"That was so amazing, Tokage!" Midoriya gushed as Setsuna arrived back in the basement along with Tetsutetsu, Kamakiri, and Kodai. "Your planning was brilliant!"

"Aw thanks, Mumbles," Setsuna ruffled his hair. "You're gonna make me blush. Oh, whoops, looks like you're doing all the blushing for me. Sorry."

She did not look at all sorry.

"Before we continue, young Tokage," Toshinori called out to her. "You should get that hand checked out by Recovery Girl. Tetsutetsu, you can go with her, but your injuries aren't as bad."

"Yeah, I'm good!" Tetsutetsu slammed a fist against his chest.

"I'll stay," Setsuna told him, one of her eyes popping out and following her hand out of the room. "Should just barely make the time limit, unless she's not in her office."

"Have you regrown a whole hand before?" Izuku asked curiously.

Tokage wiggled her eyebrows at him. "What do you think?"

"Oh boy," Kendo crossed her arms. "Now that's a story."

"Ahem, let's move it onto the next match-up," Toshinori announced, satisfied that Tokage was at least going to be healed one way or another. "Gotta make sure we get you all back to homeroom before the day ends." His hands dived into the boxes again. "And the match-up for the third round is... Team A as the heroes vs Team E as the villains!"

...

Bondo was shy. Extremely so. Rin Hiryu could tell by the way the giant of a boy was wringing his abnormally large straw colored hands together. The boy's costume was, keeping in theme with his mutant quirk, glue themed. A yellow baggy suit with circular orange accessories resembling bases of glue bottle caps around his neck, wrists, waist, and ankles.

It'll be hard to work with him if he's gonna stay all clammed up, Rin thought. He thumped his fist against his palm, startling Bondo. "Alright, we should start planning what we're gonna do." He glanced back at the bomb. They were still on the third floor and the bomb was still sitting in the middle of a large room. It was identical to the one Tetsutetsu and Kamakiri had fought in earlier, but that had been on the second floor, so this one was free of damage.

"I'm more of an offense oriented guy myself," Rin went on, holding up his hands that were poking out from his gauntlets. Sharp, green scales sprouted from his skin, completely covering it. "But based on your quirk, you might be more support oriented. I bet you'd do great trapping opponents."

"I-I guess," Bondo stammered, rubbing the back of his head. His meek voice did not at all match his physical build.

Rin tapped his chin, thinking. "It would be best for us if we figured out a plan geared towards our strengths." His tapping stopped. "Can you get stuck in your own glue?"

Bondo nodded. "Y-yeah."

"Shoot, well there goes that idea," Rin resumed tapping.

Bondo just stared at him for a long moment before asking, "H-how can you s-see through that?"

"Huh?" Rin glanced at him, blinking. "Oh, that. Well, I just can, so don't worry about it." He hated to sound abrasive about it, but it was a topic he'd rather not get into. His costume was actually modeled after Chinese vampires, Jiangshi . Starting from the bottom he wore white knee-high boots, dark gray baggy pants, and a black sleeveless robe with a high collar that hung down past his waist with yellow cloud patterns across the torso. A red belt was tied around his waist, carrying several pouches containing calcium and collagen tablets necessary for the growth of his scales. He also wore yellow gauntlets that helped shoot his scales as fast moving projectiles. But what Bondo had been referring to was his visor. Instead of traditional glass, he wore a paper talisman long ways across his face. So to everyone else, it might look as if he couldn't see. But he could. Perfectly in fact.

At Bondo's slouch furthering, Rin quickly spoke again. "Anyway, we can't do a strategy where you use your glue on everything. But... it would still work as a good defense to protect the bomb with against Shishida especially. His beast mode is super strong and versatile, but in a room full of your glue, then we might have a chance."

"W-what about F-Fukidashi?" Bondo asked. "H-he could cut through it?"

"He... could, maybe?" Rin pondered on that for a second. "That's a possibility. We don't know the full extent that his onmo, er, onomopia... Uh..."

"Onomatopoeia," Bondo offered helpfully.

"Yeah, that," Rin hung his head. Couldn't even pronounce that. Looks like he still had certain words he had to figure out in this language. "Well, we should still protect the bomb. Here, let's move it further up. I also have a strategy idea to bounce off you..."

...

"There's something I must inform you before we begin," Shishida said as he leaned against the side of the building.

Manga glanced at him, a question mark appearing above his head. The Beast quirked boy had opted to go shirtless for his hero costume, baring his incredibly furry chest, yet he retained a shirt collar for whatever reason. His pants were simple and black, his boots brown with fur lined on the top, and he had replaced his normal rectangle shaped glasses with black tinted goggles that resembled his normal glasses.

"As you are well aware, my quirk is called Beast," Shishida said. "A truly monstrous form and capable of great feats. Although, I lack the usual intelligence I have currently. In a word, I truly become a "beast". I may succumb to my primal instincts and fail to adhere to any premade plans should I get sufficiently distracted."

"Hey, if we make 'em go KABLAM, it doesn't matter how we win!" Manga threw out his arms, the word KABLAM popping up in Kanji in his speech bubble. Now that anyone could see it with the manga panel serving as his mask. His costume was something he had crafted a sketch for years back. An ink bottle served as a chest piece over a blue shirt with red sleeves while two white ink bottles served as boots over red pants. White gloved hands, which had been sitting on his ruler designed belt a moment ago, were now being thrust out as excited punches. "You can go POW and I'll go VROOOM on you and together we'll be UNBEATABLE!"

"Go vroom on me?" Shishida asked.

"Yep!" Manga clapped his hands together. "My onomatopoeia doesn't just affect me, but those of my choosing as well!"

A feral grin slid over Shishida's normally serious expression. "Well, then maybe unleashing the beast within is the best course of strategy."

...

"Third round BEGIN!"

With a great bellowing roar, Jurota Shishida charged through the front door, fully growing into his large beast form once inside. He bounded forwards, his keen sense of smell already picking up traces of Hiryu and Bondo.

"UP!" He growled to Fukidashi, who ran alongside him, his running in sync with his low, "vrooooooooom" sounds. Once they reached the second floor, they encountered their first obstacle.

Jurota shrunk back into his more human form and groaned as he stared at the glue puddles on the floor, smeared across the walls, and dripping from the ceiling. "This calls for precision."

"SIGH!" The word blew out of Fukidashi's mouth as he realized his partner was right.

...

Patience was key. Of course, Kojiro Bondo had no doubt his two classmates playing the heroes of this battle trial would make their way up to them well before time would come to an end. Staying in one place as far away from them was the best strategy here, since Shishida had a very keen sense of smell. And there was always the chance they got stuck in one of his glue spots and took even longer.

The thought didn't do much to calm his nerves as he wrung his large hands together, glancing around, his lappet flopping around atop his head. The door at the far end of this giant room with pillars had glue covering a wide area around it. The door itself was also shut tight with his glue. Only a powerful attack would be able to break it down, should one be able to cross the glue on the floor without getting stuck.

Kojiro slapped both sides of his glue dispenser for a head. It's alright, we have a plan. We have a plan. Well, Hiryu had a plan, one that heavily involved his quirk. Kojiro glanced warily up at the ceiling before glancing back down at the open door in front of him leading out into a hallway where Hiryu had disappeared several minutes ago. He'd gone to scope out the enemy. They left the 5th floor bare of any glue and the 4th floor not as heavily covered as the first three. Hiryu had wanted to make Shishida and Fukidashi to think that he was running out of glue. While he was running on almost empty after depositing so much, he had enough to use should the need arise.

Hopefully enough, he thought, sighing as he put his head in his hands. Who am I kidding, this is no use. Even I can see where our plan can go wrong. They may not do exactly what Hiryu wants, or Shishida may be even more reckless than we thought.

His quirk, Cemedine, was a very useful quirk, but for slowing down or capturing villains. When it came to fighting head-on, all he had was his strength. And sure, he was stronger than most thanks to his mutant quirk, but he couldn't even compare to Shishida's Beast quirk.

"So you're not that great in a straight-up fight. So what?"

Kojiro lowered his hands from his face.

Hiryu had just finished placing the bomb earlier when Kojiro had nervously, full of stutters, told his partner that he didn't think he'd be that useful. Hiryu had turned right around, placed his hands on his hips, and shook his head at him. "Honestly, I couldn't have asked for a better partner for this battle trial." He jerked a thumb at himself. "I'm more combat oriented. Both long-distance and close-up fighting is right up my alley. But that's nothing against a monster like Shishida, not to mention Fukidashi backing him up. Say I had someone like Tetsutetsu or Kamakiri instead. We'd be a powerful fighting force, sure, but then it'd just be two muscles up against one very big muscle and a wild card."

"Okay," Hiryu rubbed the back of his head. "What I'm trying to get at here is that you're good at being a support more than you are being a fighter. And that's good, really good. It compliments someone like me who's a fighter. It means we have more room to strategize instead of going for a full out attack. No, we have to be smart. Play to our strengths. So even if you can't match Shishida in raw power," he held up a fist to Kojiro. "All you have to do is utilize your quirk to the very best of its abilities. And I'll do the same. Again, I'm glad it was you I got grouped up with."

Kojiro clenched his fists. They still shook, his nerves not fully pacified, but he felt more hope than he had a minute ago. They.. they could do this. He had to believe that.

His head jerked up at the sound of rushing footsteps and what sounded almost like machine gun fire. Then moments later Hiryu ran through the door at top speed as if the devil himself was hot on his heels.

...

It was painfully slow, but they were making progress as they reached the third floor. So far they saw not hide nor hair of Hiryu or Bondo nor the bomb. Which meant that their assumption had been correct. Their plan was to lay traps and hold out on the 5th floor.

Jurota allowed himself a rare grin while not in his beast form. Sure, avoiding every puddle and drip from the ceiling had shaved off close to half the allotted time while also searching the rooms, but in the end it would come down to whoever had the most strength. And he had plenty to spare due to the fact that he didn't trust himself not to get stuck in the glue while using his quirk. That also meant that he couldn't sniff them out, but that was fine. They would beat them in the end.

He glanced at Fukidashi, who had just leaped over a spot of glue. Normally he wouldn't let himself feel this confident, but if Fukidashi could sufficiently boost his Beast form, then Hiryu and Bondo wouldn't stand a chance. Not even glue would be able to keep him down.

Fukidashi paused, an exclamation mark popping up in his speech bubble.

"What?" Jurota asked, stopping as well.

"There's not as much glue," Fukidashi turned a full 360.

He was right. There was significantly less. "Bondo must have been reaching his limit. They must have put all their stock into slowing us down and reaching the time limit."

"That means we can go and KABOOM and SMASH them up!" Fukidashi danced on his feet.

"Exactly," Jurota said as he continued his way down the hall. Once he reached the stairs, he glanced up. His eyes widened as he threw himself backwards, throwing out an arm to stop Fukidashi as green scales shot down the stairs and created grooves in the cement floor where he'd just been standing.

"I didn't see any glue up there," Jurota grinned at his classmate as his muscles began rippling. He let out a defiant roar as he threw himself back at the stairs in the line of fire, only to find that Hiryu had already ran.

"COWARD!" Jurota roared as he bounded up the stairs.

"VROOOOOOOOM!" Fukidashi yelled from behind, the words appearing in the air as they flew past Jurota and he felt his speed increase as he practically flew up the rest of the stairs and slammed against the wall at the top as he tried to turn. There, Hiryu was running at top speed down a corner. There was no glue in sight.

"GET ON!" Jurota roared as Fukidashi reached the floor and grabbed him by the shirt, hauling him onto his back. He bellowed another battle cry as he bounded down the hall, Fukidashi increasing his speed with his loud "VROOOOOOOOOM!"

As they sharply turned the corner, Jurota once again crashing his side against the wall, he felt sharp scales collide against his front.

Fukidashi took a huge breath before shouting, "CLATTER!" The word shot forwards, passing by all the scales, which then immediately lost their momentum and clattered to the floor. Seeing his attack fail, Hiryu ran through a doorway.

Jurota dashed after him and turned swiftly to face the doorway. He caught a glimpse of the room inside, one of the larger ones with pillars. Hiryu was running across the length of the room, so Jurota barreled in after him. Had he not been in his beast form, he may have thought the situation a bit odd. The room looked barren at first glance and there was no sight of Bondo. But his animalistic instincts urged him onwards.

That was his mistake.

...

It stood to believe that Shishida would be right behind Hiryu as the scale quirked teen ran by him. Still, he froze for just a second, almost forgetting what he was supposed to do. But when Hiryu gave a nod as he ran, Kojiro whipped back his head, glue splattering from his pores in the direction of the entrance. Or rather, just a few meters in front of the door.

In the few seconds that followed his attack, two things happened. First came Shishida barrelling through the door. He was quick on his reflexes, stopping just short of the glue and dodging to the right away from Kojiro. Second, Rin had spun around on his heels, arms held out in front of him, both aiming towards either side of the doorway, firing his scales.

It had been time consuming, to the point where they had been setting up their trap even after the ten minutes of prep time had been used up. But it had been worth it. They'd found two good sized pieces of rubble Kojiro could carry and lift up, gluing them fast into the wall as high as he could reach on either side of the room. He'd then flung his glue up to the ceiling, allowing it to drip down in a thick gooey strand onto the top parts of the rubble. The glue only hardened where it made contact, the rest of it still goopy. He then covered the fronts of the rubble with more glue, making the trap complete.

I need to work on my aim! Rin thought wildly as his shots gouged at the walls before colliding with the hardened glue on keeping the rubble supported to the wall. Hardened glue that was barely keeping them held up. His scales chipped away at them before slicing through completely. The pieces of rubble swung, the glue connecting them to the ceiling swinging them just enough before snapping to fling both towards Shishida and Fukidashi. The one on Rin's right crashed into the ground before it reached them, but since Shishida had dove to Rin's left, he practically ran headfirst into that rubble. It crashed into his face, carrying him off his feet and sticking fast thanks to the hefty amount of applied glue as Fukidashi went flying.

"GO!" Rin shouted to Bondo as he ran forwards. He aimed his arm again as he saw Fukidashi on his feet and running towards his partner, repeatedly shouting "CRACK CRACK CRACK!" The words shot forward and snaked across the rubble stuck to Shishida, forming cracks in their wake as the behemoth of a boy slammed his fists against it. Rin shot his scales at Shishida's hands while shooting some near Fukidashi, who leaped back to avoid them. This had the benefit of cutting his words off in surprise as well as placing him closer to Bondo, who shoulder slammed the speech bubble headed boy to the ground.

Just as Shishida broke the rest of the rubble and was beginning to tear at the glue, Rin stopped just at his head, both arms aimed at his face. "Don't move, Shishida." The other boy paused, staring cross-eyed at the gauntlets.

By this point Bondo had securely tied up Fukidashi with the capture tape. Rin knew that once Shishida remembered this was a training exercise and that he wouldn't actually shoot his classmate in the face with his scales (not on purpose at least), he would be toast-

"Manga Fukidashi has been captured!"

All Might's voice booming through their earpieces seemed to set off Shishida, his eyes narrowing behind his goggles. "RRRRAAAAAAAGH!" He spun on his back, legs knocking Rin's out from underneath him. He slammed his chin against the ground with a painful grunt as Shishida, glue and bits of rubble still stuck to his chest, sprung to all fours. But before he could launch into another attack, a wave of glue splattered against him. Bondo tried to shoot more, but he made a coughing sound as only small droplets flew from his pores. His hands clasped his knees, exhausted. He had finally run out.

Rin rolled away as Shishida fought his way towards him, the glue dragging him down. His fur tore away as he tried ripping himself free. Rin aimed both gauntlets, firing them against Shishida's shirt collar. They didn't do any damage, merely bouncing off what Rin had realized to be metal, but the force of the impacts had the effect of forcing him back a step. Given a brief window of breathing room, Rin scrambled back as his classmate roared, ripping himself free and launching himself at Rin.

He found himself pinned, spittle splashing across his visor as a huge furry fist was raised above his head. Then Bondo was there, crashing down a small piece of rubble on Shishida's head. It shattered and the Beast quirked boy was left dazed. Rin added to the attack by firing his scales against the bottom of Shishida's jaw. As his head snapped back, Bondo quickly followed up with a solid punch in-between his eyes. His goggles snapped and both scales and punch combined knocked Shishida onto his back.

Rin wasn't stupid enough to believe that would keep Shishida down for. So he and Bondo moved as one as fast as they could, circling their capture tape around his body. Once Shishida shook off his daze, it was to All Might's shout.

"The Heroes have been captured! Team E has won!"

...

While Shishida was profusely apologizing to Hiryu for his violent behavior, and Bondo doing the same to Fukidashi, just with a lot more stuttering, Izuku was quickly writing notes down in his hero analysis book. It had been an absolute treat to watch this last match. He was definitely impressed with how Hiryu had gotten through to Bondo and hatched a plan that utilized both of their quirks to take down a Beast like Shishida. Well, momentarily take down just long enough to capture him. Shishida's quirk was strong and had they hesitated for even a moment longer, he could have easily wiped the floor with them.

"Though, assuming Shishida's Beast has a time limit, then that's definitely a weakness one could exploit," Izuku muttered as he wrote. "But only if they had the time. He conserved most of his energy during the battle trial, so that could have definitely backfired on Hiryu and Bondo had they not acted as quickly as they did..."

Setsuna watched him mutter beneath his breath with a smirk. She wouldn't interrupt him this time. If anything, she was gleaning useful information from his constant quirk analyzing. During this and the first battle trial, she'd been taking stock of her classmate's quirks and doing her own analysis, comparing them to Midoriya's mumbling for reference. She wasn't strong in a fight, best she could do is plan ahead and lay traps while also keeping the enemy confused with her quirk. Which meant she needed to stay ahead of the game.

As much as I like to make fun of Mumbles for his notebook, I may need to look it over at some point, Setsuna thought, eyeing the boy's speed at which his pencil moved as she casually held out her arm for her newly healed hand to reattach. Honestly, she thought as she parted her bangs for her eye to insert itself back in. He's gotta be using his quirk unknowingly or something. Cause hot damn is he fast at writing.

"Hey, Set, what's that in your hand?" Itsuka asked beside her, glancing curiously at the ball of paper clutched in Setsuna's returned hand.

"I'm assuming a note from Recovery Girl," Setsuna replied, unfurling it before grinning. "Yep. She's telling me not to just send my hand next time. Hah, jokes on her, I didn't send it alone, I sent my eye with it."

Itsuka groaned beside her best friend.

Neito was doing his own analysis. Not on his classmates, but on his and Midoriya's soon to come battle trial. He bit his lip. They may have a chance if they were set against Komori and Tsuburaba. They were pretty much screwed if it was to be Honenuki and Itsuka. And if they went up against Shiozaki and Shoda... Forget Shoda (sorry man), but Shiozaki might just wipe the floor with them while praying her heart out. He'd seen her in action during the entrance exam. She was NOT a force to be reckoned with.

He almost began to think it a good idea if Midoriya decided to go with the nuclear option and blast their opposition away, negative points for self-injury and structural damage be damned. He quickly dismissed the thought, feeling guilty. He didn't want Midoriya to hurt himself. That sheer raw power he held was simply amazing, no doubt. But the drawback... Well, he'd seen what his finger had looked like after one throw. He didn't want to imagine the state his whole arm would be in if he used Superpower that way.

Well, nothing to it but waiting to see the next match-up, Neito crossed his arms in an attempt to hide his nerves as the participants of round 3 trooped back in worse for wear than when they started. The only ones who didn't seem that battered were Bondo and Hiryu, for obvious reasons.

"Good job, the four of you," Toshinori praised the students. "Shishida, come here, let me check for a concussion. Best to be sure..." A moment later Shishida was clear ("I have a thick skull," he'd offered) and Toshinori returned to the boxes. He spared a quick glance towards young Midoriya, who had put away his notebook, looking quite nervous. He'd be lying if he didn't favor the boy. He wasn't just his student after all, but he was also his protégé and successor.

Even so, he wouldn't coddle him. Nor would he attempt to make things easier for him by rigging the outcome of the battle trials. Whatever happens will happen. He could only hope that young Midoriya knew what he was doing. He was only able to do so much. He'd gotten the boy as ready as possible to receive One For All, but in the process had neglected to think about what Midoriya would have to do in order to reign it under his control. He would have to thank young Kendo for her brilliant idea one day.

But, will it be enough?

He hoped so. So as he plunged his hands back into the boxes and pulled up the first two balls his hands touched, he took a deep breath and announced, "The next match-up will be between Team F as the heroes and Team D as the villains!"

Neito let out the breath he had been holding. He and Midoriya would be going last it seemed. And...

He glanced towards Kendo, who smirked sideways at him. Well, at least it wasn't Shiozaki.

...

Nirengeki Shoda felt useless. Well, not really, but it was still an apt description. His partner was Shiozaki, the girl with vines for hair. Dressed in plain white robes and knee high black boots, her costume might be one of the simplest in the class. It also fit well with her whole religious theme. But it was her vines that were her main feature. He'd seen her use them to great success in the Quirk Apprehension Test. Most notably during the ball throw, where she'd simply extended her vines as far as they could go while holding the ball. And go far they could, getting one of the highest scores in the class.

They're the perfect capture weapon, Nirengeki thought as Shiozaki seemed to currently be in prayer. All she has to do is send them in and wrap up Komori and Tsuburaba. No capture tape needed.

He sighed. It was the perfect plan. He'd even agreed to it when Shiozaki proposed it. But it meant he didn't have a part to play in it. Unless something went off the rails. But that was extremely unlikely.

...

"Okay," Tsuburaba took a step back from the fake bomb they'd just set down in this back corner room. "Are we really sure this is gonna work? I mean... It just can't. Right?"

"W-well," Kinoko Komori pressed her index fingers together, not quite looking at him. He was wearing what almost looked like regular street clothes. A light blue jacket worn over a black shirt paired with beige jeans. The only odd things out were the kneepads and cylindrical shapes on the underside of his brown boots. "I couldn't think of anything b-better, shroom..."

Kosei Tsuburaba rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. Just his luck he was paired with the one shy girl in his class. Oh, she was cute, no doubt about that, her costume definitely angling towards that look. A red turtleneck dress with white polka dots and pink boots with mushroom shaped frills. Atop her head she wore a mushroom hat and clipped to either side of her waist were what looked like two spray guns. All in all, she looked like a humanoid mushroom. He hadn't seen her eyes yet, her long bangs keeping them obscured. While she wasn't exactly his type, she also didn't seem overly confident in herself. Yet, she had come up with this plan, and while he did have his doubts, it was the best plan they had to counter Shiozaki's vines.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly. "It's just... We're up against Shiozaki. I've only seen her use her vines during the quirk test, but she's got incredible control over them. Kinda makes the match seem unfair."

Kinoko nods wordlessly. They didn't have much going for them. And despite not really being that outgoing, she wanted to do her best regardless. She remembered back to the first day of class when she had wanted to touch Shiozaki's vines, wondering what it would look like should a mushroom grow on them. When she had briefly touched it, Shiozaki had instantly noticed. She hadn't been mad, even letting her run her fingers along them. They'd been soft. Not as soft as her shrooms though.

Kinoko shook her head. She'd gotten off track. This was her plan, which meant it was up to her to make sure it succeeds. She just wished she could be more confident in it. It didn't help that not many people liked her quirk in the first place. Reiko did, but they'd been friends since forever, so she didn't count. She couldn't really fathom how people couldn't like all her shrooms, but there were quite a lot that didn't. So then, maybe that could be weaponized for the sake of the battle trial.

Trying her best to smile confidently, she said, "W-we just need to do our best, shroom."

Kosei regarded her before nodding. He straightened, rolled his shoulders, and grinned cockily. "Let's show them not to mess with us then. Go out there and get to mushroom making!"

Komori blinked at him, still for a moment before a genuine grin widened her features and Kosei got a glimpse of her brown mushroom shaped pupils. "It'll be shroomtastic, just you see!" And with that she practically skipped her way out of the room.

Kosei just shook his head as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Really is cute."

...

As soon as All Might called for the match to start, Ibara shot her vines into the open doorway of the building. They snaked along the floors, walls, and ceiling, mapping out the first floor within the first thirty seconds before sending them to the second floor. She frowned. The second floor, while having similarities to the first, had a different layout that forced her to navigate more carefully and be extra thorough with her search. She wasn't just searching for her two classmates playing the role of villains, but the bomb as well. Grab that and it was their victory.

Yet there was something that bothered her. She retracted one of her vines, letting it fall into her open palm as she rubbed it.

"Is something wrong?" Shoda asked from behind her. She glanced back at her partner. One might be mistaken to think he was chubby. And while his cheeks certainly seemed so, the rest of him denied that logic. He was short, but he was well built. He wore a black suit with white outlining his muscles with black pants and white boots. Over his left eye he wore a blue scouter device that was likely synced up to the blue screen embedded into his right gloved hand.

"I... maybe," Ibara pursed her lips. "It's damp." She turned her gaze back to the building. "And it feels... quite humid inside."

...

Kosei was on edge. He'd seen Shiozaki's vines pass by, slithering across the floor and his invisible air barrier he'd set up over the door to the small room he was hiding out in. The bomb was behind him, behind another barrier of solid air. One couldn't be too careful. As Shiozaki's vines passed by harmlessly, he could do nothing but twiddle his thumbs and hope that they could win like this.

Once Shiozaki realized what he was doing, she would either try being more forceful or she and Shoda would come in after them. He allowed himself a quiet chuckle. The more he thought about it, the more he was actually beginning to believe they could win this.

"C'mon," he muttered to himself as he rubbed his hands in glee. "Come and get us."

...

Shiozaki was growing frustrated, muttering stuff about trickery and deception. Nirengeki was gonna have to ask her what was wrong again. He opened his mouth to say something when her eyes widened and an "aha" escaped her lips before several of her vines immediately began to retract.

"On the 5th floor," she smirked. "That'll be one down. I believe this is Komori. If I can just find the bomb then I won't have to search for Tsubu-" she cut herself off midsentence, staring in shock at what her vines had brought her. A large white mushroom with streaks of brown on its cap that was almost human sized and definitely not Komori. Her gaze whipped back up as her vines began moving again within the building, only for more shock to show on her face.

"What?" Nirengeki asked, but he suspected he knew what was happening.

"There are so many..." Shiozaki breathed. "Is that why- EEP!" She shrieked and leapt back, her vines cutting themselves off. She held a hand to her chest, eyes wide. "She grew them on my vines! How-! How sinful!"

Oh dear, Nirengeki thought, turning to face the doorway. Looks like the plan went off the rails.

...

The vines had gone limp. That meant Komori was beginning phase 2. Kosei watched as mushrooms of varying shapes and sizes began sprouting along every available surface outside of his room. Solid Air kept himself safe from the spores and the lone window provided him fresh air. Yet, even with all that, he was on edge. This was the one part of the plan where things could go either very good for them, or very bad.

His foot was tapping impatiently before he consciously had to stop himself. He kept staring at the open door, expecting Shiozaki and Shoda to walk by at any second. But as those seconds ticked by, his worries for himself lessened. For Komori though, they increased.

"Looks like it's up to you now," he murmured.

...

Kinoko peeked out from behind the corner to the stairwell. As soon as she had seen Shiozaki's vines approaching her, she'd immediately sprouted a Termitomyces titanicus cutie directly in the vine's path and Shiozaki had taken the bait, dragging her unfortunate shroom away. But now a vast majority of the building was covered in all sorts of cuties. She'd made sure that none of them were poisonous, but the sheer amount of them would hopefully be enough to throw Shiozaki off her game. It helped that her darlings could grow on her vines as well.

She took off again down the third floor hall, releasing spores left and right. She had to make as many as possible. It would be so dense that they would have trouble making their way through.

"C'mon my cutie shrooms!" Kinoko giggled, completely forgetting that her classmates were watching her from the basement. "Grow and grow to your heart's content!"

...

Most of the class visibly shivered at the sight of so many mushrooms, including Toshinori. Only Reiko and Izuku were unaffected, the former pleased that her friend was acting more confident, even if it was only because she was blind to everything but her "cutie shrooms" at the moment. The latter, however, had just begun filling a new whole page on Komori's quirk.

...

"Komori must have created a mushroom as a distraction," Ibara said with narrowed eyes as she and Shoda waded their way through a sea of mushrooms. "Which means they're definitely near or on the top floor."

The first floor hadn't had a whole lot, the second had more, but the third was absolutely jam packed full of them. Shoda had taken to using Twin Impact on Shiozaki's vines to clear large swaths of mushrooms. But they kept coming, slowly popping up. They'd even begun appearing on their persons, but Ibara's vines were quick to swipe them off the moment they appeared.

Ibara wanted to extend her vines and search for Komori and Tsuburaba or the bomb, but she would be incapable of dislodging the mushrooms that would inevitably pop up on her vines, so she was forced to keep her hair short, so to speak. So both she and Shoda had been forced to trudge through the mushrooms while searching for the bomb.

"They used the same strategy as Hiryu and Bondo," Shoda remarked, hopping over a large clump of mushrooms. "Slowing down our movement and waiting out the time by staying as far away from us as possible."

"Such underhanded tactics are sinful," Ibara huffed as she swatted more mushrooms out of the way with her vines before having to stop briefly to slap some mushrooms off of them.

"But it works," Shoda replied. "Better for them than for Hiryu and Bondo, actually. If Shishida were here, he could barrel through these mushrooms and find both Komori and Tsubaraba by smell. Or locate the bomb and go straight for that."

Ibara shook her head. "But we don't have Shishida, so we must focus on what we can do." She paused and looked around. Targeting the nearest room, she used her vines to clear the doorway of mushrooms and hurried inside to the window.

"What's the plan?" Shoda asked, hurrying after her.

"The mushrooms are growing mostly inside," Ibara told him, peering outside. Her vines whipped into action, shooting around the building and curling around every window she could find. She even risked shooting some inside and within moments they became heavy with mushrooms. She ignored the shiver that ran up her spine as she moved them as far as she could. Then she went still, pressing her hands in prayer as she closed her eyes.

"Uh... Shiozaki?"

"Shh," Ibara barely moved her lips.

Nirengeki nervously checked his radar. He had a small timer going. So far 13 and a half minutes had passed since they had begun. Most of the time had been spent wading through mushrooms.

Ibara forced herself not to react to the feeling of mushrooms appearing on her arms and legs. She was thankful for Shoda not brushing them off, as any more distractions might deter her from-

There! Her eyes shot open as something stepped on one of her fallen vines. Immediately she shot in a clump of vines from the nearest window, the outer layer peeling away as soon as mushrooms began growing on them. The inner vines were able to wrap around the person and she made sure to do so several times before she felt the weight of mushrooms atop them. Her prey struggled for a moment before falling still. Ibara felt some satisfaction at this before immediately feeling bad. Her face fell into her hands.

"Shiozaki, what's wrong?" Shoda asked worriedly.

"Oh Father in Heaven," Ibara moaned despairingly. "Using deceitful tactics to win, how I have sinned."

Shoda sweat dropped.

...

Komori hadn't seen the vine on the floor. All her cutie mushrooms had engulfed it from view, but the moment she stepped on it, vines shot from the nearest room and wrapped her up tightly. She fell to the ground, wriggling before realizing it was futile.

"Are you able to escape, Komori?" All Might's voice came in through her comm.

Kinoko hung her head in shame. "No."

A moment's pause, then broadcasted to everyone, "Kinoko Komori has been captured by the heroes!"

...

Kosei sat bolt upright. "Oh crap," he gulped. With Komori no longer in the battle trial, the growth of mushrooms would cease. Which meant...

Which means it's all down to luck now.

...

Ibara could finally move her vines unimpeded. Having resolved herself to pray more later for her sinful actions at laying such a deceitful trap, she had her vines practically tear their way through the third, fourth, and fifth floors. She wasn't wasting the few minutes they had left. She either needed to capture Tsuburaba or the bomb and the match would be theirs.

Then she found a room so chock full of mushrooms that she had to begin tearing away at them to even squeeze a single vine into it. This had to be where they had stashed the bomb.

"Almost got it," Ibara spoke through gritted teeth. "Almost- I'm through!" She grinned, only for it to fade away. Her vines probed the room. No bomb, no Tsuburaba, no nothing. "But.. but..." She narrowed her eyes, her vines retreating as they combed over the fifth floor again. Nothing. Feeling frustrated, she did another search of the fourth floor. Nothing again.

"Where are you?" She growled. Then it hit her. She paled. "No." As quick as they could go, her vines shot down the stairs, wound their way through the halls, down more stairs, then-

"And that's time! The villain team has won the match by waiting out the time limit! Sorry heroes, but you failed to stop the bomb from going off in time!"

Ibara fell to her knees, deaf to Shoda's voice. She'd failed. No, she'd failed them both.

...

"OH MAN!" Kosei whooped for joy as he kicked down his air barrier. "WE WON! HAH!" He stuck his hands in his pockets as he began whistling, calmly making his way down the hall towards the front entrance. Hell of a plan, Komori. Still not my type, but oh man do you rock!

Meanwhile, upstairs, Kinoko grinned wickedly as she heard All Might's announcement. "That really was shroomtastic."

...

"Bruh, how did she not..." Tokage shook her head as they watched the live feed. "I can't believe that actually worked. He stayed on the first floor the entire time!"

"It's a solid strategy," Izuku offered. "I mean, would you expect them to place the bomb on the first floor?"

"... Okay, that's fair."

"Still, tough luck for Shoda," Izuku murmured as he watched the boy help Shiozaki to her feet, who currently had her face in her hands once again. "Didn't really get to shine much, not with a partner like Shiozaki whose quirk does most of the work. Though, that mindset was one of the biggest reasons they lost. The other being Komori's quirk. That... that is a real scary quirk she has. I wonder- Huh?" He broke off as Monoma began dragging him away.

"C'mon," Neito urged him. "We need to come up with a good strategy and stat."

They were up next. They needed a solid plan or else they were going to lose for sure.

Heh, I know that the odds are stacked against us, Neito thought grimly. But after seeing these matches, I really don't want to lose even if we're at a disadvantage. So let's put our brains together, Midoriya, and win this!

"You? A hero? Be real, copycat."

"Do you really think you can rise to the top off of stolen powers?"

"You'll always be a shadow of those around you, Ne-i-to."

We will win this, Neito pushed the voices away, grimacing in determination. Or I can't call myself a future hero! 

So this chapter was originally going to include the last battle trial, but I hadn't expected these two battle trials to be this long. Finding time to write between school and work has been... rough, but I managed to finish this up in the last week, so I feel pretty proud of myself. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and eagerly look forward to the next update where Midoriya and Monoma face off against Kendo and Honenuki. Who will be the heroes!? Who will be the villains!? Who will win!? And watch out for some of Monoma's past coming back to haunt him as well! Until then, my dear readers! Toodles!