FIGHT DUB CLUB, Match 3

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[PART 1: DAZE N SUNSHINE]

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"You can lead them to a win."

With that, Hoge walked away from her.

"... Who was that?" Hailey asked her, baffled.

"I think that was our class rep?" Faith replied, unsure herself. It was nice having a classmate believe in her, though.

"Stop standing around and get to the war room," Genma said, walking past them. They glared at his back but kept pace a second later, with Sen following suit. Hailey stealthily waved to Hifumi as she walked away.

"Everything on a villain victory," The class rep wagered, dumping everything in her wallet over the prize pool.

"Ugh!" Inigo winced, clutching his poor heart in pain. He didn't even have a chance to call Hoge in despair before they disappeared into the background.

Behind him, Bobby pulled on the cloth over his armor. "C'mon, Inigo, get up."

"Go on without me, Bobby... I don't have a reason to fight anymore..."

The taller boy rolled his eyes and lifted his teammate to his feet. Inigo scrambled to grab his helmet off the ground as the exchange student manhandled him.

"How about not flunking the class?" Bobby asked.

"Oh right, that." At his classmate's unimpressed look, he continued, fixing his scarf, "I'm going, I'm going, sheesh." His friend was taking this surprisingly seriously. "But I can't just leave the betting circle without an organizer!"

He pointed to a classmate. "Tanaka! Can I trust you to keep the gambling alive?"

Sora shrugged. "Sure."

"I'm not feeling any safety in that answer—"

Bobby began to drag him away to their war room, where Hifumi and Sandatsu were waiting by the door, one with an easy-going grin, the other with a bored expression.

"—But I'm leaving it to yoooou!"

The hero team entered the place together.

"Aight, we gotta make it snappy since this drama queen was taking so long," Bobby urged, patting Inigo on the shoulder. "Me, Hifumi, 'n Inigo already know each other's quirks, so you're the only blank here, Sandatsu."

Sandatsu made a complicated expression. How the hell was he supposed to explain it?

No way he was getting into that.

"Errm... I can manipulate my own body. Regenerate wounds and grow arms." It was a mish-mash description of what he had right now, which would not hold up if he got more powers, but he couldn't take too long to answer, or they'd get suspicious.

"By the way, I know about Samson's quirk," Since he was Sun Man's kid, "And Myoga's," Hard to miss the dragon floating over his shoulder, "But I don't know what Takeda can do."

"Call me Hifumi, man. And my power's「Blink」."

"As for the other team... Hay has telekinesis, Faith makes robot servants, Sen is a body enhancement type..." Hifumi paused. "I have no idea what Kinji does."

"Neither do I," Bobby admitted.

"I'm pretty sure it's something motorcycle-related," Inigo guessed.

"Nah, dude, that's his hobby."

"No, no, Inigo might be onto something," Hifumi mused, rubbing his chin. "I've seen some of the parts for his bike, and they looked like they were made with a quirk."

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[FIGHT DUB CLUB]

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"So!" Hailey clapped. "You two, spill your quirks."

Genma raised an eyebrow, about to say she should go first before Sen beat him to speaking.

"Mine is「Locomotive」!"

Hailey hummed the Thomas the Tank Engine theme song under her breath while he explained it. He did not notice. Faith struggled not to laugh during it, and Genma gave them weird looks for it.

"My quirk is「Magnum Opus」."

"Oh. Can you make frames for my「Drone」quirk?"

"Yeah. I don't know a lot of blueprints for robots, but if your quirk animates the metal, I can skimp out on some details of the structure, and it'll still work."

"Start making some small, flying ones. They can search the buildings for us while we fight the other team."

Genma nodded. His hand began to glow gold as he focused on a mental image.

"Hey, I know you're hyped that we have someone to fulfill your robot army dreams, but I didn't get to say my quirk," Hailey complained.

"Everyone knows your quirk," Genma said, not looking away from the metal plate forming in his hand. "Hard not to when you keep using it as a selfie stick."

Hailey glared, but a hand on her shoulder from Faith stopped her from starting anything.

"Takeda can teleport, which means we should walk in groups so he can't pull a sneak attack. When the timer starts, we'll send Hailey to one building to turn it upside down with her telekinesis. Shinkan and I will look for more items in the other place, with Go close by to produce more drones."

"Call me Kinji." Having someone call him by his surname just sounded awkward.

"If Hifumi takes some time concentrating, he can also tele-drop people near us," Hailey pointed out.

Faith nodded. "Good to know. Once we use three-fourths of our time, Hailey switches buildings to group up with us. We'll patrol in pairs and cover the areas the drones can't. With so many extra hands and eyes searching, we can grab everything before a battle goes too far. But that also means we need to establish our escape methods."

"I can bust through a wall and get to the escape zone," Sen assured, flexing an arm. "I can carry any of you if necessary, too!"

"I brought my ride with me," Genma said.

"Sweet, dude," Sen commended, nodding his head.

"I can fly on top of a desk or something." Hailey could push her body telekinetically. But that took more finesse, and she wanted maximum speed. "That leaves you without innate mobility, Faith."

"True. I can tag on any of your escape routes, but what if I have to make a getaway alone?"

"Oi, Genma, can you make a robot to be her ride?"

Genma frowned, shaping the propellers for the drone. "A robot big enough to carry her and fast enough to make a difference would take too much time. But I can assemble another bike for her pretty fast."

"Wow, really?" Hailey asked flatly. "Are you going to make motorcycle-shaped scouts too?"

"No. These need to fly."

"Rethorical question, but I'm glad to know that was the reason."

"We won't get any robots in the first place if you keep distracting me."

"Funny, you seemed pretty eager to talk when you were calling my quirk a selfie stick. Guess it only breaks your focus when someone talks back, huh?"

Faith pulled on her friend's sleeve, making her stop. "Hailey..."

She pouted, engaging in non-verbal communication with a look that said, 'He started it. I'm finishing it.'

'Our strategy time is too short for you to do this.'

'Fine, fine.'

'The hell are they doing?' Genma mentally wondered, watching the two make faces at each other. Sen quietly chewed on some coal.

"You... stop wasting our time with posturing. Leave the bike for last; it's not a priority," Faith ordered, looking back at Genma. Then, she glared at the team's other boy. "And you, don't go wasting fuel for your quirk before the match even begins."

Seeing Faith take charge of their team, Hailey couldn't help but smile slightly.

"I'm done with the first one, by the way," Genma announced, touching the drone chassis and storing it inside his personal space. "I'll give them to you when the match starts."

The Villain Team leader nodded. "After the timer starts, that will give Hifumi the green light to teleport inside any of the buildings, possibly bringing more people. If a fight begins, here's how we should focus their team..."

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[FIGHT DUB CLUB]

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"I'm thinkin' Faith and Hailey will be the biggest threats in this match. With their abilities, I wouldn't be shocked if they nabbed all the objectives in under a minute. So when it's our time, I want Hifumi to blink Inigo near the buildings, so he can use Gigan as a scout to check how they're spread out."

"Aye-aye, bossman!" Inigo said, with Gigan giving a quick salute.

Hifumi simply nodded. He could start making his mental map during the villain team's search time and warp his teammate when needed.

"If they haven't found everything, then Hifumi drops the rest of us in unoccupied sections of the buildings. We'll focus on knocking out Faith, so she can't order her bots, then Hailey, since she's at her best on a battlefield full of objects. But if they're already making a getaway, we gotta take down whoever is the fastest. Hailey and Faith should have better teamwork than us, so it'd be nice if we split them up at least. If we can separate them all—which I doubt will happen—I guess the best matchups would be... Me against Sen, Hifumi versus Faith, Inigo versus Hailey, and Sandatsu..."

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[FIGHT DUB CLUB]

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"I feel like he could be a problem since none of us know what his quirk actually does," Faith admitted, crossing her arms with a look of frustration.

"Relax, Faith. Hobo Boy isn't going to carry them. Just plan with the information you have," Hailey encouraged her.

The black-haired girl pursed her lips, then nodded. She couldn't waste time thinking of contingencies for Sandatsu when her base plan wasn't even ready.

"When we find everything, we'll split into three squads. Hailey and I run in one direction, Shinkan rushes the opposite way, and Kinji keeps up with him with his bike from a distance, providing support when necessary. Shinkan gets half of the items, Kinji puts one in his inventory, and Hailey keeps the last one."

If the hero team went for the slowest targets, they would be denied two captures and two items. But if they invested everything in catching Sen, they'd lose three of the former and two of the latter.

"If they catch us inside the building, we stall until we find everything, then run away. If the fight goes badly and they start gaining a number advantage, whoever is up flees. Don't go for revenge plays."

"Villain Team, roll out!"

"Shit, already?" Faith murmured unwittingly before leaving her spot, Hailey following suit. "Alright, let's not fuck this up."

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[FIGHT DUB CLUB]

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Meanwhile, the hero team lingered by the control station's entrance.

"So..." Inigo drew out. "You against Hailey, eh?"

Hifumi stopped looking at his phone, turning to his friend. "What about it?"

"Are ya fine with fighting her?" Their leader chimed in. "I know I'd be pulling punches against Minnie."

"You have to pull punches on anyone without a strength boost," Hifumi countered.

"Fair," Bobby conceded. "But y'know what I mean. Are you ok with smacking her with your sword?"

"Hell yeah he is!" Inigo cheered, approaching the swordsman for a high-five. Hifumi accepted it begrudgingly with a slight flush on his cheeks. The yakuza heir moved to repeat the gesture on his quirk, but Gigan expertly avoided him.

"Walked right into that one, didn't I...?" Bobby muttered in his native language, shaking his head as Inigo high-fived a very uncomfortable Sandatsu.

"It's not like we're fighting for real. It's training, and we happened to be on opposite sides. I'd be looking down on Hay if I held back just 'cause we have a thing."

"Alrighty then," The American accepted, and Hifumi returned to his phone, studying the pictures he'd taken from the camera feeds. The second match hadn't caused nearly as much property damage as the first one, so Majestic set the final bout in the same buildings. Lucky for him, or else he wouldn't be able to teleport to the enemy team as soon as the match started.

Inigo realized his teammate was trying to focus and moved his hyperactive self next to Bobby. "You mentioned earlier that it'd be nice if we split up Faith and Hailey. I agree, but how do you wanna go about it?"

Bobby scratched his head. "Honestly, I'm kinda countin' on you for this one. We don't got a lot of area control. Hifumi could scatter 'em with his quirk if he got time to focus, but obviously, they won't let 'im. We could try to brute force it, but with Shinkan added to the mix, it won't lead to much."

The versatility of Gigan's form was the best weapon for this occasion.

Inigo's lips thinned. "Good point. We also don't know what Kinji can do." His expression shifted back to a bright smile. "But don't worry, boss! Gigan and I will break them apart as soon as an opening appears!"

Bobby mirrored his grin. "You better."

The two clasped their hands in a brotherly handshake.

"30 seconds left, guys..." Sandatsu warned from his spot.

The two blondes turned their heads to him. "Roger," Bobby said. Then, to Inigo, "You should prepare to warp with Hifumi."

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[PART 2: Through The Countdown]

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"I don't think there's anything left in here," Hailey told her team from the post office set. Or at least what was left of it. She had turned it upside down with her mind, scattering everything in hopes of revealing a stray steel sphere, and had found the first item fifteen seconds into the match.

"Come join us, then," Her leader called, knowing that the post office only had one floor and trusting her judgment. "Bring some of the stuff there as extra ammo."

All the furniture was lifted off the ground, following her. Eventually, everything not nailed down that could serve as a thrown weapon was brought inside the other simulation building.

There, Sen was running around and rummaging through drawers frantically. Genma was a living factory, mechanically making metal frames for Faith to animate with her quirk. The villain team leader stood by the biker's side but did not look at him, focusing on getting feedback from her drones and commanding them.

"Ready," The blonde said, and Faith tapped the robot chassis. It warped before their eyes, parts bringing themselves together to make a flying drone with two limbs. The new drone flew away as Hailey approached her friend with the steel sphere in her hands and a bunch of appliances landing behind her.

"I keep this one, right?"

"Hm?" Faith blinked, eyes focusing back on her surroundings. "Oh, yeah. Hold it until you get to the escape zone."

Suddenly, Sen barged into their personal spaces, steam blowing from his head and an item in his hand, which he brandished vigorously. "Found one, guys! I mean, gals! ...And Kinji!"

Hailey massaged her ear with one hand and shoved his shoulder with the other. "You don't need to shout, dumbass. Buzz off."

Sen let himself be nudged back. "Haha, sorry! I'm just so pumped to find one before the drones did!"

"Didn't I tell you not to use your quirk right away... ?" Faith questioned him, scowling lightly.

"I know, but I really needed the speed boost! And it paid off in the end!"

She sighed. "Well... since you're already pumped up, look for more on the third floor."

"Will do!" He said before running upstairs. Hailey and Faith looked at each other.

"... I didn't think he could get any worse," Hailey admitted, glaring in the direction he left from.

"I should have seen it coming from the smell of coal around the room, but I was too immersed in the drones."

"Ready."

Another metal servant rose and flew away.

"Speaking of... One found the third item on the second floor." As the villain team's leader spoke, the robot swooped through a window, clutching the steel ball between its metal arms. It stopped in front of its creator and offered the item to him.

"Kinji, you guard this one. The last one will go to Shinkan—"

The item disappeared in a flash of golden light, and Faith's phone rang in alarm.

"Shit, our time is up. Kinji, you back up Shinkan! Hailey, we'll stay on the second floor."

Behind the building, Inigo stood on a tower made of Gigan, watching Sen speed around the third floor, wrecking everything to find another item.

"They haven't found everything." He announced to his team. "Shinkan's on the third floor by himself. I'll figure out where the others are."

Back in the control station, Bobby and Sandatsu knelt by Hifumi's side as the swordsman concentrated with his hands on their shoulders.

"Nice," The exchange student said. "We'll be there in..."

"A few seconds," His teammate supplied.

"That much." Bobby agreed.

The Gigan Tower collapsed, shrunk, and turned into Gigan Armor, leaving Inigo flapping its wings around the second floor. Looking through the windows, he saw the remaining villain team members arriving.

"Faith, Hailey, and Kinji are on the second floor—and holy crap, that's a lot of furniture."

Suddenly, Faith tapped Hailey on the shoulder and pointed to Inigo. A drone looked up at the armored student from a first-floor window, relaying his location.

"Ah... I think I got found out."

Gigan burst into motion a second later, moving him away from three telekinetically charged desks and a dozen cardboard boxes crashing through the windows. Inigo thrust out a hand, and his gauntlet expanded and formed a shield, blocking a second barrage.

"Tch," Hailey grunted, pulling on his armor with her quirk, floating a few items above him, and blasting them toward his back. The dragon's wings also shifted, making another shield that fused with the previous one. Without the means to fly, the Gigan Shelter dropped to the pavement, leaving Hailey's field of view.

Faith's drone approached the green hut and was promptly crushed by Bobby, who teleported with Hifumi and Sandatsu. The swordsman opened his eyes and disappeared to the control station, leaving the rest of his team outside the simulation building. He then ran to catch up to his teammates.

"Inigo, you stick to the upper floors to mix 'em up while Sandatsu and I enter through the first floor. We'll try to keep them inside till Hifumi gets here."

The boy in dragon armor gave Bobby a thumbs up, soaring away a second later. He and Sandatsu turned around, rushing to the building's entrance. The two were met by half a dozen flying metal servitors, half of which charged at them while the rest turned tail to the second floor's stairway.

On the second floor, Faith sensed the two students bat away her robots easily, Bobby with his enhanced strength and Sandatsu with a swarm of clawed limbs.

"Found the last one! Let's leave!" Sen shouted as he came down, almost barreling over Genma, who was on his way to the third floor. The villain team's leader only had time to blink before Sen was already charging down the stairs.

"Heya, dudes!" The train-headed boy greeted Bobby and Sandatsu as they were on the first steps to the second floor, tackling the latter a second later.

Faith's mind spun to consider their current predicament and find a good move for her team, taking all of two seconds before spelling her orders.

"Let's leave out the windows, Hailey! Kinji, go down with Shinkan and make sure he follows the plan!"

A large office desk floated to Faith, which she and Hailey climbed on top of. The two glided away from the second floor, leaving Genma and Sen inside the building. Behind them, a trail of floating objects and Faith's remaining robots followed.

Outside, the pair met a startled Inigo flying nearby.

"Guys! Hailey and Faith are—"

His earpiece detached from his ear, flying into the horizon before being crushed into a fraction of its size.

"..."

Telekinesis was so annoying!

Another mental push from Hailey crashed him into the building's wall, with four drones ganging up on him as a follow-up.

Meanwhile, Bobby weaved between Sen's swings, drawing him away from a recovering Sandatsu. He had heard Inigo say something about the other team in comms, but the message had not finished. What was it about Faith and Hailey? Were the two fighting Inigo? Were they escaping? Was Inigo alright? Too many questions and no chance to confirm them, busy with his opponent as he was.

The quirk reaper moved to assist his teammate, arms bursting from his back and wrapping around each other before delivering a giant left hook to Sen.

Bobby took the opening to launch a series of jabs at his opponent, finishing with a cross to his shoulder.

An engine roared to their right. The two leaped in opposite directions, but Sandatsu's giant pile of arms was still run over by Genma as he drove down the stairs on his bike, grabbed Sen by his collar, and left them in the dust.

"Hifumi! Sen and Kinji are going for the west escape zone! Help me catch them!"

Genma hit the brakes after gaining a good amount of distance on the enemy team, letting go of Sen's costume.

"You remember the plan, right?" He asked.

The train-headed boy was looking at where their enemies were. Bobby was already bounding towards them while Sandatsu went in another direction. "Uh? We split up, right?"

Genma nodded and revved his bike, driving away a moment later. Sen picked up a coal stone from one of his costume's compartments and chewed on it, taking a few water sips to activate his power again.

"CHOO CHOOOOO!" His war cry sounded across the street as he darted in the same direction as Genma, planning to take a different turn in a few meters.

A second later, Sen screeched to a halt as he saw his teammate jump from his vehicle, which had a sword jammed in its rear wheel. Genma's precious creation lost balance and bounced through the street, stopping near the feet of a fashionably late challenger.

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[FIGHT DUB CLUB]

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Gigan's claws rent away parts of Faith's bots as Inigo flew after her and Hailey. In his peripheral vision, he spotted Sandatsu approaching him and retreated.

"Hailey took off my comms. What does Bobby want us to do?"

Gigan left his body, turning into an actual dragon for once. Inigo gestured for Sandatsu to climb in, and the two soared away on Inigo's mount, which twisted in the air in random patterns to dodge objects thrown by Hailey and prevent her from targeting their precise location to push them away. All she could manage was to send a weak push in their general direction, enough to slow them down but not to get them off Gigan or hold them in place.

"He and Hifumi are fighting Shinkan and Kinji. The rest is up to us." Reaching for his earpiece, he reported to his leader. "Inigo's fine. Hailey just took off his comms."

"Hol' up, really? Man, telekinesis is a bitch..." Came the answer from the other side.

Sandatsu smacked two of Faith's drones out of the air. More came in to fill the ranks, focusing on harassing Inigo and obstructing Gigan.

"I know, right?!" Inigo whined, having heard Bobby.

"Hifumi broke Kinji's bike!" Sen warned in the villain team channel. "What do I do?"

"Keep moving toward the escape zone. Counterattack when you can."

Faith registered their agreement and turned her senses back to her predicament. At their respective speeds, Inigo would catch up to Hailey before they reached the escape zone. However, the closer the enemy got to Hailey, the higher the risk of their bodies getting targeted directly by her quirk.

The dragon rider was aware of this. Which is why closing the gap was only the first part of his plan.

"Let's jump off!"

"Wait, what?"

Gigan did a side somersault to the right, closing on a rooftop so Inigo could leap away from him. Sandatsu watched him roll to a stop with a slack jaw before realizing Gigan was still on a crash course with the enemy team.

Taking a split-second decision, he took Inigo's cue, leaping off Gigan, turning, and using his extra arms to make a hasty landing.

Gigan shrunk to its natural form, darting below the enemy team, rising ahead of them, and shifting into a mesh cage with wings on top, trapping Hailey and Faith inside an air space.

But also leaving the hero pair vulnerable. Although Gigan trapped about a third of Hailey's ammo with her, there was still enough to be a problem for them.

Sandatsu rushed ahead of Inigo, turning his back to the enemy team and sprouting dozens of limbs. The arms moved in all directions to punch the mass of miscellaneous items Hailey launched with her quirk. While the force and mass behind her throws were greater than the power behind his punches, his brief defense served its purpose, guarding the unarmored Inigo.

"Ugh!"

Until Faith's drones started to swarm him.

The Gigan Cage began to fall, intending to pin down the enemy team in one area. The desk Hailey and her friend were flying on top of also descended, so they wouldn't get smacked by the top of the cage. Hailey threw everything other than her platform at one of Gigan's walls, denting it from the inside but not breaking through. She did not stop, however, lifting the items and catapulting them at Inigo's quirk repeatedly.

On a nearby rooftop, Inigo fled from the drones, hearing the sounds of various objects clanging against Gigan.

"Climb on, Myoga!"

He turned to Sandatsu, who had created a makeshift seat with his growing arms.

'Oh man, that looks so uncomfortable...' Even as he thought this, Inigo obeyed, jumping on the bumpy flesh bench.

The two jumped out the rooftop, swinging from the ledge with a pillar of limbs growing from the quirk reaper's back, landing in front of their opponents just as they burst out from prison. Sandatsu swung his arms at them just as Gigan became a club, aiming at them and the desk they were flying with, respectively.

Hailey reacted in time, lifting Sandatsu off the ground, but couldn't move him far enough, as he used his arms to push against the pavement and counter her telekinetic force.

She hopped away with Faith a second later, letting their impromptu vehicle get smashed into pieces, then using those pieces to harass the construct.

The drones came in a second later, ignoring Sandatsu and aiming their fists at Inigo. Gigan was forced to fall back to defend its owner, changing into a nodachi that split apart two robots at once, then spinning around and warping around Inigo as armor.

He'd successfully closed the gap. Now, it was time to capture them before they ran away again.

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[PART 3: Under The Railway]

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Hifumi plucked his blade from the bike wheel. "Sorry 'bout that, Kinji," He said somewhat sheepishly.

Genma grunted, brushing off dirt from his clothes. "Don't say that unless you mean it."

A few meters away from him, Sen and Bobby continued their slugfest. One peppered the other with dazzlingly fast jabs to expose his defense before striking with full power. The other bulldozed through that soft offense to constantly attack at full throttle, landing fewer strikes but dealing more damage with each one.

So, it was up to him to deal with the teleporter.

He formed a few metal disks in his palm and threw them at Hifumi.

"I'm not sorry about this one, then."

Hifumi casually dodged them by blinking behind him and thrusting his blunted weapon at his back. Genma couldn't turn around in time to avoid it, taking a hit to his ribs and crafting chains to bind his enemy. But he was already back in his original spot before the counter landed.

Genma had accounted for that. The disks he'd thrown, a set of strong magnets, lifted themselves off the ground and flew at Hifumi's costume.

The blond ran to a nearby building, making more magnets and flinging them at the swordsman. All stuck to Hifumi's armor and dropped to the ground as he warped away again.

Genma blinked, then winced as the blunted sword struck his back.

He'd made a mistake. Seeing that his clothing teleported with him, he had attempted to set a trap at the spot where he returned instead of trying to react to instant movement. He would use his opponent's metal costume against him, making his creations track him automatically.

However, Hifumi's ability to transport his clothes with him came from his experience inputting the objects close to him inside his mental image. He would not take the magnets with each jump unless he wished it.

Genma summoned smoke pellets from his personal dimension, dropped them on the ground, then jumped randomly to dodge Hifumi's next strike. His luck came true as he ducked under the sword swing, thermal vision goggles appearing in his hand to track his opponent while he couldn't do the same through the smoke. A gas mask came in after, so he could stay there unworriedly.

The swordsman opened his eyes after not feeling his weapon hit anything, seeing a cloud of thick, black smoke expanding before him. The mental images of the obscured area were still fresh in his mind, but he didn't know how Genma was positioned there. Magnets stuck to his costume again as he slowly circled the darkness. He didn't want to give his opponent time to create, nor did he want to rush in blindly... running away to mess up Bobby and Sen's heated 1v1 was also out of the question.

Genma decided for him. A grenade with gold patterns was thrown in Bobby's direction as he sidestepped a punch from Sen.

Following the grenade's arc, Hifumi warped and smacked it away. Yet it still detonated before it could stay clear of the hero team. The glowing boy had already jumped back once it was thrown, bracing himself for a blast, but when the projectile exploded, it only showered him in what seemed to be ink.

It was a super-black coating composed of carbon nanotubes, capable of absorbing over 99.9% of visible light. Meant to trap the afternoon sun's rays before Bobby's body could absorb any. It was very much imperfect, of course. Not all of him was covered in the coating, the material had some golden parts to it thanks to「Magnum Opus」's visual effect, and Bobby still had the light energy he'd absorbed in the last hour.

Although he did not know the theory behind super-black materials, Bobby could still feel his absorption rate crippled. And against Sen, he would start tearing through his inner reservoir quickly to keep up in strength, while his opponent would only get more fired up during the fight.

The living locomotive was already coming at him to capitalize on his earlier jump to avoid the grenade, blowing past the steam clouds forming around him and swinging a heavy fist to his shoulder.

Bobby weaved past it, shifting back into a boxing stance and launching a quick one-two combo to Sen's face.

So what if he was on a timer now? He could still win. He was more worried about the clean-up for his bodysuit after this. There was even paint in his hair!

"Dick move, Kinji!" He shouted, renewing his offense.

Seeing that his buddy's light hadn't completely gone out, Hifumi ran to the fading smoke cloud. Genma had pushed himself against a building to limit「Blink」's attack angles and set a few mines on the path between them, restricting the number of places he could pop up.

Hifumi blinked above his silhouette, swinging down at his opponent. Genma twisted to the right to avoid it, flinging one of his creations at the location his opponent came from. Hifumi only heard the sound of something whistling through the air before finishing his teleport.

BOOOOM!!

"Woah!"

And getting blown away by a concussive mine placed at his original location.

Genma pulled his arm back, creating a ranged weapon in his hand, and a high-density metal ball was thrown at Hifumi's stomach as he hurtled through the air. Thinking off his feet, Hifumi blinked once, flickering between a random spot in the street and his original spot mid-air, avoiding being hit with precise timing. Flipping in the air, he unleashed his weapon's edge, stabbed it on the pavement, and landed by using it as an anchor instead of rolling awkwardly on the ground.

Genma's mind worked on overdrive to figure out his next move. His leader had told them to keep moving while concentrating their attacks on Hifumi. It was hard to do the former when your opponent could teleport to your side at any time and whack you with a steel sword... but after a few interactions against Hifumi, he had a tentative plan in mind.

His eyes briefly darted to Sen, who seemed to be having a grand old time with Bobby as they beat the shit out of each other.

"Let's fall back, Shinkan," He said lowly to his earpiece, more smoke pellets appearing between his fingers.

The train-faced boy headbutted his opponent, then got an uppercut in the chin as payback, both blows making deep clanging sounds. He showed no signs of hearing his teammate.

"Shinkan," Genma called again.

"Busy!"

Hifumi was preparing to come at him again. Genma glared forward, wanting to direct his stare to his teammate but unwilling to take his eyes off his opponent.

"Faith told us to escape while fighting, dumbass."

"Gimme one sec!" Sen replied, charging forward with his hands out to grapple with Bobby. The blond shuffled back, kicking at his leg and swinging with an incandescent left hook to his temple. Sen caught his forearm after taking the hit, taking another step to tackle Bobby and lift him by his arm and leg.

"CHOO CHOOOOO!"

"Bobby!"

Hifumi crouched and blinked, trying to trip Sen up with his weapon as he carried Bobby through the street, but he bulldozed through it, barely feeling a sting in his knee.

The swordsman returned to his location and batted away another mine thrown by Genma, avoiding the explosion this time due to his opponent's lacking reaction time.

Genma threw another set of smoke pellets on the ground and ran inside the building he was near. Hifumi ignored him this time, turning around to see Sen charging Bobby's body through another simulation building.

The exchange student winced as his back crashed against another wall, charging his fist with more light than usual to make up for his current lack of boxing stance and going all-out with a straight to his enemy's face. Sen grunted, head whipping back, but instead of falling or letting his grip falter, he stumbled rearward, intending to back-drop Bobby to the ground and press his advantage.

The reversal failed. Bobby had cut short his speed and veered his balance enough for Hifumi to succeed in his second attempt at tripping him, making Sen fall on his back with Bobby on top of him. A kick to his head finally broke his hold, letting Bobby jump away and get back on his feet.

He stepped up while Sen's guard was broken, but a blast of hot steam made him recede. His opponent rose quickly, pulling more coal from his costume, and hastily crunched it, pieces falling on the ground. Bobby circled around the steam to attack, but Sen managed to take his water bottle out in time, getting a few drops in his mouth, activating his quirk, and taking a haymaker to the chest, which made him drop the bottle. Bobby didn't let up, upper body twisting to avoid a clumsy counter, left arm throwing several jabs at his face before pulling his other limb back and launching Sen at a building with a powered-up right hook.

He panted, half his body glowing, the other thrumming with heat. The super-black material was burning up with all the light it absorbed, making his costume feel feverish on his skin.

"You good?!" His opponent asked as he separated himself from a Sen-shaped hole, seeing the blond tugging on his outfit with a grimace.

"Pssh, what?" Bobby responded with a shaky grin, pointing a thumb at his chest. "I'm just gettin' warmed up!"

---

[PART 4: Start The Countdown Again]

---

Sandatsu stomped sluggishly after Hailey and Faith, using the enhanced strength granted by「Comeback」to push through the telekinesis affecting his body. The two girls were floating to the escape zone using Hailey's quirk, albeit a lot slower, since making something fly unharmed with her quirk required more finesse. Plus, she didn't want to disturb Faith's control of her robots with sudden movements.

However, for the people she didn't care about hurting...

"Aaaahhh!"

Inigo would never regret shooting his shot at a cute girl, but with what these two were putting him through, he was coming close. Gigan worked overtime to counter the forces flinging his body in random directions up in the air, having trouble between serving him as armor, warding off the remnants of Hailey's ammo, and dodging Faith's bots.

The two were not focusing on Inigo simply because he was their enemy outside the match but also because he was the one who could match them in the air. Keeping him busy was essential to their getaway.

Hailey floated close to a building, looking inside quickly, dragging everything out with her quirk, and showering the enemy team with it.

Sandatsu frowned, bending down to let his extra limbs defend the rest of his body. Fighting against Hailey anywhere near civilization was an uphill battle. It was enough to make him a bit jealous of her quirk, despite the fact he had triple her amount.

While he guarded himself, Hailey zipped to a neighboring building, taking more items and repeating the process. Inigo grimaced, commanding Gigan to seek shelter behind Sandatsu's pillar of arms. The blue-haired boy smacked away the falling furniture, even trying to grab some to return fire and make Hailey waste time halting them.

Inigo landed behind him, giving Gigan a chance to leave. It flew ahead of Sandatsu and transformed into a trampoline that bounced back the next wave of items. Although it was promptly shoved away by Hailey's quirk a second after, that split-second defense gave Inigo's teammate enough time to press his flesh pillars against the ground and leap at the enemy team.

Hailey pushed herself back and sent a wave of force against him, but he still clipped the right side of her body with two punches before landing back on the ground, watching her stumble on her flight path and hit a wall. The same one she had thrown Gigan at.

"Let her have it, Gigan—ACK!" Inigo cheered for his quirk, then got punched in the gut by a drone. The green dragon pounced on Hailey, its body turning more snake-like to wrap around her.

Hailey's face scrunched as she pushed her mind to its limits, holding Gigan back from touching her, keeping Faith away from the enemy team, and continuing to slow down Sandatsu's march toward them. The items she would use for her newest volley fell by themselves.

Faith saw that her friend was reaching her limit, ordering most of her minions to stop punching Inigo and help her. "Put me on a rooftop!" She shouted, unable to move in the air by herself.

Sandatsu stepped in the way of the bots, dozens of arms spreading out in a net to catch them, but his movements were still being slowed by the telekinetic. He got three, but two went past him and grabbed Gigan.

Trusting her friend to help, Hailey focused her power to carry Faith on top of a rooftop while lifting up the ammo she'd dropped and flinging it at Inigo.

Sandatsu turned his head minutely to Inigo, intending to put his body on the way to protect him again. But the armored boy was pointing straight ahead.

'Take her out.'

Sandatsu understood in a fraction of a second. If he went on the defensive now, Hailey would flee from Gigan and restart their battle of attrition, which she was likely to win. Inigo was willing to make a sacrifice play to let him land a clean hit.

So he shouldn't waste this chance.

He faced his opponent and leaped, walking on the building's wall by extending his extra limbs and clinging to the window ledges. A beat passed. Gigan got pulled away from Hailey just as her vision was flooded with an army of fists flying at her.

The two opponents hit each other with their full power, telekinetic push versus simultaneous super-strength punches. Sandatsu saw her flying away from him... or was it him being shoved away from her?

It was both, he realized as his back crashed on the pavement, healing right after. He sprung up, ready to catch Hailey falling... but she was not there.

Inigo groaned behind him. Gigan was unburying him from a pile of crushed desks and office supplies, licking at his face, attempting to wake him, and failing.

Their gamble fell short.

Inside, Hailey wheezed against a wall, each breath shuddering across her body.

"Hailey?"

"Holy shit..." She breathed, feeling stabs of pain in her stomach and shoulders. That was too close for comfort. She didn't dare to think of the damage he would have done had she not canceled most of his momentum with her quirk.

"Hailey?!"

Was it going to be like this against real villains...?

"Hailey, are you there?! Hailey?!" Faith screamed in her comms, bringing her back to reality.

"Y-Yeah?"

"Oh my God, don't scare me like that again!"

"Sorry... I flew inside after shoving—"

"You have to get out of there, Sandatsu's climbing in!"

After helping Gigan retrieve Inigo's body, the quirk reaper rushed to his enemy's most likely location, unwilling to let it end like this. He clambered over the third floor's window in time to see Hailey leaving on the other side of the room, flipping him off.

"Crap," He muttered, reaching for his earpiece and not finding it. Hailey probably took it off at some point in their fight.

Without Inigo's quirk, he couldn't reach her, so he'd help the other half of the team. Hopefully, Bobby and Hifumi didn't move too far from where he last saw them.

Hailey landed on the rooftop she left Faith. "Ready to leave?" She asked, making her friend stop checking on her robots. Faith had seen Inigo being carried away by his quirk while Sandatsu traced his path back to the rest of his team. Genma and Sen would have to face a 2v3, but hopefully, they'd gotten close enough to their escape zone.

She nodded, then contacted the rest of the villain team. "Kinji, Shinkan, we're going to leave the match now. We took out Myoga, but Owari's coming your way. How are you two doing?"

"About that...!" Genma started, voice choppy due to the rushing wind in the background. "We haven't moved that much 'cause Shinkan is too busy trying to punch Samson."

"I told you already, I got this! We don't need to run if I can just beat him!" Sen claimed.

Faith scowled. Sen had explained that his quirk left him hyped up, but he didn't say it made him a complete idiot! And what the hell was Genma still doing there if it was clear the other wouldn't move?

"Escape by yourself, Kinji. We can still win this with 3 escapes and 2 items."

"... No. Shinkan may be an idiot, but he's still part of our team. You said to run away if anyone got taken out... but he's still fighting. A hero doesn't turn back on an ally when it's convenient."

"We're the villain team, dimwit!" Hailey screamed from Faith's side, who was scrambling to think of what she should do.

If Sandatsu gathered with his squad and won the 3v2, the villain team would be left with 2 escapes and 1 item. She couldn't even trust the fastest two of the team to carry most of the items to safety. Why did she have to get these two in her group if they couldn't do their jobs? Even if she went to retrieve the remaining items from Genma and Sen, Hifumi's quirk could make the trade messy.

She checked her phone. Four minutes left in the match. Should Hailey or her go back and make it a 3v3 while the other guaranteed one escape? Or should both of them return and try to defeat the rest of the hero team in a 4v3? If they went with the former option, who should be sent? Hailey's quirk was better for combat, but as the leader, she couldn't be the first and only one to leave.

"I'm going to help those two idiots. You can escape if you want." She wouldn't tell her friend to potentially tank her grades for this.

Hailey knew her friend wasn't doing this out of concern for Genma and Sen but because she was worried about her performance. As the leader, her teammates' results would reflect on Majestic's judgment of her.

"I'll go with you."

Faith sighed in relief, then mentally ordered one of her drones to approach her friend. "Let's get the item out of here, then."

Hailey handed the steel sphere to the metal servant, watching it fly away before turning to her leader. Faith didn't know if Majestic would consider that item secured, but she sure as hell wasn't going to get into another fight with it.

The two floated away with telekinesis, with Hailey gathering more ammo from the buildings they passed through.

---

[FIGHT DUB CLUB]

---

Before Sen tried to carry Bobby to the escape zone, Genma had put a smokescreen between him and Hifumi and entered a random building to gain time. When the teleporter returned from stopping the rampaging locomotive, Genma had been making a newer, better version of his bike with「Magnum Opus」, hiding within a construction surrounded by smoke.

Sandatsu arrived at a chaotic site. In the middle of the street, Bobby danced around Sen, glowing fists blurring in fierce counterattacks that made the wind blow in every direction.

Genma suddenly drove near them, his real hand on the bike's handlebar and a prosthetic one flinging various items at Bobby.

"Predictable!"

Hifumi burst into existence, deflecting most of them with wild swings of his sword to compensate for his self-imposed blindness, then disappearing. Bobby took care of the rest, stepping to the side and feinting a punch with his right, making Sen dodge and get hit with the projectile meant for his opponent. An electric grenade stunned him long enough for the blond to get a left uppercut to his metal chin, followed by a devastating right hook that spun him into Sandatsu's charge. Seventeen arms struck all over his body, pushing him back.

"Cinders and ashes! When did this turn into a 4 versus 1?!" Sen complained, breathing hard for the first time in this match.

"Sorry!" Genma said before driving away from Hifumi's sight, leaving a trail of dust.

"Cinders and ashes?" Bobby repeated with an incredulous grin. "Is that a Shinkan family saying or sumthin'?"

"You best believe it is, Sun Boy!"

"It's Sunlight Man!"

The two ran at each other again, trading mighty blows and leaving Sandatsu feeling left out.

"Sandatsu!" Hifumi greeted as he approached, eyes darting wildly for signs of another drive-by from Genma. "Why're you here? Where's Inigo?"

"Inigo got taken out by Hailey and Faith. I couldn't catch up to Hailey's flight without him, so I came here to help."

The swordsman frowned behind his helmet, hand clenching tighter around his weapon handle. "Damn... We can still make a comeback, though. For Inigo!" He declared, settling back into a stance and charging at where Genma was last seen.

"For Inigo!" Bobby repeated, punching Sen in the liver.

Could they make a comeback? Sandatsu didn't know how many items Faith and Hailey had between themselves. Assuming they split them evenly, the best the hero team could do right now was a tie...

Still...

"For Inigo," He said to himself, determined to not let his team down again.

Hifumi followed the sound of a roaring engine, trying to spot Genma as he sped around the simulation zone. His new bike had a reinforced frame and armored wheels, so he couldn't get him with the same trick as before.

Genma had finished moving three quadrants around Bobby, coming behind him with a bola spinning above his head. The glowing boy was pincered between him and Sen, and Hifumi was to their right, looking away from Genma.

He turned a second later, detecting his target. Genma met his eyes momentarily before throwing the bola and drifting to the left. Hifumi closed his eyes, burning a mental image for a spot a few meters ahead of the spinning projectile. He sliced two of the bolas' ropes before returning.

Thunk!

Something smashed against his helmet, making him shout in alarm. He turned, seeing a metal drone rearing back for another hit, and swung his blade in a rising diagonal slash. His stroke stopped before meeting his target, and the metal drone punched him again.

"Sorry, Babo. I'll be taking this."

His sword was pulled away from his grip as he reeled back from the second hit. Hifumi ducked from a third swing by the robot and stepped back, watching Faith and Hailey land.

Didn't those two escape?!

The blade was thrown away by Hailey's quirk. Hifumi blinked to catch its path, wrapping one hand around the handle, warping back, dodging a blow from Faith's servant, then getting a telekinetic shove in the chest.

"I got you, Takeda!" He heard behind him before getting caught by Sandatsu's many arms.

"Nice save—woah!" Hailey was pulling it from him again. Sandatsu let him land on the ground while Hifumi held onto his sword with all his might, but then... it creaked. Hailey stopped holding back and sent two opposing forces on the flat sides, warping his weapon into a metallic yarn ball.

"Not cool, Hay!"

She shrugged. "I'll buy you another one after." She'd say Shiketsu would pay for it as they did with his costume, but this school was in such a shitty place financially that she wasn't sure they could afford spares.

Hifumi huffed in exasperation before repeating her gesture. "Whatever. A man has to be more than just his weapon!" He said, flexing a bicep.

Faith looked at her friend, filled with second-hand embarrassment. "How did he pull you again?"

"I think his try-harding is cute."

Sandatsu swung at the robot near his teammate, making it crash into a building. "How do you wanna do this, Take—Hifumi?" He corrected himself after his teammate gave him a look.

Hifumi was still wondering why those two had come back. But since the enemy team didn't look like they were about to explain their plan, he shook off his confusion and gave Sandatsu the best he could come up with.

The swordsman gave his teammate a thumbs up. "I'm leaving them to you, Sandatsu! Go get your runback!"

If they fought the villain team as a duo, then Genma would be free to mess up Bobby's match. Between them, Hifumi had the mobility to keep up with Genma's ride, and Sandatsu had the regeneration to withstand a numbers disadvantage.

Or at least that's how the quirk reaper saw it. Hifumi had thought he should finish his duel with Genma while Sandatsu should be the one to get revenge for Inigo.

Sandatsu nodded, and Hifumi took that as his cue to disengage, following the motorcycle's rumbling once more.

The quirk reaper felt something trying to lift him up and used his extra limbs to grab onto the pavement. He had to grow more arms to protect himself against all the objects flung at him. His defense began to falter when the drones flew at him, darting wildly around his inert body and throwing punches at any spot his arms were too slow to cover.

He regenerated through the damage, using the strength boost to struggle harder against the psychokinetic forces trying to control him. He stepped forward, throwing dozens of punches in every direction to catch any bots that came his way.

Faith ordered the bots to retreat.

"Make me some sticks, Hailey."

A wooden desk above him was crushed into several spears, which the bots armed themselves with, thrusting at Sandatsu from a safe range.

'What a seriously annoying combo.' He thought, brows furrowing as he pushed his multi-tasking abilities to their limits, swatting a printer above his head, grabbing a makeshift spear to his right, and tugging it away from the wielder. All while anchoring himself on the ground and lumbering forward.

He knew they would fly out of range again once he got there. But every second making them busy counted. His team could still win this with a timeout.

Hailey prepared another volley to bombard him with when her vision became dim with the shadow of a dragon.

Everyone in this match knew what Inigo's quirk was, but they made a mistake. They assumed knocking him out would disperse it or make it unmoving.

However, it was a permanent construct. A representation of its user's willpower and heroic spirit. After leaving Inigo in a safe space near the control station, Gigan returned to make this 3v4 fairer.

The「Noble Dragon」 swooped down, splitting up Hailey and Faith, spinning around to knock away the latter's bots, then morphing around Sandatsu. Receding his arms and donning his teammate's green armor, he felt the pressure around him becoming lighter, sprouting wings to soar at his opponents a second later.

---

[PART 5: This Is It! (This Is It!)]

---

Genma burst into the street where his teammate was brawling and ducked his head, avoiding a punch from Hifumi and throwing a hyper-dense metal sphere in the direction he'd warped from. Hifumi opened his eyes, raising one arm to block a strike from one of Faith's servants while knocking the other to the side to take the biker's projectile.

The villain team's leader had spared two robots to tail him and abuse any opening brought by his blinks.

Genma moved while Hifumi was distracted, flinging another grenade at Bobby's feet. It exploded with quick-drying glue that stuck his feet to the ground, allowing Sen to land a devastating lariat to his collarbone. The biker zoomed from behind the glowing boy, chains appearing in his hand to tie his shins together and impair his footwork further.

Hifumi sidestepped his metal enemies and jumped, warping to Genma's left and drop-kicking him, making the blond drop the chains. He was punished for it on the way back, taking punches on the back of the head, ribs, stomach, and right cheek.

Genma swayed to the right, thrusting his prosthetic hand to the pavement, using it to keep himself from dropping while riding his bike. He pushed himself upright moments later, putting his metal hand back on the handlebar and making another gadget with his other one.

Bobby had already ripped his feet off the ground, taking pieces of the pavement like extra shoes. He heard the engine getting nearer and darted to the side, attempting to make the two villain team members hit each other. But Sen also heard it and charged to keep pace. The shining young man was clipped in the side by a wild tackle, then tagged in the back of the shoulder by Genma.

Hifumi came with a vengeance, timing himself perfectly to roundhouse-kick his opponent off his ride, then disappearing as the bike was about to crash into him.

The biker's contraption activated, sending an electric shock to Bobby, which locked his muscles long enough for Sen to rear back and headbutt his face. He recovered in time to put up a guard that blocked the second headbutt, but his brain was still rattling from that first attack. His movements were sluggish as he swayed back and got a glancing blow to the ribs.

Hifumi watched Genma roll on the ground, running around Faith's robots and teleporting to his left just as he shakily got up. The weaponless swordsman struck at his opponent's jaw, and at the same time, Bobby and Sen punched each other with all they had one last time.

Two people fell to the ground, losing their strength.

An arm rose to the air, its owner breathing heavily. "I won!" Sen cried out, thumping his chest proudly.

"Bobby...!" Hifumi shouted in concern, running to his buddy and carrying him away while his adversary basked in victory.

"Darn..." The exchange student said, gasping and wincing as the aches all over his body made themselves known. "I was using more light than I was absorbing... sorry, Hifumi."

"Don't even start, man. That was the coolest fight of the day!"

"Hey, Leader-chan! I took out Bobby, but Takeda took out Kinji!" For the first time in a while, Sen communicated with his team.

"I can see that," Faith replied, getting the feedback from her drones. "If you finally got it out of your system, we should run away now."

Thankfully, Genma's item was in his pocket dimension, so getting his body out meant completing two objectives. Or so she hoped. Majestic hadn't explained the rules for pocket dimensions in the breakdown for the exercise.

Although his momentum was still at an all-time high, Sen doubted Hifumi would give him a fight like the one Bobby did. "Sure!" So he agreed.

Faith sighed in relief before Hailey floated her away from a fly-by attack from Sandatsu. Landing on a rooftop, she checked the time. They still had two and a half minutes to achieve a complete victory.

"Let's get out of here," The villain team leader said. She and Hailey floated above the buildings and flew ahead of Sen, who ran after them. Genma's body was lifted with telekinesis, trailing after the villain team.

"Follow them, Gigan," Sandatsu asked, and his armor complied, wings flapping rapidly to catch up.

Bobby tried to get up with Hifumi supporting him. But with the adrenaline fading from his body, he could tell he didn't have more fight left in him.

"... this is lame," He complained, leaning against a wall with unbearably sore muscles. "Listen, Hifumi. Hailey's carrying most of her team right now with her quirk. You gotta pull somethin' with your quirk to cut their escape."

He could guess what his friend was getting at. "Warping her away from them."

"Right on. Now, go. I'll back you guys up if I can catch my breath."

Hifumi nodded, then ran at the enemy team, eyes on his target's trajectory.

He could absolutely teleport someone with him if he had time to include them in his mental image. But his success rate with it during physical activity wasn't the best. Thus, he took his time when blinking his team at the start of the match. Hailey and Faith wouldn't give him that time, and the former would catch up to his plan if he failed too many times in a row.

Faith spotted the hero team's movement, sending three servants to intercept Sandatsu and another three to attack Hifumi.

The boy in dragon armor dived to the left to avoid the robots but got pushed to the right by Hailey's quirk, coming close to crashing into a building.

"CHOO CHOO!"

"—!"

His eyes widened as one opponent sped up in his peripheral. Sen crouched for a jump and rocketed at him, using a steam blast from his quirk to make a massive leap, grab Sandatsu in the middle of his dive, kick off a wall, and crash them through another construction.

"That dumbass really couldn't stop picking fights for a full minute," Faith uttered in disbelief as Sen chased a regenerated Sandatsu inside a simulation building.

"Agh!"

Hifumi appeared in front of her, threw a left hook to her face, then returned and dashed past her drones while she recovered. He was lifted by Hailey's quirk a beat later, limbs flailing in the air as she spun him around, blocking his quirk by not letting him see a place for too long.

Or rather, blocking his quirk from being used in their surroundings. Hifumi closed his eyes, focused on a recent place within his range, and blinked near the control station's entrance. Still carrying the momentum from Hailey's quirk, he allowed himself to spin with his eyes closed, then returned to his spot mid-air, seeing her and Faith flying closer to the escape zone, eyes darting in every direction to spot him.

Faith caught Hifumi appearing through one of her drones. She turned to her friend, mouth opening to alert her—

She was not by her side anymore. More feedback from her servant pointed Hifumi was holding her now.

"Hailey!" She screamed. It was all she could get out before both disappeared.

Despite all the factors involved, Hifumi trusted himself to pull it off. Because thinking of Hailey as an extension of himself was child's play to him. Their bond was his key to turning this around.

After grabbing her from behind with「Blink」, he warped them to another recent place: the simulation buildings where the villain team was assigned at the start of the match. Before Hailey could react, he opened his eyes, landing back in the middle of the street.

"Oh, crap!"

He forgot something important. Without Hailey to float them, Faith and Gema's unconscious body were dropping fast. Hifumi ran to grab at least one of them before they got hurt.

But it was unnecessary. Seeing the same from a window, the green dragon left Sandatsu to help the enemy team, catching both of them and gently letting them on the ground. However, discarding its duties as winged armor left Sen free to tackle Sandatsu through a wall and powerbomb him into the pavement.

Gigan retreated to Sandatsu, fiercely following him as Sen dragged him through the streets in a steam-powered charge.

Faith's robots remained stationary, as their master was still shuddering on the ground, muscles locked up in fear from that fall.

Hifumi scanned the battlefield. Sandatsu wasn't strong enough to break Sen's rush as Bobby had done earlier, so with how things were going, the villain team member would reach the escape zone while carrying his teammate.

"Faith! He dragged me inside the press building, but I'm coming back! Use your quirk to drag that dumbass to the escape zone!"

"..." Her body wasn't keen on moving right now but she was still coherent to send mental commands. Four robots surrounded Genma and lifted his limbs, gliding in the same path as Sen before taking a right turn.

Now two villain team members were escaping in different directions, and Hifumi didn't know who to focus on. Sen's speed would carry him out of the exercise if he went for Genma, but if he did the opposite, there was no guarantee he could stop the locomotive's charge.

But then, Gigan finally caught up to Sandatsu as the blue-haired boy struck at his opponent repeatedly with dozens of arms. The dragon shrunk, going between Sen's legs, rising in altitude and volume, then flying Sandatsu away from his adversary.

Trusting his teammate to stop Sen, Hifumi charged in Genma's direction, following Faith's drones. He struck from various angles with his quirk, focusing on taking one drone down and making them drop the unconscious young man. Without his blade, it took several blinks to wear down the metal servant with his fists, but he destroyed it in his twelfth strike.

One of the bots stopped carrying Genma and flew at him, leaving two supporting him by the shoulders at a slower pace. Hifumi kept running forward and flickering between his attacker and his target, fists constantly flying, taking out a second bot just as they neared that fateful red line.

With only a single robot to support his weight... Genma fell before reaching the escape zone. Hifumi avoided attacks from the remaining enemies and ran at him, picking him up and carrying him away.

He spotted Sandatsu battling Sen through the streets. His teammate spotted him and flew away from his opponent with a distressed expression.

"Hailey got here before you! She left with Faith and took Shinkan's items!"

Beyond his sight, the two friends flew away. After seeing Faith in that paralyzed state, Hailey decided that staying around to help those two was not remotely worth it. Without Hifumi's teleportation to check her, she effortlessly pickpocketed Sen with her quirk and set a quick pace to the escape zone.

"Where'd they go?" Hifumi asked. Sandatsu opened his mouth to respond, then yelped as Gigan dived away from Sen's leaping attack.

"W-West!"

He ran at Sandatsu's instruction, still holding Genma to prevent the robots from getting him back. His mad dash led him to the two girls just as they crossed the final line.

"See ya, Babo."

"Time Over!"

Hifumi's shoulders slumped. "Aw, man..."

---

[FIGHT DUB CLUB]

---

"That was an amazing match, you guys!" Noah complimented the eight students as they returned to the control station.

"I know, right?" Jugo agreed. "I was on the edge of my seat the entire time."

"..." Kaylee glared at nothing in particular, feeling angrier and angrier the more Hailey smirked in her direction. She had used her winnings from betting in the second match to gamble against Hailey for the third, but with two escapes and three items for the villain team, it was clear who had won this one.

"I told you that you shouldn't have gone all in," Christopher said.

"Tanaka, you hand out the prize money. I don't trust myself to do it," Inigo confessed, having woken up a few seconds before the match ended.

Majestic turned to them with a pleased smile on his face.

"A match so intense it had to be decided by the clock was a perfect way to end our first battle exercise. Now, some quick pointers before you can all go home and rest up."

"Hero Team. You guys made the correct calls for most of this bout concerning matchups. But your issue was spreading yourselves too thinly in an attempt to catch everyone. Had the villain team followed their plan to the letter, likely, you wouldn't have captured anyone. When all of your enemies have a means of getting away quickly, there is no shame in focusing your firepower on the weak link instead of trying to make fair two-versus-twos. However, your grit came through, capitalizing on the villain team's mistake and forcing them to stay in the match far longer than necessary, almost leading you to a complete victory."

"Villain Team. As I said just now, had everyone followed your leader's plan, there was a high chance all of you would have escaped with all the items. Having impressive combat ability means nothing if you don't channel it appropriately. Despite the setbacks, you clutched a victory, but only some of you will get good grades from this result."

The top hero pressed a button on a remote, closing the camera feeds showing scenes from the latest battle. "All right, that's all for today. Don't forget that I will send more detailed reports on your performances later, along with your grades. I will be staying here to close everything, so if you have any questions about the exercise or the class in general, now is a good time. As for those who don't, this is the last period. Go home and be proud that you took your first steps into becoming pro heroes today!"

"Bye, Majestic-sensei!"

Most of Class 1-D shuffled away from the control station, ready to return to their uniforms and go home. Some were satisfied with their feats, others didn't care about the exercise, but quite a few were frustrated with how things turned out.

"You're staying, Imai-kun?" Ashleigh asked as the three-eyed boy didn't move from his spot.

"Yeah. There's something crucial about his grading methods I need to ask."

He had to know if Majestic would account for his quirk when grading the enemy team. They made a lot of poor moves, but most of them came from his influence. If the pro hadn't considered that, he would ask him to not be too harsh on them.

"Well, boys, we'll get 'em next time," Inigo said outside, wrapping his arms around Bobby and Sandatsu's shoulders.

"Yeah. Sorry, I couldn't lead too well."

"No problem, man. Hailey took out half our comms; nothing you could have done about it."

"You guys wanna go for some ramen after hitting the showers?" Hifumi asked.

Inigo's face scrunched. "Good ramen should be saved for victory celebrations, but I am pretty hungry..."

"As long as you don't mind seeing me wrestle the chopsticks before every bite, then sure," Bobby agreed.

"Now I'm fully convinced," Inigo commented.

"What about you, Sandatsu?"

The boy blinked, surprised the invitation was also extended to him. "Yeah. I'd like that."

"Then it's settled!" Hifumi cheered, pumping a fist in the air.

Win or Lose, Class 1-D learned a lot about each other that day.