must either locate and retrieve the payload by simply touching it, or capture the Villains in said rope. Whoever completes a task before or when time runs out is the winner. That's all there is to it, really. Questions?"
Immediately after the question left All Might's mouth, Iida raised his hand stiffly into the air.
"Yes, Iida?"
"I was wondering, All Might. Are we to go through the Battle Trial with no Quirk usage?" he asked.
All Might scoffed and winked playfully.
"Why, of course not! The absolute best thing about Hero Training is that it's the only part of the day where you can use Quirks. That's why people look forward to it. Anything else?"
Blossom found herself raising her hand, as one thing confused her.
"Ah, yes. Momoko. What is your question?"
"Well…" Blossom said, a little nervous, "it's not really a question. You explained that there were going to be groups of 2. But, there are 23 students, including me, in this class. That can't be divided into groups of 2 without having one person left over."
All Might brightened. "Oh! You just reminded me. There will be groups of 2. However, there will be one group of 3. Only one."
"Oh. But, with that group of 3, wouldn't it be unfair if the group was to be pitted against another team, as it's fully possible for that group of 3 to go up against a 2 person team?"
"Yes. Yes, it would. But, don't you worry. I have come up with a solution to that. I'll explain it when the time comes. Okay, any more questions?"
When no one raised their hands, All Might clapped his hands together.
"Good, good! Now, as you can see, this bucket right next to me on the stool contains slips of paper that will determine who goes with who. Grab one and find out who your partner is!"
Quickly, everyone ran to the bucket, plucking out a slip of paper with their name on it. On the back was their partner name and Battle Trial role.
When Blossom picked hers, she realized her slip was a little longer than the others. When she turned it to the back, she saw that she was paired with Bubbles and Buttercup, and that her group was the Heroes.
"I guess we're the group of three," she said to her sisters, who were looking at their slips.
"Hah! That was a mistake. We're unstoppable together! I feel sorry for the poor chumps that are about to get their asses kicked." Buttercup boasted.
"I wonder who we're fighting…" Bubbles asked.
"Well, I'm 99% sure that it's not going to be anybody from OUR class." Blossom answered.
"Wait. What if we… fight ALL MIGHT?! That'd be epic!" Buttercup gasped.
"Ah, yes. I bet our teacher will definitely pit himself against three 12 year old girls." Blossom said sarcastically.
Before the girls could talk more, All Might was now telling more instructions to the class once everyone got a paper slip.
"Now, there are a few things I'd like to point out before we get on with it. There are 3 test sites for the Battle Trial. If one building was to get a bit messy from a battle, the next battle will be simply relocated to a different building. The same will happen if that building gets wrecked, and so on. While the rest of the class is out of battle, they will be in the UA monitoring room with me, and speculate the battles. But don't take the speculation as relaxation time. It's important to take notes on strategies and methods used by your classmates in batte, to help you with your own strategies and methods. You will also have to constructively critique the current participants on their areas of improvement after the battle is done. Everyone got that?"
As Class 1-A nodded and voiced their understanding, All Might's grin seemed to double in size.
"Alright. Let's get some battles underway."
The first battle was Team A vs Team D. Team A consisted of Izuku and Ochaco, who were the Heroes. Team D consisted of Bakugou and Iida, who were the Villains.
Of course, people were a little nervous about the matchups. Especially the girls.
"Oh great. I gotta watch Bakugou's battle, don't I? Ugh…" Buttercup groaned.
"Hey, Ochaco and Izuku are fighting! I hope they win!" Bubbles exclaimed.
"What I'm hoping for is that they survive. Which, according to the matchup, they have a… I should say, a 60/40 percent chance of survival." Blossom mused.
"How come?" Bubbles asked.
"Because Bakugou is their opponent. I don't know if you forgot about that moment in the Quirk Apprehension Test, where we had to restrain Bakugou from blasting Izuku in the face, but don't be surprised if that happens again on a larger scale in this battle."
"Pfft. Literally no one's scared of Ticking Time Bomb. They can handle him. The worst that could happen is an explosive tantrum." Buttercup scoffed.
"Perhaps. But, you have to admit. Ever since orientation, there's been more tension between Izuku and Bakugou. Everyone can see it. At least I can."
"Yeah, that's true." Bubbles admitted.
Even Buttercup couldn't object to that, but she still shrugged.
"Well, the best thing we can hope for right now is that Izuku and Ochaco give him the long-awaited royal ass whooping he deserves."
Suddenly, an alarm blared, signaling the start of the battle. On one monitor, Izuku and Ochaco were running inside the building and going through the hallways of the first floor. Meanwhile, the other monitor showed Bakugou and Iida standing in front of a big rocket that was the payload. The two were talking in a hushed conversation. But the moment didn't last long, as Bakugou suddenly decided to storm out angrily.
"Here we go… the storm is unleashed." Buttercup sighed.
"He's leaving Tenya to guard the payload by himself? That doesn't make sense. He should take the other team on with Bakugou, or they should both protect the payload. But, they're separating." Blossom exclaimed.
"I get the feeling that Izuku and Ochaco will win." Bubbles pointed out.
Suddenly, a BOOM sound caused the girls to look straight at the monitors. On the Hero monitor, Izuku and Ochaco were recently nearly blasted by a large explosion. While the two were able to dodge, Izuku's mask had burned off a little bit by the heat.
"Where did that explosion come from?" Bubbles squeaked.
Her question seemed to be immediately answered by an angry shout that came from an even more angry Bakugou.
"DEKU!"
Before Izuku was even given time to at least recover, Bakugou hits the two with another blast, which they also narrowly dodge. Bakugou was giving them little to no time to breathe as he ambushed them with explosion after explosion.
Eventually, through the smoke, Ochaco was fleeing around the corner of the hallway, presumably to go and find the payload while Izuku dealt with Bakugou. As the two clashed in a fiery duel, the girls looked surprised by a detail they noticed.
"Wow… Izuku's taking on Bakugou without using his powers, but despite that… he's technically winning!" Blossom remarked.
"Yay! Go Deku go!" Bubbles cheered as she hopped up and down.
But, as the fight went on, Bakugou was slowly starting to gain a winning advantage. While Izuku seemed to know how to combat his fight style while powerless, he still wasn't able to combat Bakugou's fire, which was what the latter was using a lot. So, it wasn't a surprise when Izuku ended up fleeing the battle to have a chance to recover.
Once Bakugou realized this, he immediately chased after Izuku, only to find that he had hidden from sight. So, Bakugou stalked the corridors, occasionally jumping into empty rooms to unleash a huge explosion, in hopes of finding Izuku.
As the occasional blasts made the class jump, the girls found themselves holding their breath. The battle seemed to capture their attention easily. That was because of the fighting dynamic.
The battle didn't seem so dreadful, like a duel to the death. In fact, it was more comparable to a sports game. There were high stakes, incredible talent, and most of all, the fierce rivalry between opponents that came in the form of explosive combat made it very hard for the girls not to visibly root for someone, specifically the Heroes, to win. And the girls weren't the only ones to think this. The entirety of Class 1-A thought it too, as they held their breath with the girls.
But, the fun and snappy energy seemed to evaporate in an instant, when Bakugou had finally found Izuku. But after firing one rather small explosion that Izuku easily dodges, Bakugou stopped attacking, to everyone's confusion.
"Um… did he give up? What is happening, why isn't he attacking?" Buttercup asked with a frown.
Blossom frowned as well. "I don't know…"
After a second, it wasn't hard to understand what was happening. Bakugou was talking to Izuku, explaining something as he raised one of his arms.
"You see these gauntlets, nerd? They're designed to collect my sweat. My sweat has nitroglycerin in it, which helps with my Quirk. It's also explosive. So, with all of this sweat collected in a large amount, one simple removal of this metal pin… and this all turns into the largest explosion you'll ever see."
In the monitor room, some people looked confused by the sudden explanation of the costume item's purpose. But then, Bubbles was one of the first to connect the dots, and her eyes widened.
"It's gonna blow…" she whispered.
"What?" Blossom asked, "Bubbles, what do you mean?"
"He's gonna use his gauntlet… to cause a big, big explosion. He's going to blast Izuku apart!" Bubbles replied, her voice quavering.
Buttercup's jaw nearly dropped to the floor. "No way. But if he does that…"
"… he'll demolish a good half of the building." Blossom finished, eyes wide.
As the whole class came to this realization, their once engaged mood turned into a panicked one. All Might quickly grabbed a microphone on the table.
"No, young Bakugou! Don't do it. That will destroy the building!" All Might ordered.
If Bakugou heard the order, he clearly didn't care, as he grinned wickedly and completely yanked out the pin.
What followed had to be a massive explosion of fire that completely covered the monitor in a blinding white light. And the force that followed was not only felt through the building (as evidenced by the monitor in the payload room where Iida and a newly arrived Ochaco were being rattled by vibrations), but it was felt in the monitor room as the walls trembled a tiny bit. The light on the monitor disappeared as quickly as it appeared, showing a now destroyed hallway filled with dust and debris.
Everyone found themselves staring so intently at the monitor that was at the scene of the explosion, looking for anything that proved that the two boys had somehow survived the explosion. The room was dead silent, as fear started to take over each and every terrified classmate.
But then, there was something. Rocks and debris were pushed out of the way as Izuku stood up. A split second later, Bakugou emerged from the dust too. While both boys looked rattled (Izuku far more than Bakugou), they seemed to be unharmed.
This prompted a rather loud and collective sigh of relief from Class 1-A.
"They're alive!" Bubbles exclaimed.
"A goddamn miracle…" Buttercup added.
Blossom didn't say anything as she stared at the monitor, still wide-eyed. That was close. WAY too close. She was obviously relieved by the 'goddamn miracle', as Buttercup put it, that allowed the explosion to merely destroy some of the building. But she hated to think what could've happened. Would the class have had to deal with witnessing a traumatizing injury (or death, heaven forbid) at that moment, if that explosion was more deadly? Would they have been mourning not one but two lost students by the day's end? All of these scenarios and more truly cemented a fact in stone for Blossom.
This school was far more deadlier than she realized.
The only one who seemed to think the same way Blossom did, or at least considered what could've happened, was All Might, as he spoke through the mic, his once joyful voice being one of seriousness and anger.
"Since no one is hurt from that explosion, I will let the battle continue. But understand me when I say this, Bakugou. You use those gauntlets again, you and your team suffer an automatic loss by disqualification and forfeit. Got it?"
In the monitor, Bakugou looked like he was grimacing in fury, but he obeyed, lowering his arms. Unfortunately, that didn't stop him from coming at Izuku, once again forcing the two to engage in close quarters combat. Unlike in the hallways, Bakugou seemed to be gaining an upper hand. He clearly excelled at close quarters combat as he dished out complicated maneuvers and explosions with no mercy.
On the payload monitor, Ochaco was struggling as well, trying over and over to get near the payload, only to get pushed back by Iida. As the two monitors showed Team A struggling, it seemed inevitable that Izuku and Ochaco would lose.
"Come on, you got this… you can do it. Beat their asses!" Buttercup shouted, among the scattered Team A encouragements from some of Class 1-A.
Bubbles, meanwhile, buried her face into her hands with a squeak.
"This is too much. I can't look!" she mumbled.
Just then, as Izuku was getting up slowly after being thrown to the ground, a new look appeared on his face. It resembled the face that he wore during the ball throw, a look of sheer will and determination. Only this time, a large amount of high-strung emotions (mainly anger) was mixed in with determination.
Izuku was planning something. A big indicator of that was when he took a second to talk to Ochaco, telling her to hold onto something tight when he gave the word. And as he tensed, he looked like he had found a new resolve to spring at Bakugou.
"Alright, Kacchan! Want my firepower? YOU'RE GOING TO GET IT!"
With that, Izuku started rushing towards Bakugou, who in turn blasted towards him like a rocket. As the two drew closer and closer, green electricity ran over his arm as he readied himself for a punch.
"SMASH!"
As they got close enough to attack, Izuku threw the punch. Except, it wasn't directed at Bakugou, who aimed an explosion at his face. It was an uppercut, and its wind force tore into the ceiling above like paper, sending debris flying up.
On the payload monitor, the floor fell apart as Ochaco held onto a pillar tightly and Iida wobbled, desperately trying to keep his balance. Knowing what to do, Ochaco used her Quirk to lessen the weight of the pillar, allowing her to tear it away. She then aimed the pillar at the flying debris with a smile.
"Let's go! Comet Home Run!"
With that, Ochaco whacked the debris with the pillar, sending the debris flying at Iida. As he tried to dodge the debris, Ochaco took her chance, raced past a distracted Iida, and secured the payload with a tight hug.
"Got it!" she whooped.
This caused Class 1-A to cheer, especially the girls.
"YEAH! Let's go! They did it!" Buttercup cheered.
Bubbles removed her hands from her face, confused for a second before looking ecstatic.
"They won? YES, THEY WON!"
Blossom sighed as she closed her eyes. "What a relief…"
But suddenly, the cheers abruptly stopped, as everyone looked to the other monitor. It showed Bakugou backing up, pure shock apparent on his face. And across from him was Izuku, who looked heavily injured.
"What… what did you do?!" Bakugou said when he could finally speak.
Even though he was on the brink of collapsing, Izuku answered in a weak voice.
"I… I couldn't do anything else. It was the only way. You're already too strong, Kacchan, and I had no other options left. It was… the only way… to win."
Izuku looked like he wanted to say more but instead, he ended up succumbing to exhaustion and collapsed on the ground.
In the monitor room, everyone was dead silent with shock. All Might stared at the screen for a few moments before slowly speaking through the loudspeaker.
"The Battle Trial... is now over. Team A wins the match!"
After the battle, nearly everyone was in some state of shock from the recent events, especially Bakugou. Izuku was immediately sent to Recovery Girl, and repairs were made to the building.
It had only been the first battle of the Hero Training exercise. And what was supposed to be something fun and engaging took on a more foreboding and frightening tone. What had to be the most confusing thing of the matter was that the class was still excited about battling, despite the fact that one of their classmates was currently suffering burn scars and broken bones from his.
And, to Blossom's bewilderment, that majority included Bubbles and Buttercup.
"Man, when are we going to step inside a dang building and BATTLE?" Buttercup whined.
Blossom looked at her, appalled.
"Are you serious? You do realize that there's currently someone in the nurse's office with several burns and fractured bones from battling? And that knowledge doesn't make you at all concerned about the matter if that could happen to us?"
"No," Buttercup answered bluntly, "Know why? Because that can't happen to us, Bloss! Sure, I'd be worried if I didn't know a handy dandy fact that we are basically indestructible. And guess what? Omg, we are also fireproof too! Whaaat?"
Blossom frowned, causing Buttercup to sigh.
"My point is that we're tough! The most we ever gotta worry about in our battle is a stubbed toe."
Blossom blinked, knowing that Buttercup had a point. After all, the girls are basically unkillable. Them getting badly hurt by, say, an explosion is about as likely as an elephant getting hurt by a mouse. When she couldn't find an objection to Buttercup's statement, Blossom relented, a little embarrassed by the fact that Buttercup was being more reasonable than her.
"Okay, yeah. You're right."
Just then, the girls heard a set of stomping footsteps, drawing their attention. Bakugou was marching back to the class, face dark and stormy, while Ochaco and Iida followed, a little concerned.
The three had recently returned from their battle. After they had stepped into the surveillance room, All Might pulled them aside to talk with them. The girls had no idea what he said, but by the looks of it, it had pissed Bakugou off.
Then again, he's been nothing but furious ever since the Hero Studies class started.
As the three joined everyone else, All Might stood in front of the group.
"Okay, everyone. As we all know, the previous match was… a lot, to say the least. But while repairs are being made to the building and Midoriya recovers in Recovery Girl's office, we should start with our battle critique."
After he said that, All Might gestured to Iida, who was taken by surprise.
"To start off, I'm naming Iida as the MVP of the match."
Iida looked surprised before smiling.
"Really? Wow, okay. Thank you sir!"
All Might then turned to the rest of the class. "Now, who would like to tell me why that is?"
Almost immediately, a girl's hand went up straight in the air.
"Yaoyorozu! What do you think?"
Momo straighted upwards, and started to answer in a no-nonsense tone.
"Tenya is MVP for numerous reasons. One of them is because of the other participants' mistakes. For Bakugou, while he had skilled Quirk knowledge and constantly adapted new powerful strategies, he was far too reckless and too caught up in antagonizing Midoriya to focus on the real task of the Battle Trial."
Bakugou looked like he was about to yell angrily at Momo, but instead, decided to keep his mouth shut and settled on crossing his arms and glaring at the ground.
"As for Midoriya, while he was more adamant on using reckless maneuvers, he resorted to using it anyway. Because of that, he was reckless as well. For Uraraka, she let down her guard in battle too quickly, and the last move she pulled was very risky.
"But, Iida is not only the MVP because of the mistakes made by his fellow participants. He also was a skilled strategist, as well as an excellent predictor, as he predicted that Uraraka would use anything in her surroundings as a weapon, and cleared the room of any debris. In conclusion, hard-earned skills had secured Iida the Battle MVP spot."
When Momo finished, everyone looked at her with a mix of shock and amazement. As the girls looked at her, Blossom recognized her as a person who was recommended for UA, which wasn't much of a surprise. She seemed really smart.
I feel like we would be good friends. Blossom thought.
Even All Might was shocked, but it didn't last long as he cleared his throat.
"Excellent, Yaoyorozu! With that settled, why don't we move onto the next Battle? This time, it's Team B vs Team I!"
At his words, 4 people stepped forward. There was the tail guy, along with the invisible girl. There was also a boy with a strange scar on his face and bicolored hair, as well as a tall guy with multiple arms.
"Ah I see! Ojiro and Hagakure, you're Team I and the Villains. Shoji and Todoroki, you are Team B and the Heroes. You'll be fighting in Battle Site 2, since the building's still being repaired. Now, I'll give you time for each team getting ready, so let's go!"
As the four left the room, Buttercup looked at her sisters.
"Well, I obviously know who I'm rooting for. Team B! I mean, you gotta admit. The guy with the mask… HE LOOKS COOL!"
"As cool as the tentacle guy is, I'm rooting for Team I! Toru's on that team and she's super nice!" Bubbles replied.
"What about you, Blossom?" Buttercup asked her.
Blossom waved a hand dismissively. "I'm not rooting for a team. At least, not yet. I have to know who has the advantage. You know, you have to carefully observe how powerful their Quirks are, and how they can tip a battle into their favor before you can make a proper decision on who would win-"
Suddenly, Buttercup groaned, interrupting Blossom.
"Yeesh. Congratulations, Bloss. You somehow made something as cool as a superpowered battle sound BORING. Bravo."
Blossom clicked her tongue. "Figures. Apparently everything I say is boring to you."
After a few more seconds, the alarm blared again, starting the match. Quickly, Shoji and Todoroki made their way inside on one monitor, while on the other, Ojiro and Hagakure guarded the payload.
On the ground floor, Shoji manipulated his arms to form ears that listened for anything that told him where the payload was. After a few seconds, he spoke to Todoroki.
"The payload is above us. What's the plan for getting it?" Shoji said to him.
Todoroki waved a dismissive hand. "I already have a plan. All you need to do is step outside."
Shoji frowned in confusion. "Why?"
"For your own safety. Trust me, you don't want to be here when I execute my plan." Todoroki said calmly, as if he was talking about the weather.
Shoji kept up the expression a few moments more until he dropped it and sighed.
"Okay," Shoji said as he exited the building.
Once he left the building, Todoroki simply put a hand on the wall. At his touch, ice blasted from his hand, freezing the wall. Ice completely surrounded the nearby area, and started to spread everywhere throughout the building like wildfire.
In the payload room, the door started to rattle.
"Rats. They found us already? Well, I guess we gotta battle sooner than we thought." Hagakure sighed as she got into a battle position.
But, Ojiro narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
"Wait. Something's not right-"
Before Ojiro could even finish his sentence, the door flew open, revealing a cascade of ice coming straight at him and Hagakure. None of them could scream or move before the ice completely froze them, the payload and the room. As they got trapped in the ice, both Ojiro and Hagakure tried to free themselves, to no avail.
"AH! I can't move!" Hagakure shouted.
Ojiro tried to pull himself out of the ice, his tail trapped in the cold and sharp substance.
"Me neither! This ice is unbreakable!" he grunted.
"If I were you, I wouldn't try moving unless you want to get frostbite." a new voice advised, that made Ojiro and Hagakure stop struggling.
Both of them turned their heads to the door in fear. Through the icy mist, Todoroki walked into the room, looking rather calm. He simply walked past with ease, due to the sudden lack of opposition. And all Ojiro and Hagakure could do was watch in shock.
"How… how did we lose? We weren't even given a chance!" Ojiro finally whispered.
As Todoroki touched the partly frozen payload, securing the win for his team, he glanced back at Ojiro dully.
"Simple. We just happen to be on different levels." Todoroki said smoothly.
Everyone else, who was watching in the monitor room, stared at the screen in shock, including Shoji, who was standing outside the building. Once the period of shock was over, many people had mixed reactions. Some were terrified by the execution of the power of whatever Quirk Todoroki had, and how well it seemed to work. Some were impressed by how quickly Todoroki neutralized the opposing team by himself. Most were just plain amazed at what they just witnessed.
The girls were a mix of all of these things. As they stared at the monitor, Buttercup muttered one sentence.
"That was quick." she said.
Blossom and Bubbles nodded in unison. "Agreed."
As All Might announced the winner of the match, that was when Todoroki used his left hand to send a pulse of heat through the building, which seemed to melt the ice easily. It had even warmed up the monitor room, which was somehow chilled by the cold of Todoroki's ice in a completely different building.
As the class watched this, Blossom narrowed her eyes and murmured to herself.
"It looks like Todoroki has an Ice Quirk of some sort. But, how can he heat up the room and melt the ice? To me, it looks like Todoroki can use both fire and ice. As one singular power."
"Wow… that's cool." Buttercup whispered.
"And a bit scary. I hope none of us ever go up against him," Bubbles squeaked.
Blossom nodded slowly. "Yeah…"
Soon, the two teams came into the monitor room, and the class once again did their battle critique. But, due to Todoroki incapacitating the other team and the battle ending so quickly, there wasn't much to critique on, so it ended quickly. But as soon as it did, All Might's phone pinged, and he glanced at it. After looking at it for a few moments, he smiled and put the phone away.
"Great! It's ready." he mumbled to himself.
Even though he was mumbling to himself, Blossom heard it. What was he talking about? What was ready? But before she could speak, All Might spoke louder to the class.
"Alright everyone. Team K is up next. Momoko, Miyako, Kaoru. It's your time to fight."
Two battles in, the girls were called up for the third battle. The girls had no idea how it would work, with there being an uneven number of groups and the unfair advantage of being put against a team of 2. But apparently, All Might had a solution to this problem.
"Robots?" Blossom asked.
All Might nodded with his large grin.
"That's right, Momoko! Instead of students, you will be going up against a group of three robots. UA's very own support department has agreed to design special robots on a moment's notice to fill in the role of being your opponent."
Bubbles gulped. "Won't it be hard? Fighting a robot?"
"Well, you did fight robots at the entrance exam. And not only did you manage well with them, but you also received three of the top scores! Don't worry. The robots are programmed to be a formidable opponent, but they won't give you a hard time. It will feel exactly like battling a fellow classmate."
The girls still looked uneasy, which prompted All Might to add more to his advice.
"Trust me, girls. You all are very skilled and strong. You're the youngest people ever to be at UA High and you're keeping up very well with the curriculum. I wish you the best in your Battle Trial."
The three glanced at each other then back at All Might before saying in unison, "Thanks."
All Might nodded in approval. "Good, good. Now, go on over to the test site. You have no time to waste!"
After hesitating for a moment, the girls finally left the room. Quickly, they exited the building, and walked towards their battle site.
"Okay… the way I see this, it's a compliment, really. We're so strong that we need to fight robots instead of people." Blossom said, reassuring herself as much as her sisters.
Buttercup pouted. "Eh. I still wanted to go up against actual people. But, hey. At least I can kick my opponent's face in without getting in trouble."
Soon, the girls reached the building, and stood outside. As they looked at it looming over them, Blossom frowned in determination.
"Here's the plan. Since we're fighting robots, I imagine they'll be like the ones at the entrance exam. Only, we have to be careful. The match is indoors, not outdoors, which means that we don't have that much space to work with.
"What we can do is simple. Bubbles, you can locate the payload. Buttercup and I can deal with the robots, while you go up there and get the payload, securing the win."
Bubbles nodded. "Okay. But, I have a question. What if all of the robots decide to guard the payload? I'll be pitted against them all by myself."
"Easy. Bloss and I will come and back you up." Buttercup answered.
"But what if, in turn, all of the robots come after you guys?"
"Well, that's pretty stupid of them if they do that. That just leaves the payload open for you."
"Yeah, I guess. But-"
"Bubbles," Blossom said, putting a supportive hand on her shoulder, "We got this. If anything goes wrong, we capture the robots. That's easy enough, easier than getting to the payload. Either way, we'll get this win easily, I assure you."
Bubbles looked at Blossom for a few seconds, before grinning.
"Alright. You're right! We can do this!"
Just then, the alarm sound echoed throughout the street, causing the girls to look forward with determined faces.
"Okay, girls! Let's win this!" Blossom declared as she raced inside.
"YEAH!" Bubbles and Buttercup shouted in unison.
Once the girls stepped inside, Bubbles stepped forward ahead of her sisters. As she closed her eyes, she used her supersonic voice to emit a high yet monotone sound, using echolocation to detect the payload. After a few seconds, she stopped and opened her eyes.
"The payload is on the 4th floor. 2 robots are making their way down here, but 1 is guarding the payload." Bubbles reported.
Blossom smiled, as the girls started to walk through the hallway. "Perfect. That leaves a pretty even matchup. Bubbles, when we see the robots, you fly away to the payload."
"Roger!" Bubbles chirped with a goofy salute.
Just then, as they almost reached the corner, they heard a clicking sound, making them tense.
"What was that?" Bubbles whispered, growing a little nervous.
Buttercup moved forward slowly. "I'll check it out."
Her sisters didn't object, as Buttercup slowly slid along the wall to her left. As she reached the end of the wall, she stepped away from the wall, and went around the corner. Bubbles and Buttercup were still, until they heard Buttercup talk.
"I don't see the robots-"
Suddenly, she was cut short by a loud thump. A split second afterwards, Buttercup screamed, prompting Bubbles and Blossom to rush around the corner.
"Buttercup!" they gasped in unison.
Buttercup was pinned to the ground on her stomach, struggling. And on top of her, holding her hand behind her back and restraining her, was a mechanical version of Blossom, with silver "skin", bright red eyes, and even a steel bow and outfit to match.
"What the…?" Blossom whispered.
Robot Blossom slowly turned its head to look at a shocked Blossom and Bubbles. As she looked at them, it narrowed its red eyes slowly.
Suddenly, Buttercup's hand exploded with green fire, knocking Robot Blossom into a wall. In a flash, Buttercup pushed herself up, whirled around, and pinned the robot to the wall, her hands swirling with green fire.
But then, another repeating clicking sound was heard, louder this time. Slowly, the girls looked up in horror to see another robot, this time a robot version of Buttercup, on the ceiling, its hands thrusted into the plaster and drywall.
In a blink of an eye, Robot Buttercup dropped to the floor, grabbed Buttercup and threw her aside into the arms of Bubbles and Blossom. As Robot Blossom got off the wall, the two stood side by side, looking at the girls with their creepy red eyes.
"Buttercup! Are you okay?" Blossom exclaimed.
Buttercup stood up fully, glaring.
"Gee, I don't know. I just got forced to the ground by a robotic version of you, and also got thrown by a robotic version of me. Other than that, I'm TOTALLY fine." Buttercup growled sarcastically.
Suddenly Robot Blossom sprung towards Bubbles, prompting a scream out of the latter. But, Blossom quickly intercepted the punch by catching it and kicked Robot Blossom, sending it flying down the hallway.
"How did they even get down here so quickly?! When I did the echolocation, they had just left the 4th floor!" Bubbles gasped.
"Then that means, these guys are fast!" Buttercup exclaimed.
Blossom glared as the girls backed up a few steps from an approaching Robot Buttercup.
"Either way, it doesn't matter. Buttercup, help me hold the robots off. Bubbles, do your thing!"
Bubbles gulped but obeyed, as she dashed away in a blue light. As she blasted by Robot Blossom, the latter started to go after her, before being hit by a red projectile. It was the Hyper Yoyo, and it went back to Blossom.
"Hey! You gotta deal with us, if you want her!" she yelled.
After that, Blossom flew over to her robot clone and grabbed it with her hands, dragging it with her around the corner. At the same time, Buttercup blocked an oncoming kick from Robot Buttercup, grabbed its foot, and rammed it into the wall.
As Robot Buttercup tried to get up, Buttercup outstretched her right hand. Large amounts of green energy swirled around her hand, until it formed into a golden hammer.
"Alright you demon spawn. Make your choice. You can either surrender…"
When the hammer fully formed, Buttercup took it with both hands and banged it into the ground menacingly.
"Or you can get your head caved in."
Suddenly, Robot Buttercup lunged towards Buttercup, tackling her to the ground. As the hammer fell away from her hands with a clatter, Robot Buttercup aimed a punch towards Buttercup's head, before Buttercup landed a punch of her own on the robot's face, causing it to fly off of her. Buttercup then stood up, and stretched out an open hand turned downwards. The hammer shook a little on the ground, before flying up into her hand.
"Okay. Beating your ass it is." Buttercup growled.
With a battle cry, Buttercup lunged at the robot, swinging the hammer. But with a simple swat, Robot Buttercup pushed it away and sprung with fists swinging. Quickly, Buttercup brought up the handle of the hammer, and the fists clanged against it.
For a moment, Buttercup stood firm as Robot Buttercup threw punch after punch, each one deflecting harmlessly off the hammer handle. But after a few seconds, Buttercup threw a hard kick at the clone, prompting it to stumble back. When it did, Buttercup took her chance, readied her hammer, and swung hard.
The mallet rammed into Robot Buttercup's side, causing her to not only fly into the wall but to crash through it. As debris clouded the area, Buttercup neutralized her hammer and stepped slowly towards the crater. As she looked around inside of it, about to conclude that she had destroyed the robot, silver hands flew out of the dust and grabbed Buttercup's shirt.
"Are you shitting me-"
Before Buttercup could finish, the hands yanked her into the shadow, engaging the two in a second round of fighting.
Elsewhere, on the second floor, Blossom was busy dealing with Robot Blossom, who had dished out the following in its effort to wound Blossom: tracker missiles, laser eye beams, electricity attacks, and the ever so famous super strength. Currently, Blossom had just been pinned to the wall, while Robot Blossom kept her there with one hand and readied an electricity stun blast with the other.
But before the stun blast could be charged, Blossom called up her own pink electricity through her hands, and grabbed Robot Blossom's head. This caused an electric shock that temporarily paralyzed Robot Blossom, but allowed Blossom to throw it off of her and step back.
"Got to hand it to the techies in the Support Department. They really know how to make a robot a pain in the ass." Blossom panted as she tensed.
Suddenly, Robot Blossom was on her, to Blossom's surprise, and tackled her to the ground. Blossom gathered her bearings quickly, and punched the mechanical foe off of her. Before the robot could recover, Blossom went around it in a flash, forced its hand behind its back, and pushed it hard into the ground. Cracks in the concrete showed in the floor around Robot Blossom's face, but Blossom pushed harder.
"Stand down. For my sake," Blossom growled.
Of course, Robot Blossom didn't seem to care about Blossom one bit, as the hand behind its back started to heat up rapidly. Before Blossom knew it, a blast of fire caused her to be shot back several feet. But it didn't take long for her to get back up on her feet.
"Okay. You play with fire? Great. I'll play with ice."
After she said that, Blossom took a very large and deep breath and exhaled forcefully, activating her Ice Breath. Like Todoroki's ice, the sub-zero solid spread through the hallway quickly, freezing Robot Blossom into a pristine block of ice.
"That should hold her…" Blossom sighed as she let out a steamy puff of air, "I guess I better go up to the payload and help Bubbles-"
Just then, Blossom's senses suddenly blared like a loud alarm, screaming at her to turn around. In a flash, Blossom jumped high into the air and did a backflip over Robot Buttercup, who would've punched Blossom in the back of her head if she hadn't moved. As she flew in the air, Blossom threw a pink energy blast at Robot Buttercup, which hit its mark and made it stumble.
"And there's another one. Wasn't Buttercup supposed to take care of you?!" Blossom groaned.
Robot Buttercup didn't reply, as it turned around and lunged again, fighting Blossom and stalling her while the ice around Robot Blossom melted slowly.
Meanwhile, Bubbles had finally reached the payload room. Quickly and quietly, Bubbles rushed to hide behind a pillar. Slowly, she bravely took a peek at the payload in front of her. And standing in front of the payload and guarding it like a security camera was Robot Bubbles.
Okay. There's the robot me. Wow, I gotta say, I look adorable. But, I have to focus. Maybe I could sneak around it or…
Just then, a clicking sound was heard, coming from Robot Bubbles. It had suddenly straightened and left its spot. It seemed like it had detected Bubbles in the room and was stalking towards her hiding place.
Crap, I think it knows I'm here. I should make a distraction, and throw it off of my trail.
Bubbles then realized that she had a perfect distraction. After clearing her throat softy, Bubbles spoke into her hands, clutched her hands, then threw it to another part of the room. This caused Bubbles's spoken words to echo from a completely different part of the room, instead of her voice coming from her spot.
"HEY! I'M OVER HERE!" the voice shouted.
As soon as it heard the voice, Robot Bubbles stopped, and quickly turned around, marching to the corner. Quickly, Bubbles bolted from her hiding spot, flying to the payload.
Come on, come on, come-
Suddenly, something large rammed into Bubbles's side, sending her off course. It was Robot Bubbles, and it had somehow anticipated Bubbles's rush to the payload, which meant that it had not been fooled by the distraction at all.
Now, Robot Bubbles was on top of a fallen Bubbles, its balled fists in Bubbles's outstretched hands and inches away from Bubbles's face.
Quickly, Bubbles pushed the robot off with a large amount of force. She then got up and sprinted towards the payload. But then, as she took a running dive for it, Robot Bubbles grabbed her foot, spun her around, and threw her into the ground.
"Ow." Bubbles squeaked from the newly made crater.
Before Robot Bubbles could pin her down again, Bubbles was up in a flash, grabbing the robot by the shoulders, and shoving it backwards into the floor behind it. But as she tried to attack again, Robot Bubbles punched Bubbles straight in the nose.
A gasping cry came from Bubbles as she reeled back and held her throbbing nose. Robot Bubbles took its chance, and kicked Bubbles to the floor. It wasn't finished as it landed a successful combo of punches on Bubbles, causing her to be forced farther into the ground.
But as Robot Bubbles threw one final and powerful punch, Bubbles caught the fist. She dug her fingertips into the metal as she looked at the robot, looking rather annoyed.
"You're getting on my NERVES!" she roared.
Before the robot knew it, it was being blasted by a very powerful energy blast, propelling it into the ceiling. Forgetting the payload, Bubbles flew up to the ceiling, grabbed the robot, and threw it into the floor hard.
Robot Bubbles didn't even get a chance to catch a break, as Bubbles unleashed her own combo of punches.
"You know, for someone cute, you sure aren't nice! Hope this whooping puts some sense into that computer brain of yours!"
As this happened, down below on the second floor, Blossom was now fighting two robots: Robot Buttercup and Robot Blossom, who was able to release itself from the ice prison.
Suddenly, as Robot Buttercup readied a punch, Buttercup skidded into view. She looked similar to how she did at the entrance exam, ruffled and a tiny bit dazed yet absolutely furious. Only, Buttercup looked even angrier this time around, as she flew to Robot Buttercup, heaved it into the air, and slammed it into the floor.
While the ground merely cracked the other times the robots were pushed to the floor, this time, the floor completely gave way, making Robot Buttercup fall all the way to the first floor.
"I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU, BITCH!" Buttercup hollered as she flew down the hole in a green flash.
Blossom seemed to pay no mind to this, as she tackled Robot Blossom to the ground. As each of the three girls pinned their robotic selves down, each one of them had colored energy surging around their bodies, as they looked down furiously at their opponent and swung a fist at their faces.
GRAHH!
When the punch hit its mark, explosions seemed to form in slow motion. Blooms of fire and light enveloped the girls, as their faces changed from anger to shock. The building groaned from the pressure of the explosions before it had finally given out. The windows shattered, the walls crumbled, and the floors fell apart.
And then, just like that, time was normal again. The girls were now laying on the ground, next to what was left of the robot's decimated corpses, and in what was left of the building that nearly got blasted to the ground. Just then, All Might's voice spoke through the loudspeaker.
"The match is now over. The team of robots win, due to Team K's disqualification because of excessive combat leading to the robots' fatality."
Blossom looked up at the blue sky, slowly registering what All Might had said. But when it clicked, she was shocked.
… excessive combat? What the hell is he talking about?
But then, Blossom saw her robot clone laying next to her, now a mangled jumble of scrap metal. She remembered that punch she gave it, even though she didn't remember the punch being so strong. They had essentially "killed" the robots, which meant they had basically killed Villains.
And a Hero must never ever kill a Villain, unless having extreme cause to do so.
Blossom felt sick to her stomach, as she looked back up at the sky. When she had watched Bakugou's battle, she had been appalled by Bakugou's apparent lunacy when he blasted part of the building apart. And yet, here she and her sisters were. Laying in the ruins of a majorly destroyed building. As Blossom laid there, she came to a frightening realization.
Bakugou's not the ticking time bomb… we are.