On the fourth floor, amidst a maze of glass-walled offices and windowless interior corridors, a different sort of chaos was brewin'. The air, still and recycled, seemed to hum in anticipation.
"Hehehe! This is gonna be a walk in the park, Aoyama!" Denki Kaminari cackled, holding the mock bomb like a trophy. A mischievous arc of electricity danced between his fingers. "A little zap here, a little zap there, and those two won't know what hit 'em!"
Yuga Aoyama, however, looked less than thrilled. He struck a dramatic pose, one hand resting elegantly on his hip, the other gesturing toward his sparkling belt buckle. "Mon ami, your… brilliance… is rather indiscriminate. My Navel Laser requires precision! A clear line of fire!"
"This old thing?" Kaminari grinned, sending a tiny, playful jolt of electricity zipping toward Aoyama.
"Agh!" Aoyama yelped, leaping back with theatrical grace as the static harmlessly dissipated around him. He recoiled, striking a pose with his hand fluttering near his stomach. "Must you be so... electric? Your wild sparks are a menace to true artistry! My Navel Laser is a symphony, Kaminari, not a cacophony of random noise! It could throw off my aim... or worse, my sparkle!"
He sighed, a sound filled with theatrical woe. "Very well. Since I must compensate for your... exuberance, we require a location with a long, unobstructed path. The heroes must face my glorious power head-on, where my aim can be true!"
He guided Kaminari down a long, empty corridor that ended in a small, glass-walled conference room. It was a perfect kill-zone. They placed the bomb on a table inside, and Aoyama took his position at the far end of the hallway, a living turret of twinkling doom. Kaminari, meanwhile, crouched behind a sturdy filing cabinet, a devilish grin spreading across his face as he prepared to turn the entire hallway into an electric fence.
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Outside, Tenya Iida revved his engines, his body practically vibrating with anticipation. "Yaoyorozu! We must execute a high-speed assault! My engines are ready! Do you have any insights into their quirks?"
Momo Yaoyorozu, ever the tactician, said, "Their Quirks are a direct counter to ours. Kaminari's wide-area attacks will disrupt our movement, and Aoyama's precise strikes can incapacitate us." She held up a small bottle of orange juice. "Your reliance on a clear path and specific fuel makes you vulnerable. Aoyama's laser can create debris, while Kaminari's electricity could short-circuit your engines and stall your speed."
Iida nodded, then smacked a fist lightly into his palm. "You are correct, Yaoyorozu! My speed is my greatest asset, but it is also my greatest liability if my path is blocked!" He looked at her, his eyes shining with new respect. "And your Creation...?"
"My Quirk requires me to form items from my lipids, which takes time and concentration," Momo explained. "Kaminari's wide-area attacks could fry any electronics or sensitive creations I make, and Aoyama's pinpoint laser could destroy them before they are complete." She realized their opponent's strength was in disrupting their core operational prerequisites.
"I have a theory on their strategy, Iida," Momo stated, her voice calm and analytical. "Kaminari's Electrification is a wide-area Quirk, while Aoyama's Navel Laser is a precise, long-range one. It would be most logical for them to place the bomb where they can both utilize their Quirks effectively without hindering one another."
"A long, unobstructed hallway or a large, open room would be the best environment for them." She pointed at the building's layout, handed to them by All Might, "If they position themselves at one end of a long corridor, Kaminari can fill the space with a chaotic electric field, slowing us down, while Aoyama can fire a precise laser down the center, cutting off any direct approach. We must avoid that path at all costs."
"Understood, Yaoyorozu!" Iida's voice was firm, and his hands, for once, were not chopping the air but were at his side. He had a look of calm determination on his face as he looked at his partner. He trusted her completely. "We will not make a direct assault. A flanking maneuver is the most logical course of action! It is a brilliant strategy!"
"START!" All Might's voice boomed from the speakers.
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Back in the observation room, the other students watched intently.
"Whoa, Kaminari and Aoyama have a crazy long-range advantage!" Kirishima said, leaning forward. "This is gonna be a tough one for Yaomomo and Iida!"
"Indeed," said Tsuyu Asui, a finger to her chin. "They'll have to get in close to win, but that hallway looks like a deathtrap, ribbit."
"But wait," Mineta piped up, his eyes wide. "If Kaminari goes all out, he fries his own brain, right? And Aoyama gets a wicked stomachache if he fires his laser too much. What happens if they both overdo it?"
A ripple of understanding went through the room. They weren't just guessing; they'd all seen the aftermath during the Quirk Assessment Test. They'd watched Aoyama propel himself over the sandbox with his laser, only to collapse dramatically, clutching his stomach. And they'd all seen Kaminari, after a powerful electrical display, stand there with that vacant, thumbs-up grin, his brain clearly on a temporary holiday.
Mimir, hanging from Kratos's belt, let out a dry chuckle that drew everyone's attention. "Well now, it seems the wee grape has a better head for tactics than I gave him credit for. Took ye lot long enough to see it."
All Might turned, his smile impossibly wide. "Excellent insight, Young Mineta! And you are all beginning to see the true lesson here!"
Shoto Todoroki's calm, quiet voice cut through the chatter. "The villains' Quirks are incompatible as well. Kaminari's electricity is chaotic and could easily damage Aoyama's control belt. They are glass cannons, powerful but fragile."
Mimir's grin widened. "Aye! The lad with the frosty glare gets it! This ain't about who's got the bigger hammer. It's about knowin' how and when to swing it. More importantly, it's about knowin' when your own swing will leave you wide open."
Kratos, who had been silent until now, spoke a single, resonant sentence.
"Their greatest strength is also their greatest flaw."
The words landed with the weight of a prophecy. Izuku Midoriya's eyes widened, a fist clenching at his side. He understood now. All of it. The pairings, the disadvantages, the lessons from Kratos and Mimir... it all clicked into place.
"It's not just about overpowering your opponent," he whispered, his voice filled with excitement. "It's about out-thinking them! It's about finding their breaking point... and pushing. It's about going 'Plus Ultra' with your mind, not just your might!"
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The lesson was about to play out in real time.
Iida and Momo reached the fourth floor, moving with the silent efficiency of a special operations team. They peered around a corner, confirming the layout. Their hearts sank.
"Yaoyorozu, the schematics were misleading," Iida whispered, his voice tense. "The side corridors are all dead ends or funnel back into the main hallway. There is no route for a flanking maneuver. They've cornered us."
Momo's brow furrowed as she processed the new information. "They didn't just pick a kill-zone, they picked the only approach. Our initial plan is unviable."
"Then I must go all out," Iida stated firmly. "I can close the distance in an instant and apprehend one of them before they can react."
"No," Momo countered immediately, her voice sharp but steady. "Think it through, Iida. Aoyama and Kaminari are positioned close together. If you rush one, the other will unleash their full power out of desperation. You might capture Aoyama, but Kaminari will flood the area with electricity. You'll be caught in the blast. It would be a trade, not a victory. A hero's duty is to resolve the situation with zero casualties if possible. Recklessness is not an option."
Iida fell silent, the logic of her words undeniable. He was being asked not just to win, but to win the right way. "Understood. Then we must formulate a new plan."
Momo nodded, a determined glint in her eyes. Her mind already working on a new plan. Within a few seconds, she had thought about another feasible battle plan which would Iida to take on some calculated risks.
Momo quickly lets Iida on the new plan and explains all the worst case scenarios which could come up with it. Listening to the new plan, Iida nods and expresses his understanding of it.
With their new strategy forged in the crucible of the moment, they prepared their first move. Momo quickly created a large, thick shield made of a non-conductive polymer.
"Iida, on my mark!"
"Ready, Yaoyorozu!" Iida crouched, engines humming.
"NOW!"
With a roar, Iida snatched the shield and burst from cover, charging down the hallway. Immediately, a brilliant beam of blue light slammed into the shield. The force was immense, the laser sizzling against the polymer, pushing Iida back a step, his boots scraping against the tile.
"His power is considerable!" Iida grunted, bracing himself.
Before he could regain his footing, a crackling wave of electricity washed over the shield. It wasn't enough to break through the insulation, but the follow-up laser from Aoyama was. The superheated point of impact, now weakened, shattered. The shield exploded into fragments, and Kaminari's electricity lashed out, zapping Iida's armor.
The hero-in-training yelled as his engines sputtered and he was thrown back, retreating behind the wall with smoke trailing from his leg armor.
"My engines are momentarily shorted!" he reported, wincing. "Their combined assault is too coordinated!"
From down the hall, Aoyama prepared another shot, his navel twinkling ominously. Just then, Kaminari, getting a bit too excited, sent another massive surge of power down the corridor. It overloaded a ceiling light right above Aoyama, causing it to explode in a shower of sparks and plunging that end of the hallway into dimness.
"Zut alors!" Aoyama cried, instinctively shielding his face and his precious belt. "Kaminari, your recklessness is blinding me!"
"Hehehe, my bad!" Kaminari shouted back, his grin a little too wide. "It's just so much fun!"
Momo saw it then. The crack in their defense.
"Iida, it's time," she whispered urgently. "We need to force Kaminari to go all out. I'm creating several high-conductivity grounding rods. Your mission is to place them throughout the corridor while drawing their fire. Can you do it?"
"My engines are recovering, but to move that fast, I will need to use my ultimate move!" Iida stated, his face grim. "It will grant me explosive speed for ten seconds, but my engines will stall completely afterward!"
"That's all the time we'll need," Momo said, her hands already glowing as she began to create the slender metal rods. "We're counting on you."
Iida took a deep breath. With the rods in hand, he burst from cover.
"RECIPRO BURST!"
The engines on his legs roared, glowing blue-hot as he became a blur of motion. He wasn't running; he was practically teleporting, a phantom of silver and blue. Aoyama's laser shot out, but Iida was already gone, the beam scoring a black mark on the wall where he'd been a nanosecond before. Kaminari unleashed a web of electricity, but Iida weaved through it, his movements too fast, too unpredictable.
With each pass, he slammed a grounding rod into the floor—THUNK, THUNK, THUNK—creating a deadly network of conductors.
Kaminari panicked. He saw the trap being laid, saw this blue blur that he couldn't hit. He had to stop him, now!
"I've got you!" Kaminari yelled, a desperate edge to his voice. He put both hands to the floor, raw power gathering around him. "Take this! INDISCRIMINATE DISCHARGE... 1.3 MILLION VOLTS!"
Iida felt the air crackle, the hairs on his arms standing on end. He used the last second of his burst to propel himself back and around the corner, getting as far away as possible.
The world erupted in a blinding flash of yellow. The electricity surged through the corridor, but the grounding rods did their job, channeling the bulk of the cataclysmic blast into the building's foundation. It wasn't perfect, though. The sheer volume of energy still caused the remaining lights to shatter and sent a powerful shockwave down the hall.
Aoyama screamed as the feedback overloaded his belt and a jolt of raw electricity coursed through his body, paralyzing him momentarily.
When the light faded, Kaminari stood there, vacant-eyed, thumbs up. "Wheyyyyy~..." he chirped, before collapsing.
Aoyama, shaking and clutching a stomach that felt like it was full of angry hornets, tried to aim his laser, but his belt was fried. The beam sputtered weakly and died. He saw Iida, engines stalled, limping towards him alongside Yaoyorozu.
"I believe this is checkmate," Momo said calmly. She held up her latest creation, a sleek, canister-like device. "While you were setting the trap, I created this. A high-tensile alloy net launcher. Simple, but effective."
Iida, unable to use his speed, took aim and fired. A weighted net shot out with a hiss, enveloping the groaning Aoyama completely.
With both villains incapacitated, Iida walked, limping but triumphant, into the conference room and placed his hand on the bomb. The timer showed forty-eight seconds remaining.
HERO TEAM WINS!