(Going for two chapters. Been writing on my Nightcore playlist and decided to put one of my favorites on loop for the next two hours. I've been really inspired lately. My commission caused a sudden itch to draw, and now I have an itch to write. This is fun.)

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(Narrator POV)

The next fight came up and it was team Asui and Tokoyami. They stood in the middle of the exam site waiting for the match to be announced. No sooner than it had, multiple clones had appeared around the two and they surrounded. A few seconds later and they charged. In three seconds, Tokoyami had thrown Asui to the next floor and as soon as she landed on the wall of the coliseum she picked him up and dragged him up with her. It amazed their small audience to no end how well they pulled that off.

"That's Tokoyami-kun and Tsuyu-san for you! They're amazing!" Izuku nodded, a hand placed on his chin in thought. "Only they could pull off something like that," he said. "Communication skills," Recovery Girl piped in, finally returning from healing the injured contestants. "In this society, it's an important skill to have for heroes to have. More than being able to pull off the perfect team play with a specific sidekick, it's better to be able to achieve a certain standard with everyone," she continued, once again returning her attention to the fight.

Izuku thought about her words, trying to see what she meant. Watching the fight, he realized something. While Tokoyami did a good job of long-range attacks, he never once let his enemy get close. Asui was an amazing fighter and an excellent student. She showed little to no clear signs of weakness. She always appeared calm and collected at all times, allowing emotional support in tough situations; like the USJ. She covered Tokoyami's back when a clone got too close for his liking and played the perfect support to Tokoyami's main weakness.

"He can't fight in close combat. He's so used to relying on his quirk that he never counted on his enemies getting close enough to harm him. He thinks that his powerful quirk makes up for his lack of skill. This matchup was made specifically for him," Izuku thought aloud. "Correct. I'm glad you picked up on that. You are just as perceptive as Professor Gaster said you were," she praised. Uraraka was looking at Izuku with stars in her eyes, but Izuku was gritting his teeth. They thought he was thinking hard about something, but in reality, he was fuming. The thought of Tokoyami having this much unearned confidence was infuriating. He didn't have even a fraction of the training it took to be this confident! And all because of his quirk? Izuku was disappointed in his class, to say the least.

Regardless, he watched as the two ran around the building defeating clone after clone until they finally reached the exit. Standing at the gate, however, was the real Ectoplasm. To both the contestant's surprise and their own, Ectoplasm sent out his final attack: a giant clone of himself, bigger than any other. And despite trying to dodge the attack, they were still captured. However, that didn't seem to stop the fight. Tokoyami sent out Dark Shadow to try to make it out of the gate, but it was blocked and forced to fight. It was then that Izuku noticed Asui doing something. Nobody else seemed to notice her actions, so he kept quiet and watched as the frog girl propelled the handcuffs out of her mouth. 'She swallowed the cuffs in the case that they would get captured. But to retrieve them, she had to eject them out of her stomach... Ew.'

Dark Shadow retreated to Asui and stealthily grabbed the cuffs in one hand and returned to the battle swinging that arm, tricking the hero into believing that it was coming in for an attack. The dark creature was pushed back with a powerful kick and knocked out, only to reveal what its final attack truly was. "He's been handcuffed!" Uraraka cheered. Izuku nodded in response. "Dark Shadow and Frog. They used their quirks very well together," Izuku agreed. "Team Asui and Tokoyami have passed!" The voice announced. Izuku might not have liked Tokoyami's confidence, but the raven-headed teen had proved his communication skills if nothing else. So he couldn't be too harsh on someone so cooperative.

. . .

The next few fights followed that pattern. Ilda and Ojirou escaped without injury and passed. The show they put on was impressive, though. Power Loader had created pitfalls all throughout the site so fighting was near impossible for the two, as they both had to have a floor to fight on. Neither of their quirks was suited for this battle, so they opted to retreat. Ilda had outrun the pitfalls just enough for Ojirou to be able to reach the gate on his own but was interrupted by Powerloader. In response, Ojirou used the hero as a launch pad and smacked him with his tail to give him an extra boost. Ojirou escaped and they won.

Todoroki and Momo were up and it was... interesting. Momo seemed to be having trouble with her self-confidence. Todoroki had come up with the current plan, but she seemed to want to take control. She was doubting her leadership abilities because someone else was taking charge. Izuku had concluded that her self-doubt was based on her once-high confidence that was injured during the sports festival and she was falling apart because of it. He wasn't surprised when Todoroki got caught with his plan that revolved entirely around a surprise attack strategy, but Yaoyorozu came in with a surprising plan and even more surprising materials that paired perfectly with their quirks. Aizawa lost for the sole reason that he was expecting Todoroki to attack him directly, but was caught off guard when he lit the material on fire and it locked in place and trapped him. Aizawa was captured and they passed.

. . .

Uraraka and Aoyama didn't pair well together, but they pulled through in the end. Uraraka had tried to follow Aoyama's plan, because he didn't seem to want to listen to hers, and they ended up in a tough spot where Thirteen was trying to drag them closer to her and they were holding onto a ledge for dear life. Uraraka had let go and spun around mid-air, landing directly on Thirteen's chest and pinning her to the ground. Aoyama had come in last second and pinned Thirteen's other arm before the space hero could retaliate, allowing Uraraka to cuff the teacher. To Izuku, that entire interaction looked entirely instinctual. They had no plan whatsoever but managed to win anyways.

Asui had joined the audience in her stead. "It looked like she just happened to let go," she pointed out. "I was wondering what that was about. Even though she pulled off an epic move like that with such an intimidating face, it looked almost instinctual," Izuku agreed. "Yes. I wonder what she was talking about with Aoyama right before she let go?" she wondered, poking her cheek in thought. "Well, we can't hear anything over here, so we'll probably never know. "Uraraka passed, huh? I don't expect any less," Ilda praised, walking into the observation room with Yaoyorozu. "Congratulations to you and Momo as well," Izuku praised, getting a couple of smiles and a nod in return. "Thanks, Dreemur,"

"I wonder what team will go next, ribbit?" Asui asked, getting us all back on track as always. "The sixth match is team Ashido and Kaminari. They will be up against Principle Nezu," Yaoyorozu replied. Izuku let out a dark chuckle, that slowly developed into hysteric laughter, scaring everyone in the room. "Oh! Those two are goners! Totally dead! No way they're passing this!" he laughed. "W-what do you mean? The Principle isn't very big, and he only has an intelligence quirk-" Uraraka tried to say, but was interrupted by a very scary Izuku. "Exactly that Uraraka-san, he has an intelligence quirk. Do you know what happens when you give someone like him so many toys to play with? Look at all those pipes, all that construction equipment, and all those empty buildings. He's going to turn this entire arena into a game of Dominoes and chase them around like mice in a maze. Those two idiots are going up against a living supercomputer. They never stood a chance, to begin with," Izuku explained.

And just like he had predicted, they ran headfirst into the maze of a city only to stop at the sound of an earthquake. A pipe broke above them and buildings came toppling down one after another. The ground shook and explosions rang out. Creaking, whinging, and screams filled the air. Nezu was closing off three of the four exits and scaring them into aimlessly running around like panicked civilians. Nezu was seen piloting a crane and wrecking walls. The walls caved in on top of power generators.  The generators exploded and toppled buildings. The building fell on top of one another like a row of Dominoes. Nezu was holding a cup of tea and attempting to drink it through his maniacal laughter, not that it mattered since he was spilling it all over himself.

"Humans did a bunch of experiments on Nezu in the past, so it's times like these that he can't help but show his true self," Recovery Girl calmly explained, though that didn't ease the absolute terror and pity they all felt towards the two children. It wasn't much longer until they ran out of time and lost. Nezu had left an exit for them, but they couldn't outrun him. "They really couldn't do a thing. They must be so frustrated," Yaoyorozu sadly whispeUraraka had walked in right after the intercom had announced their loss. "Mina's team lost?" she asked worriedly. "Yes. The principal's strategy was too perfect," Ilda told her. Uraraka felt bad for them but quickly felt better when Ilda congratulated her on her win. Asui took this moment to ask her about what she and Aoyama were talking about, but she got flustered and panicked at the question. She was embarrassed about something, but they couldn't quite tell what.

. . .

Team Kyoka and Joda were next, and they were facing Present Mic. "Well this is a very mean matchup," Izuku remarked. "How so, kero?" "The practical exam matches up students with the teachers they have the hardest time with on purpose, right? Kyoka and Jirou have sound-based quirks that make them sensitive to loud noises. Present Mic's quirk is also sound based, but it overpowers small sounds by being really loud. What will two sound-based quirks do against a quirk that drowns out sound?" he clarified.

Jirou and Koda spent a good minute having to cover their ears to protect themselves from the painful screams of Mic's quirk: voice. Jirou got them a brief moment of silence by plugging her earphone jack into her boots and canceling out the attack with an equally loud sound. They looked to be having a very desperate conversation. The cancel tactic didn't seem to work very well because his voice came back twice as loud as before. It took the sight of blood running out of Jirou's ears to get Koda to shakily use his quirk on what appeared to be crushed rock. Izuku didn't understand how that would do anything until Present Mic screamed in terror as bugs of all kinds crawled up his leg. The sight had gotten most of the crowd squeamish, aside from Izuku and Asui. Izuku had no problem with bugs but he nearly laughed when he noticed that Asui looked hungry. 'She wants to eat them!' Izuku thought to himself, looking away from the frog girl to prevent her from seeing his face. Asui could tell he was laughing, but she figured he was laughing at Mic.

Koda and Jirou had used the distraction to make their way through the gate to their victory.

. . .

Shouji and Toru's match was cool but relatively short. Snipe threw a smoke bomb to obscure their vision, but it backfired when Toru took off her gloves and boots and walked straight into the smoke. Shouji had picked up on her plan and acted as a diversion. When Snipe had 'caught' Shouji, Toru took the chance and cuffed him. They passed a lot easier than the rest of the class.

Luckily, there was always Asriel to make things interesting. The next match was Asriel and Sero's team versus Midnight. Sero had seen midnight round the corner of the rock they were walking next and pulled Asriel out of the way before trying to stick her to said rock but his efforts were in vain when she dodged the attack and put him to sleep with her quirk: Somnambulist. She can make people fall asleep with the fragrance she emits from her skin. Asriel had gotten upset that Sero thought he needed protecting but appreciated the thought nonetheless. The worst part was that he had to hold back so he wouldn't hurt her too much, so he was left trying to think of a solution by himself. He looked to be watching Midnight from a distance. She didn't appear to be moving, for the time being, so he would retreat to rethink his strategy.

Asriel wasn't very fond of this method but it seemed to be the only one that worked, as he had never fought against gasses. Every time he wanted to fight alongside his brother, he was always stuck leaving his brother alone for the sake of others. He was always leaving his partner behind to save others, but never being able to save his partner until it was too late and they were already injured and weak. Asriel just wanted to stay by their side for once. He wanted to be his brother's hero, but how could he do that if he kept his distance? The sound of a whip cracking had frightened Asriel out of his thoughts, causing him to release what looked like a shout of surprise- but Izuku knew his brother, and knew that by Midnight's reaction, that it was very much a bleat.

He spun around to see Midnight walking up to him with a strange look in her eyes, the pink fog surrounding her. Asriel took a frightened step back as Midnight cooed at him. He ran behind a rock as Midnight stepped closer. A few seconds of silence later and out he came with some of Sero's tape over his muzzle as a makeshift mask. She tried to attack him, but he dodged and sliced her whip in half with his sword, sending out small magic stars in the process. One of the stars hit her hand and she dropped the whip with a hiss of pain. Asriel took this small moment of weakness to cuff her and win the exercise.

Praises were heard all around the room for Asriel's success. "Hey Izuku it's your-" she started to say but stopped when she saw that the boy in question was no longer there. Izuku had already run off to his exam site. Upon arrival, he noticed Bakugou standing at the gate. Izuku had tried once more to talk to the hot-headed blonde, only to get a scoff in return. Bakugou was way too prideful to listen. Izuku could tell that the blonde needed to be knocked down in order to get back up, so he would let Bakugou fall and see what happens. Bakugou couldn't possibly learn anything from this if he just relies on himself, and he won't learn anything by giving up either. Izuku needs to find him at his weakest and most vulnerable state in order for him to finally accept help. So now he had a plan on how to win against both enemies. It was a bit petty and slightly cruel, but it would work.

He could only hope that All Might would agree.

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(Man I'm about to absolutely destroy this kid. Sans might not be here to judge Bakugou, but All Might is the next best thing. Here comes the beginning of Bakugou's redemption arc, everyone!

And with that said, thanks for reading!)