I'm deliberately avoiding most of the canon matchups, it's not a very fun exploration of the characters to just point at the show and go 'so basically, that happens.' It's a useful device for skipping the unimportant bits of something, especially in shorter fics where you just wanna get to the parts where stuff diverges, but ultimately not as fun.
Aggravating. That was Endeavors first though after watching a handful of the opening rounds fights.
His sons class was outstanding. Beyond powerful. In terms of fighting potential, many of them were already as good as some pros.
Especially that boy. Midoriya. Merely playing with his opponent. Drawing his fight out so his overwhelming victory would appear that much more absolute. Standing in the ring like a lord gazing upon his subjects even after he'd won.
It was a problem. This tournament was meant to be his son's debut. His opportunity to show the world who the next generations Greatest Hero was.
He'd brought scouts. He'd called in favors. He'd ensured that this would be the most viewed event in the nation.
But he was beginning to feel as though he'd unwittingly helped advertise a class of monsters. His son could have a good showing. But he'd never outshine these little monsters to such a degree as to call it overwhelming.
His gaze cut towards the green haired pissant who'd kicked this all off, in the stands with the rest of his class carefree as could be. Not like his boy. A true warrior, sitting in preparation even now.
A vicious smile spread across his face as he thought of some choice 'motivation' and began to walk towards the preparation rooms.
Every set of eyes in the viewing room tracked one of the worlds greatest heroes as he left.
As it should be.
Uraraka returned to the spectator seats of 1-A shortly after her loss. Her brow was furrowed In thought and she looked distinctly unhappy as she plunked down into a seat near Midoriya without preamble.
Her class congratulated her on her showing, speaking briefly on what a surprise Tokogami's quirk turned out to be, even after weeks of training together.
She replied with half hearted thank yous and other such platitudes before settling back into her seat, arms crossed and frowning.
Izuku stared at her for a few moments before putting his notebook down in Urarakas lap and turning away to watch the next fight.
Disturbed by the sudden action, Uraraka picked up the book, and looked down at the page Izuku had left it open to.
The page was split into two halves, each half beginning with a caricature of herself and Tokogami.
Urarakas side bore a succinct explanation of her fight, strategy, and how it showcased her abilities to those watching. Her ability to lift debris of civilians was underlined several times.
Tokogamis was less detailed. It bore the words 'Swung his quirks arms in wide arcs' and a brief note on not being shown the lifting capacity, its maximum range, or other useful traits of the quirk.
If Tokogami could see it, he would howl with indignation at his deliberate attempts to obscure his quirk for the tournaments purposes being looked down upon.
Ultimately, Tokogami had chosen a strategy emphasizing victory through subtlety, over advertising himself.
"Uuu...!"
Tears began to form in Urarakas eyes as she glared at the page, refusing to look at Izuku as he sat placidly next to her. The rest of the class pointedly pretended not to see the slip, though Asui tensed slightly and was forced to stop mid turn when Uraraka turned and began half laughing, and half crying into Izuku's shoulder.
The rest of the class smiled down at the arena, content in their bonds, and the relaxation of tension.
In the arena, Todoroki had begun to stretch, his resting face as intimidating and strained as ever.
He barely registered when the pink haired girl across from him began to speak. He glanced up and then returned to ignoring her as he realized she was addressing the crowd.
"Mei Hatsume here! And what I'm about to do here is something any of you could achieve! What you see before you is nothing but the wonder of human engineering!"
The crowd winced as it became apparent she had hacked the speakers in the arena and was bellowing loudly at the entire stage.
She turned abruptly using her quirk to telescope her vision and zoom in on the idle form Izuku Midoriya, the brown haired girl from the previous fight leaning into him.
She furrowed her brow at his wrist where the fantastic device she knew he was hiding rested.
"And this is only the beginning! When I'm done anyone will be able to be slimy, creepy, fast or strong."
"You hear that Izuku Midoriya! You're going to be all mine!"
Izuku, who had stiffened at her reference to Present Mic's introduction of him, gasped when she declared her intent, then looked down at the watch he'd been making less and less of an effort to hide as everyone came to overlook it, or simply assume it part of his quirk.
He had no doubt what the tech genius was referring to.
When he looked back up, Asui and Mineta were inches from his face.
"Possessive Girlfriend?" was Asui's barely nonchalant statement.
"Is it drugs? You drug them? Not cool man." was Minetas less polite statement.
"W-what?! No, I barely know her!" was Izuku's reply, his right hand creeping up to cover the Omnitrix protectively in his lap.
Asui squinted at Iida who was seated on Izuku's right side, opposite Uraraka, who had since pulled herself off the boy's shoulder and was obliviously wiping tears from her face.
Eventually, the frog girl walked around them, towing a still manic Mineta to the seats immediately behind them.
In the arena, Hatsume had begun starting her machines, talking a mile a minute to prospective investors and professional heroes alike. Many members of the crowd had taken to mumbling awkwardly at the played up activities of belligerent girl, who was all but ignoring her opponent.
"Are you done?"
A chilling voice emanated from behind her as she espoused the wonders of the grappling technology she'd built.
"Hey! Just a minute alright? This is the good part." She said, a salacious tone in her voice as she gently caressed one of a dozen pouches she'd been rapidly pulling products out of and demonstrating for the crowd.
A sharp creak was heard throughout the stadium as frost spread from the stoic young man to encase the arena like a glacier prison, leaving Hatsume frozen up to her next.
"The match started more than a minute ago. I have been more than generous with-"
Todoroki was cut off as billowing steam erupted around Hatsume, clearing to leave a dripping, but rapidly drying girl brushing her shoulders off. She leered at him, waggling her eyebrows at him like they were sharing a great secret.
"Come on big guy, Its a flight suit by none other than I the great Mei Hatsume! Why wouldn't it be heated? I mean-"
She was cut off as he frozen her again, this time up to her mouth, leaving only her nose exposed to breathe through. A moment and some steam later and, now slightly more soggy than before, she continued her statement, this time hitting the activation on her boots and zooming above the blast of ice that flew through the spot she once stood.
"I mean, do you know how cold it gets at high altitudes? Wouldn't do for my customers to freeze to death."
Grunting in irritation Todoroki leaped to action, unsure of what means this girl might have to attack and not expecting any such resistance from the buxom mechanic. He quickly generated an elevated path of frost and began to circle the arena, ascending in a spiral towards the now flying Hatsume.
Hatsume for her part continued to hover, rising gently to avoid Todoroki who had to go to much greater pains to ascend than she did. As she did so she continued pulling objects from her pouches and bellowing to the annoyed crowd.
In class 1-A's spectator area, Asui suddenly leaned forward in her seat to lean over Izuku's shoulder, her head quirked to one side.
"She's like a loony tunes character."
"Huh?" was Izuku's response as his attention was drawn away from the fight and his rapid note taking.
"Like the Road Runner. She's not even really fighting." Asui explained shifting her right side was resting Izuku's left shoulder, causing Mineta to squint at her in irritation.
"Oh. Y-yeah she really can't read the mood huh?" Izuku replied, smiling slightly, and then turning back to his notebook to continue writing.
"""Says you!""" screamed the internal monologue of the many of his watching classmates.
"She can't keep acting like this though" mumbled Izuku as Asui rolled her eyes and moved back to her seat. "Once he gets serious, "theres no way tricks like this will work."
"Serious huh. . ." grumbled Asui, her stare boring a hole in the back of the green haired boys head.
In the arena, Todoroki had finally had enough. The words his father had spoken to him echoed through his head like klaxon, the volume rising with every failed attempt to gently subdue the infuriating girl who was presently making a fool of him.
"I know you don't visit your mother. But I was thinking of moving her to a new hospital. In America. Her presence hasn't been good for your growth."
He had to control a burst of flame that started to emit from just thinking about it. The man was a monster. A monster holding him hostage with his mother dangled in front of him like bait.
I don't have time for this! He thought as a cold fury overtook him.
With one exaggerated wave of his hand a block of ice covered Hatsume once more, causing her to fall out of the sky onto the slope he began making the second he'd finished freezing her.
Before she'd even reached the ground a thick steam began to billow down towards him.
"Seriously just let me finish and-" she was silenced as he struck her oncoming form with a gut punch.
Before she could recover Todoroki froze her again, repositioning himself around the obscuring steam to drive another punishing strike into the hapless tinkers side.
He repeated this process several times - each strike more brutal than the last until eventually a wall of cement separated him from his target.
"Enough. Look." the gentle voice intoned, gesturing at the huge screen replaying the battle.
Mei Hatsume had been unconscious for some time. Evidently, whatever part of her suit freed her from his ice was automatic.
He had been bludgeoning the girl's unconscious body for at least a minute, as he'd been freezing her before she could fall.
"Is this thing on? OH YEAAAAH! I'm BACK! And the stone cold winner of this match is Shoto Todoroki!"
In the stands of 1-A, Izuku stared unwaveringly down a the somehow sad form of Shoto Todoroki, no longer writing, and no longer smiling.