"And in first place, from class A," Present Mic's voice rang through the stadium. "Midoriya Izuku!"

Izuku couldn't believe it. He had known when he realized that his plan had worked and that he wasn't going to be the laughingstock of the event that he would finish in first, but hearing it announced like that to a stadium of screaming pro heroes and fans was something else entirely.

"Did you see what he did? He didn't even have to use his quirk!"

"Where did he even come from? I didn't see him anywhere near the lead before that."

"He carried that piece from the robot the whole way!"

Present Mic continued to announce names as other students crossed the finish line, and Izuku, drinking heavily from the bottle that had been shoved in his hands by one of the festival volunteers, tried to categorize them as he heard them. All of the students from 1-A (with the exception of Mineta who had been disqualified) had passed to carry on to the next event as well as most of the students Izuku recognized from class B.

Only two stood out as not being from the hero course at all. The pink haired girl from the support course he had talked to briefly and a boy with unruly purple hair and dark shadows under his eyes that Izuku thought he had seen in the Gen Ed section during the opening ceremonies.

When everyone who was still eligible had finally crossed the finish line, Midnight took the stage again.

"Originally," she said, addressing the audience, "we had planned on allowing the first forty students who finished to qualify for the second event, but it seems that the difficulty of this event was too much for our first years." She turned back to the students then, a sharp look in her eyes. "Only thirty-two students finished the event under the conditions we set. I hope those of you who did, especially those whose use of your quirk is an important aspect of your future careers, consider where you went wrong today and how you can move forward from this. The sports festival, while meant to be fun, is also a valuable learning experience. Do not let it go to waste."

The answering response was subdued, and Midnight pressed on. "Because of this change in numbers, we've had to tweak the possible second events, but I'm sure you will find them just as challenging as before, if not more so."

Izuku had hoped that they would get a short break before the next event so that he could check in with how Iida and Uraraka had fared, but it seemed that they were moving straight into the next challenge. The screen had appeared behind the platform once more, scrolling quickly through the possible events before slowing to a stop.

Midnight's grin at the choice made him slightly concerned.

"And it seems that our next event will be a team event. Dodgeball!"

"Dodgeball?" The word quickly spread through the group of competing students, and Izuku narrowed his eyes at the screen. Unlike with the obstacle course, the sign indicating this event did not have any additional writing other than the event's title and a cartoon picture of All Might throwing a rubber ball, but it couldn't be that simple.

The first event had been about analyzing their situations, working under difficult conditions, but the Yuuei Sports Festival had always been, first and foremost, an exhibition of the quirks of the best up and coming heros. In terms of popularity, the events had replaced the Olympics nationally as the most anticipated event even though they happened every year. The lesson they were meant to learn from the first event was important, no question about that, but it wasn't the flashy quirk heavy event that people had come to expect.

What kind of twist would this simple sounding dodgeball tournament have then?

"The names of all of the students who moved on have been added to a randomizer to determine your teams. The student who placed highest on each team will be team captain and in charge of coming up with your strategy. And as for your teams-" Midnight gestured to the screen behind her again, and the graphic was replaced with a list of all the students who had passed. Izuku's eyes were drawn to where it said Team A Captain: Midoriya Izuku, under which there was a short list of names- Hatsume Mei, Tokoyami Fumikage, Uraraka Ochako, Aoyama Yuga, Shiozaki Ibara, Yaoyorozu Momo, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu.

Quickly searching for Uraraka in the crowd he found that she was already looking at him, shooting him a thumbs up and a grin. How he had lucked out to end up on the same team as one of his best friends, he didn't know, but he was grateful either way.

"No way!" Someone from class B protested near Izuku protested, staring at the lists open mouthed in shock. "Bakugou Katsuki and Endeavor's kid on the same team! How is that fair?"

"The lists might have been randomized," the person beside him added, "but surely that's skewing things a little too far in that team's favor."

Izuku had been so pleased with his own team assignments that he hadn't bothered to check the lists for everyone else, but there it was beside his own. Team B Captain: Todoroki Shouto-Bakugou Katsuki, Hanta Sero, Ashido Mina, Iida Tenya, Kaminari Denki, Kirishima Eijirou, Shinsou Hitoshi.

So Iida had ended up on Kacchan's team too.

"The rules of this game are the same as regular dodgeball. You catch the ball, the person who threw it is out. You get hit with the ball or step out of bounds, and you're out. Simple enough to follow." Midnight explained. "You will each play one game, winning team moves on to the third and final event, so you better figure out how to work with your team and fast. Otherwise this event will be over a lot faster than you think."

Win or get eliminated. He didn't know exactly how Shiozaki or Testsutetsu's quirks worked, but looking at the students from his own class his team seemed well balanced. Depending on which team they were matched with and what the inevitable surprise was, he didn't doubt that his team could win.

"But wait!" Midnight said, pointing at the students who had already started to move towards their teammates. "We couldn't let it be that easy, could we?"

And there it was, Izuku thought.

Midnight held up a blue rubber looking ball with the Yuuei logo facing them. "Our support course alumni have been working very closely with the pro hero Replicate to produce this just in time for the sports festival!"

Replicate? Izuku had heard of him, of course. He knew almost every pro hero who had a contract with an agency. Replicate wasn't one of the most popular pro heroes by a long shot, but if what Izuku remembered about his quirk was correct…

"For those of you not as familiar with Replicate's work, let me explain a few things about his quirk. I'm sure you're all aware of quirks that allow the user to copy certain attributes of other people's quirks? Well, Replicate is able to give this ability to inanimate objects. Any object he touches is able to borrow the characteristics of the next person who holds its quirk. Cementoss, would you mind demonstrating?"

The pro hero, who had been standing at the bottom of the platform, made his way up the stairs, taking the ball carefully from Midnight's hand. The moment the ball was completely in his grasp the surface seemed to waver before turning to concrete. He passed the ball back to Midnight where it returned to normal.

"The effects last until it comes into contact with someone else with a quirk. Although it is just a copy of the general characteristics of your quirks and won't be nearly as powerful as the real thing, I think you'll still find this game to be a bit of a challenge, don't you think?"

Izuku's mind immediately ran through the possibilities. A ball with Iida's speed, or Uraraka's lack of gravity constraints. That exploded, or was covered in ice, or could electrocute anyone who touches it. Yes, this was definitely the flashier sort of event Izuku had expected from the sports festival.

But how would it- Izuku froze.

One for All wasn't his quirk, not really. Would Replicate's quirk notice the difference? Would the ball draw from his own quirklessness or was One for All his enough to count? And if it did, how much strength would it be able to copy? Izuku could only access 5% of One for All's power at most, but that was because his body couldn't handle the quirk's full potential. Even if Midnight had said it wouldn't be nearly as powerful as their real quirks, did that mean less than All Might at full strength powerful or less than what Izuku himself could manage?

"Go ahead and meet with your teams! You have fifteen minutes to talk strategy before your match-ups are decided!"

What was Izuku supposed to do?

Toshinori did not like this event at all, and he had said as much when the potential events had been announced.

Understanding how quirks functioned and what their possible limitations might be became easier when you looked at quirks in terms of type rather than their individual aspects. Enhancement quirks, quirks that changed physical appearance or attributes, manipulation or creation quirks. Every quirk fell into a specific category, and while there might be a few differences between them, most quirks in one category acted in the same general way.

One for All, though, didn't quite fall into any category because of the nature of it. No other quirk could be passed along from one person to the next. No other quirk took the user's strength and multiplied it, bringing that strength with it when it moved on. Learning from its wielders. Growing. Integrating whatever it could so that the next holder would be even stronger than the last.

And that made how this event would go impossible to predict, because how would a quirk like Replicate's react to a quirk like One for All? Toshinori had no idea and that made him concerned.

No one in the know about All Might's real quirk had been on the committee that decided on the events. The severity of his injury might have been common knowledge to the teaching staff at Yuuei, but the specifics about his quirk were still only known to Recovery Girl, Tsukauchi, Nedzu, and of course, Izuku.

By the time anyone realized the potential consequences of such an event it was too late. While a bit unconventional in regards to how their quirks would be used, there was no real reason for Nedzu to object to the event. The support team had already begun the preparations, and it might have done more harm than good to object to the event at that point. There were other events in the pool. There was only a 10% chance that that event would even be chosen.

Toshinori wished he had made a bigger fuss over it, because he never should have counted for luck being on his side for once. He had been through enough to know better by now. Gran Torino was not going to let him forget this next time they saw each other.

Despite how worried he was for the next event though, Toshinori couldn't help but be proud of Izuku's actions during the first event. He remembered what it felt like to be quirkless, the decades since not doing anything to dull the feelings of helplessness he had had when thinking about his prospects as a hero without a quirk. Unlike Izuku, he had all but given up before meeting Nana and having his life turned upside down. One for All might have come more naturally to him than it did for Izuku, but would he have been able to accomplish the same things Izuku had if their situations had been reversed?

He couldn't be sure, but he felt like the answer would have been no.

And that was another thing he needed to consider when planning Izuku's training after the sports festival ended. Although Toshinori didn't have a quirk to add to One for All's overall power, its strength had still grown during his time as the holder. How much had he increased the quirk himself, and was that the reason that Izuku had such a harder time controlling it than Toshinori had? He would have to speak to Gran Torino about it, because even though the man had never had One for All himself he had learned more about it from Nana than Toshinori ever had. In retrospect, that might not have been saying much.

For now though, all he could do was hope that Izuku would be able to handle whatever this event threw at him.

Izuku's team gathered around him. Fifteen minutes wasn't a lot of time to plan, especially when he didn't already know all of the members of his team, but they would have to make due with what they were given. At least there were only three people he was unfamiliar with.

"Right," Izuku said, wringing his hands as he spoke. His teammates looked at him expectedly. "I think first we should introduce ourselves and say how we think our quirks will affect the game. My quirk is basically strength enhancement? So I'm not really sure how that will work with Replicate's quirk." Izuku hadn't been sure how exactly to describe One for All, but maybe this way if it didn't do anything special he would be able to wave it off. Like Aizawa's quirk it probably couldn't copy anything that required a physical change.

Uraraka went next, smiling at Izuku as she said. "I'm Uraraka Ochako, and I can eliminate the effects of gravity on objects that I touch. This will probably mean I can throw it with a lot more force than a normal ball, although I'll have to be careful that I don't end up making us lose it entirely." She paused. "That's happened before."

"Yaoyorozu Momo. And my quirk is creation. I'm not sure, but I might be able to change the makeup of the ball? As long as it's to a material I know the composition of."

Slowly they made their way through all of their quirks. Shiozaki believed the ball would change to match the vines that made up her hair. For Tetsutetsu the ball would probably turn to steel like it had turned to concrete for Cementoss. Both Tokoyami and Aoyama were unsure of how their quirks would be copied considering Dark Shadow was sentient and Aoyama's lasers required him to use his belt to focus. Hastume said her quirk wouldn't be copied at all consider it only affected her eyesight, but as she was from the support course any tech she had on her could still be used as long as she had made it herself.

"And I have just the thing for an event like this!" She guaranteed, although she wouldn't explain exactly what it was. "I need your reactions to be real for the investors, now don't I?"

"What about the other students from Class B?" Izuku asked. "What can you tell us about their quirks?" When Shiozaki had finished explaining, Izuku gave them a quick run through of Class A as well.

"So the only person whose quirk we don't know is the Gen Ed student," Uraraka said.

"Not a problem!" Tetsutetsu responded. "He's only in the Gen Ed course. If his quirk was good for fighting he would be in the hero course."

"Not necessarily. It could be like Aizawa's." Izuku pointed out. "The exam doesn't really gauge those types of quirks well. We can't relax just because he's not in the hero course."

"And if we end up against his team," Yaoyorozu said. "We're going to need to be extra careful anyways. Both Bakugou and Todoroki have extremely strong quirks. They will both be looking to catch people off guard, so you can't lose focus."

"Well, hopefully we won't get matched with them. We don't stand a chance if we do."

"Aoyama-"

"Let's just make a plan. We don't have much time left, and we only have one shot at this." Izuku interrupted. "We're all going to be in the same boat in that we don't know exactly how our quirks will be copied, and won't know who our opponent is going to be until right before. Since we're Team A we're probably going to go first, so we won't be able to watch anyone else before our match. Until we know how this ball works, don't take any unnecessary risks. I'd rather we miss the ball completely than lose a person because they tried to catch it and failed. We can regroup once we know more. Does that sound good to everyone?"

There were nods around the group as Midnight took the stage again. "You're planning time is up! Our first match will be between Team Midoriya and Team Jirou! If those teams will please make their way to the center of the arena our other two teams can take a seat in the stands."

Well Izuku had been right about going first, and he would have been lying if he said he wasn't a little relieved that they wouldn't be facing Todoroki and Kacchan in this event. Every year the last event was a one on one tournament. If Izuku was going to make his mark and meet Todoroki and Kacchan head on he wanted it to be then.

"Because some of your quirks will affect a wide area and because of the conditions of Replicate's quirk, we will only be using one ball for this event even though all other rules of dodgeball will remain the same. But don't think that will make this any easier!"

A large rectangular space had been outlined in the middle of the arena, a chalked line across the center dividing the space into two halves. Both teams spread out across their respective spaces.

"As the winner of the first round," Present Mic said over the loudspeaker, "Midoriya Izuku will start the game."

Midnight handed the ball to him and cleared out of the way. Turning it over in his hands, the ball didn't feel any different from every other rubber ball, but he knew he wouldn't be able to see the effects of Replicate's quirk until he threw it.

"Last team standing wins and moves on the the final event! Midoriya-kun!" Midnight called. "Whenever you're ready!"

Izuku took a deep breath. Jirou had obviously told her team about his quirk, because none of them looked like they were preparing to try and catch it. It would have been very anticlimactic if he threw it and nothing happened, but he almost would have preferred that.

The instant the ball left his hand Izuku knew that he had made a very, very bad mistake.

He had tried to throw it towards the middle of the group to give people plenty of room to get out of the way if they needed to, but it didn't seem to be enough. The ball rocketed across the cement court, and any students who hadn't thrown themselves out of the way were barrelled over by the shock wave that followed.

Everything slowed as Cementoss lunged, throwing up a concrete wall between the stadium seats and the incoming ball. It finished sliding into place just as the ball made contact, and there seemed to be a moment of stillness at the impact before the stadium roared to life again, returning to normal in a snap. The wall exploded, showering the stands in chipped concrete and bits of rubber.

When the dust settled silence reigned, all eyes trained on Izuku who stared at the destruction he had caused open mouthed.

"Deku-kun," Uraraka said slowly, her eyes never leaving the shattered concrete. "What the hell?"

AN: So...Up next week! The second event, and possibly that conversation everyone has been asking about!

Thanks to everyone who commented!