Fighting Fears

Chapter 16

Ochaco's POV

"ALRIGHT IIDA, YOU CAN START THE COUNTDOWN!" Winter shouted. She and Bakugo were each standing on chunks of ice, about the size of an SUV broken off of the edge of the ice sheet. We were watching far enough away that the sheet wouldn't crack underneath us. "THREE!" Iida began counting down. "TWO!" "ONE!" "GO!"

Bakugo immediately started off with an explosion, trying to melt Winter's platform as quick as possible. They were standing horizontally across from each other, so Todoroki could evenly melt their platforms. "That was stupid of him, he's not gonna be sweating much in these temperatures and that outfit!" Ashido commented. Bakugo was standing in a pair of boxers, while Winter was across from him, wearing a sports bra and boxer briefs. They looked ridiculously out of place, something like tourists headed for the beach that got on the wrong plane. "Yeah, now he has to heat his body up enough that he'll start sweating again." Shoji agreed. Winter dropped to her stomach, shooting a strong blast of boiling water at his platform. It cracked about halfway down the middle. Bakugo growled, shifting his weight evenly across the platform, leaning towards Todoroki's flames in attempt to heat himself up. Winter jumped over a small explosion her opponent sent her way. "BAD MOVE, HOTHEAD!" She shouted, aiming another shot. Bakugo's platform actually cracked in half this time. He quickly stepped over so he had one foot on each piece, doing everything he could from going into a split. "HALF AND HALF, TURN UP THE HEAT!" He roared. "That's not gonna-" "I SAID DO IT!" Todoroki was cut off by Bakugo. "Whatever." He put more effort into the flames, obviously heating them up more. Both their platforms began to melt more quickly. "HEY OJIRO, CAN YOU MAKE SOME WAVES WITH YOUR TAIL?" Winter called. "I CAN TRY!" Ojiro looked at us. I shrugged. He walked over to Todoroki, and hit the water a few times, creating enough waves to start to rock the platforms. "Bakugo's gonna fall off if Winter hits him again!" Kaminari noted. "TAKE THIS!" He jumped into the air, hitting Winter's platform with a large explosion. Winter's platform was reduced to a piece of equal size to Bakugo's halves. Unfortunately, as he came down, he missed one of the pieces, barely landing on the one. "Looks like you evened out the playing field. Good job!" Winter laughed. "Unfortunately you forgot something!" She said. Bakugo glared as Winter went still. "Oh no..." Midoriya gasped. "What?" I worried. "She's gonna change forms!" He squeaked. "What? Oh shoot I forgot she could do that!" Kirishima groaned. "What're you all up to?" All Might and Mr. Aizawa appeared beside us. "They're trying to knock each other off their platforms. Todoroki's melting the platforms and Ojiro's creating waves to make it more difficult." Tokoyami explained. "In their... underwear?" Mr. Aizawa squinted. "THAT WASN'T MY IDEA FOR ONCE!" Mineta quickly said. "SORRY NOT SORRY BAKUGO!" Winter changed into the form of a cougar, and leapt as high as she could into the air. Bakugo looked up just in time to see her change again, midair, this time into a narwhal. He screeched as she looked down, stabbing the side of his small platform with her tusk. The platform flipped forwards towards us, launching Bakugo onto the ice sheet. He slid all the way over to us as Winter crashed into the ocean, completely soaking poor Ojiro and Todoroki, who's flames quickly went out. As she crawled back up onto the ice in polar bear form, she changed into her human form, running over to us, grinning. "I WIN! I WIN!" She jumped up and down excitedly. "WE GET IT!" Bakugo snapped, rolling over. He had a few scrapes from sliding on the ice. "Winter couldn't you have changed to something smaller before you landed?" Ojiro asked, wrapping his arms around himself. "My flames aren't working." Todoroki shook his arm furiously in attempt to get his flames back. "I WON I WON!" Winter continued chanting. "Congratulations. Now go put some clothes on before you catch hypothermia." Our teacher said. "I'm fine." Winter said. "Part of her quirk allows her to withstand below absolute zero temperatures." All Might said. His colleague rolled his eyes. "Bakugo, get up. You at least need to." Mr. Aizawa grunted. "Nope! I get to yeet him into the ocean if he doesn't get in willingly!" Winter grinned excitedly. "What? WHY?!" All Might looked at her in shock. "He lost." She smiled. "You aren't touching me!" Bakugo jumped to his feet, walking with us to the edge. He looked down into the dark water. "There's no animal waiting to eat me, is there?" Bakugo growled at Winter. "Nah. Told them to back off." Winter replied. He turned back to the ground. "How cold is th-" "YEET!" Winter kicked him in the back, causing him to belly-flop into the ocean. Bakugo's head and shoulders appeared. He furiously started cussing at Winter, at the same time trying to keep himself afloat. "One minute left!" Iida announced after a bit. Bakugo seemed to be struggling. "Hey Winter?" Sero asked. "Yeah?" "You think we should just call it o-" Just as he was about to finish his question, our classmate went under. "WINTER!" Both teachers shouted at her. The rest of us started panicking. "Ugh. Fine." She growled, changing into a polar bear again. As she disappeared, the water calmed down. It felt like forever before she appeared again, her little bear ears flattened. Hooking her claws into the ice, she pulled herself out of the water. Bakugo flopped off her back onto the ice, coughing and sputtering. "He wouldn't let me touch him at first!" Winter snapped, glaring at the boy. "Y-You o-o-w-we m-m-e b-b-i-g t-time." Bakugo shivered violently, standing up. "I don't owe you squat. You lost the challenge." Winter stuck her head in the air indignantly. "Plus I saved you." She changed into a snow leopard, shaking out her fur. "S-S-hu-t-t u-u-p-p." He stuttered, stalking back towards the cabin.