"You."
Todoroki Enji, Hero Name Endeavor, was not a man to seek out just anyone. No, no one in the entire universe mattered, except for three other people within this arena: All Might, that ridiculous old fool; Shouto, his stubborn progeny; and...
"End-" Akatani Mikumo gulped. "Endeavor?!"
Enji's eyes narrowed as he sized up the rather scrawny child. To have come this far without outwardly using any sort of Quirk... How ridiculous. If not for that foolish Eraserhead, he would have simply assumed the boy had a Luck Quirk and been done with it. However...
"I want to congratulate you, Akatani Mikumo," Enji stated bluntly, and Akatani Mikumo's mouth snapped shut, "You've certainly done better than quite literally everyone would have expected from you. In fact, you've done as well as, say, All Might did back in his youth."
There was some unfamiliar emotion swimming behind Akatani Mikumo's eyes. It certainly wasn't respect. No matter.
"As you may know, Todoroki Shouto is my son," Enji continued, not waiting for a reply, "And that boy's fate is to surpass All Might where I could not. That is the reason for his existence. Therefore, his fate here is to surpass you, who could very well be called the All Might of this competition."
Akatani Mikumo was frozen. Hmph, perhaps the boy had nerves? As expected of some no-name General Educations student who stumbled into first place. As if he could be the next All Might. Enji wanted to scoff, but he simply didn't want to waste the energy. He walked past Akatani Mikumo and went towards the stairwell.
"I have approached you for this one reason, and this one reason alone: you are a stepping stone for my child. For that reason alone, you must act as a worthy obstacle - not that I think you can, Quirkless as you are. Farewell, Akatani Mikumo."
Enji placed a foot on the step.
"You know... I'm not All Might."
Enji froze. He turned to look at Akatani Mikumo, who was staring at the ground.
"Of course you aren't All Might," Enji sneered, "Wh-"
"I'm not All Might, Endeavor," Akatani Mikumo repeated. Enji felt his flames swell in response to the lack of respect - the insolence - coming from this Quirkless child. "And similarly, Todoroki Shouto isn't you."
"What- you-"
Before Enji could properly formulate a sentence, Akatani Mikumo had scurried off, like the little rat he was. Enji took a deep breath to get his flames under control, then stormed back to his seat, leaving melted footprints in the concrete floors.
"Shigaraki Tomura, please observe these two. Perhaps they may yet become thorns in your side..."
A lone man scratched at his neck. "I doubt it, Kurogiri."
"So, Akatani Mikumo..." Shouto asked, "Are you ready?"
Akatani, to his credit, simply stared into Shouto's eyes. The gaze was unwavering. Shouto liked that - to him, it meant that Akatani was taking his challenge seriously.
"FOR THE OPENING MATCH OF THE QUARTER-FINALS, WE HAVE THE GREATEST OF THE BEST! THE BOY WHO GOT THE HIGHEST MARKS IN THE RECOMMENDATION EXAMS, VERSUS THE GEN ED STUDENT WHOSE BEEN SWEEPING THE SPORTS FESTIVAL AWAY!" Present Mic screamed, to the crowd's applause and cheers. "THAT'S RIGHT, IT'S TODOROKI VERSUS AKATANI! AS ALWAYS, ANYTHING GOES APART FROM DEATH!"
"Go!" Midnight shouted, and Shouto made the opening move - a wave of ice that quickly overtook the battlefield. Akatani futilely tried to outrun and escape the ice, but he soon found that his shoes were frozen to the ground he had jumped to.
"I apologize," Shouto apologized, "But this match isn't going to be a very long or exciting one, I'm afraid." With that, he sent out another wave of ice, but made sure not to try and impale Akatani - rather, he decided the best way to freeze Akatani Mikumo was to simply fully encase him in a large chamber of ice. The end result was a huge spire of ice made from smaller spikes, all coalescing on each other until they acted as a sort of miniature cocoon.
"I would end the match," Shouto recommended to Midnight, "I've incapacitated Akatani Mikumo. It's over."
A huge blasting sound stopped Shouto in his tracks, and he turned to see the top of the spire completely gone, replaced with what appeared to be an upwards explosion.
"What the FUCK is that?!" Yuikami screamed.
"I don't know, Yu- Wait, forget that!" Garaochi screamed, "Who the fuck are you?!"
Mikumo blinked, then blinked again. Did he have something in his eye?
"Wait, wh- oh fuck. Oh fucking christ. Midoriya, what the fuck did you do- Here, Akatani, take these napkins-"
"Wait, that's Akatani Mikumo?!" Garaochi screamed as Akatani slowly wiped soot off of his body with some napkins, "Then where's Midoriya Izuku?!"
"God damn it, Deku," Katsuki sighed angrily. This is why he gave the dumb idiot his uniform in the first place, sure, but it was still annoying.
Hizashi stared in mouth-gaping shock as Shouta quickly racked his brain to try and figure out how he could spin this. Of course Midoriya would take the first chance he got to fucking explode. Of course.
"Shouta!" Hizashi screamed, "I thought you said that Akatani Mikumo was Quirkless!"
"I did, yes," Shouta seethed.
"Then what the fuck was that?!" Hizashi shouted. Suddenly, the ice cocoon exploded again, possibly because the first one hadn't actually completely shattered the structure. Hizashi pointed at the phenomenon. "That! What the fuck is that?!"
"Promise you won't be mad, babe?" Shouta tried.
"AIZAWA SHOUTA, WHAT DID YOU FUCKING DO?!"
"Fine. I gave one of my students a secret project. Sometimes, heroes must act undercover to infiltrate Villain lines. I, personally, think we don't train this skill in the curriculum enough-"
"So instead of, I don't know, petitioning to the principal-"
"-I assigned one of my students to infiltrate the Sports Festival as a volunteer from the General Education department."
"Shouta, I'm supposed to be the reckless one in this relationship! What the fuck- "
"I didn't think his luck would be this bad, though..." Shouta sighed roughly. "But, regardless... Ladies and gentlemen, people of all genders, I would like to present to you all, the secret twentieth student of UA's Class 1-A..."
"...Midoriya Izuku." The announcer on the TV said as the ice fell away to reveal Inko's panting son.
"IZUKU?!" Inko cried, falling off of her sofa.
Shigaraki Tomura's hand froze mid-scratch.
25. Formosus
"Midoriya?!" Todoroki shouted, surprise clearly written on his usually-apathetic face. Izuku grimaced. Well, this plan's a bust, he thought as he heard murmurs and jeers from the crowd.
"A- Midoriya Izuku, are you able to stand?!" Midnight demanded.
"Who cares about if he can stand?!" A voice shouted from the stands, "Isn't this grounds for disqualification?!"
"I mean, it was an assignment from his teacher, and it was a pretty good idea, to boot! Kid just had the bad luck of facing a Quirk that stupidly OP!"
"Bad luck nothing! He-"
"But stealth is REALLY important-"
"Of course you'd think that, Chameleon-"
"And just what is THAT supposed to mean-"
As the Pro Heroes began to argue amongst themselves, Izuku tuned them out. On any other day, he would have paid more attention to them, been writing everything they were saying down. Today, however...
"I can move, Midnight," Izuku confirmed.
"Oh? Is Midnight going to let the match continue?!"
"Very well..." Midnight raised her hand. "The match will continue as-is! Now restarting, Todoroki versus Midoriya!"
Apparently, this decision had incredibly mixed reviews, but Izuku had no time to care - another wave of ice was coming his way. Izuku had a few scenarios come up in his mind, but instead just went with his gut instinct.
Which was, incidentally, to punch the incoming ice with his kinetic impact ability. Instantly, the ice exploded away from him and flew back at Todoroki, whose eyes widened as he put up a shield of ice to protect himself, catching the ice shards as they embedded themselves within the shield. All the ice quickly crumbled, however, as Todoroki let out a shivering breath. Izuku noted this, and also noted that there was now a solid wall of ice behind Todoroki - Izuku figured that this was to act as a buffer in case he managed to knock Todoroki back.
Suddenly, a wave of ice rushed up to meet Izuku, interrupting any other fledgling thoughts in his brain. Acting quickly, Izuku activated his speed and jumped back, only to be met from above by Todoroki using a large chunk of ice as a sort of snowboard (iceboard?).
"AND TODOROKI ISN'T GIVING MIDORIYA ANY ROOM TO BREATHE! THE PRESSURE'S REALLY ON!" Present Mic screamed, and the crowd roared.
Izuku couldn't agree more. Without thinking, he spit water in Todoroki's face. The water instantly froze on contact with Todoroki, and Izuku jumped out of the way of the collision course Todoroki had with the ground.
"WAIT, WHAT HAPPENED THERE?!" Present Mic shouted, and Izuku realized his mistake too little too late.
"Obviously, Midoriya shot some water into Todoroki's face." Aizawa explained as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Izuku froze, both mentally and physically.
"What else," Aizawa continued, "Did you expect from the Quirk Four Elements?"
Izuku's jaw almost dropped.
Izuku's jaw dropped anyways, since Todoroki uppercutted him in the stomach with a blunt ice spike.
"Is that the cover story now?" Todoroki asked, shivering as he shattered the ice covering his face. "Shame that it means I can't beat you at your best..."
Izuku felt something swell up in his chest. It wasn't quite anger, but... It was close.
"I really don't want to hear that from you, Todoroki," Izuku grit out.
"What?"
Izuku coughed as he got onto one knee - he was still a little winded, he found out. "I've been noticing something as time went on... You've been shivering a lot."
This time, it was Todoroki's turn to freeze. Thinking quickly, Izuku kept talking while he sent out some strings from his palm - while he had succeeded in getting them to be at least somewhat prehensile, he still wasn't able to do anything particularly amazing with them at a proper speed. He needed a distraction, and this seemed like the perfect way to do so.
Analysis.
"Your Quirk is Half-Hot Half-Cold, isn't it, Todoroki?" Izuku kept talking, slowly weaving the very thin threads through the ice, "I've noticed that the last couple of times you've fought with your ice, you've always used your Hot side to thaw everything around you, which likely includes yourself. So, the question is, what happens if you overuse your Cold side, then? Can I tell you my theory? I'm gonna- I'm gonna tell you my theory anyways. If you overuse your Cold side, you end up getting frostbitten and probably frozen entirely. So you have to use your Hot side eventually. However, you've done nothing but-"
"What," Todoroki interrupted Izuku's rambling, "Is your point, Midoriya?"
"What my point is, Todoroki," Izuku continued, "Is that your Quirk would be so much more balanced and less self-destructive if you indulged in both sides."
Todoroki stared at Izuku. Suddenly, he began shouting.
"Use- Use both?! Use the fucking Quirk my father gave me?!" Todoroki shouted, as if years of anger and rage had suddenly become unbottled, "I've told you what he did to me and mom! I told you about-"
"You told me everything!" Izuku interrupted him, "And-"
"You don't know the hell my father put me through!" Todoroki screamed.
"AND YOU THINK YOU HAVE THE MONOPOLY ON SHIT FATHERS?!" Izuku couldn't help but scream back. "Do you know what's happened to my dad?! Because I sure fucking don't! He could be dead! He could be a Villain! Even worse, he could be cheating on my mom! My dad's been missing since before I was born, but I don't stop breathing because they're his lungs! They're my lungs-"
"Do you hear yourself, Midoriya?!" Todoroki argued, both of them quite forgetting they were in a public arena, "So your father's never been around to support you or your family! But at least you have a mother! My mother boiled me alive, so I don't think-"
"So why don't you hold your mother accountable?!" Izuku rebuttled, "Why don't you eschew Cold as well?!"
"Because it wasn't her fault!" Todoroki shouted, "Her mind was broken-"
"That's not an excuse!" Izuku screamed, "I tried to kill myself! That doesn't give me a free pass to run people over with trains!"
"You're MISSING the POINT!" Todoroki fired back, and Izuku was made aware that the threads had made it to their target locations. "What Endeavor did was inexcusable! It's all his fault! And mom would-"
"Your mother would what?!" Izuku shouted, "What would your mom do?! What was the last thing she told you?!"
Todoroki stopped. "Sh-She told me I was unsightly, but-"
"So where the hell are you getting these ideas of vengeance from?!" Izuku pointed out, "If anything, you should be declaring vengeance against her, too! Mental illness may explain actions, but they sure as fuck don't excuse them!"
"She's a victim of abuse!" Todoroki shouted back, looking slightly pale.
"There's a lot of abuse victims that DON'T scar their children!" Izuku said, "Look! Both of your parents were horrible! But you know what?! You can't just change who you are like that! My dad can breathe fire, but I'm not going to stop breathing anytime soon! A Quirk is just a biological process! Your Quirk is your Quirk, Todoroki! It's not your dad's, it's not your mom's! It's all fucking yours! So if you want to get revenge on your dad, then climb to the top without acknowledging who he is in the first place! Your first step to getting out of his shadow-" Suddenly, Izuku stood up, clenched his fist, and pulled on the strings, causing Todoroki to suddenly fly forwards. Izuku cocked his other fist back. "-Is to cast your own over his!" Izuku declared, aiming a punch at Todoroki's face.
Todoroki exploded.
Izuku was sent flying back into a jagged wall of ice, luckily keeping himself in the ring. When he opened his eyes, they widened.
Todoroki's left half was on fire.
Also, his uniform's left half was currently burning away, but Izuku tried not to focus on that.
"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!" Shouted a familiar voice, and Izuku and Todoroki looked up to the stands to see Endeavor also at full blast and making his way down to the arena's sidelines. "That's it, son! This is why you were born! So
Todoroki blocked Endeavor with a huge ice wall. "Shut the fuck up, old man." Todoroki said as calmly as he could with an uncharacteristically euphoric grin blooming on his face.
Izuku slid himself off of the ice wall. "Hey, Todoroki..." He said, "You're breathing pretty heavy... Are you gonna be okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, Midoriya," Todoroki replied, still grinning, "I'm- I'm just a little power-high right now. I just told my shitty old man to shut up, I'm using a power I haven't used in years, it's. I'm a little overwhelmed."
"Huh. Interesting..." Izuku said aloud. "Can you move?"
"I-I'm pretty sure, this is- phew, this is a lot."
"Huh. Well, I'm pretty sure this match isn't gonna last much longer..." Izuku thought aloud, then grinned back. "Sorry about what I said about your mom."
"Nah, I needed to hear it, I- Can we talk later about this? I kinda need to-"
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Hang on, I wanna try-" Izuku suddenly axe kicked the ground and watched as the kinetic energy unleashed shattered the concrete beneath his feet. "Yeah, okay, that works. You ready?"
"Let's go, Midoriya."
Izuku picked up one of the shards of concrete, and palm striked it into the ground, causing more rocks to erupt into the air. At the exact same time, intense waves of chilled and heated air rolled off of Todoroki.
Izuku dimly heard Midnight scream something at Cementoss, but the ringing in his ears was too great to make it out. He roundhouse kicked the rocks directly at Todoroki, then, in a last-second attempt to emulate All Might, decided to see if he could replicate All Might's Delaware Smash. Kinetic energy began to spark off of Izuku fist, and he swung with all his might.
Walls of cement erupted from the ground as the intense pressurized air and the high-powered cold heat wave impacted the walls from opposite ends, causing them to collapse inwards, and then violently explode.
"WHAT IN THE F- JESUS!" Hizashi screamed, "Shouta, what in the HELL are you teaching these kids?! I can't see a goddamn thing!"
Shouta couldn't help but smirk. "Babe, I didn't do anything. This is just the strength of the next generation."
"Hoooooly shit..." Mikumo whispered, "Now I'm really glad I didn't enter the festival..."
Yuikami was throttling Nomimono. "Why- doesn't- your- Quirk- give- info- on- Quirks-"
"I don't know!"
"What the fuck were they talking about?" That Blitzle son of a bitch blinked. "I couldn't hear a thing. Like, they were yelling, but all the sound was being absorbed by the ice, so I couldn't make out the details."
"Oh, you'll find out," AM Radio grit out through her teeth.
Katsuki thought back to his own mom, then shook his head. All moms did that, right? Right.
Izuku woke up in the hospital wing.
"I lost?" Izuku asked.
"You certainly did!" Recovery Girl immediately began to scold Izuku. "And if your friends ask, I healed you!"
"You-" Before Izuku could ask for clarification, the doors burst open, and 1-A poured in, along with Akatani, Yuikami, and Shinsou.
"So, your name is Midoriya Izuku?" Shinsou immediately opened, and Ojiro tensed up behind him. "Nice to finally meet you."
"Nice to meet you too, Shinsou-san." Izuku replied.
"Dekuuuu!" Ochako cried, launching herself at Izuku.
"Midoriya-kun!" Iida shouted, "How could you disregard the rules so-"
"That was cool as shit!" Kaminari cheered.
"Ohohohoho! So 1-A couldn't get ahead unless they were cheating?!" Monoma jeered, also here for some reason, "You really are-"
"What is your damage, kero?" Tsuyu demanded, "He's in the hospital-"
"I told you we should have switched back when we could have," Akatani chimed in, "But no, you had to-"
"Are you all in here just to yell at my patient?!" Recovery Girl screamed. "Because I'm about to lose my patience!"
"Guys, uh," Izuku finally spoke up, after the shock of how many friends (and Monoma) he had had ebbed, "Isn't Yoarashi and Iida's fight next? Why are you all here?"
"Are you sure All Might isn't your secret father?" Todoroki asked.
"Todoroki?!" Ashido laughed, "When'd you get a sense of humor?!"
"I'm certain," Izuku deadpanned.
"Well, I'd rethink that theory, Mister Immortal," Akatani said, "Because you managed to recreate the Delaware Smash with a single punch."
"Immortal? Isn't his Quirk just Four Elements? What'd I miss?" Yuikami asked.
"Don't worry about it," Kirishima brushed it off before turning back to Izuku, "Your fight was just so mind-blowingly manly that you destroyed the whole battlefield! There was so much steam, dust, and debris that no one could see a goddamn thing, and then it turned out that Cementoss had made like, seven walls of concrete to separate your and Todoroki's attacks, and they didn't hold, and then they blew up, and-"
"What Kirishima-kun is trying to say," Yaoyorozu spoke up, "Is that you and Todoroki-kun's combined force could probably level a one-story building."
"Why only one level?" Hagakure asked, "Is there a way to test this?"
"I'm not here to perform tricks," Todoroki immediately objected.
"We've got time," Hagakure dismissed his concerns, dragging him out of the hospital wing.
"Follow suit! Out!" Recovery Girl demanded.
Urikomu and Garaochi were talking when Yuikami and Midoriya returned.
Garaochi squinted at Midoriya. "So, are you the real Midoriya this time?"
In response, Midoriya began to emit an endless stream of water from his mouth.
"I'd say so, yeah." Yuikami laughed, slapping Midoriya on the back so that some of the water got on Garaochi's uniform.
As Garaochi and Yuikami began to fight again, Urikomu picked up a water bottle and handed it to Midoriya. "Sorry if it's warm, but I wanted to save you a drink. I was gonna give it to Akatani after the Semi-Finals started, but..."
"No worries, thank you, Nomimono-san." Midoriya smiled. Urikomu was about to protest when he saw the cold air around Midoriya's hands.
"Oh! Is that part of your Four Elements, Midoriya?" Urikomu asked, and Midoriya blinked and looked down at his hands. Odd, but okay.
"...I guess it is."