"If the "Heroes" captures the "Villains" or touch the nuclear device before the time runs out, they win. If the "Villains" manage to keep the device uncompromised until the clock runs out, or manage to capture the "Heroes", they win!"
...
Then, upon finishing his crib sheet, All Might pulled out a lottery box faster than Izuku could blink.
"Your teammate and opponents will be chosen by lottery!"
Iida was shocked by the very idea of randomness.
"Truly? That is how we'll do it?"
All Might was about to answer, but this time it was Izuku who interrupted.
"Well, pros are often forced to make impromptu on the spot team-ups with heroes they don't really know, so this is probably a reference to that."
"I see! always looking at the future, eh Midoriya?" He quickly turned to All Might and gave an apologetic bow. "I apologize for my rude interruption Sensei!"
...
Izuku ended up with Iida. It was a good team in Izuku's opinion, His versatility along with Iida speed would make a good combo. Probably the only one he'd have been happier with would have been Uraraka, but frankly, he wouldn't have minded anyone in the class.
Except for Katsuki of course.
He felt rather sorry for Uraraka, who had the misfortune of ending up with said exploding asshole.
All the way up until All Might pulled out the balls to determine who would fight each other as Heroes and Villains.
For the first number, Izuku and Iida ended up as the heroes for round 1. On the opposite were Uraraka and Katsuki.
-YES! FUCKING YES! FUCK YEAH, LET'S GO CRUSH THAT ASSHOLE!!!-
...
All Might gave some more words before they started, but the only things that really mattered for him and Iida was that the Villain team got 5 minutes inside to prepare before they got to go inside and that each team got a set of earbuds that doubled as microphones to the other part of the set.
"So, Midoriya, how should we do this?" Tenya asked him, the two of them just having been left alone as All Might headed back to the "Headquarter" to monitor them.
"You could climb up the walls from the outside to the top, could you not?"
He'd considered that himself.
"That's what I would normally have done, but… Uraraka knows I can do that. And she's undoubtedly telling Katsuki about it. The thing is that I'm not experienced in climbing, much less fighting while I'm doing it. If Katsuki were to attack me while I'm outside climbing… Well, I'd be a sitting duck. Unless…"
-NO.- Venom said bluntly. Before Izuku could ask why the hell not, Venom continued. -Our cloaking is a tool that has the best capacity when no one knows about it. We aren't revealing it here for all to see. If we did, we wouldn't be able to use it to it's fullest later.-
"Anyway… So long as Katsuki is above us, trying to climb past him is a terrible idea. Not to mention that at the top we'd still have to deal with Uraraka."
He didn't know if he could beat Uraraka. She was strong. Damned strong. Her full power was far stronger than the might he and Venom had to offer.
"So, what you're saying is that we need to capture Katsuki, then lure Uraraka away from the top floor."
"...That's one option."
"Excellent! Then I shall act as a lure for Uraraka, while you deal with Katsuki, given how much he seems to despise you, and how aggressive and irrationally he is, you should only need to make it clear where you are, and he should come running to confront you. On my end, once I have gotten Uraraka away from the top floor, and you have dealt with Katsuki, just get outside, then climb to the top."
It was a simple, yet logical plan.
All it would take was him being able to beat Katsuki into the ground.
"Let's do it!"
...
Beating Katsuki is not as massive a problem as it would be to beat Shoto or the girl with the whip earlobes. Yes, his explosions will blow us away without problem, but even if we part and expose your flesh, you are still more than durable enough to tank the shock from his explosions. At least the lesser ones.-
-In comparison, the bastard doesn't possess particularly high durability. None of our 3 counters in this class does. Katsuki is probably the most durable of the 3, since he needs to be durable enough so the shock of his explosions don't destroy his own body.-
-All we need is one good blow, one solid hit on any of their body, and they go down like a turned off computer.-
"So, what, I should just tank his explosions?"
"If necessary, but what we need to do is close the gap and hit him. Again, he can't tank our blows. One good hit is all it would take, if we need to tank some blows to make it happen, so be it."
It made some sense, but Izuku still didn't like the idea of actually taking any more of Katsuki's explosions. Even if they didn't actually fully damage him, they would hurt. A lot.
Also, he didn't have Venom's confidence in his body's ability to tank the kinds of explosions Katsuki had done at the test exams.
"AND BEGIN!!!" All Might's voice rang in their ears.
Iida didn't waste any time and went into motion the moment the announcement came.
Izuku took it easier and went more cautiously.
Once inside, Venom had problems sensing where either Katsuki or Uraraka were, according to him, due to the thick walls.
No matter.
"HEY KATSUKI!!! WE'RE ON THE LOWEST FLOOR!!! COME FACE US IF YOU HAVE THE BALLS!!!"
Izuku felt… Eager was the best way to describe it. He WANTED this fight. He felt the adrenaline already beginning to flow into his mind in preparation. It was a completely alien feeling for Izuku, who had never experienced battle rage consuming him before.
To be fair on the young hero, human beings weren't build to feel this sort of rage, thrill, and lust before they actually became consumed by combat.
-He's coming.-
And he was. 13 seconds later, Katsuki sprung forth from the corridor in front of Izuku and released a large explosion that engulfed where Izuku's upper body had been seconds before, as Izuku had already jumped back and out of the way when it hit the wall.
"Damnit Deku, don't fucking dodge!"
As the dust cleared, the two old friends stared at each other with hatred in their eyes. Izuku's eyes hidden behind two white alien eyes that narrowed in a way that had been the last thing that countless misfortunate souls across the universe had seen before they died. Katsuki's eyes were more crazed, and on his lips, he was wearing a berserkers grin.
Two young kids on the final step to reaching their adulthood, both empowered with the capacity for destruction, both having a wish to HURT the other. Katsuki because his entire worldview was dependent upon his self worth and sense of superiority, and Izuku because any sympathy or admiration he once had felt for his old friend had been buried in unnatural hate, resentment, and anger.
Katsuki made the first move.
In terms of overall advantage, Katsuki had the high ground here, in these relatively cramped corridors, his way of moving by short controlled bursts from his hands were far more at home than Izuku was, the cramped space preventing Izuku and Venom from utilizing their great speed, jumping capacity and agility to their fullest.
All he had to do, was keep his distance, employ hit and run tactics and make certain to not come within Izuku's physical range.
If he did that, he had a reasonably high chance of not only winning through running out the clock, but also eventually bringing Izuku to his knees through attrition.
Katsuki, being as green as summer grass, instead charged in, planting his foot down as he prepared to blow Izuku away with a strong and powerful explosion from his right hand.
For Izuku, it was as if the world froze to slow motion as Katsuki pulled his arm back. He had seen this many, many times before. Katsuki always started a fight with a strong right swing. Izuku had never realized just how easy that made it to read and deal with his first attack before.
In that moment, Izuku saw, clear as crystal, two different paths to victory.
In the first, he could step inside the swing, grab his arm, and swing him over his shoulder and down into the ground. So long as he didn't pause and just followed it up by punching Katsuki in the face, it was an easy victory.
There was a chance of inflicting permanent brain damage on him with that tactic though.
The other path wasn't as risky with permanent damage, but it was also very, very painful.
He chose the second path.
As Katsuki swung his arm forward, Izuku stepped inside and beyond the range of the planned attack. His left arm gripped around the grenade gauntlet Katsuki had on his arm, while his right hand grabbed the blonde boy by one of the two straps around his chest.
He then slammed him left into the wall, not hard enough to instantly break his bones, but certainly with enough force to knock the wind out of him.
He wasn't done with that though.
Still holding Katsuki up against the wall, he planted his leg into his foe's groin. Katsuki went limp instantly.
Izuku then slammed him to the ground, and quickly webbed up his hands, legs, and mouth, leaving him only able to breathe through his nose.
He finished off with snapping a capture band around his arm, signifying that Katsuki was taken out of the exercise.
As Izuku stared down Katsuki, the adrenaline fading, he felt an influx of very different emotions.
The first thing he felt was a sense of… Anticlimax. Like he had been preparing for this moment for a long time, only for it to be easier than he had ever imagined, and far less satisfying than he had thought it'd be.
The second was a sharp vindictive wish to bend down, close his hand around Katsuki's right arm and snap it between his fingers, as payback for what happened all those months ago.
He quickly shut the emotion down. He had won, hadn't he? Why would he need to hurt him even more?
"Well… That was easy."
...
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