Archive of Our Own ^beta

Class 1-A vs. Class 1-B. Two hours to plan, attack, and best the other class in a creative version of a battle royale.

It was the first time since the sports festival that the classes has a chance to face each other. A chance that was desperately needed if the whispering by the teachers taught Izuku anything. The classes haven’t joined together in anything since summer camp and that was hardly a time for them to have a friendly competition with, you know, the League of Villains showing up and all.

“Blood King and I have decided to cancel your afternoon lessons and combine classes with 1-B just for this. In four hours’ time, you all and Class 1-B will be released onto Ground Beta to compete. Don't kill each other.”

Izuku looks around at his classmates all whispering and excitedly chatting. Kacchan has his feet propped up on his desk, arms crosses and looks smug. Kirishima shares a look with Sero and Denki while Ashido grins and leans forward eagerly. Tokoyami leans back in his seat, eyes closed but there’s a small smile tugging at his lips.  Uraraka throws her hands up in the air and cheers. The others expressions all range from undoubtfully excited to more nervous, in Mineta’s case.

Izuku couldn’t help but grin, feeling his own excitement. Hero training was always fun. 

Yaoyorozu cautiously raises her hand. “Aizawa-sensei. You said this wouldn’t be until after lunch, so are we allowed to prepare before then?”

 “Nothing physical besides warmups,” Aizawa says but pauses and sighs. “It would be stupid of me to assume that you wouldn’t start planning anyways.”

Yaoyorozu sits back down, looking satisfied. She glances at Izuku from where she and catches his eye. He offers her a small smile and nods his head. 

Four hours to plan. He could do that.

As Izuku picks at his lunch, he can’t help but be worried.

Yaoyorozu and Iida had manage to corral most of the class to sit together, if only for this lunch. While some prefer the company of friends, it seems that planning to win the competition won out in the end. There is no doubting the competitive spirit that was burning bright and the excitement that they all shared. Looking around at the table, Izuku can't help but smile. His class is really amazing, after all. 

They want to win.

“We don’t know much about Class 1-B,” Yaoyorozu says. “Right now, the most important thing is learning their quirks. We’ve seen very little of them so far and we didn’t have time to work with them during summer camp.”

The mood darkens for a moment at the very mention of that week. It was tough for all of them and isn’t something that they liked being reminded of. From the raid on the camp, to the injured students, to Kacchan being kidnaped and finally to the end of All Might. It was rough on all of them. 

Yaoyorozu seems to notice this and continues, “I know a few made it through during the Sports Festival. If anyone here faced one of them, please tell us what you can about their quirks.”

“That piss-faced brat can copy quirks by touching you,” Kacchan snarls from his place where the combined effort of Kirishima and Ashido had physically dragged him over. He punches his open hand and grins with something feral. “I’m gonna beat the absolutely shit outta him for what he did at the Sports Festival.”

Izuku doesn’t remember exactly what happened to Kacchan on that field (he was too busy fighting to keep the ten million safe) but from the expression on Kacchan’s face, he doesn’t ask. He’s just glad the anger isn’t directed at him, for once. 

They continue like that for a while—listing names and quirks. Monoma Neito, Fukidashi Manga, Itsuka Kendo, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, Shiozaki Ibara , just to name a few. Izuku ponders over any and all physical limitations and tries to desperately put together a way to beat them should they face any of them. He doesn’t doubt his classmates' ability and experience (something that Class 1-B lacked in comparison) but he knows it would be stupid to underestimate any of them. Monoma had said it himself—more of Class A failed the provisional licenses. More of Class A failed their exams.

Class B is strong. It’s something that they need to remember.

“Oh?” a voice says from behind him and he whips around only to see Monoma himself standing there, aggressive grin in place. “If it isn’t Class A. Are you ready to fail, just like you did during your licenses? Class B is just better, don’t you know?! Look at you all, already preparing to lose, huh? Because when we’re through with you, no matter what schemes you come up with, we will—"

“We’re not here to lose, dude,” Sero interrupts, sounding more tired than angry and lazily pulling some tape off his elbow. They were all used to Monoma now, it seems.

Monoma doesn’t seem deterred, grin only getting more vicious. He stares down Kacchan. “So confident…yet you have a loose cannon, don’t you? What’s the point of planning if one of you is just going to go off alone?”

Kacchan slams his hands onto the table, charring it as tiny explosions happen under his fingers. His face is twisted into a sneer and he leans forward, “’Cause I can beat every single one of you fuckers with my hands tied behind my back.”

Monoma laughs, clutching his belly. “Oh, that’s precious! I can’t wait to see how that will work out for you, Mr. Sludge Man. You know that—"

Monoma suddenly lurches forward and slumps to the floor just as Kacchan lunges for him, only to be held back by Kirishima and Kaminari. Izuku flinches back in surprise, looking up only to see Kendou wave at them. He doesn't know much about her other tahn that she's teh class rep, she can do something with her hands and she generally deals with all of Monoma's bullshit. 

“Sorry about him,” Kendou says and grins. She meets his eyes as she hoists Monoma, who was muttering curses and struggling wildly, over her shoulder. “Good luck today.”

“You too,” Izuku says automatically, despite the odd looks his class gives him.

Kendou only tips her head in acknowledgment as she walks away, rouge classmate in tow.

“Don’t be nice to the enemy,” Kaminari says, giving Izuku an odd look. Before he can even think to respond, the rest of his classmates start jumping in.

Ashido laughs, “Maybe Midoriya’s a double agent.”

Hagakure lets out a laugh and teasingly says, “Midoriya, how dare you!”

They break out into teasing and chattering, despite the challenge looming ahead of them. This was fine, Izuku thinks. Being relaxed would do them more good than being worked up about it.

Besides….

Monoma’s rant might’ve been meant to scare them, but it only served to do the opposite. Izuku has to fight a grin as he watches Kendou drag her classmate back to their table.

He has a plan.

Monoma squints from where he’s seated at Class 1-B’s table. “They’re up to something.”

He tries to ignore the warning pressure from Kendou’s hand around the base of his neck. He feels his grin twitch. The rest of his neck already hurt from when she karate chopped him not five minutes ago for, as she put it, ‘disrupting the peace and making a general pest of himself'. Didn’t she see that they had to beat them?!

Shihai Kuroiro picks at his food, rolling his eyes. “We’ve already got a plan.”

Jurota Shishida adjusts his glasses as he glances at the other class. “That Bakugo of theirs is going to run off anyways. I don’t know why he’s even sitting there.”

Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu is staring intensely at the red-head with the hardening quirk. Monoma doesn’t remember his name. Krishoma? Kirima? Ah, well, it doesn’t matter anyway when they beat them to the floor. After all, Class 1-B has the advantage of knowing a good majority of Class 1-A’s quirks thanks to the publicity and Sports Festival. The same could not be said for their own quirks.

“Listen,” Sen Kaibara says, leaning back in his chair with his hands above his head. “We really only need to worry about Blasty Mcsplodes, Endeavor’s kid and that green-haired one with the weird quirk.”

“Does anyone know what it is?” Kinoko Komori asks.

“Doesn’t matter,” Yui Kodai says. “Some strength enhancement thing. We’re still gonna beat them. Let it lie, Monoma. I’m not wasting my lunch for this shit.”

Monoma does, sinking back into his seat. He feels Kendou release the base of his neck. He can’t stop the excited grin on his face because, damn, it was going to feel good to win.

When the timer starts, Kacchan is the first to run off.

Ground Beta looms before them, eerily quiet sans the sound of Kacchan’s explosions as he rockets his way around the area.The rest of the class watch him go, huddled by the start line. The wind whistles as it blows between the empty buildings. Some of the exposed wires sway. Izuku hasn't been in here much, but he still remembers it and all the other grounds of UA for different training purposes. 

“Alright everyone,” Iida says and the class gathers to look at him. “You all know the plan. If we work as a team then there is no way for them to win.”

“Plus Ultra!” Uraraka says and thrusts her fists into the air with a smile.

“Plus Ultra!” the class shouts back and, with that, they head into the maze that is Ground Beta.

“We’ve lost sight of the rest of 1-A. They headed towards the Northeast quadrant. Bakugo left the moment the timer went off,” Togaru Kamakiri says from his spot on lookout. He glances back at his class representative. “You were right about that, Kendou.”

“He’s strong, but he’s arrogant and has a nasty personality. We all saw it at the sports festival,” Kendou replies. “Alright, you guys know the plan. Jurota, Nirengeki, Setsuna, Kojiro, Juzo, Reiko, Hiryu and Yosetsu. Take him out.”

The group nods and grins, shoving each other. They’re confident in their abilities and Kendou believes in them too. Bakugo would be a hard opponent, but he’s a first year like the rest of them. Plus, he has weaknesses and they would find them. Eight against one is not very good odds, even for a man like Bakugo Katsuki. 

“As for the rest of you!” Kendou turns on her heels, looking at the rest of the class. They know the general area that Class 1-A was in. Finding them now is just a matter of time and a little bit of brain power. Monoma in particular seems excited. “Let’s go knock out the rest of Class 1-A.” 

“You need to work on that temper of his, Aizawa,” says Blood King as they watch the battle unfold from the many cameras placed around Ground Beta.

Aizawa watches as Bakugo sprints through Ground Beta with practice ease—heading straight towards the second entrance line where Class 1-B entered. Aizawa narrows his eyes as he watches his student’s movements. They're not...jerky. Nor are the random. There's a purpose there, Aizawa thinks. 

“That's not it,” Aizawa disagrees because he’s seen Bakugo Katsuki angry and rash but this….this was different.

“Mineta, it’s your turn,” Tysu says as she looks down at Mineta’s shriveling form.

“I-I don’t want to! This is awful! You expect me to beat the entire class?!” Mineta wails.

“Eat shit,” Jiro tells him.

Mineta protests and cries, but eventually Izuku and the others manage to convince him to leave the safety of their temporary base. He runs, screaming, out of the building, flinging his purple grape-like balls all over the place. It takes approximately thirty seconds before Mineta is knocked away by a green blur and flung into one of the side walls, unconscious.

Togaru Kamakiri drops to the floor, looking nonchalant. The rest of his class follows suit. Soon, all of Class 1-B has them cornered.

“He gave away your base,” Sen Kaibara mentions, eyebrow raised and seemingly unconcerned. “I didn’t expect you all to be that reckless, but I shouldn’t be surprised. That’s how you all get involved in all that villain business, isn’t it?”

“Well, fuck,” Sero says with as straight a face as he can, but there’s a smile tugging on the corner of his lips. The rest of Class 1-A slowly get into fighting stances. They got 1-B's attention, exactly according to the plan. 

There were missing five people still, but Izuku doubted class 1-B would notice that little detail. Tokoyami, Sato, Kouda, Ojiro and Iida had been gone since the start of the challenge, after all.

Jurota Shishida and his group find Bakugo.

It’s actually quite easy when you have one member who has an amazing sense of smell in beast-mode and, well, Bakugo isn’t exactly the quietest person around.

Bakugo sees them and promptly send a massive explosion towards them.

“W-Whoa!” Nirengeki says and just barley dodges the massive fireball that’s sent his way. Jurota steadies his classmates and prepares to attack. Bakugo is a strong person, no doubt but he was alone. This battle should be one-sided. Eight against one is not very good odds but even then, they had to—

A hand taps on his shoulder. Jurota turns. 

“Hey,” a buff man covered in all yellow says. Jurota barely has time to think, isn’t that Rikido Sato? before the man socks him in the face so hard it sends him sprawling.

Yosetsu lunges and helps him up. Jurota stares up at the group that had definitely not been there before. Fumikage Tokoyami, Rikido Sato, Koji Kouda, Mashirao Ojiro and Tenya Iida all stood before him, decked out in their hero gear and not at all surprised to see them.

“What the hell is Class 1-A doing here?” Yosetsu grits his teeth.

“What a mad banquet of darkness,” the bird man—Tokoyami? says.

“I could’ve beat them all myself, you fucks,” Bakugo snarls at them but readies himself to fight anyways.

The battle was entirely one sided for all the wrong reasons.

In Izuku’s opinion, the challenge so far is going good.

A little too good.

They're currently in the process of their fake retreat—getting to the specific area so they could carry out the next part of their plan. Class 1-B is right behind them, giddy and thinking that they had the upper hand of surprise.

That’s fine. Izuku can use that.

It’s not until they pass the second building with the large X carved into the side does Izuku skid to a stop and face their opponents. They're in a clearing surrounded by several buildings. It looks much like the rest of Ground Beta but yet, he calls One for All and his skin erupts in green lightning as the energy flows through his veins. 

“Todoroki, now!” Izuku yells and Todoroki doesn’t hesitate to create a giant ice wall that surrounds the immediate area, trapping both classes and cutting off any of Class 1-B’s escape routes.

Izuku notices as Kendou skids to a halt and he can tell the exact moment that she realizes something is very, very, wrong.

“You’re forgetting half of our class,” Kendou says and her voice is steady but she’s wary. The girl that looks like a horse lowers her horns to point them forward. The guy made of shadows lingers towards the ice wall. The guy with the speech-bubble head makes an exclamation point appear. 

Uraraka smiles and steps forward, “Are we, though?”

Kendou only has a moment to process that before the realization comes hard. He watches as her eyes skim all of the gathered Class 1-A and he knows that she notices some are missing. One of Class 1-B, Togaru Kamakiri, the one that took out Mineta, tries to turn and retreat but it’s already too late.

Class 1-A turns and attacks.  

The battle isn’t easy, even with the surprise attack and the lack of reinforcements on Class 1-B’s side. It takes time and energy, but sure enough, what remained of Class 1-A was starting to overwhelm the rest of Class 1-B. 

“Fall back!” Kendou calls and Monoma is the first to retreat, but there’s nowhere for them to go. They huddle by the ice, three of the class in front to defend their classmates as the others whisper to themselves. They try and regroup, but at this point there isn’t much of a reason too. They’re cornered and beaten. It’s just a just a matter of time before they give up.

His plan worked. They were going to win.

(It’s the overconfidence that ends up ruining it.)

Izuku steps forward and at that exact moment, Monoma sprints out and slams into Izuku before he can even react. They're both send sprawling into the dust as Izuku tries desperately to flip him off. His classmates rush forward, intending to pry Monoma away. Monoma is father, though, and rolls off of him before he can even land a hit. He staggers to his feet and backs up towards Class 1-B with a crazed grin as he laughs and laughs and laughs.

He copies quirks by touching you.

Oh, shit.

Monoma confidently steps forward and Izuku steps back. He sees Jiro hold out her hands to stop Kirishima from rushing to him. Ice is starting to form at Todoroki’s feet as Todoroki glares something fierce. Sero grabs a piece of his tape and bites his lip. Aoyama readies his laser. Uraraka has her hands clenched to her side so hard that she's shaking. Monoma must see the look in their eyes because he cackles, “Now I have the strongest quirk on the field! What are you gonna do about it, huh, 1-A?!”

His classmates don’t move, wary. Izuku barely has enough time to react because holy shit he just copied One for All when Monoma raises his hands and—

Nothing.

There’s a pause.

“What?” Monoma lowers his hands, shakes them a bit before trying again.  Still, nothing happens. He seems increasingly frustrated. “I know I touched you! Why isn’t it working?!”

Before Izuku can even come up with a semblance of a reply to that, Monoma stalks forward and smacks him in the chest so hard it sends him sprawling.

He raises his hands and yet nothing happens.

The field is silent, dumbfounded. No one knows how to react. Izuku is too busy thinking about why Monoma couldn’t copy One for All. After all, Aizawa-sensei can erase it with no trouble at all. It behaves mostly like a normal quirk, save for the weird dreams and the whole ‘dark past’ thing that comes with it. No one else on the field knows about it, though. By all means, Monoma should be able to copy it easily unless….

“You copy the quirk that people born with,” Izuku breathes out loud before he can stop himself. He slaps both of his hands over his face and blushes down to his roots. There was no doubt that Aizawa-sensei was going to notice this entire mess.

“Yes?” Monoma says with the most incredulous look.

Both classes simply stare at each other, not knowing what to do. Izuku still has his hands firmly clamped over his mouth because damn his stupid muttering! Why did he say that out loud. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Izuku eventually meets Monoma’s eyes and he watches as the confusion turns to rage. Suddenly, Monoma isn’t looking at him but at—

Izuku feels his eyes widen and he whips around to call out, “Todoroki, watch out!” but by then, Monoma has already crossed the field and touched Todoroki’s side. He doesn’t give Todoroki a chance to retaliate and sends a wave of ice directly at him, sending him sprawling.

Yaoyorozu rushes over and helps him up. Izuku sends him a worried glance, but he knows Todoroki is strong. Right now they had bigger things to worry about…

“It’s not strength enchantment,” Monoma says, looking at his hands. There’s a deadly smile on his face. His class seems to rally behind him, cheering. “But this will do.”

“Well, fuck,” Sero says and means it this time.

Izuku’s plan falls apart after that.

In the five minutes that Monoma can copy quirks, he’s made a mess over everything. Todoroki’s quirk is powerful, even in the hands of someone untrained to use it. Monoma is very good at adapting quirks to fit his needs. In the five minutes that he stole Todoroki’s, he also managed to steal Kirishima’s and Sero’s. And Todoroki's again. And Kaminari's. 

Class 1-A was fighting. Uraraka, Aoyama, Ashido, Tsuyu, Kaminari, Kirishima, Shoji, Jiruo, Sero, Todoroki, Hagakure and Yaoyorozu. There was still a chance that they could win, but Monoma is much stronger than they thought, sneaking between battles and stealing quirk after quirk. He’s quick on his feet and very apt at using different quirks in all different styles. Izuku sees him becoming a strong hero. His quirk is amazing, after all! 

Yet, for some reason, Monoma is dead set on taking Izuku out.

I can’t possibly know why that would be, Izuku thinks sarcastically. No matter how many times he’s been touched, Monoma still hasn’t been able to copy his quirk.

This is the only time being quirkiness has every helped him instead of blown up in his face. However, at the rate everything was going, something was going to blow up in his face and he’s pretty sure that’s going to be Monoma.

Monoma eventually backs Izuku into a corner. The ice wall touches his back and he's separated from his friends. He hopes they're okay, but he has bigger things to worry about. His right arm is bleeding and he thinks he might have bruised his back, but he can still fight. Monoma takes a step forward and his left side flares to life as fire burns around them.

(the fire side; the one that had taken Todoroki so long to use, carelessly being thrown around.)

“I don’t know why I can’t copy your quirk,” Monoma says. “It doesn’t matter, anyways, because we’ve won.”

He stares up at Monoma, calling One for All and watching as Monoma backs off now that he’s using his quirk again. Monoma takes to opportunity to blast him with more of Todoroki’s fire and forces Izuku further back into the ice wall. Izuku faces Monoma, fully prepared to throw a punch when something behind him catches Izuku’s eye. He pauses, and looks because there’s movement from the top of the ice wall, fast enough that Izuku has to blink before he sees it again.

He doesn’t stop the grin from breaking across his face when he meets Monoma’s eyes.

“You forgot Kacchan,” he says, covered in bruises and blood but still standing strong.

“Who?” Monoma says, confused.

Kirishima tackles him out of the way just as Kacchan blasts Monoma in the back and sends him sprawling into the dirt. The fire around them reaches even bigger heights.

Monoma flips on his back with amazing speed, whirling around with a snarl and holds out his hand. Izuku can only imagine that he’s trying to call on Todoroki’s fire again, but nothing happens.

Kacchan grins and cracks his knuckles, “Time’s up, fucker.”

“You were supposed to go off on your own,” Monoma says, eyes wide. 

Kirishima helps Izuku up, laughing. Monoma turns to him with an icy look but Kirishima only flashes him a grin. Kacchan lets tiny explosions from his palm as a warning. Around them, the battle rages on as 1-A’s five missing classmates join the fray.

“There’s only one thing Bakugo hates more than teamwork,” Kirishima grins, wild. Izuku's still impressed that he managed to convince Kacchan to follow the plan. “And that’s losing.”

Class 1-B does end up losing that day, but it’s a near thing.

The bell rings, signaling the end of the challenge. All around him, UA students, both A and B alike are sprawled on the floor, sweaty and bloody and bruised but they’re laughing. Some of Class 1-B come and congratulate him, say that it was a pretty cool trick stopping Monoma’s quirk. The rest lick their wounds and stalk off without a word. Monoma sends Izuku a particular nasty glare as he’s escorted by Recovery Girl herself to treat his burns.

Izuku looks at the watch tower where there was no doubt that Aziawa and Blood King were watching before looking down at his hands. He clenches them into fists.

Izuku can’t stop feeling like he messed up somehow.

It’s takes a week for everything to settle back down.

Izuku was congratulated and they laughed and celebrated in the dorms that night. Battle stories were told with wild hand gestures and exaggerated movements. The rest of his classmates were interested in how he stopped Monoma’s quirk. Izuku has tried to shrug it off and say it was no big deal. Say that he just tricked Monoma.

Trade secret, sorry, he would say. Can’t tell anyone.

(he pretends not to notice Kacchan glaring at him off to the side.)

Thankfully, the rumors died down because in the end, that’s all they thought it was—a trick. A fluke. 

Monoma finds him alone and corners him the moment that week ends.

“I don’t know how you did that,” he says. He’s not laughing like he normally is and there’s something in his eyes that sets Izuku on edge. “But trust me when I say I will find out.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Izuku says and tries not to let his nervousness show. He clutches his textbooks close to his chest.

Monoma sneers at him but the light is gone from his eyes and Izuku can breathe again, “You think you’re so smart, huh? Wait until Class 1-B beats you! We’ll have the last laugh! We will win! We’re not going to stand in your shadow!”

With that, Monoma leaves him standing there, clutching his books and late to class.

He’s a little bit like Kacchan, Izuku thinks and sighs. That’s the last thing he needs. If Kacchan ever stopped to consider his classmates as well.

He just shrugs and walks off. There’s nothing he can do about that now.

He’ll just have to be a bit more careful around Monoma now.