What Did We Learn Today?

"Stun Grenade!" Katsuki made to shoot a Kamehameha, only to blind everyone unfortunate enough to look at his hands.

Despite having closed my eyes in time, when I opened them again, the world had grown hazy as my eyes worked double time to adjust. "Wow, you didn't just charge in like an idiot. It's almost like you're learning!"

Katsuki propelled himself over to me and tried to overwhelm me with a barrage of explosion-empowered punches. Alas, I was in my Commando Paradigm and such punches were but child's play in comparison to the torture Mirio normally subjected me to in the "pursuit of training."

Even if I was half blinded, it wasn't hard to dodge or redirect all his attacks. So, I thought, 'Hey, this is supposed to be a teaching experience, no? I should totally provide color commentary and insight. Yes...'

So, I did.

A hand came up to explode in my face, but I flicked it aside with my right forefinger as I said, "My precious Kacchan…" The heat from the deflected explosion warmed up my face as I smiled toothily.

"How long will you continue to fight so inefficiently?" I snapped my head out of the way of his attempt to grapple.

"Where are your natural battle instincts?" He went for another Stun Grenade attack, but I smacked his hands out of form and into collapse.

"Only an idiot would continue to challenge someone beyond physically stronger than them to close quarters combat, right? You don't see Eraserhead sparring with All Might too often now, do you?" I sighed, and lightly delivered an uppercut that sent him spiraling dozens of meters into the air.

Of course, to the guy that blast resistance and a sanity-threatening desire to win, such an attack did little damage. As if to prove my point, Katsuki recovered while airborne with his explosions and managed to land looking little worse for wear.

"Tsk," he clicked his tongue before exposing his palms to the ground in my direction.

Boom!

"Ah, yes. Using a smokescreen of dust and ash, is a much less brain-dead strategy than just straight up attacking me. Now, you'll have a chance of actually hitting me with an explosion, but—"

The moment I felt a palm land on my chest, grinned and subvocalized, 'Sentinel.'

BOOM!

Katsuki unleashed the most powerful explosion I'd seen to date, at point blank range while pushing his hands into my abdomen. It was so powerful that in an instant, the entire smokescreen had dispelled and the concern gasping and chattering of my peers registered in my ears.

However…

"What good is an attack that does nothing to your opponent?" I calmly grabbed his arm by the wrist, quite easily as he was dumbstruck at the fact that I was entirely unaffected.

Fling!

Once again he was sent flying through the air.

"Aw shit," I just realized I wasn't entirely unaffected like I earlier thought. "Now I have to buy another gym uniform," I sighed and tossed away the rags that were left from the massive explosion. Looking at my torso, there was pink inflammation in the shape of Katsuki's hand which told everyone that the explosion was about as damaging to me as getting slightly slapped.

By the time I realized all of this, Katsuki had recovered and resumed his attempts at fighting me.

Hmm… He must not know that I intend to make this a turn based battle. After he successfully attacked, it should be my turn.

"I wonder if you've thought about how to deal with your weaknesses?" I commented as I switched to my Ravager Paradigm.

Finger pointed, I casted, "Water."

Power was exchanged for speed as a bullet of water hit Katsuki and formed a red mark on his arm.

"How the fuck was that my weakness, dipshit?"

"I would have used a larger, slower dose if I didn't trust your ability to dodge. All the other options are kind of overkill."

"What other options," He glowered at me.

"Fire or thunder might ignite your nitro-sweat. You picture the outcome," I hummed happily at his aghast expression.

A second passed and Katsuki returned to his normal self. How did I know?

"Fuck you, Deku! Take this more seriously," he then cupped his hands and aimed them at me.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

What the fuck? I'd seen this sort of shit play out in anime and mangas, but I thought only protagonists had these sort of bullshit breakthroughs in the face of insurmountable odds; or whatever.

Had I really just pushed Katsuki to the point that he had come up with his AP Shot and AP Auto Canon half a year earlier than he was supposed to? It sure as shit looked like it to me; though, this was obviously the first time he had used it, seeing how rough around the edges the technique was.

"You want serious? Fine." Instead of teleporting from side to side to avoid his new ranged attacks, I teleported less than ten meters from him.

"Saboteur," I loudly said.

"Slow," I casted once and Katsuki's expression soured; his movements noticeably slowed.

"...Slow," I then casted on myself, and his reaction alone was worth the temporary annoyance.

Before he could continue to curse me out, however, I quickly chanted, "Ravager, Watera."

At such a close range, and to a slowed target, the massive spherical translucent sphere of bubbles I shot at Katsuki easily hit him despite his best efforts to get out of the way. Upon touching him, everyone understood that we wouldn't be seeing any more explosions as the sphere exploded into a surprising amount of water that soaked everything in a five meter radius. It also exploded with the force of a speeding car, but one wouldn't be able to tell as it was used against Katsuki…

"That was me being serious," I said, gathering everyone's attention. "Now, we get… stupid," I grinned.

"Synergist, Protect," I casted on Katsuki before switching to my Medic Paradigm.

Then, I cut loose. Outside of Commando and against a person buffed by Protect, I literally couldn't afford to pull my punches. Though, to those watching, I probably looked like some sort of sadistic psycho as I fought not like a person, but a mutant monster death machine.

For every strike Katsuki attempted, I landed three of my own. I used every part of my body, from my hands and elbows, to my knees and legs. I used my head to headbutt and I wasn't above brutality, as I was almost certain of the fact that I'd been doing just as much damage to Katsuki as I had to my body when I hit him.

Our "fight" took us across most of Training Grounds Gamma as I used the environment around us as best as I could. From roundhouse kicking Katsuki in the neck while he was pinned through a wall, to literally curb stomping him, I exhausted any and every option I thought might paint a picture of what I was willing to do in a serious fight.

Eventually, Aizawa's voice would come through the P.A. system, "Ok… I think we get it, Midoriya..."

A bit distantly, Setsuna's voice added, "I think it was clear this wasn't going anywhere after he suplexed Bakugo and dented a rack of ten metal pipes..."

"Eh? I thought they should have stopped after Bakugo got tossed through a window," Uraraka added.

"No, no, no. The fight clearly stopped being sportsmanlike after Midoriya started casting healing spells to make it last longer," Iida confidently said.

…

"What did we learn today?" Aizawa asked, after Katsuki and I returned to meet the rest of our classmates.

"Midoriya is a savage and under no circumstances should we anger him," Kaminari shivered.

"Izubro is pretty much invincible and our best bet for the Sports Festival is aiming for second place," Kirishima said.

"Those were pretty stupid answers," Tsuyu said. "I think Aizawa-sensei was asking what we learned about the two through the fight."

"How was what I said invalid, then?!" Kaminari shrunk back on himself as Tsuyu's unflinching gaze shattered his confidence.

"If there's one thing I took from seeing Midoriya in a prolonged fight, it's that our best bet in beating him is by angering him. When he's calm, collected, and serious, he truly is almost impossible to beat. But, when he gets distracted, when he starts acting silly, his opponents get chances to capitalize on."

"I didn't really learn anything," Camie said. She sighed and added, "The homie, just reaffirmed his badassery and showed off his sick close-combat moves." Addressing me, her eyes sparkled as she asked, "You'll teach me a few before the Sports Festival right, fam?"

"Why not?" I hummed.

"Um..." Uraraka suddenly chimed in, "I think Bakugo-kun should get some credit too..." With everyone suddenly looking at her she panicked and stuttered, "I-I mean, he t-toughed through fighting against Midoriya-kun until Aizawa-sensei called the fight and I just think it's commendable."

"Indeed, a hero must never give up in the face of hardships! No matter what, Bakugo's tenacity and unwillingness to give up should be praised," Iida added.

"All of those were… points," Aizawa said while looking sharply at Kirishima and Kaminari. "So, take what you learned here today and reflect." Gesturing at Katsuki and I, Aizawa continued, "Those two may seem like unbeatable giants now, but remember this: You guys have only just started your journeys in becoming proper heroes.

"At the end of the day, your job won't be a contest of who is the strongest. Rather, how heroic and effective you can be out in the real world at helping people. Midoriya and Bakugo are strong, of this there's no doubt. But, they have their own issues: Midoriya's being his flippancy and Bakugo's being his anger and obsession with being the strongest.

"No one can say for certain whether these problems will be resolved before they graduate, so I don't want to see or hear comments from the rest of you about settling for second place or already giving up—" Kaminari and Kirishima winced. "Train hard," Aizawa continued, "not to catch up or match these two," he gestured to Katsuki and I again, "but to become the best heroic versions of yourselves.

"Here at U.A. that is all we want from you."