It was time for the hero combat training exercise. Tora, Izuku and Uraraka were to be heroes and they were up against Bakugo and Iida, the villains. The three of them had to either recover the fake weapon or capture the villains to win. Iida and Bakugo had to either capture all of them or defend their weapon until time ran out. Tora, Izuku and Uraraka were finally allowed to enter the building. As they were walking around cautiously, Tora came up with an idea.
"Hey guys, do you mind if I go on ahead? I'm pretty sure Katsu's main target will be Izuku. I think he's going to be too blinded by his sights on Izuku to coordinate with Iida. If I can go on ahead, maybe I can stop him and capture him. If I can manage to capture him, all we'd need to do is capture Iida or recover the weapon or both." Tora suggested. Izuku gave her a concerned look.
"Are you sure you wanna go up against Kacchan alone?" Izuku asked Tora, worried about her. He knew she could hold her own against Bakugo now, but he was still anxious about her fighting him alone. He didn't want anything bad to happen to her.
"I'll be fine Izuku. Don't worry so much. " Tora said, reaching up and caressing Izuku's cheek with her thumb.
"I know you're a very capable fighter having a strong quirk and being the national champion for both gymnastics and mixed martial arts and all, but I still can't help but worry." Izuku said as he placed his hand on top Tora's hand that was on his face. Uraraka put her hand on Izuku's shoulder.
"I'm sure Hinode will be perfectly fine on her own. She's clearly an exceptional athlete and fighter, is really smart and has a strong quirk." Uraraka said to reassure Izuku.
"Besides, Katsu's my rival too. He made fun of both you and me. And this is another opportunity to put him in his place again. So let me go for it Izuku. Please?" Tora said to Izuku as he sighed.
"You don't need my permission. But please Tora, be careful." Izuku said as Tora smiled at him.
"I will." Tora said as she leaned in and briefly kissed Izuku on the lips. She turned into a full body silk moth. As she transformed, her body suit conformed to her shape and size and became completely transparent. It was as if she wasn't wearing anything at all. Unfortunately, the ear piece that All Might had given her didn't change size and it fell to the ground.
"Oops! Looks like I'm gonna have to carry this." Tora said as she walked over to it and grabbed it with her legs and lifted off with her wings. It was a good thing she constantly worked out for gymnastics and mixed martial arts. Otherwise, the earpiece would be too heavy to carry in this form. She flew closer to Izuku and Uraraka with the earpiece in her grasp.
"Remember we can keep in touch through the earpieces that All Might gave to us before the training. Although I'm gonna have to carry mine for a bit while I'm in this form. Silk moths have an excellent sense of hearing and smell. I'm only a silk moth so I can track Bakugo down. I'll transform into something more formidable once I find him." Tora said, flapping her wings.
"Yep! Good luck Hinode!" Uraraka said as Tora flew off. Izuku couldn't help but stare in the direction Tora took off, his eyes full of concern. Uraraka tugged on his sleeve.
"She'll be okay. We should trust in Hinode. Right, Deku?" Uraraka said to Izuku who turned to look at her.
"Yeah you're right. Let's go." Izuku said as he started to lead the way. Meanwhile, Tora used her acute sense of smell and hearing to locate Bakugo all while holding on tight to the earpiece with her fuzzy moth legs. Suddenly, she picked up Bakugo's scent and his exact location with her hearing.
"There he is!" Tora said to herself quietly as she flew to where Bakugo was. When she found him, he was facing away from her which was perfect. Tora landed on the ground, careful not to make a sound and transformed into a male lion. Well, she only looked like a male lion. She got the earpiece back into her ear and started approaching Bakugo. The hairs on the back of his neck started rise as he felt like he was being followed. He quickly turned around to see Tora as a male lion. She lunged at him immediately upon being spotted. Before Bakugo could even react, she swiped at his face with her large paws with claws out. He tried to jump back, trying to evade her attack. But her claws grazed his left cheek, leaving four large scratch marks on his face. A small part of his mask had been sliced clean through so that a small piece of it was dangling beneath his left eye by a few threads. Tora jumped back, aware of Bakugo's dangerous quirk but he didn't use it against her.
"What's wrong Katsu? Why won't you use your quirk against me?" Tora snarled as she approached him again in a prowling manner.
"Shut up. This isn't between you and me. I'm only after Deku." Bakugo said to Tora who frowned.
"I hate to break it to you, but this is training so yes, it is between us. Right here, right now! Stop dragging personal issues into this and fight me!" Tora roared, taking a step forward.
"You wanna fight? Fine, but you'll have to reach me first." Bakugo said, smirking as he beckoned Tora with his hand. She smiled with determination and lunged at him again but he kept using his explosion quirk to propel himself away from her.
"What? Are you running away from me Katsu?! Come and fight me!" Tora growled while charging at Bakugo who was approaching a dead end. Suddenly he turned around to face Tora, taking the stance of a track runner about to take off.
"I'm not running away." Bakugo said as he quickly jumped, using his quirk to propel himself into the air above Tora who passed right under him. While he was still in the air, he exploded the ceiling above them. This caused rubble from the ceiling to fall and block the hallway so that Tora couldn't get through to the other side where Bakugo was. She had to warn Izuku and Uraraka that she couldn't capture Bakugo and was trapped.
"Izuku? Uraraka? Hey you guys there?" Tora said, using the earpiece.
"Hey Hinode! Yeah we are. Deku and I are still searching the building together." Uraraka's voice replied back.
"Are you okay Tora? Please tell me you're not hurt. We heard a big crash and felt vibrations throughout the building." Izuku said, sounding worried.
"Don't worry, I'm fine. I survived the encounter with Katsu, but I'm trapped between some rubble and a dead end at the end of a hallway. Anyways, I failed to stop Katsu and I'm pretty sure he's out searching for you so be careful... I'm really sorry you guys." Tora said as Izuku sighed with relief that his girlfriend was unharmed.
"It's okay Tora. I'm just glad you're okay." Izuku said with relief.
"Hey Hinode, what animal are you right now." Uraraka asked Tora.
"I'm a male lion right now... well I look like a male lion, but I'm still biologically female." Tora answered Uraraka.
"Couldn't you turn into a larger, stronger animal to push the rubble out of the way? Or maybe turn into a really small animal and crawl through small spaces between the rubble." Uraraka suggested to Tora.
"I'm not sure if the floor would be able to withstand that much weight. All the animals strong enough to move this much rubble may be too heavy for the building to handle. I don't want to fall through the floor and get injured. And this rubble seems unstable and I'd rather not get squished. So it looks like I'm down for the count in this training exercise." Tora said.
"Aww shoot! Well don't worry Hinode. We can handle this. Just leave it to us!" Uraraka said cheerfully.
"Okay, I'll leave it to you guys. It's not really like I have a choice anyways. I'm counting on you two." Tora said. Once she hung up, she sighed with frustration.
"Huh, well this sucks. Now I need to figure out if I can get out of here... or at least figure out how to pass the time until time runs out." Tora said to herself. She returned back to her human form, her suit returning to it's normal coloration so that she appeared clothed. She walked over to the wall of rubble and grabbed a small loose piece of concrete and started tossing it up and catching it over and over again, trying to think of a strategy of some sort. As she stood there thinking and tossing the little piece of concrete, something dawned on her.
"Maybe I was letting personal issues get the better of me too. I'm such a hypocrite." Tora thought to herself out loud as she thought about her confrontation with Bakugo. Meanwhile, Izuku was going up against Bakugo and Uraraka had just found Iida and the fake nuclear missile. Izuku was doing well at first due to all his note taking. But was starting to have trouble with Bakugo who wasn't giving him any time to form a plan. Uraraka was having difficulty recovering the weapon from Iida who predicted she'd arrive alone and hid any objects she could use against him. He kept the weapon out of her reach with his speed. But as Iida was monologuing, Uraraka had notified Izuku and Tora where the weapon was. As Izuku fought with Bakugo, he was getting his ass handed to him. But at the last minute, Izuku notified Tora and Uraraka and used a Detroit Smash. The force blew through all the floors above and roof of the building. This also removed the rubble that was trapping Tora on the floor right above him. Uraraka used an improvised move to distract Iida and floated herself to the weapon, clinging onto it. And with that, the hero team won.