The darkness inside the underground facility felt alive. Every drop of water falling from a rusty pipe, every whisper of air from a vent, every distant echo of footsteps—all of it was amplified into a symphony of tension. In the corridor outside the central laboratory, Tatsumi and Mine stood in silence, two shadows in the darkness, finalizing their insane plan. The plan was simple in concept, but incredibly complex and dangerous in execution. It all depended on one reliable variable: Katsuki Bakugo's ego.
"Are you sure he'll fall for the bait?" Mine whispered, her voice filled with reasonable doubt. The plan put her in a very exposed position. She had to deliberately reveal herself.
"I'm positive," Tatsumi replied with quiet confidence. "Bakugo can't resist a challenge, especially one that looks big and loud. He's a shark; he will always attack blood in the water. You just need to make sure you create an ocean of it." He looked at Mine's vague figure in the darkness. "The question is, can you do it?"
Mine was silent for a moment. It wasn't a question about her power, but about her control. "I can," she answered, her voice now firm. She wasn't just saying it to convince Tatsumi. She was saying it to convince herself. After two days filled with defeat and self-doubt, this was her chance to prove her worth.
"Good," Tatsumi said. "Go to the north corridor. I'll give you two minutes to prepare. When you're ready, unleash everything. I'll be waiting for your signal."
Without another word, Mine turned and disappeared into a side corridor, her movements now faster and more purposeful. Tatsumi, now alone, pressed his back against the cold wall near the laboratory entrance, calming his breath and sharpening his senses. The endgame had begun.
Inside the Explosive Dragon's Nest
Katsuki Bakugo was getting bored. And a bored Bakugo was a dangerous Bakugo. He sat on a laboratory table, his legs kicking the air, a predatory smile on his face. He had turned the entire room into a work of destructive art waiting to be triggered. The wires he had rigged from his modified training grenades created a nearly invisible spiderweb across the entire floor. Every entrance, every window, every possible point of infiltration had been turned into a kill zone.
Tch, those cowards, he thought with a growl. They must be too scared to get close. He had heard the faint echoes of small skirmishes earlier—a muffled energy shot from Pigtails, some vibrations—but nothing significant. He was beginning to think that everyone had already disabled each other outside, and he would win this just by waiting. An empty, boring victory.
"COME ON OUT, YOU EXTRAS!" he shouted to the empty room, his frustration boiling over. "OR I'LL COME OUT AND HUNT YOU ALL DOWN MYSELF!"
As if in answer to his challenge, a deep rumbling sound began to be heard from the distance.
The Roar of Pumpkin
In the long, straight north corridor, Mine had taken her position. She knelt, planting her feet firmly on the floor, and materialized the Spirit Gun: Pumpkin. This time, it felt different. She wasn't letting her anger or her shame control her Quirk. Instead, she took all those emotions—her frustration, her desire to prove herself, and the glimmer of new trust Tatsumi had given her—and focused them into a single point of cold, controlled intent.
"This isn't for you, Damn Dragon," she whispered to herself, as if trying to convince her heart. "This is to prove I'm not a loser."
The rifle in her hands began to glow with a pink light so intense it illuminated the entire corridor. Energy crackled around her, making the dust on the floor dance. She wasn't aiming at the laboratory. She was aiming straight at the dead-end wall at the far end of the corridor. She was creating noise.
"TAKE THIS!" she screamed.
A beam of energy, larger and denser than anything she had ever fired before, shot out from the muzzle of her rifle. The beam sped down the corridor like a comet, vaporizing everything in its path, before finally hitting the wall at the end with an explosion that shook the entire facility.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The ceiling shook violently. The emergency lights flickered wildly. A new alarm indicating structural damage began to roar, adding to the cacophony.
Inside the laboratory, Bakugo was thrown from his table by the shockwave. His ears were ringing, but a wild, joyous grin was etched on his face. "FINALLY!" he roared. "A WORTHY CHALLENGE!"
His battle-obsessed mind immediately concluded that this was a combined attack from the strongest remaining team—most likely Todoroki and Inasa. He didn't even consider the possibility that it was just one person. His ego wouldn't allow it.
"YOU THINK THAT'S ENOUGH TO BEAT ME?! I'LL DESTROY YOU ALL!"
Without a second thought, he abandoned his post, leaving the objective unguarded, and shot out of the laboratory, blasting his way towards the source of the destruction. The bait had not just been taken; it had been greedily devoured.
Ten Seconds of Silence
The moment Bakugo left the room, Tatsumi moved.
He slid into the now-empty laboratory. His thermal visor activated immediately, scanning the floor filled with the thin wire webs connected to the grenades. He moved with the precision of a bomb disposal expert, stepping over one wire, ducking under another, each movement a calculated dance with death.
He arrived near the "researcher" mannequin. It was heavy, designed to make evacuation difficult. With a low grunt of effort, he lifted it and slung it over his shoulder.
His time was almost up. He could already hear Bakugo's angry roar from the distance, a roar that signaled he had realized the deception.
As he was about to retreat, his eyes caught something on the table where Bakugo had been sitting. A small, familiar pink object. It was one of Mine's signature hair ribbons, most likely dropped during the first day's fight and found by Bakugo. Why is this here? Tatsumi didn't know. But a strange instinct, a nudge from the echo of the soul within him, made him grab it and quickly stuff it into one of his pockets. It was an illogical and unnecessary action in the middle of a high-stakes mission, but it felt... right.
He turned and ran out of the laboratory, following his planned escape route, just as he heard the sound of approaching explosions. From the end of the corridor, he could see a flash of orange light. He exchanged a glance with Bakugo from a hundred meters away. In Bakugo's eyes, there was rage and shock. Behind Tatsumi's helmet, there was a small, almost imperceptible nod, a silent acknowledgment and apology, before he disappeared into a dark side corridor.
Checkmate, Again
Tatsumi met up with Mine at their agreed-upon rendezvous point, a quiet secondary control room. Mine was leaning against the wall, panting, unleashing a shot that big had drained a significant part of her energy.
"Did it work?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly.
"Like a charm," Tatsumi replied, gently lowering the mannequin to the floor. He then reached into his pocket and held out the hair ribbon. "I believe... this is yours."
Mine stared at the hair ribbon, then at Tatsumi's face, then back at the ribbon. Her face, pale from exhaustion, immediately flushed a deep red. She snatched the ribbon from Tatsumi's hand. "Wh-why... why did you take this, you idiot?!" she stammered, a mixture of embarrassment and something else she couldn't define. "You were supposed to be focused on the mission!"
"I can do both," Tatsumi replied with a faint smile.
BBZZZZZZZZT!
The loud end-of-exercise alarm blared, signaling that either the one hour was up or the objective had been secured. Aizawa's calm voice echoed throughout the facility.
"The objective has been successfully evacuated by the team of... Tatsumi and Mine. The winners of the third day's Joint Training Exercise... are an unexpected alliance."
In the main corridor, Bakugo stood alone amidst the destruction he had created, his fists clenched so tight his knuckles were white, a silent rage burning in his eyes. In another part of the facility, Momo and Todoroki finally arrived at the now-empty laboratory, looking at the scene with a bitter understanding.
Inside the secondary control room, Tatsumi and Mine stood in an awkward silence. They had won. Together. Mine looked at the hair ribbon in her hand, then at Tatsumi, who now seemed like much more than just a rival. And Tatsumi looked at her, realizing that the echo in his soul now felt calmer, more at peace.