27 Chapter 27: Pairing Up

As All Might waits at the other side of the Training Ground entrance he hears many footsteps all coming through the darkened tunnel, as the first few students start to appear he speaks

"They Say That Clothes Make The Pros, Young Ladies And Gentlemen, And Behold, You Are The Proof! Take This To Heart. From Now On You Are All..." they step out into the light

"Heroes In Training!" His ever present smile grows "This Is Getting Me All Revved Up! You Look So Cool!" He sets his feet "Now. Shall We Get Started You Buncha Newbies!?"

The students all cry out in enthusiasm! At the back of the group a spaced out Hitomi is being supported by Mina and Hitoshi... She got really overwhelmed in that changing room and has yet to reawaken... It will take a lot to snap her out of it... Or...

They then hear footsteps running in behind them along with a familiar female voice "Guys! Hey guys! Sorry I'm late!"

They turn to see Toru run up to them with a white cloak draped around herself completely hiding her already hidden body

[Toru's temporary look (Yeah I just inverted Tokoyami's cloak and put it over her Boots)]

At the sound of Toru's voice Hitomi.exe reboots in record time and she stands straight then turns to face her crush

As Toru runs into the light she freezes when she sees Hitomi in her new Hero costume!

[Said Hero Costume]

"O-oh wow" Toru stares... And she LIKES what she's seeing "You look... Amazing!"

"Th-thanks..." She blushes "You look... Super cute..."

"Ha... Yeah I needed a super last minute change to my costume..." She shuffles her feet "A-anyway you two look great too!"

[Hitoshi's costume]

Mina and Hitoshi say at the same time with different levels of enthusiasm "Thanks"

"Jinx!" Mina hits Hitoshi's arm

As Hitoshi is once again being abused Midoriya runs past them from the tunnel as the last arrival and starts talking with Uraraka

Hitomi stares at his costume and then at All Might... And then back to Midoriya 'Wait... Did he just copy All Might!?" She looks back to see All Might turned away and covering his mouth while his body trembles 'Seems the big guy noticed too!'

He clears his throat and strikes his hands on hips pose "Now That You're Ready, It's Time For Combat Training.

"Sir!" The now fully armoured Ida raises his hand "This is the fake city from our entrance exam. Does that mean that we'll be conducting urban battles again?"

Toru and Hitoshi droop at this prospect...

"Not Quite!" All Might holds up two fingers "I'm Going To Move You Two Steps Ahead!"

"Most Of The Villain Fights You See On The News Take Place Outside" he spreads his arms "However, Statistically Speaking, Run‐Ins With The Most Dastardly Evildoers Take Place Indoors" he hides his face behind his hands "Think About It. Backroom Deals, Home Invasions, Secret Underground Lairs" he drops one hand and clenches the other "Truly Intelligent Criminals Stay Hidden In The Shadows"

"For This Training Exercise, You'll Be Split Into Teams Of Good Guys And Bad Guys And Fight Two‐On‐Two Indoor Battles" he holds up four fingers

Asui tilts her head "Isn't this a little advanced?"

He clenches his fist once again "The Best Training Is What You Get On The Battlefield! But Remember, You Can't Just Punch A Robot This Time. You're Dealing With Actual People Now."

"Good!" Hitoshi yells out and Toru rapidly nods!

The other students start bombarding All Might with questions! Some relevant some not like Aoyama's "Isn't this cape très chic?"

All Might growls "I Wasn't Finished Talking! Listen Up" he pulls out a piece of folded paper

Hitomi smiles "Huh smart, he's got a script"

"The Situation Is This. The Villains Have Hidden A Nuclear Missile Somewhere In Their Hideout. The Heroes Must Try To Foil Their Plans. To Do That, The Good Guys Either Have To Catch The Evildoers Or Recover The Weapon. Likewise, The Bad Guys Succeed If They Protect Their Payload Or Capture The Heroes" he throws his script over his shoulder "Time's Limited, And We'll Choose Teams By Drawing Lots!"

Ida raises a hand "Isn't there a better way?"

"Think about it!" Midoriya answers for All Might "Pros often have to team up with heroes from other agencies on the spot, so maybe that's the reason we're seeing that here"

"Yes, I see. Life is a random series of events" he bows to All Might "Excuse my rudeness."

"No Sweat" he pumps his fists "Let's Draw!"

The entire class starts drawing their pairings

[Author here: I won't be using the canon pairings apart from Midoriya/Uraraka vs Bakugo/Ida. I'll be deciding pairings through a random number generator and deciding who vs who the same way]

"Sooo who you guys hoping for?" Mina rests her arms behind her head

Hitomi folds her arms "Anyone but Mineta"

"Agreed! Also... Not Bakugo..." Toru gulps... "He's scary..."

Hitoshi puts his hands in his pockets "Yaoyorozu would be the most useful... Uraraka a close second... Hitoshi is very capable..."

"Why are you only saying girls huuuuh!?" Mina pokes him

"The boys are either hot heads, stiffs, idiots or whimps?" That gets him some glares from the surrounding boys

"Ain't I a hot head though?" She points to herself

"Yeah but you're my friend so I'd be happy to team with you regardless of that..." He smiles

"O-oh..." She looks to the side with a slight blush... "Thanks... I guess..."

They step up to draw, each lot has a letter A to J written on it, whoever has the same letter is their team mate

Hitomi raises her's "I've got an F! Who's F!?"

"I am! Ribbit" Asui comes over holding up the same F

"Nice! Pleasure to work with you Asui" she extends her hand for a shake

"Same here, and call me Tsu please, Ribbit" she shakes her hand

"A nickname? Ok then please call me Hitomi, we can go through our abilities Quietly and go over our strategy later ok?" She smiles

"Yeah that's a good idea, I think we can work well together"

Hitomi looks around at the other pairings and sorts them in her head 'Team A: Midoriya and Uraraka, Team B: Sato and Hitoshi. Team C: Kirishima and Jiro. Team D: Ida and Bakugo. Team E: Toru and Tokoyami. Team F: Me and Tsu. Team: G: Yaoyorozu and Ojiro. Team H: Mina and Aoyama. Team I: Todoroki and Mineta. Team J: Kaminari and Shoji'

"Now That Everyone's In A Team We'll Decide The Battles!" All Might sticks his hands in two boxes at either side, One reads Villain and one reads Hero "I Declare That The First Teams To Fight Will Be... These Guys!" He pulls a D from the Villain box and an A from the Hero box!

'Bakugo and Ida Vs Midoriya and Uraraka... With Bakugo's hatred of Midoriya he'll go rogue right off the bat so I hope Ida can handle a solo defence... It would be best if Uraraka can make people float too... If she can they can case the building from the outside and find the bomb via the windows then wait for Bakugo to get impatient and run off if he hasn't already... Then they can try and deal with Ida or get past him to the bomb before Bakugo gets back... If she can't float people then-' Hitoshi smacks her on the top of her head! "Ow!"

"C'mon, we're going to an observation room to watch through some cameras" he points over his shoulder at the group lead by All Might walking away

"Oh... Wait for meeee!" they both run after the group

"So who do you think is gonna win this one?" Mina links arms with Hitomi causing Toru to glaaaare at her, not that Mina can see that of course

"Hmmm... Well I doubt Bakugo will be a team player so he'll run straight for Midoriya- Ah! Mina don't touch that" she pulls her arm free

"What? It's just a bracer right?" She tilts her head

"Noooo, it's not just a bracer" she takes a stance of using a shield and a round shield unfolds from the bracer

"Oh wow! That's so cool Hitomi!" Toru claps!

Mina nods "Damn right it is!"

Hitoshi knocks against it "At least you have some defence... Having so much exposed skin is irra- Dumb"

"Irrational ehhh? Aww first his scarf and now one of his favourite words! You're turning into our own widdle Aizawa aren't you Washy?" Hitomi laughs

"Heeeeey wait... That IS Aizawa's scarf!" Mina starts pulling at the scarf "Do you know how to use it?"

"Gah! Guh! Gruh!" Mina iiiis strangling him

"Mina you're choking him...!" Toru sticks a gloved hand out of her cloak and smacks Mina's arm!

"Oops! Sorry Hitoshi..." She quickly let's go...

He coughs! "I-" and coughs more "It's fine... Yeah I can use it, Aizawa taught me"

"When did he-" she gaaaasps! "Aizawa recommended you!"

"Busteeeeed buddy!" Hitomi laughs while Hitoshi wraps the scarf around Mina's mouth to keep her quiet

They continue to laughs as they make their way inside the observation room with everybody else, ready to watch Team A Vs Team D