"So, who do you think is going to win?" asked Death Arms, munching on a sandwich he had bought.
"I'm betting on Endeavor's kid," piped in another hero, "He's got the blood of the number two!"
"What about the first place kid?" replied another.
"Eh, he seems strong and all, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's experienced on fighting. I'm sure Endeavor taught his kid plenty of tricks when it comes to fighting. The other two events didn't really showcase all his abilities," replied the first hero.
"I'd bet on the explosive kid," commented another hero, munching on some chips, "That quirk is versatile as hell, and he looks like he knows how to use it. Only bad thing is that mouth of his."
"Who do you think is going to win?" asked a female hero to Kamui Woods.
"Izuku Midoriya," stated Kamui with no hesitation.
"You had to choose the one that looked the most plain," sighed Uwabami, who had entered the lunch area, "He doesn't look as delicious as the other two. Is it because his color scheme of green, which can match well with brown."
"Yea, he looks so plain," commented another hero, "I mean, don't get me wrong, he looks strong, but you gotta admit, looks also play in a bit of factor. Compared to those two... yea."
"He's not that bad looking," frowned Mt. Lady, wondering why she was defending the boy, "His freckles are cute with that hair of his, but give him a few years, I bet he'll be a looker."
"Mmmm didn't think you'd be attracted to that type," hummed Uwabami, "Unless his mom's a model or something, that's something I doubt will happen."
Mt. Lady huffed before looking away.
"Let's get back on topic," said Death Arms, redirecting the topic, "Anyways, I'm with Kamui here. And I'm willing to bet on Izuku Midoriya on being the winner of the tournament."
"You're on!" shouted another hero, pulling out her wallet, "1000 yen on Shoto Todoroki!"
Soon, the bets were going off in all directions. Despite Shota's placement in the two events, he was still the most favored winner of all.
"And now that lunch is over, it's finally time to reveal the last game!" shouted Present Mic to the ever growing excited audience, tossing a bag of chips, jelly fruit drink, and a bottle of water to the napping Shota, "But before that, there's good news for all of you who didn't make it to the finals! This is a sports festival, so we've prepared recreational games that everyone can participate in! We've even brought real cheerleaders all the way from America to liven things up!"
As the freshmen entered the stage, Tetsutetsu was chatting with Juzo before raising a question.
"Hey, where are Kendo and the rest of the girls? In fact, where are all the girls in the Hero Course?"
Juzo shrugged, remembering Kosei had told Itsuka something during lunch, before stopping and gaping at one of the entrances. Tetsutetsu traced his gaze before taking on the same expression as him, as did the audience when they noticed the peculiar sight.
"What are they doing?" Shota asked lazily.
"What the hell?" shouted Vlad from the stands.
Standing all together was the girls of 1-A and 1-B, all dressed up in the orange U.A. cheerleader uniforms that accentuated their curves and assets to varying degrees, showing they were blossoming into beautiful women, with some more than others. Even the conservative Ibara was wearing the uniform, showing her midriff and thighs that she would usually avoid doing.
Add the fact they all trained their body to become heroes, all of their bodies were something to be jealous of, especially those who had hit puberty earlier than others.
"What's the matter!? What kind of fan service is that?" questioned Present Mic, though not saying no the sight.
It didn't take long for the girls to figure out that they had been tricked, and turned their gazes to the perpetrators.
"Mineta! Kaminari! You tricked us didn't you?" shouted Momo angrily.
"What the hell Tsuburaba!? You lied to me about that didn't you!?" growled Ituska.
The girls' gazes turned to the trio of boys, who were grinning to each other in the background, giving each other a thumbs up. Monoma wisely decided it was a good idea to step a little further away from Kosei while looking the other way.
Indeed, during lunch time, Denki and Mineta had told the Momo that the girls were to wear cheerleader uniforms since there was a cheer battle after lunch. Itsuka, who had been next to her, had begun to interrogate Mineta on who gave such an order when Tsuburaba swooped in, telling her that their teacher had told them about it just now, and made a convincing tale out of it, with Denkia and Mineta nodding in agreement.
"Why am I always caught up in Mineta's schemes?" bemoaned Momo as she fell to her knees, "I even used my quirk Creation to make these uniforms."
Ochako and Itsuka patted her back in an attempt to comfort her before taking a peak at Izuku.
"Hey, cheer up, least these uniforms did something," smirked Itsuka, pointing to Izuku.
Momo looked up to see Izuku trying his best to look away, but his traitorous eyes kept looking back at them, tracing their curves.
"Well, I suppose that's some consolation," admitted Momo as she stood back up once more.
"To think that we would be tricked to wear such sinful clothing," wept Ibara as she quickly used her vines to cover her midriff, "I must pray."
"Mah, it's not that bad," chuckled Setsuna, "Brings out certain assets for sure."
"This is so dumb!" harrumphed Jiro as she threw her poms poms to the ground.
"I'm so embarrassed!" squeaked Kinoko as she hid herself behind Reiko.
"Well, there's still time before the finals, and it'd be a pain if things got tense," reasoned Toru, "It's fine! Let's do this!"
"Huh!?" asked Jiro and Kinoko, stupefied at this.
"Yea, plus, it's not like most of us have anything else to do," grinned Setsuna, "Plus, we can still show off with this! C'mon girls, lemme hear those cheers!"
"Yaa," said Yui, raising her pom poms with minimal shaking, her expression never changing.
"All right everyone! Let's have fun competing in the recreational games!" announced Present Mic, "And when that's over, sixteen from the four teams that made it to the finals will duke it out in an elimination tournament style, one on one!"
The participants looked excited to fight it out on a big stage before Midnight called up all the participants to draw lots. The tournament would commence right after the recreational games.
"We'll go with the first-place team and take off from there," explained Midnight as she held up a box containing paper slips with numbers, "Team Kendo, please come up first. It will be followed by Team Bakugo, then Team Todoroki, and finally Team Monoma."
The teams quickly formed a line parallel to Midnight as she had been speaking.
"You three go up first," gestured Izuku, "Ladies first."
"That's sweet of you," smiled Momo.
"Deku, even though we were teams, don't think I'll be going easy on you if we fight," grinned Ochako, "And don't you dare hold back on me either!"
"I second her statement," nodded Itsuka.
Izuku merely smiled as he gestured to them once more to pick their lot numbers.
Itsuka and Momo let Ochako draw first, seeing that she was the one who was the most excited out of all of them. Ochako put her hand into the box, shuffled around a little before drawing out a slip of paper.
"I have 3," smiled Ochako as she handed the slip to Midnight, who quickly wrote it down.
"I drew 7," said Momo.
"11 for me," said Itsuka, giving a peace sign before skipping back to the group.
"I have... 9," said Izuku as he grabbed one at random.
"Ooh, if we win both our fights in the first bracket, we'll be fighting each other," grinned Itsuka, "You better not lose! I want to see how much you've improved in just martial arts!"
"I could say the same to you," smirked Izuku.
"HA! I got number 1! Say goodbye to your fucking asses, because I'm winning this damn tournament!" howled Katsuki as he drew his lot. A shoe promptly hit him in the head, courtesy of Mitsuki once more.
"6 for me!" said Mina as she jumped for joy.
"16 huh... Look like I'll be fighting last," hummed Hanta.
"12... I think I'm fighting one of Midoriya's teammates," mused Eijiro, taking a peek at who he remembered had said was 11, "Crap, I don't really remember what her quirk is! All I remember is Bakugo saying something about her hands. Well, hopefully, it'll be a manly fight! At least it's not a world where I had to fight someone with a similar quirk like mine!"
In the multiverse
A few Tetsutetsus sneezed before wondering who was talking about him. He didn't have time to think about it as he was going to be fighting against someone with a hardening quirk
Back to this universe
"5," said Shoto curtly, causing Mina to slump in depression, using Eijiro to hold her up.
"13 for me! Better watch out, because I'll put a shock to your system!" laughed Denki.
"Me and my babies have 14," grinned Mei, "Oh I'll have so much more time to invent new stuff and go over my sales pitch!" Mei looked over to her opponent before giving off an even bigger smile, which slightly scared Denki.
"Number 4, which means I'll be in the second match," concluded Tenya.
"2... well shit, I get the asshole," slumped Kosei, "Man, was hoping to fight one of the girls."
"Not like there's many left to choose from," shrugged Sen before looking at his number, "Oh number 8. Looks like I get to fight the only remaining girl that was available."
"Switch with me!" begged Kosei, leading to a small skirmish between the two competitors, but Sen wasn't budging.
"Go ahead," gestured Monoma to Shinso, who looked at him to see who would draw the next lot.
"15," reported Shinso, realizing that he would be in the last match. He glanced at the only other remaining slot and winced, realizing just who Monoma would be going up against.
'Well... better him than me,' sighed Shinso. The other slot open was someone he didn't really want to fight against so early.
"And the last choice is 10. Just how I wanted it," declared Monoma, grinning as he glared at Izuku.
Present Mic coughed for a second before he began his announcement, "Alright, the numbers have been drawn! First up, will be-"
"It's a waste of time if you announce them all and completely illogical. Just look at the jumbotron to see the matchups," interrupted Shota, not wanting to deal with this.
"Fine, but I get to do commentaries and intros," pouted Present Mic as the jumbotron displayed the brackets.
1st Match: Katsuki Bakugo vs. Kosei Tsuburaba
2nd Match: Ochako Uraraka vs. Tenya Iida
3rd Match: Shoto Todoroki vs. Mina Ashido
4th Match: Momo Yaoyorozu vs. Sen Kaibara
5th Match: Izuku Midoriya vs. Neito Monoma
6th Match: Itsuka Kendo vs. Eijiro Kirishima
7th Match: Denki Kaminari vs. Mei Hatsume
8th Match: Hitoshi Shinso vs. Hanta Sero
"All right, let's leave the tournament aside for a momentary interlude," announced Present Mic, "Let's have fun with recreation!"
As most of the students weren't a part of the final, they chose to participate in the recreational activities, as it would allow them to showcase their abilities in hopes of impressing the Pro Heroes. Many of those in the finals chose to not participate, instead opting to rest, prepare, polish their strategies, sharpen their senses, or relax their nerves.
Izuku had chosen to head back to the resting area when he passed by Katsuki.
"Deku, you better make it to the finals," growled Katsuki as they passed by, "I'll be waiting there to kick your ass."
"Don't trip on your way," muttered Izuku.
"Feh, I won't," shot back Katsuki.
Todoroki was gazing at the screen, noticing that to fight Izuku, he would need to make it to the finals. This was perfect for him. The opportunity to defeat Izuku with his mother's power alone and not have to worry about any matches afterward. Everyone would be paying attention to the final match, and he would deny his father completely and become the strongest.
Itsuka, Momo, and Ochako decided to join in on cheering for the others in the recreational games to calm their nerves.
"Give me a U!" shouted Toru.
"Give me an A!" shouted Setsuna.
The two girls were having fun leading the other girls in the cheer. The only girl not to join in the fun was Ibara, who opted to change back to her PE uniform when it became clear that she no longer needed to wear the cheerleader uniform.
Time passed by quickly for them all, and soon, it was time to start the tournament.
"Okay, it's pretty much done," reported Cementoss as he used his Quirk to manipulate the wet cement pouring into the arena, constructing the fighting stage for the tournament that would've taken regular people several days in mere minutes.
"Thank you Cementoss," cheered Present Mic before turning to the mic and the audience, "Hey guys! Are you ready!?"
The audience's noise level grew as they cheered back in excitement. Four pillars of flames burst open in each corner of the stage, as if responding to their calls.
As Present Mic began to explain the tournament and hyping up the crowd, Izuku was sitting with his classmates in their own personal booth. Ochako was waiting in the resting room for her own fight, as was Momo, who decided to accompany her as well as prepare herself. Itsuka was sitting with her classmates as the seating had been divided between the two classes. So the person who ended up sitting next to him was Tsuyu, who took this chance to get closer.
"Now then, the event that you've been waiting for! For the first match of the tournament, entering from the west side, it's a boy who's been somewhat famous in middle school! But he has a face that's not like a regular person! From the Hero Course, it's the boy who loves to blow stuff up, Katsuki Bakugo!"
"What was that about my face!" shouted Katsuki.
"And his opponent, also from the Hero Course, Kosei Tsuburaba! He's also one to blows hard, but in a different sense!"
Midnight took over, explaining the rules of the fight and how the fight ended if one of the fighters was couldn't move, was out of bounds, or gave up. She, along with Cementoss, would be the judges of the fight.
"Kero, so who do you think will win?" asked Tsuyu, initiating the conversation with Izuku.
"Probably Bakugo," admitted Izuku.
"And begin!" shouted Midnight.
Katsuki immediately fired a blast at Kosei, who blocked it with his Quirk, creating a wall of solid air to block the attack.
"Ha, though you could get me with one attack?" mocked Kosei, narrowing his eyes to find Katsuki in the explosion.
"Na, that was just a distraction," whispered Katsuki from his left.
Kosei's eyes widened in shock and turned, quickly creating a wall on his left. However, Katsuki was much more cunning than that. Right as Kosei created the wall, Katsuki used his quirk to maneuver above him and landed right behind him, his hands pointed at Kosei.
"Later weird eyes," snarled Katsuki as he blasted Kosei right through his solid air wall and out of bounds.
"And the winner is Katsuki Bakugo!" announced Midnight.
"What an explosive way to start off the match! In just a few moves, Katsuki Bakugo sends his opponent flying out of the ring! But let's not delay, we'll get the second match on its way!"
Katsuki stomped out of the ring to head to his seat but paused as he turned to glare at Izuku once more. Izuku nodded in reply at the challenge, allowing Katsuki to turn back to the exit.
"And here's the second match! In one corner we have Tenya Iida, who's the youngest of the Iida family! I'm sure you've all heard of the Iida family and their heroics! Going against him is one whom I'm personally supporting, the young Ochako Uraraka!"
"Good luck," greeted Tenya as he prepared himself, revving up his engines.
"You too, but I'm going to win this!" grinned Ochako as she shook her hands to get ready.
As soon as Midnight began the match, Tenya rushed towards Ochako with all his speed, intent on grabbing Ochako and pushing her out. Ochako, however, had been prepared for this. While she had trained with Izuku and Momo in the mornings and a bit more with Momo after school, she had been taught some martial arts. Mainly grappling, as it worked in perfect conjunction with her quirk.
Ochako narrowly dodged the right arm going for her shoulder. She could feel his arms scraping by her clothes as she lifted her hand up, aiming for Tenya's torso.
Tenya's eyes widened as he tried to turn away from Ochako. Unfortunately, Ochako managed to press all five of her fingers onto his chest.
"Gotcha!" grinned Ochako as she pushed Tenya away out of the ring.
'Crap, I can't believe I fell for that!' thought Tenya as he was sent adrift towards the edge of the ring, 'I can't let it end like this! What can I do?'
Tenya then remembered the use of his engines to fly up to the air to chase after Izuku's team. He may no longer have gravity or the ground to push off, but he could still use his engines to create his own inertia and momentum! He had hoped to have some more time to recover from using Recipiro Burst, but he had no choice.
"Recipiro Burst!" cried out Tenya as he forced the torque and RPM of his engine into overdrive. With the additional burst, he rocketed towards Ochako with no control over his body, spinning crazily out of control.
"Eep!" cried out Ochako, not expecting such a move. She stumbled back and tripped on her feet, causing her to lie flat on her back.
It was a lucky coincidence, as if she had tried anything else besides falling back, she would have been hit by Tenya and knocked unconscious. Tenya miraculously managed to land on his feet, skidding on the ground as he did so.
"Ha, prepare yourself Uraraka!" exclaimed Tenya as he put more power to his legs, his weight onto his soles and big toe, "I'll get-"
"Iida! Out of bounds!" declared Midnight.
Tenya blinked before looking down to realize that he had skidded out of bounds. Ochako breathed a sigh of relief, quickly releasing Tenya before getting up.
"I lost," sighed Tenya as he felt gravity take its usual hold on his body, "I shouldn't have tried to rush in like that!"
"That was a tough fight," said Ochako as she walked up to Tenya, offering her hand, "I didn't think I'd make it pass your hand in time, and your last effort almost hit me if I didn't trip myself. If the stage was bigger or if there were no out of bounds, then you would have certainly gotten me while I was still down."
Tenya shook his head before accepting the offered hand, "No, I was too overconfident. This loss will educate me to become a better hero!"
The two left to rejoin the other at the bleachers.
Shoto was walking towards the arena for his match, taking a leisurely pace and turning around a corner until he saw just who was waiting for him.
"You're in my way," stated Shoto frostily to the figure before walking once more to get past him.
Endeavor merely glanced over at Shoto for a second before replying, "You're acting disgracefully, Shoto. If you used the power in your left side, you would've had an overwhelming victory in both the obstacle course and cavalry battle."
Endeavor began ranting about how he had a duty to surpass All Might, how different he was from his siblings, and that he was his greatest masterpiece.
Shoto's temper grew as he listened to his father rant before snapping back at him without looking back, "Is that all you have to say, you damn bastard? I will advance through the rounds and win with only my mother's power. I will NEVER use your power in a fight!"
Endeavor sighed as he watched his son walk away, "Even if it works for now, you'll soon reach the limits of that power."
Ochako and Tenya quickly took their seats near Izuku, with Ochako quickly choosing to occupy the left side of Izuku.
"So, you think Ashido has a chance?" asked Ochako.
"She'll do great!" exclaimed Eijiro, popping into the conversation, "She won't be pushed over so easily, even if she's fighting against one of the monster trio of 1-A!"
"With her acid, she should be able to dissolve through Todoroki's ice," nodded Izuku, "But just how much she can do is the question."
"What if he uses his flames, kero?" asked Tsuyu, putting her finger up against her cheek.
"I... don't know if he'll use it," said Izuku, glancing back at Katsuki, who was sitting next to Eijiro. Katsuki was glaring down at the ring, waiting for his turn.
"I believe Todoroki said that he would never use his flames in a battle," said Tenya, remembering Shoto's words to him before the cavalry battle, "Though I'm not sure why."
Any more attempts on the conversation halted as Present Mic made his announcement.
"Haha, we're blazing through these matches! Let's get on with the third match! Here's the fighters! Is something going to come out of those horns? It's Mina Ashido from the Heroic Course. Versus-the kid who's so cold that it's pretty hot! He's one of the students that earned his recommendation! From the hero course, Shoto Todoroki!"
"Man, my first match and it's against him," pouted Mina, "But I won't lose so easily!"
"Go, Mina-chan," cheered Tsuyu.
As soon as the match started, Mina began to rush towards him, skating across the ground with her quirk. While she rushed him, she noticed his face and the anger burning in his eyes, and tried to abort, but it was too late. Ice filled her vision.
Outside the stadium, the patrol units could only gawk in shock that a glacier had somehow suddenly appeared, looming over them all.
Inside, the audience was silent in shock and awe as they witnessed how fast Shoto created his ice glacier. This strength he had shown exceeded most of the pro heroes' own ability.
"Ashido, can you move?" asked Midnight, who's right side was covered in ice.
Mina struggled as she tried to use her acid to melt through the ice, but it was too cold for her. If she wasn't encased in the said ice, then she would have melted through it if she increased the solubility of her acid. But since she was in it, doing so would only harm her more. Not to mention she would end up dissolving her clothes, letting everyone get a good view of her body. Not that she minded that too much, but she didn't want Mineta to perv on her.
She shook her head, allowing Midnight to declare Shoto the winner. The audience began a small chant to encourage Mina, but it didn't make her feel any better.
Shoto walked over to Mina, raising his left hand towards her, "Sorry, I went overboard. I was angry."
Shoto had been ready to place his left hand on her chest before realizing that that was a horrible idea and instead opted to place his hand on her shoulder, slowly defrosting her.
"Ouch," winced Sero, watching that attack, "I don't think any of us has a real counter for that."
"I hope she's okay," frowned Ejiro, "I'm go check on her. It's almost time for my match anyways."
"I should head down too," nodded Izuku, standing up while missing the pouts from Tsuyu and Ochako,
"Deku," growled Katsuki as Izuku walked by, "Don't you dare lose."
Izuku nodded as he walked out of the booth.
"Man, why couldn't it be the other way around," bemoaned Mineta, "If only he had acid, he could have melted her clothes off!"
'Scumbag!' thought all of class 1-A who heard that.
The glacier was quickly taken care of after Shoto made sure Mina was free from his ice by Endeavor himself, who just launched a powerful flame attack that completely evaporated from the stage, thus earning him a bit more publicity. As Endeavor walked back to his original position, one particular purple-blue eyes traced his location before grinning. He walked away from his classmates, a plan already forming in his mind.
"Alright, sorry for the wait! Let's get to the fourth match already! In one corner, we have the second recommendation student, Momo Yaoyorozu. She's certainly versatile with her quirk, and smart to boot! Versus- the man who will drill his way through the heavens itself if he could! From the Hero Course, Sen Kaibara!"
"Go!" roared Mineta, "Use your drill and rip her clothes off!"
Mineta was immediately incapacitated by Kyoka's Earphone Jack for that comment.
"Ready? Fight!" declared Midnight.
Sen charged forward, his hands already gyrating at high speeds while Momo created a shield and grenade, much to Sen's surprise. Still, it didn't stop him from trying to attack Momo, though. His fists clashed into her shield several times, creating sparks each time they clashed. Momo was sent backward on each clash, drawing closer to the boundary line.
'Yes, I got this!' thought Sen, 'She can't handle herself in a fight if it's too fast-paced for her. She can't think fast enough!'
As Sen threw his fist forward, Momo dodged to the left, letting him pass through her to his shock. Before he could react, he noticed his chest had hit something. Something being the grenade he noticed she had made.
"Oh crap," uttered Sen, realizing his mistake. He also noticed Momo's shield was growing bigger, as if to protect her.
The grenade detonated, releasing a sticky concoction that quickly hardened as it was exposed to air. Sen quickly found himself unable to move his whole body. Before he could even attempt to drill his way out of the situation, Momo used her shield and pushed him out of bounds.
"Out of bounds! Winner, Momo Yaoyorozu!" announced Midnight.
"Haha, isn't that a sticky situation!" laughed Present Mic as Momo created a solution to dissolve the concoction, "We've gone through four matches already, and we'll be charging into the fifth one!... After I take a quick bathroom break!"
"Why didn't you go during lunch?" glowered Shota with a disapproving tone.
"Too busy!" declared Present Mic without shame before heading to the bathroom.
"Nice fight," smiled Izuku as he crossed paths with Momo, "I saw it in the television set in the waiting room."
"Thank you," acknowledged Momo with a smile, "You better win your fight!"
Then, in a stroke of brilliance on her part, Momo hugged Izuku tightly. Before Izuku could even form a response, Momo gave him a quick peck to his forehead.
"For luck," stated Momo before quickly walking away, taking large strides as she did so.
Izuku stood there for a good minute, stunned at the peck before Toshinori showed up, poking him to shake him out of his trance.
"Hey," greeted Toshinori as Izuku snapped back to reality, "You all right kid? I managed to sneak away for a bit, saying I needed to use the bathroom. I need to head back to my seat soon, but I wanted to see how you were doing?"
"Fine," smiled Izuku, "A bit nervous, but fine. Just... thinking about the path I've taken to get here. I've been blessed by others and luck. About my own origin."
Toshinori gave Izuku a small gentle chop to his head, "Don't think too much, just say you'll do your best! It's good to see you're smiling. Though why are your cheeks reds?"
Izuku blushed harder, remembering what had happened just a few minutes ago with Momo. Her body pressed against his. Did Momo see him in a different way? Izuku pushed that thought away as soon as he heard Present Mic shouting into his mic once more.
"Now go! Stand tall, I'll be watching over you!" declared Toshinori, transforming into his All Might persona.
Izuku nodded as he quickly strode forward, standing tall. Toshinori smiled before quickly transforming back to his skinny state and rushing back to his seat.
"Good job on your fight," cheered Ochako as Momo took Izuku's empty seat.
"Thank you, I saw your fight as well. You did an excellent job dodging Iida's attack," replied Momo gracefully.
"Kero, it was impressive how you baited him," agreed Tsuyu, "But why is your cheeks red?"
"Eh?" blinked Momo before quickly putting her hands to her face. She did feel quite warmer than usual.
"Perhaps the fight was more stressful than you thought?" suggested Tenya.
"Her heartbeat just skyrocketed now, though," observed Kyoka.
"Let's just focus on the match!" exclaimed Momo, pointing to Izuku as he appeared, successfully diverting the subject for now.
"Sorry for that bathroom break people, but when nature calls, you shouldn't ignore it!" apologized Present Mic, "Let's get this fifth match on the road! From the East corner, here he comes! He took first in the entrance exam, he's taken first in both the obstacle course and cavalry battle! Is there no end to his streak!? From the hero course, Izuku Midoriya! Versus- he's from the hero course of 1-B! He's taken it to declare war on 1-A to show who's the best. He's got the guts, he has the attitude! Can he walk the walk! From the hero course, Neito Monoma!"
As the two fighters stared off at each other, Izuku noted Monoma seemed to be itching to start the fight. It soon became apparent why when Midnight started the match.
Izuku had decided to use 40% of One for All for this fight, ready to rush at Monoma, when he quickly jumped to the side to dodge a stream of fire. The fire was so hit that Izuku could feel his skin burning a bit despite not having been hit.
"Oh, what the hell is that!?" shouted Present Mic in surprise, "He never showed that in the previous rounds!"
"Neito Monoma has a quirk that lets him copy other quirks," analyzed Shota, "He must've copied one before entering the match. No wonder he looked anxious to start the match. He has a time limit on his copies."
'A copy quirk? That's rare,' thought Izuku.
"Is that allowed?" asked Present Mic.
"... That's a hard call," admitted Shota, "The technicality on that ultimately falls to the judge's discretion. Some may argue it's cheating, others could say he's merely using his quirk, which is allowed."
"Well, seeing how Midnight hasn't done anything, I guess we're going to let it go for now," said Present Mic.
"Yes, but the decision whether or not to let him continue to do so afterward will be put up for discussion," said Shota.
Monoma grinned as he blasted another stream of fire at Izuku, forcing him to dodge. His plan initial plan, plan A, might have failed, but he wasn't one to have only just one plan, but multiple contingency plans.
Plan A had been to borrow Shinso's quirk, Brainwashing, and try to get a response from Izuku by any means necessary. Monoma hadn't expected Hitoshi to refuse lending him his quirk, though.
"I didn't mind you using my power for the cavalry battle," stated Hitoshi, "But I won't lend it to you for your fight against Midoriya. I may agree with you on some tactics, but Midoriya is one of the people I won't allow you to use mine against his. He helped me find another way to use my quirk that allowed me to retain my status as a reserve Hero Course student. I owe him that much at least."
Well, Monoma was surprised about that but went to plan B. He originally wanted to find All Might, but decided against it. The teacher was just too hard to find for some reason! But having the quirk of the Number 2 hero of Japan would be just as nice. Especially since it wasn't so hard to find him. The hard part was being able to touch Endeavor's skin, as his quirk needed skin contact in order to copy the said quirk. And Endeavor's uniform covered his whole body except for his face.
As luck would have it, though, when Monoma found him, Endeavor had knelt down to tie his shoes. Monoma quickly passed by him, using his finger gently touch his face that wasn't covered in fire, and rushed away before Endeavor could even react to it. As he made his way down the stadium as fast as he could, he grinned as his hands was wreathed in hell flames. And now, he was using this quirk to drive Izuku to a corner. He would show just who was stronger, who had the better class!
`Oh, can't delay too long,' thought Monoma as he checked his watch, 'Only 3 minutes left.'
Back in the seats, Shoto was gripping his seat in anger. He knew full well just who's quirk Monoma was using. How could he not know? It was the same damn quirk he saw his shitty old man use every single day. There was no doubt in his mind when he saw that stream of fire. It wasn't from any random stranger with a similar quirk. The amount of heat coming off from it was similar that his!
"Come on Deku," whispered Ochako as she saw Izuku narrowly dodge the stream of fire.
"This doesn't seem good," noted Ojiro.
"The fates do not seem to align with Midoriya," commented Fumikage.
"Fuck fates, Deku won't lose to some flat hair blondie without losing to me first," barked Katsuki, "Not with some pansy-ass fire quirk."
Yuga had been silent for a bit before turning to Ojiro, "Wasn't his quirk some sort of mind control? I mean, it's how he unflashily took our points."
Ojiro blinked before nodding, "Right! Then does this kid have two quirks or something?"
"Brainwashing?" chimed in Momo, "That's Shinso's quirk, the Hero Reserve student."
"Kero, that doesn't make sense," thought Tsuyu, watching Izuku jump over another stream of fire, wincing at the heat it was making when it crashed into the wall.
"I think Itsuka might know more about her classmate's quirk," commented Ochako, "But she's downstairs, getting ready for her fight.
"I can tell you what it is," said Setsuna, her head floating above the divider.
"His quirk... it's a copy quirk isn't it?" asked Shoto, suddenly breaking out of his usual silence.
"Well ruin the fun why don't you," pouted Setsuna, but yea, Monoma can copy almost any quirk," answered Itsuka, "There are a few that he can't do, depending on the said quirk. Not only that, but he can only copy quirks up to five minutes after copying it, but he can store at least three quirks in his repertoire. I still maintain my vote that Monoma is cheating. He brought somebody else's quirk into the fight."
"Well it is technically his quirk," shrugged Hiryu, "So..."
"It's not manly!" shouted Tetsutetsu simultaneously.
"Regardless of what we think, Midnight hasn't called off the match. Therefore, I suppose she's allowing it for this fight," commented Juzo.
"Agreed," said Yui.
"Whatever, my wingman won't lose so easily," claimed Denki.
"Aren't you supposed to be getting ready for your fight?" asked Kyoka, who panicked and quickly rushed down the stairs.
"Well if he outlasts Monoma for more than five minutes, then he'll have a better chance," shrugged Yosetsu, "With his current state, he might be able to do it."
"Yea but who's quirk did he copy?" asked Pony.
"He took Endeavor's," growled Shoto, causing everyone to fall silent, "He's using my father's power to bulldoze through this."
'I won't forgive you if you lose,' thought Shoto as ice began to creep up his chair, 'I will be the one to defeat you and deny my father.'
Everybody else was less confident that Izuku would win if he was fighting against the Number 2 Hero's quirk.
Back with Toshinori and his booth, Mitsuki was yelling a variety of curses that was very confusing to hear, but in general, she was telling Izuku to beat the blonde kid up. Inko was chewing through her fingernails in worry, flinching as each flame seemed to come closer to hitting Izuku.
"Heh, looks like your golden boy isn't doing so well," smirked Mt. Lady while they were on patrol duty. Kamui had scolded Mt. Lady several times to not be distracted before, but this time, he was the one focused on the television set.
"Well that's a dark horse if I've seen one," commented Death Arms, "That quirks look similar to Endeavors. What's the other kid's quirk again?"
When Shota mentioned it was a copy quirk, Kamui frowned, "That should be illegal. It's not just to use somebody else's quirk in a tournament like this."
"Well they haven't made the call, so I guess they're allowing it," shrugged Death Arms, "Besides, the kid will make it through. He's tougher than this."
"Why are you two so confident in him?" asked Mt. Lady, "Sure he's stretchy and strong, but he can't even touch his opponent."
"Look at his face," pointed Death Arms, "He's not panicking. He's thinking of a way to defeat his opponent. That's a mark of a hero for sure."
Izuku threw a punch at Monoma, only to quickly retract it as flames roared up to protect Monoma.
'I could hit him through the flames, but my hands would become extra crispy,' frowned Izuku as he quickly clenched and unclenched his fist, 'I'll have to use ranged attacks.'
Izuku quickly put his hand up, his middle finger being held back by his thumb while infusing 85% of One for All into it. With a flick, he fired off a shockwave towards Monoma, who quickly fired off flames to his right to dodge it.
'I'll have to get closer so he doesn't get the chance to dodge,' frowned Izuku as he quickly dodged another stream of fire. Thanks to his footwork, Monoma found it hard to target Izuku.
"I've had enough of this," growled Monoma before sending a widespread fire attack.
Izuku dodged and weaved until he found himself trapped between two walls of flames that looked quite solid. It wasn't something that Izuku wanted to jump through. Behind him was the out of bounds area while in front of him stood Monoma.
"I've had fun, but I need to end this," sighed Monoma, pushing his hair up a bit with his hand, "I suggest you surrender or I'll have to burn you."
At this statement, Monoma's whole body began to heat up before gathering in his right hand. Orange flames turned blue as the whole stadium could feel the heat cranking up. Burn marks seemed to appear Monoma's body, but he ignored it.
"Well, give up?" asked Monoma one more time with a smirk.
Izuku tilted his hat down a bit before stomping his foot to the ground, assuming a solid stance. His eyes glared at Monoma before he began to throw a barrage of punches. The audience gasped at his daring, remembering how he almost burned his hand doing so. Monoma flinched as he quickly summoned a wall of fire in front of him to protect him.
However, none of Izuku's punches landed. Or rather, they seemed to fall short from hitting the target. So short, that Izuku's arms were barely stretching as he threw a barrage of fists towards Monoma's general direction.
"What... is he doing?" asked Present Mic in confusion, "Did he reach his limit in stretching?"
"No... he has something planned," said Shota, narrowing his eyes.
Monoma slowly lowered the firewall in confusion before realizing Izuku wasn't trying to hit him for some reason. Instead, he seemed content on firing a barrage of fists that hit nothing but air and fall completely short.
"Hmph. I'm not sure if the heat has gotten to your brain or you're that desperate, but I'm done playing around. Don't blame me for this!" shouted Monoma, knowing he only had seconds left on the clock.
Flash Fire-Jet Burn(Monoma bastardized version.)
Monoma fired a blast of fire so hot that the cement began to melt as the beam traveled across the air towards Izuku.
"Izuku!" cried out Ochako, Tsuyu, and Momo in fear.
"Midoriya!" shouted Tenya and Denki.
"Holy shit, isn't that going too far!?" cried Mineta.
"Somebody stop him!" said Pony, reverting back to English so nobody really understood her except for a key few.
Hitoshi, who had been sitting with some of his friends in the Gen Ed course, bit his lips in worry. Perhaps he should've let Monoma borrow his quirk. That way, Izuku wouldn't be in this much danger.
Ituska, who had been in the waiting room watching the television set, clenched her fists in worry.
Inko seemed to be close to fainting that she gripped onto Toshinori's arm to stop herself from doing so. Toshinori, who was worried, was also trying to make sure Inko didn't somehow crush his arm. He forgot how a mother's strength can change when their child was in danger.
"Cementoss, we have to stop this fight!" shouted Midnight in worry when she saw the beam of fire.
Cementoss was already out of his seat, his hands on the ground as he began to manipulate the cement to try to protect Izuku. However, before the walls even came up, Izuku took a step forward.
Unnoticed by the majority of the audience, Izuku's arms had been slowly turning pink. As the beam of fire came close to him, Izuku took that step forward. He felt his clothes starting to burn, but he didn't care. He wanted to show the world HE WAS HERE!
Song Smash
Izuku thrust two palms forward, loaded with One for All and with the force of all the punches he had thrown into one single blow. The air cannon created from the thrust crashed into the flame beam... and completely obliterated it. The shock wave traveled through the flame beam as it overpowered it, right into Monoma's shocked face. Before the blast hit Monoma, he quickly switched quirks, using Tetsutetsu's quirk to transform his skin into steel. However, that was all he could do as the shock wave hit him, sending him flying out of the ring. He crashed right into the wall, causing cracks to appear all around him upon impact.
Monoma felt his conscious fading as gravity slowly took hold of him once more. He glanced up in time to see Izuku slowly standing back up, adjusting his straw hat once more.
"Izuku Midoriya... what a world," whispered Monoma before he face-planted into the ground, blissfully fading into unconsciousness. His quirk also deactivated upon fainting.
The audience was silent for a good ten seconds until...
"Yea! Getting fucking wrecked scrub! Nice shit Izuku!" shouted Mitsuku, breaking the silence.
"Winner by knockout and out of bounds! Izuku Midoriya!" announced Midnight, snapping out of her trance.
The audience was shaken out of their shock before they began to clap.
"IZUKU!" cried Inko in relief, sending a fountain of tears straight out of her eyes upwards.
Mitsuki and Masaru immediately took out umbrellas to protect themselves from the tears while Toshinori was left to figure out how a person could have such an overactive tear gland knowing that Inko's quirk was merely able to attract small objects to her.
Izuku glanced at Monomo being taken away by the medical robots on a stretcher before glancing around for a bit. His eyes locked onto Toshinori before he gave a big smile and a peace sign. Toshinori gave a giant smile back, his teeth bared as he did so. Toshinori was tempted to transform to his All Might persona if it wasn't for the fact that there were other people around him.
"Hell yea, that was epic!" cheered Setsuna.
"It was damn manly!" agreed Tetsutetsu.
"Didn't think Midoriya would pull a win like that," said Sato.
Koji wrote out, 'Me neither.'
While everybody else was talking about that match, Ochako, Momo, and Tsuyu let out a huge sigh a relief. Neither one of them even realized they had been holding their breath for so long. Back in the waiting room, Itsuka also let off a sigh of relief at Izuku's victory before noticing the can she had been holding was completely crushed.
"It's a relief that nobody was seriously injured," noted Tenya.
"Seriously? What about the other kid?" commented Denki, "He made a freaking crater on that wall upon impact!"
"Shut it spark plug, he deserved it," snapped Katsuki, "Plus, he turned himself into steel at the last second. The most he'll have is a concussion, bruised back, and probably burnt skin."
'Deku, you better make it to the finals!' thought Katsuki with a malicious grin.
Shoto clenched his fist, not in anger, but in excitement. He had witnessed someone who was using his dad's quirk to fight, only to be defeated by Izuku. Sure, Monoma only had a base understanding of Endeavor's quirks, but seeing his quirk being defeated was oh so satisfying.
'You are a worthy target to defeat,' thought Shoto, 'I'll be one step closer to denying my father when I defeat you.'
Mt. Lady stood there gawking at the jumbotron, unable to believe that Izuku made it through.
"See, told ya," grinned Death Arms while Kamui cawed in delight.
"Whatever!" blushed Mt. Lady, "He still has more fights to get through! It's not over yet. Plus, I doubt the copy kid could truly use Endeavor's true power."
"True, but the fact that he still beat him is an accomplishment," reminded Kamui, "Looks like we'll be hitting the jackpot soon."
"He, if we do, I'll buy us the first round," chuckled Death Arms while Mt. Lady huffed away.
"Geez, these Sports Festival are getting so much more violent each year," grumbled Recovery Girl before kissing Izuku on the cheek. The redness on his skin and slight burns quickly healed over, though he felt quite tired.
"Here, have some gummies," recommended Recovery Girl, pouring some into his hands, "Meanwhile, I have to make sure you didn't cause any permanent damage to the poor boy you just mauled."
"It's not like I could hold back," said Izuku sheepishly, "Whoever he copied from was just too strong."
"It was Endeavor's," answered Recovery Girl with a sigh, "I don't know how he managed to convince that man to lend him his quirk. My guess is that he managed to copy it before heading onto the stage. Now shoo! Either go take a nap or get back to your seat!"
"Oh, yea Itsuka's fight is coming up!" exclaimed Izuku before quickly chucking all the gummies into his mouth and rushing out the door.
"Don't run!" screeched Recovery Girl before huffing back to her seat to look at Monoma.
"Itsuka!"
Itsuka turned around to see Izuku catching up to her. Itsuka had yet to enter the ring as Cementoss had to fix up the wall and stage thanks to their previous fight.
"Izuku! That was an awesome fight!" cheered Itsuka as she quickly jumped and gave him a hug.
Whether it was unintentional or not, Izuku found his face being shoved into Itsuka's breast. It was moments like these that Izuku realized that the girl he remembered in the past was blossoming into a woman. That realization had doubled when he slithered his pinky through her uniform, though he had tried his best to ignore that thought.
Using what seemed to be all his willpower, Izuku managed to pull his head back from her hug.
"Good luck on your fight," said Izuku, "Kirishima is no pushover."
"Heh, I'll handle whatever he throws out!" grinned Itsuka before taking a quick peek around, "Wanna give me a hug for luck?"
Izuku was a bit surprised at the request but acquiesced to the request, hugging Itsuka. The hug lasted for a few seconds before Izuku let go. Itsuka suppressed a whine trying to escape her throat before smiling. The both of them heard the announcement that the next fight would be starting in a few minutes.
"Time to get going," urged Izuku, with Itsuka nodding before leaving to get ready.
Before she turned the corner though, she heard Izuku call out her name one more time.
"Win this fight! Then we can fight against each other in the next round!" shouted Izuku, "I want to show you how much I've learned from Rekai!"
Itsuka grinned in return, "Will do! In return, get ready to lose! I learned a few things from other masters too! Don't hold back on me!"