'Strength of body is to be physically fit and able to manipulate your quirk with competence. This is the ability to take a blow and keep going. Speed, strength, and durability are the core foundations of this tenet. If you can end a battle in a single blow, then you can rescue civilians faster. If you are fast enough you can avoid an engagement entirely. And if you are durable, you can hold out until help arrives.'
—Excerpt from the recovered 'Tenets of Combat' likely authored by an underground hero or vigilante.
When the second round is over, the platforms are brought down and Izuku finally relaxes. The last platform, the one Kaachan held, had seen absolute carnage. There are close to a dozen teams groaning on the ground, battered and bruised and some suffering mild burns. Kacchan shows no signs of exertion despite all the people he's beaten.
Look harder, Mikumo snarls as Kaachan lets his partner, the green-haired girl from 1-B, lead him away.
He frowns. Kaachan's breathing is even and steady, and his arms don't tremble from exhaustion. What am I… oh, he's letting her lead because he's too tired to argue. It's a… lie?
Izuku, along with the other seven teams, head towards Midnight who posses extravagantly. It reminds him of exactly why she's an R-rated heroine, though it does make him wonder why she is commentating. If anything, All Might would be better simply because he has a better image.
You haven't been reading the news, Mikumo says with a hint of humour.
When the hell have you been reading the news?
When you're asleep.
"Are you gonna untie us?" Hatsume asks, lifting her chained hand. With how much taller she is, Izuku rises off the ground. "He's nice and all, don't get me wrong, but I don't want that kind of commitment."
Izuku flushes. "P-put me down."
"Ah, I don't think he likes it rough," Midnight says, cracking her whip. "Sweet baby boy, I'll wait till you're a few years older before breaking you in."
"Midnight-sensei, please refrain from saying such statements," Iida says sternly. "Firstly, it's morally reprehensible. Secondly, he's a minor."
Midnight rolls her eyes. "So boring. Anyway…" She turns around and waves to the audience, raising her mic. "Ladies and gentlemen of the audience, I present to you the victors of the second stage. Give them a round of applause."
Hearing an audience of fifty-thousand strong clap is like hearing the harshest crack of thunder, loud enough that his bones feel like they're shaking.
"Alright contestants, the final stage of this sports festival is the tournament. Brackets will be randomly chosen. The rules are simple: win by knocking your opponent unconscious or pushing them out of bounds. If you look at the screen, your matchups are shown."
Izuku looks and finds his name beside Ashido's. He glances in her direction and sees her grinning. He shudders and looks back at the screen. The rest of the matchups are as follows: Tokoyami and Aoyama; Ibara, who he thinks might be the green-haired girl, and Kirishima; Kacchan and Sero; Yaoyorozu and Hatsume whom he hopes wins; Uraraka and Kaminari; Shinsou against Testuetsu who can only be the silver-skinned boy; and Iida who's stuck with Todoroki.
He can make guesses as to who will win, but even that isn't a certain thing. Whilst he can hope his friends win, that only means they'll have to face each other later. Already he is stacked up against someone he knows and cares for in Ashido.
"We'll have a thirty-minute intermission and then it's non-stop fun, starting with the recreational activities. Good luck, kiddies, and get some rest in. You'll need it."
They are shepherded through the tunnel where Midnight finally releases them from their restraints. Izuku rubs his wrist, still sore from Hatsume's constant tugging. Before he knows it, an arm is draped heavily over his shoulder.
"Man, you're killing it today," Kirishima says and then jabs his thumb at Todoroki. "I thought you came here to win. You got us all excited with a challenge and you've lost both times."
Todoroki looks indifferent, but the longer Izuku meets his blue eye, the longer he feels like his veins will freeze from the cold rage there.
"Don't be mean," Uraraka says, bumping Kirishima with her hip. "Come on, let's grab some food." She grabs Kirishima's hand and pulls him with her. Before she leaves, she grabs Shinsou hand as well, and his tired looking friend turns a bright red.
Izuku watches this, bemused as always.
"Your class is weird," the green-haired girl, Ibara says. "I kind of like it."
"Fuck off, you cunts," Bakugou says, stalking away. "I have better shit to do then listen to you make nice."
They eat lunch in the cafeteria. Izuku can barely stomach his meal at the thought of fighting Ashido who seems to not care. If anything, she seems to revel in the idea. Uraraka brings an intensity to their conversation that he's never seen in her before, and he can't help the small smile at the entranced expression Shinsou has.
"Excuse me," Tokoyami says as he stands.
"Where you going, feather-duster?" Kirishima asks.
"Don't call me that, you fool," Tokoyami snaps.
"Would you prefer crow? I've got a dozen more nicknames waiting."
Tokoyami turns, the set of his shoulders angry. "My business is my own. Do as you please."
"What's got him so upset?"
Izuku sighs. "Y-you're being mean."
"It's just a nickname."
Izuku shakes his head. "Not for him." He pushes his tray aside and stands. "I'm heading to the booth." He grabs his tray.
"Don't get lost," Kirishima calls as Izuku walks away.
He does get lost and spends most of the hour walking through stadium with no idea how to get anywhere. He passes the gas room once more and encounters a man dressed in a formal suit whose body seems to unravel before his very eyes, the same guard he saw inspecting the gas lines earlier. Izuku blinks but ignores it. He has a security badge and he's seen other people dressed similarly.
Eventually, after Ectoplasm encounters him and takes pity on him, Izuku finds the booth for the contestants. He doesn't blush as he takes a seat.
"You got lost."
"Shut up." He sinks further into his seat as the first contestants are called onto the stage.
Tokoyami and Aoyama walk up to the stage from opposite ends, both looking composed.
"Who's gonna win, do you think?" Uraraka asks.
"Tokoyami," he says in the same instance that Kaachan says, "Bird-brain."
He looks over his shoulder and meets Kaachan's burning red eyes. Something passes between them and Kaachan nods.
"Come on, Aoyama isn't useless. His quirk is literally Tokoyami's hard counter," Kirishima argues.
Izuku shakes his head even as the fight starts. Aoyoama wastes no time in firing a dazzling bolt of light.
"Yeah, but he gets sick if he fires for too long," Izuku says as Tokoyami side-steps another bolt, not even having summoned Dark Shadow. "His attacks are too telegraphed."
The moment Aoyama falters, his knees buckling, does Dark Shadow appear and cross the distance, slamming into his enemy. Aoyama grimaces as he's flung out of the ring and Midnight calls the match.
"Show off. Well, wish me luck," Kirishima says, grinning.
"Good luck?"
"That is the least manly way you could have said it."
"S-sorry."
They say no more as Kirishima leaves for his match against Ibara. "You don't think he'll win?" Uraraka asks.
"He's at a disadvantage. From the way she won the zone defence, she's got great area denial."
He nods as Midnight calls the match and Kirishima rushes in. Ibara's hair moves and digs deep through the floor. A thick tendril of green vines rises up and blocks Kirishima's path. He barrels through it, only to face another green wall.
"He's lost," Izuku says a moment before green walls encircle Kirishima. Soon, they can't see Kirishima at all behind the cage, and it rises gently in the air and is placed outside the ring.
Midnight calls the match without much fanfare.
"Area denial and capture techniques are hard counters to strengthening quirks. Even certain mutations."
"You really know a lot about quirks," Iida says from behind him. In the background, Cementoss repairs the arena with his quirk very easily.
Izuku shrugs as Bakugou and Sero enter from opposite sides of the arena. "Just a hobby I picked up."
"I don't think it's a hobby if your entire life revolves around it," Shinsou says. "How many notebooks on quirks do you have?"
Izuku frowns. "All of them? About eighty or so. I mean, only about half are about quirk combat."
"Do you do anything fun, Midoriya?" Uraraka asks.
"I went to the mall with you guys."
"That was like a month ago."
"Shinsou made me watch a movies last weekend," he adds and only then realises how pitiful that sounds.
"He clearly didn't do a good job. So, who's winning this one."
"Kacchan," he says instantly. He feels the way the mood dies down and adds, "He wants to win more. Their quirks are about equal but…"
He trails off as Midnight starts the match. Sero's tape arcs across the arena. Bakugou leaps to the side, aided by an explosion. Another and he's rocketing towards Sero. Sero fires off more tape with his free arm. Kaachan just ducks low and lets off a quick explosion that pushes Sero back. Kaachan's within Sero's guard in a moment and his elbow slams into the boy's sternum.
They watch in silence as Kaachan grabs Sero by the arm and flips the boy over, pinning him with a knee and bending his arm painfully. Sero taps the ground and Midnight calls the match.
The next two matches are over quickly: Kaminari, who still hasn't recovered his IQ points, faces off against Uraraka who jumps high in the air to avoid Kaminari's predictable lighting surge and takes him down with a vicious uppercut; and Testuetsu who has no idea about Shinsou's quirk responds to him and is forced to walk off the stage.
"This will be an interesting battle," Tokoyami says, having returned a few minutes ago. "A ranged fighter against the fastest person in the class. Todoroki will lose if Iida is fast enough to close the gap."
Izuku isn't so certain. From what he's seen, outside of surprising Todoroki, he doesn't have any real weaknesses. His ice is fast, capable of amazing area denial, and instantaneous.
When the battle begins, Todoroki wastes no time. Frost creeps across the ground and then rapidly expands in massive blocks. Iida's already on the other side of the arena and slides around Todoroki's next attack.
Frost spreads in two separate directions and ice sprouts in a large 'V' shape, with Iida right at the centre. He crouches and then he's in the air above Todoroki. His foot comes down. Todoroki blocks it with an ice-covered arm. The ice shatters and Iida leaps past him.
"Speed is his weakness," Tokoyami says as Iida dodges more ice.
"No, it fucking isn't," Kaachan snarls and Izuku can't help but agree. "You fucking deserve to lose if you can't figure it out, Deku."
Something changes about Iida. Blue flames leave his engines and then he's moving fast as lightning. He spins past slabs of ice like a blur and kicks Todoroki so fast Izuku can barely track it. The audience gasps as Todoroki goes flying.
Izuku watches the boy tumble across the field before righting himself, one hand on the ground. Frost spreads in a path to Iida but it seems so slow in comparison. He can do it, Izuku thinks just as Iida is enters close range. The ice expands an inch behind Iida and even from so far away, Izuku can see the shock and realisation in Todoroki's eyes. Come on Iida, he thinks as Iida leg is raised and ready to smash Todoroki's face in.
Then the fire appears.
He watches as a single stream of fire sparks to life, bright and hot enough that Iida is forced to dodge to the side instead of finishing his kick. The audience gasps in shock, and Iida hesitates for half a second. In that half second, the fire vanishes as frost spreads across the ground. Ice forms in massive, misshapen clumps, becoming larger and larger the closer they got to Iida.
Izuku blinks dumbly at the massive shadow now covering a good portion of the stadium. His hands shake at this monstrous hill of ice, sharp and jagged as crystal nightmares.
"Oh fuck," someone says.
Izuku agrees completely with that sentiment. He wants to run and hide. This level of power over the material world isn't something he's seen in the real world with his own two eyes. Hawkmoon and Hero are legends, but even they didn't control the landscape like this. The only person he can think of with power like this is the former Imperial Heir, and that man sunk an island before committing seppuku.
A warm hand covers his own. He looks to Tokoyami who seems resolute, a bastion of dignified regality that Izuku can't help but admire. Right now, he can see Tokoyami battling the entire world without faltering once.
"Calm yourself," he says resolutely. "No foe is insurmountable."
He speaks true, brother mine.
"I don't know about you but that seems pretty insurmountable," Ashido says. "Who even speaks like that?"
He doesn't pay attention to them, or even to Yaoyorozu's battle with Hatsume. His mind is too preoccupied with Todoroki's battle because if Iida, who is both faster and a better martial artist, stood no chance, then how is he to win. He doesn't pay much attention to Hatsume's victory—she used some sort of capture device and dragged Yaoyorozu high enough in the air with her jetpack that their classes vice rep was forced to surrender.
"You're a useless fuck if you can't figure it out," Kaachan snarls as Izuku walks past his chair.
"Hey, man, cut it out," Kirishima says.
"Fuck off you side character. Deku, you saw it. Stop over analysing shit. You know his fucking weakness."
He has a point. Stop thinking too much.
Izuku is left with those words as he faces off against Ashido. He knows her quirk and has made guesses as to some of her limits. He nods to her and focuses on One For All, letting it's power fill him.
"Contestants at the ready," Midnight roars. "Fight."
The whip of her crack punctuates the start of the battle. Ashido lobs a globule of acid at Izuku. He tilts his head and lets it streak past him. There is no point in moving his entire body. She slides towards him, much faster than he can move.
He wonders between dodging globules of acid if she could possible dissolve Todoroki's ice. And then he realises how rude it is not to pay attention to her.
Izuku dashes forward which catches Ashido off-guard after his passive defence. She flings her arm out, a crescent of acid blocking his path. He pirouettes and flows around the acid. He couches low and sweeps his leg out as he did to take out the robot in the last stage.
Ashido goes down hard.
Before he can close the gap, she spews acid out of her side. Izuku scrambles to the side, hearing his clothes sizzle.
Too close, he thinks and leaps forward. He knees her in the side, his heart clenching painfully at her grunt, and brings her down with a flip.
He has his knee on the small of her back and wrenches one of her arms back. He feels sick because it reminds him of how Kaachan won his fight.
"Y-yield, or I'll dislocate your s-shoulder."
She grunts. "You give shit threats. You better win against half-an-half." She raises her head to look at Midnight. "Yield!"
"Midoriya wins and moves on to the next round."
The crowd roars and Izuku helps Ashido up. "S-sorry about that."
She huffs. "You better not be sorry about winning. You don't hurt a girl's pride like that."
He's left bewildered as she walks away, whistling a jaunty tune and waving. It's like she considers this loss to be a victory of sorts, as if she is simply revelling in the battle and not the outcome.
"I don't get girls," he mutters.
He doesn't head straight back to the booth. Instead, after mistakenly finding the toilet—which he is grateful for—and being given direction by the same security guard who he learns is called Nagisa, he finds himself in a secluded part of the stadium. Izuku sighs in the corridor and heads to the sunlight. Of course, he would get lost again.
"Midoriya."
I need to get lost better, he thinks as he turns and sees Todoroki who seems tense and frazzled.
"Y-yes?" He takes a step back and his back meets the wall.
The boy huffs, and places one hand in his pocket. "I won't hurt you. I think you have enough of people doing that in your life."
"Wh-what do you—"
"Tell me," Todoroki interrupts, "are you All Might's child?"
Izuku blinks, because that is the absolute last thing he ever expects to be asked. He presses his fingers painfully into his thigh. He doesn't wake up from this surreal dream.
"You're connected. He's been watching you from the beginning. And he pays more attention to you than anyone else."
"That's because we have similar quirks."
Todoroki shakes his head. "You knew him before he came here. You even have the same quirk."
"What? No. I have a grab-bag quirk. You even said so yourself."
"I was lying for you sake," he admits. "The speed and strength you show make no sense for a grab-bag quirk. You have two quirks, Midoriya. One from All Might. I know because I have two. You saw the fire."
Todoroki raises his left hand and a tiny wisp of flame appears. His expression is pinched and haunted as though he relieves a painful memory from the simple act.
"You know my father is Endeavour and his quirk Hellfire. I inherited this curse from him. He married my mother and I was sired. Two quirks, just like the Imperial family has done for years." He raises his right hand and ice coats it.
"I know what two quirks look like. So, don't play that game." Todoroki sneers. "Did he force your mother into a marriage?"
Izuku's heart beats loud in his chest. "N-no. He's the number one hero. He wouldn't-I mean, he'd never f-force himself on my mother." He shudders at the very idea.
"He has some integrity despite what he's done to you."
"He's done nothing to me," Izuku snarls, angry enough that his shadow is vibrating. "You're right, I do know him. But you don't get to say anything when you know nothing about me."
Todoroki closes his eyes. Takes a breath. Opens them again.
"You're right, I don't know anything about you. But I know people." Todoroki looks away, a sheer tiredness coming over him. "People who are powerful can hide behind their position. They can hide whatever they want, and no one will ever know. We call them heroes. You worship anyone with that name. And from what I've seen, you're willing to forgive anyone no matter how much they hurt you."
"That's not…"
It's kinda true. You gotta admit he's not spewing bullshit.
"At least you won't try to lie about it. I asked you once if you feared the flame. That is the only lesson I ever learnt from my old man." Todoroki touches his brilliant burn scar. "My mother shouted that as she poured burning water on my face."
Izuku can't help the sharp gasp that escapes his lips. Not even for a single second can he imagine his mother harming him unintentionally, let alone on purpose.
"The people closest to us hurt us the most," Todoroki says quietly. "All Might knew Bakugou would come for you and he didn't stop him when he destroyed half the building. You might be willing to forgive him for what he did to you, but I won't excuse it."
He slams his left fist against the wall, the noise echoing through the hallway. Todoroki's breathing is ragged and sharp.
"I hate my flames. I thought you of all people would understand. I started a fight with you to prove something. That I don't need this curse to be the best hero. I'm not going to perpetuate another cycle of silence and cruelty. I'm not going to become my father. I'm not gong to become everything I hate."
Every inch of Todoroki vibrates, an electrifying potential yet to be reached. Despite the tension building, he never makes an intimidating move towards Izuku as he walks past.
"Todoroki," Izuku says before the boy goes. "I don't know you and I don't know a lot of things. But I know a lot about quirks. I've seen the way your arm freezes over. If you really had two quirks, then your body would be able to handle the cold."
Todoroki is still. "You're right." For a second, Izuku's heart soars. "You do know nothing."
He knows your power and its potential in the very depths of his soul. He wishes to break the chains of his legacy and use you as the hammer with which to do so, Mikumo says. He does not understand that a personal hell can only be escaped through more suffering.
"I know you think that beating me means you'll beat All Might. But I'm not him. You can't break a cycle by perpetuating it." Izuku grabs Todoroki by the shoulder and twists him around. "I want to be a hero and I can't be the best if I don't use all of my power. Neither can you."
"Don't touch me." Todoroki bats his hand away. "This hellfire is a curse. I'll be the best without it."
Why won't he listen? Izuku wonders desperately. Please, just listen to me.
"Power is power," he blurts out, hoping it will get through. "Only you get to choose how to use it."
Todoroki doesn't respond. Izuku watches his classmate walk away, unsure of what to do now.
"I can't save anyone," he whispers.
-TDB-
Enji Todoroki watches his son battle a boy of the Iida lineage. He is too like Ingenium and his parents before to be anything other than an Iida. His skills shine through as he outmanoeuvres and predicts Shouto's attacks. It makes him consider that perhaps his training of Shouto's physical capabilities has been too lax when the boy is forced to summon his flames to win.
He scoffs and heads to the lower levels. People move aside from his impressive frame wreathed in flames. They aren't hot flames. He long ago learnt to regulate their temperature. Now, with no enemies present, they exist only to intimidate.
He leans magnificently against a wall as Shouto leaves his match, moisture lining his right side. Enji can't necessarily see heat, but he can sense it acutely, and right now Shouto's left side runs hot. The boy's eyes narrow as he sees Enji.
"You used your fire."
"What of it?" Shouto says, one step away from a snarl. "I don't need your power to win. I never will."
Enji scoffs. "Words don't matter, boy. You made a promise and broke it before you even had to fight that Midoriya boy."
His son's fists are clenched tightly. "That has nothing to do with you."
"It has everything to do with me. Fear the flame." He leans forward to lean over the boy forward. "Show me your resolve or I will intensify your training."
The boy tenses, fear washing over him. "I'll win," Shouto snarls, stalking past. "I don't need your power."
Enji watches the boy leave, disappointed. He is still too weak, too raw and unrefined. His anger is fragile, a newly-frozen pond instead of an impenetrable iceberg. His passion is formless and dim, a flickering candle in the dark as opposed to an eternal wildfire.
Your son is still weak, Rei. His heart is brittle ice. He inherited his weak will from what you became.
Enji shakes his head. No matter what, Enji will not permit such weakness in the boy. So long as he has yet to master his fear then Enji will beat it into him. He wonders if he will have to separate the boy from Fuyumi to temper his resolve and discards the thought almost immediately. Doing so is cruelty without purpose. Fire needs oxygen to burn, and Fuyumi is a source of oxygen for Shouto. It would choke and snuff out whatever steel the boy had, and then Enji would have to begin anew.
He does not care much for restarting Shouto's training program. It is an unnecessary waste of time. Inefficient. Wasteful.
So lost in his thoughts is he, that Enji is caught off-guard by the polite, "Hey."
He knows that voice and would never mistake it.
"Long time no see," All Might says politely.
He glances over his shoulder. "All Might."
The man wears a suit, the same one he wore last year to Edgeshot's promotion and smiling broadly as though nothing can harm him. It pisses Enji off. He might not see heat, but he can sense it, and right now the flames of All Might's powers are weak and waning.
He's found a successor, Enji thinks. The Midoriya boy. You disappoint me, Shouto. Trying to recreate this grudge is meaningless. `
"We haven't seen each other since that press conference ten years ago," the number one hero continues blithely, oblivious to Enji's mounting anger.
What right does this man have to find a worthy successor when Enji cannot, a successor with another powerful quirk to add onto All Might's? How many generations had the Imperial family bred for dual quirks? And All Might has achieved that in a single generation with one child.
Of his own children, none had displayed dual quirks prior to Shouto, and he is a disappointment. Not for his physical weaknesses, but the weakness of his heart. The weakness of his determination and will.
"What was it you said?" he questions darkly. "Heroes must save not only a person but their spirit. Useless lessons to teach."
All Might raises his hands placatingly. "Come on, we can have a cup of tea and talk about it. Maybe talk about raising the next generation. Your boy is strong. Maybe there are teaching lessons you can show me."
For a moment he contemplates telling the man off and being done with this conversation. But there is something so unbelievably earnest from this fading flame that he cannot help but stay.
"The answer to that is simple. Teach them to fear." He lets his flames intensify. "Teach a child to fear the flame and they will not be burnt."
All Might frowns. "I don't think that's something I can agree with. What point is there in fear? It only stifles a child."
"If you fear for your survival, you will learn to fish. If you fear weakness, you will become strong. And if you fear the dark, you will build a fire."
"People can't learn to smile if they're afraid. And if they can't smile then they can't learn to be better."
Enji shakes his head, disappointed. "I suppose there's nothing more to speak of if you have none of your own words."
"Why would you think that?"
"Because you're not Nana Shimura."
All Might rocks back on his heels, eyes wide, and nearly trips on the stair. "You remember—"
"How can I not when you parrot back her words incessantly," Enji snaps, his flames burning hotter. "You're a pathetic rival. No matter how hard you try, you will never be her. Stop trying and become your own man."
Enji walks away, heedless of whatever All Might says because this man disgusts him. Strength without will to temper it is no strength. It is just an illusion, a dream or maybe a nightmare.
And Enji knows all too well the danger of nightmares.
"Your life will have no meaning if you die trying to be her."
With how weakly All Might's power burns, that day may come sooner than anyone is prepared for.
A/N: Short chapter, I know. But yall have been getting spoiled on em long chapters.
That's all from me for now. Thank you for reading this. If you enjoyed the story leave a favourite and if you have any questions just drop a review. But know all of that is unnecessary, and as always your readership is quite enough for me. Cheers.