A little disclaimer I'm just going to pretend Shinso's team had Kaminari, Ibara, and Tetsutetsu, that way I don't have to macgyver the people around for the brackets.

Chapter 6: Deterioration

"W-What do you mean?" Endo's hand was shaking, "It's not the Swarm that's killing me?"

"They found a host of…" Endo could hear his mother in the background crying, "It's one of the worst cases they've ever seen… you have a dozen degenerative diseases in your body. They said it's a miracle you've been alive this long. We're so sorry son… there's no cure."

Several things clicked at once for Endo, "No, there is something I can do… the Swarm, I thought it was what was killing me, but it's been keeping me alive."

"Wait, you thought it was killing you and you still kept using it?!" His father had rapidly switched from concerned to angry.

"Um, that's a discussion for another time, but remember Recovery Girl said that at times the deterioration was stopped, I think that's the Swarm."

"But… you can't have them constantly in your body can you?" His mother had joined the conversation.

"I have to."

His father was a smart man and realized what such a thing implied, "You will have to make them completely autonomous to completely repair your body every day. You will never be able to take them out."

"Yes."

"Endo! Come on man let's get something to eat!"

"I'm sorry for springing this on you so suddenly son, if there's a way out, you'll make it. Now go have some lunch, we're rooting for you."

"Thanks… I love you." The call was ended and Endo walked over to Kirishima, "Sorry about that."

"Is something wrong?"

Endo shook his head, "I-It's nothing. Anyways, you guys did well in that cavalry match."

Kirishima smiled wide, "Thanks, you guys too! Although, Bakugo wasn't too happy about coming second."

"I don't think he would be happy if he came first." Endo looked at his feet, "The guy is kind of a mess."

"He's not as bad as you think."

The technopath shrugged, "Everyone builds their own opinions."

"All right you rabid sports fans! Time to announce the final event!" Present Mike flailed his hands around the announcer's box, "We've got a one on one, no holds barred, quirk allowed, tournament! And to get everyone's blood roaring, we've got some excellent cheerleaders to…"

"What are they doing?" Aizawa groaned looking at his female students.

Endo's eyes widened in confusion as he gazed at his classmates, they were dressed in skimpy cheerleader outfits, "Yaoyorozu, why are you wearing that?"

She put her head down in shame, "Please don't tell me I fell for that little pervert's schemes."

"I'm afraid you did."

Yaoyorozu slunk down to her knees, "I even made these costumes with my powers."

While the other girls comforted her, Endo continued onto the referee stand. Midnight held a large yellow box, "To determine the preliminary matchups, we will have to draw lots. The number you draw will determine your placement, counting on the bracket from left to right. Now first place team, please draw."

Endo drew the number ten, "That means I'm up against nine. Whoever that is."

"These are the preliminary matches! Now we will finish the recreational activities and then begin the real games."

Mina began to pout at her matchup which was posted on a huge screen, "I've already fought you Endo! This is kinda unfair, considering how easy it was for you during that first combat training."

A/N: I have no idea why, but Mina also happened to fight Endo in the preliminary round in my other fic, just a coincidence I guess.

He laughed, "Sorry Mina, but I'm not gonna go easy, I'm aiming to beat Bakugo."

Kirishima put a hand on his chest jokingly acting hurt, "So you don't think me, Tetsutetsu, or Uraraka have a chance of taking out Bakugo?"

Endo waved his hands in front of his face, "That's not necessarily what I meant, I just want to advance more rounds than Bakugo does. You most certainly have a chance of beating him."

"NONE OF YOU EXTRAS HAVE ANY CHANCE!"

The technopath groaned and rolled his eyes, "We'll see Bakugo."

As the recreational activities continued, Endo decided that he might need some reinforcements during the fights and connected to the Swarm, "Call in the Hive."

"It's the moment you've all been waiting for! The very first matchup! Izuku Midoriya, versus Hitoshi Shinso!" As the contestants walked onto the concrete stage Present Mike announced the rules, "They are quite simple, force your opponent out of bounds, or immobilize them, you can also win by making your opponent cry for mercy! Bring on the injuries, because we've got Recovery Girl on standby, but keep out any life-threatening crap. Cementoss will be here to step in just in case."

Midnight stepped onto her pedestal, raising her whip as she went, "Ready! Begin!"

Neither student went for each other, in fact, it looked like Shinso was simply talking to Midoriya, he even had his hands in his pockets, not a care in the world. Suddenly Midoriya ran at him, shouting something. Just as suddenly Midoriya stopped in his tracks and turned around walking away. "What the hell is he doing?" Endo looked on in shock, no way could this guy just talk Midoriya into walking out of bounds. Midoriya was just one step away from being out of bounds when all of the sudden a shockwave spread out from beneath him and he leaned forwards gasping. He had broken the control, most likely by using his power and breaking a bone or two. Midoriya ran back at Shinso, this time not saying a word and through a series of interactions between Midoriya flipped him over his shoulder, grabbing him with his broken fingers, out of bounds. "Shinso is out of bounds, therefore Midoriya wins!"

The crowd exploded in cheers, Endo and most of his class joined in, pumping their fists in the air at their friend's victory.

The rest of the matches progressed fairly quickly with Todoroki, some green-haired girl named Ibara, and Iida advancing. Now it was Endo's turn. "Damn, where's the Hive? I thought it would get here by now." He stood in the hallway leading to the stadium's arena, "Well, I hopefully won't need them for this round."

"Let's keep right on with the fifth match! He's got Nanobots and isn't afraid to use them! Reiji Endo! Versus, the pink-skinned Mina Ashido with some pretty useful- with some pretty horns!

"Ready! Begin!"

"I have the advantage, she won't be able to use her acid to it's max potential without permanently harming me." Endo ran forwards, his Swarm causing his legs to pump faster than any normal human should be able to.

Mina saw this and began to slide around using her slime, she threw globs of heavy viscous slime at him, hoping to slow him. But Endo held out a hand, releasing a part of the Swarm, forming a shield and blocking the slime from hitting him. At the same time, he had some of the Nanobots seep out his back falling onto the ground and slithering along towards Mina, who was oblivious to it. Endo put his hand out palm up and thrust it towards the sky, raising a wall of black in Mina's path, she was still looking at him, so she slammed right into it at a breakneck pace. As she fell to the floor, the wall wrapped around her like during the combat training. Though instead of trying to hold her, it flew offstage and dumped her onto the grass.

"Mina Ashido is out of bounds! Endo is the winner and progresses to the next round!"

Endo just let out a deep breath and reabsorbed the Swarm into his body as quick as possible. He had only taken enough of the Swarm for his body to hold, not knowing that they were saving him, and he could now recognize the difference between having them and not having them. He retreated into the darkness of the hallway, leaning onto the wall as he left the crowd's view. "The Swarm is strengthing me, but it's not healing me, I'm still feeling the effects of my sicknesses."

"Endo?! What's wrong?" Yaoyorozu had proceeded down the hallway for her match and seen him limping along the wall. His face had become pale and he was sweating quite heavily.

"It's… nothing…" Endo fell over suddenly unconscious.

"Recovery Girl!"

"I think he's waking."

Endo groaned, it felt like his whole body was burning and weak.

"I told you that you couldn't handle it, kid."

His eyes cracked open to see Aizawa and Recovery Girl standing over him, "Ugh, where… are they?"

"We aren't letting you near those things until you come clean about your situation." Aizawa was slightly muffled by the bandages, but his annoyance was still clear.

"It's not… what you think… I need them… my body isn't getting destroyed by them… they are saving me." Endo was having trouble breathing without the Swarm in his system. "Where?"

Aizawa saw the awful condition he was in and pulled out a solid black cylinder, the shape Endo had locked them in as they left his body. He hacked and wheezed as he absorbed them, but eventually, the bots spread through his body and he stabilized. "I'm… a host to a dozen degenerative diseases. I originally thought that the Swarm was what was killing me, but it turns out they've been the only thing keeping me alive these past few weeks since starting school. Your projections were way off Recovery Girl, I'm pretty sure I only have a few weeks left, if not less."

This widened both of the faculty's eyes, "That bad?"

"Yeah." His eyes began to tear up, "I don't really think that it's hit me till now though." He choked out a laugh, "I'm so stupid, I wasn't honest with the Swarm and now I'm going to die."

Recovery Girl rested a hand on his shoulder, "Didn't you say that the Swarm was keeping you alive?"

"They're my only hope at this point. I would have to figure out how to integrate them with my body permanently, and not only that but design them to constantly heal my body. I'm not sure I know how to."

Aizawa cleared his throat, "Just do what you can, I might have a solution for that last problem."

Endo wiped his eyes, "Ok… what happened with the festival?"

"Yaoyorozu handed you off to us and then everyone continued their matches. Iida is currently fighting his own match, and after that Tokoyami will win by default."

"No… I'm fighting."

"No, you're not." Aizawa said it with such certainty that Endo almost backed down, but he had already decided.

"I'm going to die soon anyway, I'm going to fight." Endo pushed himself out of bed, "The Swarm can maintain me, I know it."

"Like it did after your last match?"

Endo shook his head, "I wasn't ready then, I can do it now."

His teacher sighed, "Fine, do what you wish."

"Well, I guess Tokoyami wins by-" Present Mike stopped suddenly, "Oh, wait it looks like we have a challenger after all! Reiji Endo has rejoined the fight!"

Endo walked straight, maintaining his image of strength, but he felt like limping to the stage. "Ready!"

"I'm definitely not ready."

"Fight!"

"Dark Shadow!" Tokoyami yelled to call out his birdlike shadow quirk.

"I can't use the Swarm in my body, I'll just pass out again. I have to do this the old-fashioned way." Endo ran at the yellow-eyed creature, sidestepping at the last second, "Just get close."

But Tokoyami wasn't exactly on board with that strategy and Dark Shadow looped back around, slamming into Endo's side just as he was about to reach his opponent. He had to grow tiny spikes on his fingertips just to stay in bounds, the quirk packed quite a punch. The amount of Swarm he used wasn't enough to affect him yet, but just that one hit had weakened him. He collapsed onto one knee, panting heavily. "It looks like Tokoyami is about to have a perfect two-zero in his favor!" Present Mike yelled as the shadow advanced on Endo.

But, just before the two could meet, a wave of darkness crashed down in front of Endo, forming an intimidating barrier, "It's about time." Endo emerged from the Swarm, his body cloaked in the swirling machines. "Now, I'm ready." His hand raised, fingers curled into a fist, which he rapidly unfurled, shooting out a tsunami of the Swarm. It washed over Tokoyami and his quirk, obscuring them from view.

"Can you people stop hiding the field from view! I can't commentate like this!"

Endo pulled back the Swarm, his reinforcements from the Hive, really just a nickname for a storage compartment in his room were, automated to seek out other parts of the Swarm and fly to them. It was the most automation Endo could get out of the Swarm so far. Tokoyami was revealed to be up against a wall, still conscious, but very much, "Out of bounds! Endo advances to the next round!"

Endo took in as many Nanobots as his body could hold, at least hoping to be stable enough to fight in the next round, whether it was Bakugo or Kirishima.

"Bakugo wins!"

Endo sighed, "What a surprise."

The class turned around to see the technopath standing behind their seats, "Endo! Are you ok? What happened?"

"It's… I'll explain later Yaoyorozu. For now let's just watch the next fight."

Iida and Todoroki had a very fast-paced fight, once again, not a surprise. Iida was slowly cornered in by Todoroki's ice walls. He had tried a full-on assault, kicking Todoroki in the head with a devestating blow, but in the end, Todoroki completely stopped Iida, encasing him in an icy cocoon.

"Wow, I don't even have time to breathe, just straight to fighting Bakugo."

His class gave various shouts of encouragement as he walked back down to the waiting rooms, where his extra Swarm awaited him.

"Welcome to match two of the semifinals! In one corner we have the technological terror Reiji Endooo! In the other corner, we have the explosive, unstoppable, Katsuki Bakugooo!"

Endo stepped onto the stage, his extra Nanobots orbiting his body like the rings of Saturn. "Ready! Fight!"

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

Endo shot out a pillar of the Swarm at Bakugo, which he held a hand out to, detonating an explosion and destroying the majority of the attack. A wall of black appeared behind him, but Bakugo almost seemed to expect it and similarly destroyed it with little to no effort. "You idiot, trying the same thing on me as you did on Racoon Eyes. I'm gonna enjoy this, you always seem to sit up there on your pedestal, acting so high and mighty."

"Look who's talking, all you can ever think about is how much better you are than anyone else!" The rest of the Swarm coalesced behind Endo, "I don't think of myself as high and mighty, I'm just trying to protect people!"

"Yeah, and what the hell do you think you know about me?" Bakugo smirked hauntingly as the Swarm encircled him forming a bubble, "You may be able to access any records on me, but you have no idea who the hell I am!" The black sphere was completely vaporized and Bakugo took a definitive step closer to Endo, "You are nothing next to me! I will KILL YOU!" He leaped in the air with his explosions, landing right next to Endo who tried to raise his arms in defense, but Bakugo scored a hit right on Endo's side, scorching it black.

Endo was thrown back, still in bounds, but very much injured, "You know what? Screw this and SCREW YOU!" The Swarm leaked from his body, weakening him bit by bit, but it began to surround Bakugo just like before.

Bakugo grinned, "You're such a dumbass."

"You think… blunt attacks are all… they can do?" The pieces of the Swarm began to form razor thin needles, "Move, and I spear you like a fish. Surrender."

"NEVER!"

Endo sent three needles through each of Bakugo's hands causing him to recoil in pain, but he still continued, undaunted by the threat. Then several went for his legs, but only a few made it through before Bakugo triggered a huge explosion destroying most of the remaining Swarm, "You useless moron, you're nothing without these dumb machines!"

Endo held the remainder of the Swarm, it was about the size of a tennis ball, it began to hover above his hands, he was preparing to lob it at Bakugo's head, one last-ditch attempt. However, before either teen could launch an attack, Endo fell to his knees, then on his face, unconscious once more.

"Endo is unconscious! Therefore Bakugo wins! He advances onto the final!"

"I've healed his burns, but the damage to his body is so intense I'm not sure I can do anything else without killing him."

The deep voice of All Might answered back, "I see, well we just have to hope that these two can figure it out in time."

Endo then began to wake, hearing a more dainty voice from somewhere in the room, "I'll make sure he gets better I promise!"

A cough alerted them to his alertness, then a whole fit of hacking began to worry the three in the room. "What… happened?"

Recovery Girl was at his side once more, pushing him back down into the bed, "You pushed yourself too hard again. You've been asleep for two days. The festival continued on, Bakugo won, and you missed the awards ceremony."

"Uh, Recovery Girl I don't believe you are making him feel better."

"Oh right."

Endo looked up at the incredibly bulky pro hero, "Your classmates are going back to school today, they will be participating in internships, but you, will remain at school. To develop the Swarm to stabilize yourself. Young Endo, we know this is a heavy burden upon yourself, so may I introduce someone very close to me who will be helping in the saving of your life."

The feminine voice from earlier emerged from behind All Might, she had long blonde hair, and deep blue eyes, "Hi Endo! I'm Melissa, Melissa Shield!"

I apologize for this chapter being so short, but I mean, the main focus wasn't even the festival, since come on everyone's seen the festival. This chapter was more to just introduce the concept that Endo was dying from diseases and his only hope was the Swarm. I know Mei could be a stand-in for Melissa, but I'm pretty certain I'm going to do a Two Heroes movie chapter, so I figured this would be cool. Anyways, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed! Comments and reviews are always appreciated!