Katsuki smirked as he stared across the field at Ochaco. "Careful, Pink Cheeks. I'm not gonna go easy on you you know."

Ochaco met his challenge without even flinching, "Don't you dare Kacchan."

Uraraka: Yeah, you better not!

Cementoss looked to make sure they were both ready before nodding, "Begin!"

Uraraka immediately rushed toward him and tried to get him to float, but he exploded her before that could happen. The smokescreen his explosions created was normally pretty useful when he was the one taking advantage of it, but he had to give the girl credit for finding a way to turn it against him. Every time he thought he had her pinned, she'd pop up somewhere else like the world's most messed up game of whack-a-mole. He smirked and let off an even larger explosion when he caught sight of her jacket, excited to see how she'd get out of that one... except she'd never gotten into it in the first place.

Kurogiri: Decoy.

Katsuki stumbled back, eyes wide as she came at him from the side. He would have tripped, but luckily there was no rubble in his path, so he wasn't down yet, "Pretty smart Cheeks, using your jacket as a diversion like that."

Ochaco didn't take the bait, staying silent and practically invisible inside the billowing clouds of smoke around them. Katsuki caught a slight hint of movement and immediately launched an explosion that way. He got lucky and Ochaco let out a cry as she was pushed back.

The crowd booed loudly as she slowly pulled herself to her feet and Katsuki wanted to snap at them. Didn't they see how hard she was fighting? Didn't they see how fucking hard he had to work to keep himself from going down? Why were they thinking it was a beatdown when it was an even match?

Joke(shaking her head): Unfortunately some people can just be idiots like that.

Mirko: Down with misogyny!

"You all really don't know what it's like to be a woman in heroics, do you?" Amplifier's giggle echoed around the stadium. "You're looking at Bakugo like he's the big bad wolf and Uraraka's the damsel in distress, and I think it's tragic how often women are underestimated in this industry. Have you figured it out yet? What's happening down on that field isn't a beatdown. It's a strategy!"

Katsuki tensed. A strategy? He'd caught onto her relentless attacks and her use of the smokescreen as a cover to hide her movements, but Amplifier made it sound like there was something he was missing and Ochaco's proud smile pretty much confirmed it.

"Thank you, Kacchan." Ochaco's breath was heavy and she looked exhausted, but still managed to smirk at him as she pressed her fingertips together. "For keeping your eyes on me."

Midoriya: Huh, maybe your meteor shower will work this time, Uraraka.

Katsuki looked up.

There was a meteor shower headed his way. Seriously?! He'd known she was powerful, but this was something else! He could use a massive blast and take out the entire attack with one blow, and maybe if things were different, he would have, but he wanted to be an underground hero and showing off an attack like that would hurt him more than it would help. Probably literally, considering the strain it would put on his wrists. Instead, he dodged as best he could and exploded the biggest rocks that looked like they could actually deal some damage, but he still wasn't all too surprised when he felt Uraraka grab his wrist and fling him out of the ring like a ragdoll.

Uraraka: I won!

Bakugo(rolling his eyes): Good fight, round face.

He tumbled to a stop when Ochaco released his gravity again and rolled his eyes at her exhausted, triumphant smirk, "Alright, cheeks, you got me. That was pretty awesome."

Kirishima: Hell yeah, a compliment from Bakugo!

"Thanks." Ochaco's grin got a bit wider. "I thought you'd like it!"

"Uraraka wins!"

Shoto shivered as he made his way off the field and back into the tunnels. Alright, so maybe he had gone a bit overboard in his fight against Sero but he still wasn't quite sure if that was because he was angry about what Touya had said or if he was just trying to show off for his long lost brother. When he reached the hall that went up to where class 1A was sitting, he hesitated. He could turn left and go back to sit with the class... or he could go say 'hi' to his siblings and make sure Touya hadn't annoyed them to death.

Dabi(dryly): Knowing Fuyumi she's not very happy with me right now.

Fuyumi had texted him their seat numbers, not that he'd been planning on ever using them, so it didn't take him long to find them. Touya and Natsuo were laughing about something and Fuyumi looked torn about whether her tears were supposed to be happy or annoyed, but she looked mildly amused so Touya couldn't have done anything too terrible. Hopefully.

(Dabi snorted)

Natsuo let up when he saw him coming. "Yo dude! You were right! He is alive and he's cool!"

(Dabi blinked)

Touya gave him a smug smile and Shoto narrowed his eyes suspiciously until Fuyumi sighed, "They've been bonding over their hatred of Endeavor."

(Endeavor sputtered and Todoroki made a noise of realization)

Todoroki: Ah, that makes sense.

"Ah." Shoto nodded. "That makes sense. Can I join?"

(Dabi burst out laughing)

Endeavor: Shoto!

Fuyumi gave him a mildly disappointed look, but Natsuo grinned, "Of course! That glacier probably had dad rolling in his grave!"

"Did you really need to go that far though?" Fuyumi fretted. "Shoto..."

"Still didn't use our fire." Touya pointed out. "Could've made an even bigger spectacle if you had."

Sero: Are you kidding me? I was already toast even without the fire!

"I wasn't trying to make a spectacle. "Shoto said stubbornly. "I don't need my fire to win."

"Maybe not." Touya shrugged. "But it's still your fire, not the old man's. But enough about that, how's Kacchan doing?"

"Not quite sure." Shoto frowned. "You guys call me a conspiracy theorist, but he's the one who thinks there's secretly a villain attacking the festival... unless of course he's talking about you, Dabi."

Dabi: Hey, it's not me this time!

"No, but with the bees..." Touya's eyes widened and he jumped to his feet. "I gotta go check on something. Good luck on your next match twerp."

"Aren't you gonna stay and watch with us?" Fuyumi called after him.

"I'll be back!" he was almost too far away for Shoto to catch what he said next. "Assuming I kill those before they kill me."

Toga: Wait Dabi's going to fight Shiggy! (Shigaraki and Dabi looked at each other)

Shigaraki: We're going to trying kill each other aren't we? And we're not going to let both of us walk away?

Dabi: Well I didn't burn alive to die now so...

Shigaraki: Hey I'm not going to die!

Twice: I hope neither of you die! I hope both of you die!

Hitoshi was pretty sure that the only reason he wasn't dead yet was because of pure spite. He 100% felt like death warmed over, but there was a certain vindictive pleasure in knowing that the other guy was suffering just as much as he was right now and probably even more considering that Kurogiri and his vestiges were now on Shinso's side and actively fighting against the other presence.

Shinso: Yeah, spite is a good motivator.

Dabi: You're telling me? I'm literally living on pure spite.

"Shinso?" Aizawa prompted softly. "Is something wrong? You haven't said anything in a few minutes."

Hitoshi just shook his head, wincing at the twinge of pain that shot through his skull at the movement. He kept his eyes screwed shut and used the pain to steady himself, "I'm good, just needed a minute. This )@$&* putting up one hell of a fight."

Present Mic sounded confused, "I thought you already asked Oboro to stop."

Tsu: It's not him, ribbit.

"Not him." Shinso grit his teeth as another wave of resistance hit him like a truck. "The other brainwasher."

"Oh." Mic said helplessly. "That sounds... fun?"

Aizawa: Seriously Zashi?

Yeah." Shinso scoffed. "It's a real blast."

"Just take your time Shinso." Midnight said. "I can always knock him out and we can try again later.

Shinso: No. It's better to finish it off now.

"No, I can do this." Hitoshi took a deep breath and focused on his quirk. "Remember anything the other brainwasher ordered you to forget."

Ochaco leaned against Katsuki's side and hobbled off the field, focusing on not throwing up all over him. He probably wouldn't say anything if she did, but she was stubborn and refused to make him go through the rest of the day smelling like stomach acid after he'd worked so hard to get them this far in the festival. They met the medbots at the edge of the field and she collapsed gratefully onto the stretcher.

"Ugh." Ochaco groaned loudly. "Do you think Recovery Girl would remove my stomach if I asked? I can just photosynthesize. Get energy from the sun or something."

Shiozaki: That is not how it works and photosynthesis isn't as nice as you think it is.

Katsuki snorted, "Pretty sure that's not how it works, cheeks, but if anyone could find a way to do it, it would be you."

She rolled over and glared at him half-heartedly, "Don't get my hopes up."

Katsuki laughed, but followed along beside her as the med bots took her to Recovery Girl. They met Iida on their way and he rushed to meet them as soon as he caught her eye, "Uraraka! Are you alright?!"

Uraraka: I'm okay.

"I'm fine Iida." Ochaco gave him a tired smile. "I just overused my quirk a little."

Momo: A little?

Iida didn't relax, he never really relaxed, but he did seem slightly less worried, "That is a relief. I suppose I'm just a bit on edge at the moment. What with your fight, and that general education student forfeiting, not to mention seeing Kaminari with that vigilante and whatever is going on with my brother..."

Katsuki interrupted suddenly, "What did you just say?"

Iida blinked, "I said that today has been a little odd, so I was understandably more concerned...."

Bakugo: No the other thing, four eyes!

Katsuki held a hand up, "No, after that. What did you say about a vigilante with Kaminari?"

"Oh, I saw Kaminari and Viridian earlier." Iida said. "Aizawa captured him and mentioned something about him joining the class, but my brother is always saying how slippery that particular vigilante is... are you alright?"

Katsuki pinched the bridge of his nose, looking absolutely pissed, "He was here?"

Hawks: Still is.

"He still is." Iida frowned. "Or at least I believe so. He was going to contact my brother and I believe got roped into playing support during a villain fight."

"Of course he did." Katsuki started grumbling under his breath and even with how close she was to him, Ochaco could only catch part of what he said. "$@#&^ idiot... if you ask for someone's number, you call them, you don't... just asking to get captured at this point... actually crazy?"

Midoriya: I'm not crazy...

Gran Torino: You sure about that?

Tsukauchi: Midoriya, half your plans shouldn't even work. No, make that all of your plans.

"Um, Katsuki?" Ochaco touched his arm, making him startle. "Is everything alright?"

Katsuki took a deep breath, "Don't worry about it cheeks. Glasses, can you make sure she makes it to Recovery Girl okay? I gotta go yell at someone."

Midoriya: Kacchan!

"Alright?" Iida looked confused but dutifully took Katsuki's place as her side as he ran off down the hall, "Do you know what that was about?"

"Not sure." Ochaco said slowly. "But he was talking to a friend earlier, so maybe... it's probably best not to question it too much."

Rin: Someone's got to explain to them what's going on eventually.

Iida nodded, chopping the air, "I agree. We must respect our classmate's privacy!"

Still, Ochaco couldn't get it off her mind as Recovery Girl checked her out. She was so preoccupied that she didn't even get the chance to ask Hagakure how she'd gotten injured, even though she was in the bed right next to her and she had plenty of opportunities.

Hagakure(wincing): I'm kinda glad... that's going to be a really weird conversation...

Nejire: Yeah, how do you explain that you were possessed by a parasitic robotic bee for months?

Katsuki had referred to his friend from earlier as 'Izuku'...

Did Katsuki know Viridian?

Everyone: Yup.