Chapter 8: their starting line part 4
Mina got up and frantically ran to Tanya, who was curled up and holding back screams. "Nononono, it'll be ok! We'll get you to recovery girl! It'll be ok!"
Downstairs, Sato began to fade out of consciousness, the last thing he saw was Midoriya. The purple colored monster with his hand to the sky. 'I, should have, stopped him…'
His Quirk time limit ran out, darkness engulfed his vision and silence rang in his ears. A weightlessness overtook his limbs as they stretched away from him, far from reach. He finally slipped under.
Bakugo picked himself up, tears held back as he stared at Deku. The two had crazed and pained looks on their faces.
"This is the best I could do." Midoriya whimpered as his legs began to shake, his arms flopped to his sides. "I never wanted to use it. It's too much for me. It's too powerful to be used."
"I'm. Not the same Deku. You remember." He said before collapsing.
Bakugo could only stare and grit his teeth. 'He's that powerful?! All these years, holding back that kind of power! Always acting the hero, always throwing himself in danger's way.' He shook at the sight of Midoriya's unconscious body being carried away by the medic bots. 'I had tried to stop his stupid dream for years! Those without power can't win, and heroes need to win! Villains don't go easy on anyone! All this time, he could have - you could have blown me away…' Something snapped inside him.
Tanya had curled up on her stretcher as she was hauled to recovery girl. She folded her wings across her back in a desperate attempt to stop the gentle breeze that swept across the exposed red flesh. Tears ran down her face as she bit back the screams that wanted to be let loose. She longed for her magic so she could just seal it away behind pain nullifiers. Without them, they ran and bit and hissed along her back.
In the control room, All Might set down his mic.
Kaminari took a step back in fear. "This was brutal!"
"There were heavy losses on both sides today." Tokoyami bowed his head. "May we be lucky that they were an outlier and not our fates."
"I." All Might spun around, his cape twisted up and threatened to hit him in the face. "Have things to attend to!"
All Might made a mad dash out of the control room. He had to make sure everyone made it to Recovery Girl's office before he returned to class.
Back in the classroom, the only three members of the match left standing were lined up for review. Mina had lost her smile, her face was red and eyes puffy. Uraraka had an ice bag on her head, she had been kicked senseless by Tanya. Bakugo couldn't look his classmates in the eyes, there was nothing he could say.
"Well now." All Might spoke, scared of what he was about to say. He cleared his throat. "You all failed today."
Mina gave a small whimper as she looked away.
"But sir," Iida asked with a hand raised. "The hero team won the exercise?! How could everyone have failed?"
"Anyone care to answer that?" All Might asked as he already saw Momo's hand raised. "Young Yaoyorozu?"
Momo cleared her throat before stepping ahead of her class. "The hero team had endangered the lives of everyone present. Midoriya's actions alone could have been fatal. Ashido used her Quirk too freely and had threatened everyone around her for the entirety of the fight. And Uraraka had set up an incredibly risky plan that involved leveling half the building."
The entire class, even All Might, was taken aback by the level of depth Momo was going to.
"On the villain team, they had failed the exercise in its purpose. This was a team battle, but they had operated without cohesion. Tenikari had discarded the feelings of her allies to focus on the task at hand, failing as a self chosen leader. Sato failed to show restraint in both tactics and emotions, in a more dangerous environment that could have spelt death for his team. Lastly Bakugo had denied helping with the bomb, instead focusing on Midoriya when he could have contacted Sato to find out he was doing well on his own."
Momo put her hand over her collar. "In short, the hero team failed due to their reckless tactics while the villain team failed due to their lack of teamwork."
All Might held his jaw up. 'She got all that from the broadcast room!' He cleared his throat. "Correct Young Yaoyorozu! You nailed it!"
"A strong and thorough education is the necessary background of any diligent hero." Momo claimed. She stood proud in front of the class.
The other teams felt uneventful in comparison to the first match. The only important note anyone took away was that, unless you had a Quirk that came with anti-ice measures, Todoroki was a serious problem.
"That's all folks!" All Might waved. "You did well today! Now watch how a hero leaves a scene!" He dashed away with a boisterous laugh.
'I can't hold this form much longer!' He thought as he scrambled to a faculty office before deflating.
His suit hung off of him as he slid down the door. He coughed up more blood, a violent lurch raked his body. "Ugh… just, got to take a breather is all."
Three injured students laid around in Recovery Girl's ward.
"What kind of a Quirk was that anyhow?" Tanya asked Midoriya. She was angry but kept it under wraps, just like her back. Her armor rested by her bedside along with the tatters of her half melted shirt.
Midoriya scraped the back of his head with a cast. His entire left arm had been casted and put in a sling, his right only needed a minor hand cast and a brace for his forearm. The costume he had come in was beyond repair which left him here in the lower half of his costume. "I-it's just a strength enhancer. I just don't have any control over it yet."
Puberty had blessed Midoriya through highschool. His rounded face had sharpened out into defined features, much like how All Might had sculpted his body over a year of brutal training. Like some guys, he had grown like a weed, now sitting at 5'8" and lean.
Sato was sprawled across a bed too small for his size as he stared at the ceiling. His feet dangled over the edge of the cot that was way too small for him. Only his mask had been destroyed in the fighting, not that his skintight costume left anything to the imagination. "I don't know what kind of strength enhancer you've got." He chuckled. "Puts mine to shame though."
The main thing Sato had received for surviving through highschool was size and bulk. All his years of hard weight training had paid off, not just with strength, but with a solid and well built figure. Barrel chested but not top heavy. 6'10 and wide enough to fill a doorway. Of course, his Quirk boosted that even further when activated.
"Don't say that Sato!" Midoriya pleaded as he wiggled a cast at him. "Your Quirk is amazing! You really had me there for a minute. I didn't think I could be tossed around like that!"
Tanya called out to him, unable to turn around lest she aggravate her back. "A bit of training and focus and you would have taken out Midoriya."
Sato gave a soft smile. It felt good to hear something like that. Being complimented was a rarity for him. He went back to staring at the ceiling like Recovery Girl told him to. He had a nasty concussion, and while her Quirk made healing extremely fast, it still took time. But he would happily take a few hours of ceiling staring over a few days of concussion treatment.
"Hey Tenikari," Midoriya prodded, too shy to look at her. "No hard feelings over what happened, right?"
She waved it off. "If our positions were switched, I would have fired off the big one as soon as possible. It's a shame it breaks you to use it, but if there's no way around that drawback then it would be more cost effective to win fights as quickly as possible. Minimize the number of moves necessary, maximize the effect."
Izuku's eyes widened. 'Break myself with efficiency! By holding back with One For All, I had drawn out the fight, resulting in more overall damage. All Might often opens up with a massive punch, one-shoting the opposition!'
'Does he always mutter?' Tanya found herself asking as the greenette began burying the room in loose thoughts.
He still refused to look at her in fear of exploding, but proudly proclaimed anyway, "Of course! I shouldn't be afraid of my Quirk! Every fight will cost something so it's my job to lower that cost as much as possible. Thank you Tenikari!"
"Don't worry about it, and please, call me Tanya." She forced a smile onto her face. 'Good, I got the most dangerous student in the class to see me in a positive light. If he takes what I said to heart, he'll take himself out of the fight. It's easier to clean up the mess afterwards than sit around and wait for it to happen.'
'A girl is smiling at me and gave me permission to use her first name!' Midoriya lit up, the green and red turned him into a Christmas display.
The door slowly swung open to reveal a hesitant Mina. She slowly panned across the beds until she saw Tanya.
"You're OK!" Mina immediately burst into joy at seeing Tanya. She ran past everyone else to dive into a hug. "IWasSoScaredThatIMeltedYouAndAhhhh!"
Tanya grimaced at the level of contact she was being submitted to. Between her tender back, her dislike for physical affection, and Mina's figure, she was feeling a mixed bag of emotions with a dash of pain thrown in. "Yes, yes, I'm very much ok. Recovery Girl said I'm lucky it didn't hit my spine or her Quirk wouldn't have been enough."
"Actually, I'm only still here because I don't have the stamina to heal it all at once. Unlike some people." She pointed that last statement to her hardy meatshield.
Sato gave a weak thumbs up. "Doc says I've got the heart of an Ox. I'll be fine."
Ashido shimmied her backpack off, she had already changed out of her hero costume unlike the patients, and pulled out a stack of colorful sticky notes. Without a word, she whipped a mechanical pencil with a fuzzy sleeve grip, and scribbled something out.
She slapped the sticky note on the cot headrest. "My number! GottaCatchMyTrainBye!"
Like a whirlwind made manifest, she was in and out of the room before anyone could fully process her. The only proof she was ever there was a single polkadot sticky note with a phone number and a doodle of her horns over them.
Before the door could even finish closing, Recovery Girl marched in like clockwork. "Tchtchtch. Midoriya, what am I going to do with you. You've used your Quirk a total of three times and have been to my office after all three. A 100% turnover rate. I'm beginning to think you like it here."
Midoriya tried bowing. "I'm so sorry Miss Recovery Girl!"
"You're all lucky your injuries aren't permanent. Anyways, aside from Tanya, you're both free to go. Midoriya, wear your braces until tomorrow. Sato, avoid stimulation and for safety's sake, sleep no longer than in three hour intervals. Otherwise you're fine." She stepped aside for her shuffling patients.
"Thanks Doc." Sato gave the tiniest of nods.
"I'm so sorry Recovery Girl. I promise next time it won't be as severe!" Midoriya bowed before scrambling for the locker room.
Tanya sat in relaxed boredom as she watched Recovery Girl yell after Izuku, "DON'T PROMISE THAT YOU'LL BE IN HERE!"
The old nurse gave a sigh before turning back to Tanya. "That poor young man. Anyways, let's get those bandages off and I'll heal you again."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone