Ashido tapped her foot on the ground, waiting … waiting … She looked at her phone. Time was almost up and Iruma wasn't here. What was taking so long? "Ashido!" She turned and watched him run to her … with barrels of tape. "I'm so glad I found these. Hold still, we need to do this back to back."
"Iruma, it's almost time!" She shouted. "We don't have all day to work on this plan."
"I know, and that's the point, we don't need to plan!" He took advantage of her dumbfounded state, already wrapping tape around them. "We're not that smart, I get that. Well you're smarter than me, but thinking is not our best thing at school, right?"
That was probably the nicest way she's heard anyone call themselves dumb. "Yeah…that is true.
"You can't outsmart someone smart, I'd lose if I tried to do that." Also true. "So we just need to use instinct. You blast acid and slide around, I'll run around and punch through. We swap up when needed by pushing whatever we're using as ground."
"So basically run around crazy like a bunch of wild animals?"
"Exactly! Rabbit-Sama taught me you have to move without thinking so you can think about punching when something's coming your way! She's constantly hopping around town to town to find bad guys to beat up, so we're going to do the same until we find Rat-Principle and beat him up!"
"Alright, I'm getting in on this plan!" She smiled. "So what's the tape for?"
"I'm going to move super fast, and you need your hands free to spray and touch stuff."
"Ah, you're tying us together so we don't get separated at any point." Mina was starting to get used to Iruma's brand of logic. "Though if that's the case, we should probably use the cuffs instead. My acid could easily slide off me and melt it, and these babies are meant to be quirk proof."
"But how are we gonna cuff the principal if we cuff ourselves?" Huh, fair point…
"That's when we'll use your tape! We'll retrain him with it so he won't be able to move at all."
"Okay then!" Iruma began to pull. Wait, the tape was already on-
"AAGGG!" Okay, that stung a bit …. Just push through it, he was already making a good plan here.
==
"So Recovery Girl?" Tsu asked. "How much danger are they really in, ignoring all the amped up danger from the teachers and rumors."
"They won't die, but Nedzu isn't above putting them through hellish torture, which'll probably mean a day or two recovering in my offices after extensive surgery." The old pro said with an even tone. "To think the kid was so good at keeping himself safe for this long too."
"Hahahahaha." They all turned to Todoroki. "... Oh, I thought that was a joke …" He pulled up his phone. "This site lied to me."
Iida leaned over. "Humor for dummies. Todoroki, I appreciate you attempting to adjust to activities outside of your comfort zone, but you may want to recheck your sources. According to this website, the creator also wrote 'Demon Summoning for morons'."
"HE WHAT!?" Tokoyami stood up livid as everyone turned to him. "Um … a sale went wrong." Sure it did, buddy.
"So Dodger is gonna fail then." Bakugo looked at the screen. "Is the rat gonna leave a way to actually pass or make it impossible, cause I doubt the weights mean much."
"Originally, Nedzu would've left a path that led to the exit, and it would've been up to the examiner to think rationally for a few moments in-between the chaos before discovering it, but I doubt Nedzu will go through with that plan now." That didn't bode well. "And there goes the timer."
"Come on man, man through this, those handcuffs have gotta mean something!" Kirishima shouted out.
"Handcuffs!?" Uraraka and Hagakure turned, looking at the current duo, who had handcuffs on their neck and waist, keeping them locked in place. What were they doing?
They went silent as the duo went flying skyward, pouncing high in the air, before descending into the ground, sliding across the landscape for a few minutes before launching themself back into the air ad nauseam. "He finally lost his mind." Mineta summed up what they were all thinking. "The stress finally got to him, and he's acting crazier than usual now."
"Well at least the insanity is short lived." Sato saw a punch of rocks come flying out, covered in flames. "Cornered mid ai-" He was cut off as Iruma raised his arm, flicking his fingers as the rocks exploded fast, the last one sent the duo spinning, Ashido shooting out goo as the now pebbles vanished to nothing and the one rock remaining was used as a springboard to launch them in a new direction. "Or they just get good."
==
Iruma was on all fours. That last attack got them high enough to see a moving yellow ball. That had to be where Rat-principal was planning and doing stuff from. He saw arrows coming out, but left them to Ashido. He ran even as the ground shifted sideways, spinning his body to let Ashido glide, now using his free arm to stop the crusher with a single punch, a little sore from how much he put into it. He needed to reduce the amount of spoonfuls, the big stuff wasn't here yet.
"Alright, Rat-Principal is in that high yellow tower. High towers mean he has to be doing something really important there. If we can stop whatever's going on there, we stop all these traps.
Ashido flipped him back over, using his claws to make a hard turn right and avoid the spike trap. "Right, get to the crane." Oh, it was a fancy looking crane. "From there we can take him down once and for all!"
"Yeah, the only thing now is that he can probably see where we are because he's that high up."
"Then move faster!" She screamed, shooting acid at some darts. "Like you said, don't think, just move." He switched her over again, letting her slide against the heated ground.
"It's all instinct, it's all instinct.." He repeated as they dodged a few flaming spikes headed their way. What would allow him to survive and go unseen…of course! "Mina, aim your acid at the ground, we're digging now!"
"Alright!" She agreed without hesitation. He had such reliable friends now. Her acid made the ground soft and liquidy, which meant it would be easier to dig through it.
He applied force as he spun them around, faster and faster. Soft, dig, soft, dig. Soon they became a living drill heading in a very specific direction. After what felt like enough time they changed direction, spinning up and up. "I don't know … how Ochako … can do this."
"I've been dancing for a few years, so after a while, the spinning just sort of becomes normal." Mina explained to him. Maybe he should get lessons. They finally surfaced, spinning momentum carrying them high. He looked into the glass, staring eye to eye with Rat-principal. It was a mystery whatever crazy plan was in his head.
==
Preadator. That was what went through Nedzu's head as he stared at Young Suzuki's eyes. That kind, soft expression, all a facade! He was staring into the eyes of an absolute animal, a beast who's hunger could never be satiated. A monster that would devour anything in its path without regret or remorse.
That's the only rational explanation the mouse/dog/bear could come up with after seeing the boy smash and slide through every obstacle without an issue. They were completely untouched, unphased, and unscathed. The principle wasn't outsmarted, he was outwitted, he underestimated the lengths Toshi's successor would go in order to ensure his survival, and it would be his undoing.
There's no escape, there's no escape, there's no escape, there's no escape there's no escape you're about to di… "There were go, nice and tight!" The next thing Nedzu knew, his arms and legs were tied together in a bundle of tape, and he could barely move a single inch. "We got em, Iruma, just like you said!"
"Heck yeah, we won!" He heard a high five. "Now we just need to take you to the exit, right Rat-sensei?" The predator asked with that fake smile and eyes that gleamed with pride and sadistic victory.
"Yes, just take me to the exit." He needed to negotiate.
"Alright, let me just grab-" The duo fell over. "Right, forget we were handcuffed … So do you have a key?"
"Of course.." Nedzu answered right away, pointing in the key's direction on the wall, feeling his intestines would've been ripped out if he didn't comply.
"Sweet!" Ashido grabbed them, and in no time at all, unhooked herself from the beast. "Wait a minute, now we can do this!" Before he knew it, the girl cuffed his entire body in the item. "We captured him!"
"Team Suzuki and Ashido have passed the exam!" He didn't even feel miffed, just happy to be alive.
==
Present Mic dropped his tea cup, all the teachers having gone long in silence as they watched the principal completely and utterly dominated. "Toshi?"
"He did it…he did it.." The pro repeated over and over in disbelief, pride, shock, and a wide variety of other emotions he couldn't get a proper read on at the moment.
"What have you been teaching your love child?" Midnight said in the same tone of shock.
"He did it…he did it…" All Might kept repeating.
"Someone beat the rat…one of my brats actually took down the rat…" Shouta muttered. "I'm gonna hold this over Kan for years …" Petty as ever, even in this horrifically awesome moment
"He did it…He did it.." The aging number one kept repeating.
"We need to commemorate this day." Power Loader added to the mix. "This needs to become a national holiday. Nothing this great and terrifying has ever been achieved in the halls of UA. That kid is going to be a legend."
"He did it…He's absolutely worthy…there's no doubt about it now…" The number one grinned. "He was the perfect successor to my legacy." He just gave up the denial. "Come on everyone, after this is over we're partying!" Now that he could get behind.