I do not own My Hero Academia or any of the characters. Any OC or idea you like are free for use, all I ask is that you send me a link to the story if you are writing one.
Chapter 9
The fifteen minute given to the competitors to relax went by in flash and they were soon called to the stadium once more to announce the match ups for the final competition. After they all stood before the stage once more, Midnight signaled for the electric board to reveal the match ups.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Here are the match ups for the first round of the final competition of the sports festival. Matches will be ten minutes long, the fighters have to either knock the opponent out or knock them off the arena to win. And for safety measure we have the hero Cementoss to make sure no one goes overboard and to repair the arena." The audience cheered loudly, this was the most important competition of the sports festival and the one where students truly shine. Many people were intently watching, either in the stadium, in their homes, or in the streets. Individuals and organizations alike, the whole world had their eyes on the future heroes of U.A. to see who would shine the brightest.
"And our first match is Midoriya vs Aoyama!" Midnight announced and all eyes were now fixed on the two classmates and former teammates. Midoriya didn't like the attention too much but there seemed to be something else that worried him more.
"Let's go out there and shine brightly like the stars." Aoyama brought Midoriya out of his thoughts and Midoriya looked like he didn't notice the boy standing next to him.
"Yeah sure let's go." Midoriya gave a weak response but Aoyama didn't notice and went on ahead to his waiting room.
Before Midoriya went, Shino grabbed his shoulder stopping him, "Midoriya are you ok?" Shino had a worried expression on his face.
"Yeah I'm fine, don't worry." Midoriya gave a small smile to reassure Shino but it only made him worry even more.
"You've been absent minded since Todoroki talked to you. Did he say something to bother you that much?" Midoriya's Shoulder stiffened which confirmed Shino's suspicion, "N-No it's nothing like that! I'm just nervous to fight in front of all those people." He franticly shook his head while raising his hands in defensive manner.
Shino sighed; there was nothing he could do to help his friend if he didn't tell him what was wrong. "Fine just focus on the fight in front of you and leave whatever problems you have in the back of your mind right now, you don't want to lose this early because your head was in the skies." Shino said as he walked away to the seats designated for the 1-A students that didn't qualify and the one that didn't have matches at the moment.
"You're right." Midoriya lightly slapped his cheeks and his thoughtful expression changed to one of determination.
When he arrived, he found a seat reserved for him next to Iida and Uraraka.
"What were you talking to Midoriya about Shino?" Iida asked after Shino had settled down in his seat.
"Just motivational talk, you know how nervous Midoriya can be." Shino didn't see a reason to worry Uraraka and Iida when he himself didn't know the answer.
"Don't worry, Deku is gonna do fine. There is no way he would lose and I can bet on it." Uraraka said with a smile while shaking her hands in excitement.
"Yeah I know. You should get ready too, Uraraka. Your match is next."
"I know; I will be fighting Mina so I should prepare a strategy, but I just want to see Deku's match. Besides they give us a few minutes between matches."
"Suit yourself."
Their attention changed to the arena when Midoriya and Aoyama walked out to the arena while Present Mic was giving each of them a lengthy introduction. After both students reached their place in the arena, Midnight reminded them of the rules.
"Ready…Begin!"
The second Midnight gave the signal, Aoyama started shooting his naval laser trying to knock Midoriya as fast as possible but Midoriya read the attacks and was able to dodge accordingly, although he was almost hit a couple of times.
While Midoriya dodged, he waited for the drawbacks of Aoyama's quirk to catch up with him and sure enough Aoyama's stomach began to ache and he was unable to shoot another laser or dodge the punch Midoriya delivered to said aching stomach which was enough to knock the blond boy out earning Midoriya his first win.
"See! I told you Deku would be fine!" Uraraka exclaimed while pointing at the arena.
"I never said he would lose. Don't you have a match to catch up to? Ashido already left." Shino smirked when he saw Uraraka's face go blank remembering her own match.
"You're right! I have to go! Wish me luck guys, and tell Deku I said congrats!" Uraraka hurried to the waiting room.
"Good luck." Both Iida and Shino said at the same time.
Midoriya finally joined the two boys at the stands along with a conscious Aoyama, "Hey guys."
"Welcome Midoriya, congratulations on your win. Uraraka asked us to tell you as well." Iida replied.
"Yeah Midoriya you knocked Aoyama cold with one hit, way to go." The blond boy in question didn't appreciate the reminder.
"Thanks." Midoriya said as he sat down and brought out his notebook. In all the action of the festival, Midoriya saw many quirks and this was his first chance to finally record them in his notebook.
"Uraraka's match is gonna start any second now." Shino turned Midoriya's attention to the arena as they saw the two girls walk up to the arena with Midnight standing in the middle.
"She well do great, I know it." Midoriya smiled with a small blush on his cheeks.
"Funny, she said the same thing about you." Shino informed him.
"She did?!" Midoriya's blush darkened.
"Indeed Midoriya, while I didn't doubt your abilities, Uraraka was ready to fight anyone who dared to think you'd lose." Iida stated, unaware of the implications of his statement.
Thick Steam started coming of Midoriya's head and his blush spread throughout his entire face creating the most accurate tomato disguise ever causing Shino to burst in laughter. However, before he could comment on it the match started.
The first to strike was Ashido throwing her acid at Uraraka while sliding around to keep her distance as to not fall to her quirk.
Uraraka on the other hand kept dodging the acid while looking for an opening to strike back. However, that was easier said than done as Ashido had higher mobility and attacked from a range. Uraraka could only get close to her was to either by predicting her movement or forcing her to go in a specific direction. Fortunately, she had just the idea to do that.
Uraraka started coordinating her movements and her dodging as she advanced towards Mina who now focused completely on repelling the gravity girl that she didn't realize she was being pressed to the corner of the arena with nowhere left to dodge. By then, all Uraraka had to do was dodge the final attack and touch her once and the pink girl lost all control over her movement and floated helplessly.
Ashido looked at her friend pleading her to have mercy but all she got was an innocent smile as Uraraka gently pushed her out of the arena then deactivated her quirk dropping the acid girl on the ground and taking the win.
As the two girls returned to the stands, one of them was pouting while the other had a huge grin on her face.
"Good job Uraraka! I knew you could do it!" Midoriya was the first to congratulate her on the win.
"Thanks Deku you were awesome too!" The two teens had a small blush on their faces but before either of them said anything, Iida started talking.
"Indeed you have done well Uraraka." Iida said while cutting the air with his robotic hand movements.
"QUITE DOWN 1-A, JUST BECAUSE YOU QUALIFIED FOR THE FINAL COMPETITION DOSEN'T MEAN YOU CAN DISTUBE THE REST OF US." The loud and annoying voice of Monoma brought down the group's mood as he screamed from the class 1-B seats that were right next to class 1-A's.
"Dude why are you screaming? We're not disturbing anybody, unlike you." Shino got out of his chair and stood to Monoma's face.
Before Monoma could argue even more, Kendo came from behind him and knocked him with strike to the back of the neck. "Sorry about that Shino, he's being a nuisance again." Kendo said as she picked the unconscious blond up. "No problem Kendo, I didn't know your seats were this close." Shino's mood was lifted again. "Yeah since we're both hero course classes they designated this entire area for us, cool huh." Kendo had enough time to somewhat sort her feelings out deciding to push them to the back of her mind for now and deal with them after the festival, it's not like they're going anywhere. "Well hopefully we'll talk more soon but for now I think you should return Monoma to his seat." Kendo nodded and they both walked away. That's when Shino noticed Uraraka and Midoriya were still standing watching the exchange happen.
"Take a seat Uraraka, Midoriya, the next match between Todoroki and Sero is about to begin. They both already left to the waiting room." Shino pointed to the two seats next to him.
"You and the president of class 1-B seem to be on good terms considering their entire class hates us." Iida questioned Shino.
"Yeah we're friends." To Shino she was more than that but that was his own perspective that he won't bring to the light unless questioned, "And her class don't hate us, it's just Monoma planting ideas in their heads. Let's not talk about that now and focus on the fight that's about to start." Shino changed the subject fast.
"Who do you think will win?" Uraraka wondered as she and Midoriya sat next to Shino.
"You've gotta be kidding me? I don't wanna sound mean or anything, but there is no way Sero could win this match. If you ask me he drew the short straw to fight Todoroki on his first match." Shino almost felt bad for Sero but he knew life could be cruel like that sometimes.
As predicted, the match ended fast when Todoroki created a huge ice wave that froze Sero, half of Midnight, and a part of the stadium almost hitting the audience.
"See, what did I tell you? Although you have to give credit where credit is due, Sero was quick on the attack and against any other combatant he might have won, but not against Todoroki."
"But don't you think he went overboard a little. Seems like something is bothering him." Uraraka said while pointing at the huge pillar of ice.
"Yeah you're right, maybe he wanted to send a message to the other students or something." Shino replied.
'Whatever he said to Midoriya must be a really big deal for it to affect both of them like that.' Shino glanced at Midoriya to see his reaction and noticed he was lost in thought but looked sad.
The two students later returned to their seats after Sero was thawed by Todoroki as Kirishima and Mina consoled their friend.
The fourth match of the first round was one many people were anticipating since it featured the boy who took everyone by surprise, Shinso, and his opponent was Kaminari. Everyone was waiting to see what kind of fight Shinso would show.
The two boys climbed the arena and were waiting for Midnight to signal the start of their fight.
"Ready…start!"
Kaminari didn't waste any time going straight on the attack while Shinso didn't move, instead he talked.
"You're from 1-A right?" Shinso asked Kaminari who was confused as to where the sudden curiosity came from.
"Yeah I-" Kaminari didn't get to finish talking before he stopped moving and his expression became blank and the electricity twirling around his body dissipated.
"Good boy." Shinso smirked.
"What is Kaminari doing?" Kirishima asked
"Yeah why did he stop attacking and what's with the blank expression?" Mina added more questions to the pile. Unfortunately, nobody had an answer to any of them.
Their attention shifted to Shinso when he spoke again. "Now get out of the arena." Everybody watched as Kaminari turned around and started walking towards the edge of the arena.
"What are you doing Kaminari?! Snap out of it!" His classmates shouted for him to stop but to no avail. Kaminari reached the edge and fell to the ground hitting his head and losing the fight. Kaminari finally regained control as he looked confused wondering what he was doing outside the arena when the last thing he remembered was being inside.
Nobody knew what to make of this; even the audience didn't know whether to cheer or to boo.
"It must be Shinso's quirk." Everybody turned to Midoriya who had a thoughtful expression as he pinched his chin.
"Kaminari started acting weird after answering Shinso's question; he might have some kind of brainwashing quirk that works when people answer him." Midoriya continued his analysis.
"That's ridiculous! Can a quirk this overpowered really exist?!" Sero couldn't even fathom such a quirk.
"The world is big; there is pound to be some crazy quirks out there. It would certainly explain why Kaminari seemed to act weirdly and his blank expression. It was as if his mind shut off and not by the effects of his own quirk." Yaoyorozu supported Midoriya's theory.
"If that's true then there must be a way to break the brainwashing. I think being hit or injured could do the trick." Shino pointed out Kaminari finally standing up and seeing on the board that he lost, "Kaminari seemed to regain his consciousness after hitting the ground. Then again it could be Shinso simply turning his quirk off but it is our best bet from what we saw."
"A quirk that brainwashes people when they answer the user's questions and can only be broken when the subject receives damage." Midoriya retold the final theory they came up with to his class.
"I don't envy anyone that fights him next." Mineta said almost relieved he didn't qualify.
"How come someone with such a powerful quirk isn't in the hero course?" Mina asked.
"He said it himself, he wanted to enter the hero course but because the practical exam favored combat-oriented quirks he was unable to. This festival is his chance to enter." Shino's words frightened the students of class 1-A and 1-B who were overhearing the discussion, especially the ones that didn't do good in the competitions since they were the prime candidates to lose their seats in the hero course.
"Looks like we underestimated the competition, Kero" Tsuyu was a little disheartened.
"Or we overestimated ourselves." Ojiro said remembering how he did nothing noteworthy in the festival.
"Guys you did your best so don't feel so bad. I actually looked into this whole taking seats thing and it is not necessary that he would take one of our seats, he most likely will just be added to one of the two classes." Shino tried to cheer his friends up.
"Then why did he tell us he'll take them?!" Hagakure questioned.
"He probably just wanted to scare us and show how serious he is about this." Midoriya answered.
"Even so, we should learn from this to never let our guard down or underestimate the enemy no matter how strong we think we are." The class-president tried to draw a lesson from all this.
"You're right Iida! We shouldn't despair and learn from our mistakes." Uraraka supported Iida.
Soon the rest of class had determined faces instead of sad ones as each of them silently decided to make the most of this experience to become better heroes.
Kaminari finally returned to the class 1-A seats where the others explained to him what happened and how he lost. Needless to say, he wasn't happy losing without even attacking once.
"I can't believe I lost like that!" Kaminari slumped into his seat feeling discouraged
"Cheer up man, there was nothing you could do." Kirishima consoled his friend.
"Yeah it's not like you knew simply answering a question would activate his quirk." Sero added.
"Thanks guys, still sucks though." Kaminari was thankful to his friends' attempts at cheering him up but it didn't help his feeling of powerlessness.
The fifth match was between Bakugo and Kirishima, another due of teammates turned opponents. The two boys took their place in the arena, both with grins on their faces and confidence in their abilities.
The match started with Bakugo immediately going with the strategy 'fly like a butterfly, explode like a grenade' as he swirled around his opponent hitting him explosions then retreating a safe distance then repeating the process. Kirishima on the other hand opted for a more defensive style taking advantage of his hardening quirk to tank the explosions and look for a chance to strike.
"Is that all, Bakugo? I can barely feel it." Kirishima taunted Bakugo, confident in his quirk.
"Keep talking shitty hair; it will make it all the sweeter when I beat you." Bakugo wasn't stupid, he knew Kirishima was trying to make him slip up so he can get a chance to attack but Bakugo wouldn't give him that chance. He also knew that although Kirishima's quirk was impressive, like all quirks including his own, it had it's limits and he will eventually tire out.
Unfortunately for Kirishima, his plans didn't come through and the fight devolved to a battle of endurance to see whose quirk would give out first, will it be the attacker Bakugo or the defender Kirishima. Over time, the hardening on parts of Kirishima's body began to falter. This didn't go unnoticed by Bakugo as he focused on these parts and slowly started to do some damage. Kirishima had no choice but swinging his fists hoping he would get lucky and hit Bakugo, but luck was not on his side today.
In the end, Kirishima couldn't hold on anymore and lost after an explosion knocked him out.
Everybody in the audience and in the class 1-A seats guessed something like that would happen but they couldn't help but feel bad for Kirishima, he did his best but his best simply wasn't good enough.
"Man I lost, but you were so manly out there Bakugo! Your quirk so powerful!" Kirishima exclaimed as he and Bakugo returned to their seats.
"Of course it is Shitty hair! I'm the one that's gonna be the number one hero!" Bakugo yelled but didn't seem too bothered by Kirishima, "Your were okay I guess." Bakugo said so fast Kirishima almost didn't hear it, but he did.
"Thanks man." Kirishima was sad that he lost but since it was against someone he recognized as strong, he accepted it, but that wouldn't stop him from trying to surpass Bakugo one day.
Shino then noticed something that somewhat scared him; Kirishima's shirt was almost gone, burned by the explosive attacks. He had thought that these shirts were more durable than this and so didn't give it much thought only warring a normal shirt under them, but now he knew that if he was to fight Bakugo the same would probably happen to him. Whether he won or lost wouldn't matter since his body, and the scars littering it would be exposed to the world. The mere thought of that happening sent his heart down to his feet as he silently wished that he won't have to face Bakugo. Unfortunately, he wouldn't get his wish.
Shino's mind was taken away from the subject when the next match began. It was a match he himself was waiting for, Kendo's match against Yaoyorozu.
The two girls went at each other determined to win the match, Yaoyorozu created a shield and a staff to defend against Kendo's giant fists, which seemed to work in the beginning. Kendo's strategy was to get behind Yaoyorozu and strike her neck to knock her out quickly but every time she tried, Yaoyorozu would defend using the shield and then retaliate with her staff. Kendo needed a change in plans or she would end up losing. Thankfully, her martial arts training wasn't just about hitting hard, it was also about how to outsmart your opponent to gain the advantage. So she baited the raven-haired girl with an upper chop of her left hand. When Yaoyorozu raised her shield to block, she was taken off guard by Kendo's right hand capturing her in a tight grip. After securing her opponent, Kendo raised her off the ground and started walking towards the edge of the arena.
Yaoyorozu tried to escape Kendo's grip but with no room to create anything big enough and no way to match Kendo's physical strength, she was eventually thrown out of the arena and lost the fight.
Watching the match, Shino was more than happy for Kendo. 'This is the first time I've seen her in a fight but damn is she good. She was quick to come up with a new strategy and her martial arts skills are no joke either.', although he felt a little bad for Yaoyorozu, she fought well and deserved praise for her efforts. As Kendo was walking off the arena, she glanced at Shino who gave her a thumbs up which she returned. This went unnoticed by their classmates.
Yaoyorozu returned to her seat looking depressed, it must have felt bad to lose just after getting the resolve to become better. Her state was noticed by her friends as they kept telling her to cheer up and that she did the best she could but while it somewhat cheered her up, Shino could tell it wasn't enough.
The next match was between Iida and Hatsume, and Shino had an idea of how it will turn out. The pink-haired inventor had no interest in winning, just showing off he 'babies' to the investors that must be in the crowd and Iida would be her model.
After the two students entered the arena and before the match started, Hatsume approached Iida.
"Hey! I've seen you in the cavalry battle, you seem to have a problem with sharp turns, how about you try one of my babies?!" Hatsume offered.
Both Iida and Midnight were confused by the girl's offer, "Why would give your opponent items that would give them an advantage?" Iida had a bad feeling about this.
"I'm an inventor and my mission is making support items for heroes such as yourself! Consider it the beginning of an investment." Hatsume said with a grin.
Iida -against his better judgment- agreed, "Well if your intentions are to help heroes and if the judge agrees, then I would be honored to have your items."
They turned to Midnight who saw no harm since both parties were okay with and gave the green sign.
At this Hatsume exploded with euphoria and brought out all the support items she planned to use on Iida as well as some for herself. After that, they both returned to their place in the arena. The spectators were confused as to why Iida was wearing support item now but didn't dwell on it for long.
'You've fallen for her trap Iida, this should be interesting.' Shino's sweat dropped knowing the nature of his former teammate.
The support items Iida wore were leg parts that made it easier to accelerate and made easier to move and what look like a pair of wings with three thrusters on each wing.
Hatsume on the other hand, had a new pair of boots different from the ones she had in the other two competitions and mechanical belt around her waist in addition to her signature googles.
At the signal, Iida sprinted towards Hatsume taking advantage the items she herself gave him but in the last second before he attacked, an attachment came out her belt hitting the ground propelling her out of Iida's way while tripping him at the same time. Because of the added speed, Iida couldn't regain control in time and was going to head straight out of the arena when the thrusters on his back changed direction and thrusted readjusting Iida's body and preventing him from falling. All while this was happening, Hatsume was explaining the function of each item with starry eyes making sure the investors among the audience were listening.
This game of cat and mouse continued throughout the match with Iida trying hopelessly to catch Hatsume. And her evading every attempt while displaying some of her other inventions like a gun that shoots a net to capture villains and boots that make you jump higher similar to how Uraraka uses her quirk -god knows when did she make all of these- on Iida who was losing his patience.
Just before the time-out, Hatsume simply walked out of the arena with a satisfied smile on her face despite losing the match, leaving behind a very angry and ashamed Iida as he fumed over being used in such a way by the girl. This continued until he returned to his seat next to Uraraka and Midoriya but Shino was gone by that point, it was his match at last against Tokoyami.
Shino entered the arena with a confident smile on his face and a plan in his mind. In front of him was his bird-headed classmate ready for a fight. Unfortunately for Tokoyami, by the time their match started it was the middle of the day with the sun at it's hottest and directly above the arena and Shino was gonna take full advantage of that.
With a signal from Midnight, the fight began and Tokoyami brought out dark shadow who attacked Shino. Immediately Shino kneeled down touching the ground and turning part of the arena to gold reflecting the sun's light at dark shadow, both blinding it and weakening it enough for Shino to dodge it's attack and head straight for Tokoyami with golden tendrils following him.
Tokoyami wasn't gonna lose that easily though, as he called back dark shadow immediately and summoned it to counter Shino's assault. However, this also was a part of Shino's plan. Dark shadow could only defend in one direction and so Shino had some tendrils travel with him under the arena and positioned it behind Tokoyami waiting for the right moment to strike.
As dark shadow was busy defending against the gold tendrils from the front, new tendrils emerged from the ground behind Tokoyami, too fast for dark shadow to counter them, capturing him and wrapping him in a golden cocoon. Only his bird head wasn't covered.
Shino then moved him to the golden side, which insured a weakened dark shadow that couldn't return Tokoyami to hide from the sun. Shino then threw the golden cocoon and the student in it outside the arena, winning his first round.
With Shino's fight over, the first round of the final competition was done and as Cementoss was reforming the arena, making sure it was gold-free, Midnight spoke.
"With that the first round is done, Midoriya, Uraraka, Todoroki, Shinso, Bakugo, Kendo, Iida, and Shino. These fearsome fighters have advanced and will meet again in the arena for the second round after 5 minutes where the match ups will once again be announced."
The crowd cheered for the students as their pictures were shown on the big screen and the students themselves couldn't help but feel proud of themselves with the exception of Iida who was still sore about the way he won.
The students took those precious five minutes to think about who their next opponent might be and a way to defeat them. Everybody was sure that the next rounds would be much harder but that's what they signed for when they decided to aim for the top.
Thanks for reading.
