52 Chapter 52 : Boss Rush

With current threats taken care of Class 1-a got back to UA to continue their education. The last few months have been a hectic and action-packed time but now they could slow down. At least that's what they wanted but as they had faced many villains and situations especially Midoriya, Nezu had deemed that they had enough experience to skip the first year's physical education and move on directly to 2nd year material. Though theoretically, they had much to learn, their skills and fighting ability were leagues above the other first years.

The class was now in the mock city with Aizawa explaining today's exercise.

"Today's training is a Battle Simulation where you will be facing villain clones made by Midoriya who will be hidden somewhere in the city. Your job is to find him capture him and get him out before the city is reduced to rubble. He himself will not fight back but his clone minions will stop at nothing to protect their creator. Any questions?"

"What sort of villains will we be facing?"

"Midoriya is limited to villains that you all could realistically defeat as a class so no All for One, Re-Destro, Overhaul, Wolfram, or Nine but other villains are free game."

"Can he make multiples of the same villain?"

"No, each clone will be unique."

"How much prep time do we get?"

"You will be given 15 minutes before the simulation begins and a map to figure out where he is."

Plans were already brewing in the heads of the class. Aizawa seeing this allowed them to scheme and left the room as a timer started counting down unbeknownst to the class. After 3 minutes someone finally noticed the timer and alerted the class. Momo took charge of planning routes they should take to best search the city. Jirou and Koda were critical as they could better scout out the city. With plans prepped and no one potentially going rogue again they entered the city with 5 seconds on the timer.

The time was up and all around the city warp gates opened and spewed out dozens of villains and a few nomu. The strike team consisting of Bakugou, Todoroki, Iida, and Kirishima protected the group as they searched the area. Some of the villains were quickly taken care of but the nomu was another issue as they were a lot more durable. Each time one was taken down another would appear. The class knew there was a finite amount of them but they could easily tire themselves out before getting anywhere near Midoriya.

"Area searched. We need to get moving."

The class picked up the pace to get to their planned checkpoints. They had gone through around five areas fighting through hordes of villains before getting a hit underground. Finding the building it was a small external storage room in the back of a school. Opening the door it led to an empty room with an open staircase leading down with lights on the side illuminating it. Walking down the stairs they see a group of villains guarding a door. Some in the class recognised them as the villains that took over I-island's security system. Knowing what they could do with their quirks Todoroki and Bakugou rushed in to take them out.

Within a few minutes, Bakugou was able to pull the same trick on the ferret-like villain as he did before making him grab Bakugou's sweat Bakugou rushed him but this time Todoroki sent flames which ignited the substance. The resulting explosion caused the villains to turn into a viscous liquid splattering and evaporating on the walls. Walking to the door they opened it to see another staircase leading down.

"The hell? Is this a dungeon? How many floors does this go down?"

Jirou stabs her jacks into the floor.

"There are 3 more floors down. Midoriya is at the bottom. There are a bunch of villains on the way."

"Alright let's go in guns blazing."

Walking down the staircase they come upon the vanguard action squad along with Tomura Shigaraki from the summer camp. Bakugou blasts himself forward to punch Muscular but his punch is ineffective as muscle strands cover his arm.

"Oh, you're the one the doctor wanted. I'm going to have fun tearing you to pieces."

Muscular rushed Bakugou but was stopped by Todoroki who blocked his path but that didn't last long as Dabi sent flames in his direction melting the ice.

"I think you've forgotten the rest of us."

The squad rushed forward to the class who braced for impact. Purple gas filled the room as Momo quickly created gas masks for everyone. Kirishima held his breath as he felt a pulling force sending him flying. He hardened to protect against the impact but he saw that he was flying toward Momo. Quickly deactivating his quirk on his body he tried to grab onto anything but the room was empty. Crashing into her she took a hitched breath as the two fell to the floor. From the smoke, blades came flying out and stabbed into the concrete on the ground near them.

"Flesh, flesh, fresh flesh."

Tokoyami hearing this remembered when dark shadow went berserk and rampaged through the forest. He looked up to the ceiling and saw the fluorescent lights. He looked toward Kaminari nearby.

"Kaminari take out the lights."

Nodding dark shadow picked him up and he pulled the lights out and plunged in his finger.

"Overcharge!"

The lights in the room suddenly got a lot brighter and popped plunging the room into darkness. Dabi used blue flame to light up the room to see a giant dark maw barring down on him.

"Shit."

Dark shadow bit down on the clone and began to swing wildly into the villains destroying many of them leaving Muscular alone who reveled in the fight and rushed at the monster. Dark Shadow was knocked back by Muscular which only made it angrier causing it to grab onto him and rip him to shreds. Turning back to the class his anger still evident Bakugou and Todoroki used their quirks to weaken it. After a few minutes, it calmed down as Momo kept a flashlight on it. Searching around the room they found yet another staircase down. The class at this point was exhausted by the poison and the fighting called for rest. Momo tried to get them to keep going.

"I'm sorry but if we give up then the city will be destroyed by the remaining villains above. We need to keep moving."

"But what's the point? We've already fought 2 villain groups and we're already tired. Who knows what waits for us further down? Besides this is just training anyway. We can try again another time."

Mineta's words ran through the class but Bakugou wasn't having it.

"Bullshit! We're heroes we need to keep fighting. We've already come this far."

Bakugou followed by Todoroki, Iida, Kirishima, Momo, Sato, Tsuyu, Jirou, Mina, and Shoji walked down the stairs as the rest of the class went back to the surface. Getting to the bottom they see a group of people with plague masks on. As soon as one of the villains saw him they merged into the ground as the rest got into position. Rappa was the first to speak.

"Heroes? It's been a while since I've had a good fight!"

Rappa rushed at the class and Kirishima stood in his way with his arms crossed to block the hit. The punch made contact and Kirishima was knocked back a few steps with cracked arms. Bakugou came blasting but a yellow barrier negated his explosions. Sato and Iida joined the fight trying to fight Rappa but each time they went for an opening they were blocked by the barrier. With the multiple uses of the barrier quirk Bakugou noticed that it always propagated from the same person.

"Ap Shot!"

The villain used his quirk to block the blow but the shot busted through turning him into sludge. With the villain gone the other's began to move. The class began to feel unbalanced causing them to stumble. A villain with clock hands for hair got closer as his hair extended to stab at the class and a man who had crystals growing out of their body was rushing Kirishima. Jirou stabbed her jacks into the ground and sent a sound wave tripping some of the villains. One of the villains got behind Jirou and grabbed her to pull her up. She tried to resist but she suddenly lost her strength.

"Shoji!"

He turned around and immediately ran at the villain holding Jirou until the villain put a knife to her throat.

"Not so fast hero. Tell your friends to stop and I'll let her go."

"We'll stop if you let her go first."

"Yeah right."

The villain put the knife closer slightly cutting her neck.

"Your mov- Argh."

The villain looked down to see a jack stabbed into his back. Jirou sent a pulse through it causing the villain to bubble and pop. Shoji ran to help Jirou up who was breathing heavily on the ground.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm okay. He took away all of my strength. Sorry, you had to see that."

*Explosion*

The two looked at the wall where Rappa was embedded as he slowly melted.

"Finally! Let's get the rest of them!"

The rest of the villains go down relatively easily compared to Rappa but as they try to pursue them the walls change and separate the entire class.

"Goddammit!"

Bakugou raised his hand and launched an explosion at the wall punching a hole into it. He began to run through the maze destroying any dead ends he faced. Weirdly the room needed to be a lot larger for him to go so far.

'That fucker is spinning me around.'

In anger, he blasts the wall all around him to get his bearings. The smoke cleared and revealed the villain that disappeared earlier turning into sludge as the wall around him returned to the room before. The rest of the class was tired of running around the maze and sat on the ground.

"Come on just one more floor."

"I... don't... think it's worth it. It only got more and more difficult. We know he can't use anything too strong but we're already at our limit."

"Don't talk like that. It's just one more fight. We need to keep moving. Plus Ultra."

Bakugou goes to the door leading to the last floor and goes down followed by Todoroki and Kirishima.

Getting to the last room. They were met with a room full of red mummies. Todoroki sent a jet of flame into the room burning the mummies but more came through the flames. Bakugou and Kirishima fought them off until they saw the one controlling them all. Bakugou rushed at him but was grabbed by the red bandages turning him into a mummy. Todoroki tried to get Bakugou out but strands of hair shot at him and exploded launching him away. Kirishima wanted to help but a blue fist cracked the side of his head. Kirishima stumbled but planted his feet as he retaliated by punching the large Chimera in the gut. The blow landed but it was ineffective. The man grabbed his arm and lifted him face to face.

"Better luck next time."

Chimera threw Kirishima into the wall causing him to pass out. He then looked towards Todoroki who was dodging the projectiles from Slice. Getting in his path he opens his mouth sending a jet of flame at Todoroki who tried to block it with ice but that just brought him a few seconds as Chimera punched through the barrier. Todoroki tried to run but he was stopped by Slice. Chimera ran up behind him and chopped his neck making Todoroki pass out. Bakugou suddenly blasted out of his restraints and turned the golem maker into sludge. Looking around and finding Todoroki and Kirishima out of the fight he blasted himself toward Slice but was intercepted by Chimera who sent a jet of flame in his path.

"Out of my way werewolf!"

Bakugou sent an explosion at Chimera but it was ineffective as Chimera reached through the smoke grabbed his head and slammed him into the ground.

"Stay down."

Bakugou raised his arm to launch another explosion but it was ineffective as it only singed his trench coat.

"Just give it up kid. It's over."

"Villains Win."

The rage in Bakugou gives way to shock.

'No, not again. I can't lose again.'

The villain on top of him melts away as he is warped back to the outside of the mock city together with the class. Bakugou landed outside on his back looking at the sky. Quickly getting up he sees the rest of the class in much the same situation as him. Glancing over to the city he sees the villains pop. A rumbling was heard as Gigantomachia burst out from under some building.

"Master, your subordinates are so weak."

"This was a training exercise and they're not my subordinates. They're my friends."

The class looked shocked the see the villain rise from the middle of the city. Was that supposed to be their final challenge? The destruction in the city rewinded reverting the city to before the training as Gigantomachia slowly walked back into the mountains. Recovery Girl was treating the class as she grumbled about making an old woman like her do it. Midoriya warped to the class and began to help with treating the class for their injuries. Midoriya walked up to each one and swapped their quirk with a super regeneration and swapped back. He didn't want to use rewind as it will revert their body to before the training making the training ineffective for muscle memory and he didn't want to use overhaul as healing with it causes extreme pain.

[Quirk synergy : Half-Cold Half-Hot, Blueflame, HeatSink, Hardflame Fan, Ignis > Prometheus]

[Quirk synergy : Prometheus, Ice King  > Thermal Manipulation]

[Quirk synergy : Chimera, Frog, Gecko, Doppelganger > Beast Boy]

[Quirk synergy : Creation, Energy Construct, Double > Item Generation]

The class slowly got up as Aizawa addressed the class.

"Pull yourselves together. As Mineta said it's just training it's okay to give up when the odds are stacked and you feel that you have reached your limit. Training is to make you stronger not break you down into nothing. Those of you who continued, I commend your spirit but continuing deeper into enemy territory when you know backup is not arriving could be the difference between life and death. I'm not saying it's the wrong decision it could be viable when the situation demands it."

The class which was dissatisfied with their performance now was at least okay with the learning experience.

"Midoriya, who were those villains? They seemed pretty strong. Did you take them from the news?"

"They are the villains I have encountered. On the surface were the weaker villains/criminals and some of the nomu to assist in destroying the city while the villains near my location were elites. On the first floor were Wolfram's underlings whom some of you faced during the I-island incident. The next floor had the vanguard action squad minus Kurogiri the warping villain. The third had the main attack force of Shie Hassaikai and on the last floor was the group under Nine who was going to attack Nabu Island. Gigantomachia was supposed to stop you once you had me in custody but unfortunately, you all didn't get that far."

"So you fought all of them. Really none of them came from the news?"

"Double doesn't work like that. I need exact measurements of the people I want to copy to make a clone of them and they keep their personality from the original."

"So they were as close to the real deal as we could get?"

"Pretty much. Jirou and Shoji can attest to their underhanded means."

Jirou shivers slightly remembering the villain that grabbed her.

"But I need to use domination so they wouldn't actually kill you. Why do you think Chimera didn't just destroy the floors above them knowing the class was still inside."

The class got a little scared hearing that.

"UA still wants you all to train to fight these villains and I see their reason to do so. As Momo felt during the licence exam I have been preventing any incident from getting too large. You all haven't had to fight strong and united villains that are gunning for your head."

Many in the class thought back to the USJ as Midoriya ordered Thirteen to escort them out of the area. A feeling of inadequacy was present as they remembered all that Midoriya had done for them. A fire was lit in their hearts to face whatever challenge UA has for them. Bakugou was hit hardest but had the assurance that he did his best. Aizawa spoke.

"Alright let's get to the observation room to assess your performance."

"It was recorded?"

"All training is. How do you think we assess you?"

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Next time

Chapter 53 : Routine