"Monoma, are you sure you are okay? You are burning up, you're sweating, and the way you are holding your stomach doesn't look good at all." Setsuna Tokage asked Neito Monoma, as she leaned over to check on him from her seat behind him.
He couldn't answer. He fell to the ground as the pain in his stomach and the heat boiling through him was overbearing.
He let out the breath he was holding, and he shuddered as everything faded to black. His body continued to get hotter, the temperature rising steadily. Small wisps of steam flowed from his hair and under his clothes.
Setsuna gasped as she watched Neito collapse and reached out to touch him, but she snapped her hand back, yelping in pain as the heat seared her hand. She looked at the red skin on her hand, and back up at Monoma before her eyes went wide.
"Everyone! Out! Now!" She yelled, crawling backwards away from his body.
The plastic seats were starting to sag and smoke.
A second later, Monoma's clothes ignited in huge burst of yellow and orange fire, as his body released the energy rapidly, launching Setsuna back. She collided with Kinoko Komori and Nirengeki Shoda as they were scrambling to get out of the box, her momentum slamming them into the wall of the box, knocking them out cold.
The inferno in the middle of the box grew in size, growing hotter, boiling away the plastic, the flames licking the clothes of the three unconscious students.
Izuku stood and watched in horror as one of his worst nightmares was coming true; his power uncontrollably releasing. He could see Class 1-A helping people get away as they were scrambling out of the stands, the raging fire growing, the heat and wind making it impossible to stay around. Izuku spotted Ochako and Mei in the crowd, their worried faces looking right at him. Their fear sent a shock to his core.
MOVE. NOW.
A sudden pulse in the back of his mind, a sense of vertigo, and Avalonn's normally calm and quiet voice rang through his thoughts.
'Boss, we need to move NOW! It's only going to get worse!'
Izuku nodded, snapping out of his fear, and without a second thought, threw his hands behind him, and launched himself towards the stands, a huge sonic blast launching backwards. He covered the distance from the arena to the stands in a split second, landing hard, cracking the concrete. He looked at the bodies of his classmates, angry red scars and blisters on their arms and faces.
'Contain the energy first! Then you can heal them!'
Izuku's head snapped back to the body of Neito, and he pulled from his core, throwing up a bubble shield around himself and Neito to contain the release. He focused on the power within Neito's body, and pulled as hard as he could, directing the flow towards himself. The heat and fire began to funnel towards his own body. He slowly shrunk the shield so that it just contained the energy releasing and Neito's prone form.
There was a rush of wind and an echoing crack as All Might landed next to Izuku. He leaned down next to him as Izuku was focusing on controlling the power flow.
"Young Midoriya, do you have this? I need to check on your classmates. I fear the worst." he said softly as he watched his successor fight against the runaway inferno inside the green bubble. It would have been an awesome sight if so many people weren't at risk.
Izuku nodded, sweat dripping from his brow as he concentrated, "I'm in control, Sensei. It's shrinking slowly."
He glanced at the bodies of Setsuna, Kiniko, and Nirengeki, quickly checking their life signs.
"They're alive, but barely."
All Mighty nodded solemnly, "Then I will get them to Recovery Girl." He turned from Izuku and started walking towards the severely burned bodies of his students, his heart sinking heavily at the sight.
'You know that won't work!' Avalonn practically yelled out in Izuku's head. 'You can do it better! Overcharge the beam!'
The proverbial light bulb went off in Izuku's head and his head snapped to look at All Might.
"No, All Might! Wait!"
All Mighty stopped and looked back at Izuku, an incredulous look on his face.
"Midoriya, they need medical attention!"
Izuku nodded, "I know! I can heal them better, without risking their lives further. But I need more power! This isn't enough!" He jabbed his head at the inferno.
All Might saw the serious and determined look in Izuku's face and knew that he was already three steps ahead.
"What do you need?" All Might asked simply.
"I need Kaminari. Direct Electrical Impulse." Izuku said with conviction.
'Mei's on the way with the cuirass, as well. She knows about the plan.'
'Thanks, Avalonn.'
Izuku nodded at All Might, sure of the plan.
All Might nodded, confident in his successor, and sprinted towards the exit, searching for the yellow haired electric quirk user.
Izuku looked back to the shield emanating from his hands, focusing on the intense heat it was containing.
"Damn it, Monoma. After all of the hard work I put into containing this, you mess it up with a single touch." he said softly, looking down at the blackened body of his classmate, the fire and energy bursting through cracks in the charred skin. The look of fear on Neito's face made Izuku's heart sink even more.
"How am I gonna fix this?" he said under his breath, shaking his head, trying to hold back the anger and grief.
He sighed heavily.
'It's not your fault, boss. You didn't make him do this.'
Izuku nodded, 'Thanks, Avalonn. But it doesn't change what happened.'
He pulled his eyes from Neito's body and glanced over at the three against the wall. Their life signs were weak and shallow, but mercifully, still there. He could probably heal their burns, but fighting death itself would take a miracle. Unless…
Another light bulb burst into existence. A smile crossed Izuku's face.
Momo Yaoyorozu was doing her best to keep people calm, leading Class 1-A, out of the Sports Arena, to get them out of danger's reach. The crowd was jostling, shoving and pushing in every direction. She looked back every couple of seconds to make sure everyone was accounted for.
"You know, for being heroes and sidekicks, there sure are a lot of scared people." Denki Kaminari observed, keeping his voice low so only a handful of people could hear.
Kyouka, who was walking next to him, nudged him with her elbow, "We're all scared, dumbass. But Izuku's got it handled. And All Might's with him, so it'll be fine."
"Oh hey, All Might!" Ochako called out, waving to their teacher as he approached quickly.
"I take back what I said. We are probably screwed." Kyouka said, looking at All Might with wide eyes.
"Do not fear, students. Things are in hand. However, I do need your help." All Might looked directly at Denki, who stared at All Might, not understanding. A second later, it clicked.
"Huh, wait. You need my help?!" Denki said incredulously.
"Indeed, Young Kaminari. Midoriya and I need your help. Please come with me."
All Might wasn't smiling. Denki gulped and nodded, following after his teacher as he started to jog off.
All Might turned to the rest of the group.
"Stay together. We'll have this taken care of soon."
"Good luck!" Ochako and Kyouka called out in unison.
"He's gonna need it." Ochako said quietly. Her hand instinctively went for the small pendant around her neck, the small pulse of the jewel in her hand giving her comfort.
Izuku was fully concentrating on the shield, drawing as much of the power back into himself as he could, focusing on the heat currents in the plasma contained within the shield, when All Mighty arrived with Denki.
Izuku felt them approach and smiled, his eyes popping open when they got close. Denki looked at the destruction in awe, and when he spotted the three burned bodies against the wall, he looked like he was going to be sick.
"Thanks, All Might. Kaminari, thanks for coming." Izuku gave him an appreciative smile.
"Sure thing, Midoriya, but what do you need me for? You have tons of power." Denki eyed the shield apprehensively.
"Power yes," Izuku nodded, "Electricity no."
"I'm here!" Mei called out, panting heavily as she ran into the booth, Izuku's cuirass in hand. She smiled at him as she walked over and prepped the chest armor. "Izuku, your shirt." She said, nodding to his sports uniform.
"Right." Izuku concentrated, pulling one hand away from the shield to slip out of the shirt, Mei helping him to pull it off.
"You know that direct contact with the suit is going to pull power locally, right?" Mei said, pulling the other arm of the shirt off as Izuku switched hands on the shield.
Izuku nodded, "It's the only way. I don't have enough time."
"Alright, just be safe. The PCUs will take as much as they can until the mag fields are strong enough." Mei said as she hoisted the armor up. All Might stood on the other side of Izuku and helped lower the armor onto Izuku's bare shoulders and chest.
As soon as the cool metal touch his skin, Izuku felt the pull of power shift, the vacuum pumps pulling the heat off of his skin at an enormous rate.
Izuku smiled, "Bit cold, not too bad." He turned to Denki, "Now, it's your turn."
"What do you need me to do?" Kaminari, stepping forward warily.
Mei pressed a button on the back of Izuku's chest armor, and two chrome handles slid out of the back on either side of the rocket assist.
She pointed to the handles, "Hold onto these. Don't let go." She took a couple steps back giving Denki plenty of room.
"So, I grab these. Then what?" Denki asked.
"Give it everything you have," Izuku said flatly, still staring into the slowly shrinking shield. "I need the direct electrical impulse from your quirk to supercharge my own."
Izuku looked over his shoulder, "And I mean everything, Kaminari. As much as you can give me."
Denki gulped. He took a deep breath and stepped forward, spitting into his hands.
"This is gonna hurt, isn't it?" Denki asked, a fearful tone in his voice.
"Not for you." Izuku said. "I'm the one overloading his nervous system."
Denki blinked, but before he could say anything, Mei spoke up, "There's no time! Do it!"
He whipped his head to look at her, and then back down to the handles.
"Well, here goes," He took another deep breath, and grabbed onto the handles.
"Controlled Discharge: Two Million Volts!" he shouted, letting loose with his quirk, blasting the electrical discharge into Izuku's armor.
In an instant, pure electricity was channeled from Denki's hands, through the metal handles, into the cuirass's complex electronics, directly to three metal points on the inside of the armor, making direct contact with Izuku's skin, directly over his spine.
Izuku's eyes went wide as the massive amount of electricity was funneled directly into his spinal column, flooding his system with the intensely wild energy. His arm and leg muscles started spasming slightly from the electrical overload, causing the shield to flicker slightly. He grunted under the strain of trying to control the untamed energy.
A soft moan behind him told him that Kaminari had passed out. All Might moved and caught him before he fell hard, and placed him aside to rest. Mei was standing to the side, eyes open wide in awe and glee, proud that her baby was working so well.
A bright green electricity erupted over his entire body, as Izuku regained control over his arms.
He pulled his left arm from the shield, and looked at the bodies against the wall, taking careful aim. He had precious seconds.
"Healing Impulse." He said, his voice barely a whisper.
At first nothing happened, but a second later, the electricity arcing across his body collapsed around his arm. A huge blast of bright green light erupted from his arm, the electricity arcing across the ionized gas inside the beam. The beam covered the students entirely.
Izuku focused on pulling the heat from within the shield into himself for power, and tried to control the electricity as it arced.
All Might watched in awe as the beam and electricity covered the students in a bright green aura, burns peeling away and turning to ash as new skin was generated in front of his eyes. He walked over to watch as their skin was regenerated, clean and smooth, hair follicles popping into place, growing long across their heads.
The last of the power drained from Neito's body, and he collapsed the shield, pulling the last of the heat into the beam, praying that it was enough.
"Young Midoriya, I think that's good. They look fine now." All Might said, waving his hand for Izuku to cut the beam. He inspected the trio as Izuku cut the beam. They were breathing, slowly and softly, but breathing. He sighed in relief and motioned to the waiting medi-bots that were carrying stretchers.
Izuku fell to his knees, the sheer output of the beam exhausting him.
'Screen,' he thought weakly as his eyes closed.
The green display popped up. But he was too tired to open his eyes.
'Boss, you used about 25% of your total power output in just that beam, in addition to using the power from Monoma and Kaminari. Healing that much took a ton out of you.'
"We aren't done yet." Izuku mumbled as he shifted his legs, trying to stand.
'Boss, you don't know if you can do it! Don't kill yourself trying to save someone else!'
He shook his head, trying to fight the sleep that tried to claim him.
"No! I'm not done yet!" He called out as he got a foot underneath him.
There was still a chance, and he wasn't going to quit.
All Might looked back at Izuku. He had started to load Setsuna, Kinoko, and Nirengeki onto stretchers to get to Recovery Girl for a final check up. He watched as Izuku clumsily got to his feet and spun to look at the body of Neito.
"Young man, there's nothing you can do." All Might said solemnly, shaking his head.
But Izuku wasn't looking at him. He was staring intently at Neito's face.
"I can fix it." Izuku said shortly.
"Midoriya, you can't undo death." All Might spoke softly, trying to calm Izuku. He had seen his share of death, and it was never easy. Especially when it was his fault.
"He's not dead." Izuku said, still staring. All Might looked up from Neito to Izuku in surprise.
"It's faint, almost too faint. But his brain is still barely alive. I can feel the neurons firing."
All Might looked back down at Neito. "But, Midoriya, what can you do? You can't make him a new body."
"I can try." Izuku whispered.
All Might glanced at his successor, doubting for a second. "My boy, you are powerful, but what you are talking about defies," Izuku knelt down next to Neito and grabbed a charred hair, "everything we know about biology and physics."
Izuku nodded, "You forget, Sensei," his gaze turned from the hair in his fingers to look up at All Might, "Quirks defy physics."
He turned back to the hair.
'Screen.'
The display popped up.
'D̵ǸA͟ ̷ąna̵l̸ys͢ís ҉c͜o͏m҉ple̢t̶e. ̷Geńet͘ic ̷st̴ru̕c̀t̀u͝re͡ ̨rȩc̛r͡ea͜ted͟.́ Mo͢l͞e͝c̴ular b̢lu͘e̸p̶rint҉ ͜p̕r̢ep͟ped. If we are going to do this, it needs to be now.'
Izuku nodded.
"Stand back, please." Izuku said flatly. He dropped the hair as All Might and Mei walked the exit of the booth.
"Now, Monoma, don't say I didn't do anything nice for you." Izuku said softly, glancing at the prone body's face.
He took a deep breath and pulled open the core, breaching the black, until the nova was halfway exposed.
"Genesis Impulse Canon." He said softly, focusing the starlight that was bursting out of him into his chest.
A small thin bead of light appeared from the focusing lens on Izuku's chest, followed by a line, which steadily grew. The light started softly at first, a pale green and gold coating Neito's body, but it ramped up, growing to a tight beam with ribbons coursing around it, continuing until the Impulse was as massive as the beam he had unleashed on the robots earlier. Wind and light whipped around them as Izuku focused the power more, pushing Heal to its limit.
'Time to see if we can break some rules.'
'Ready with the required molecules, boss.'
He activated Creation and focused on the first of many molecules that Avalonn was showing him, pushing the additional quirk into the beam. There was a jump in the power output of the beam, the intense light increasing, white light now being mixed in with the green and gold, the collision of light on Neito's body making the aurora around it shimmer and glow brightly.
Izuku smiled confidently as he focused on the designs that Avalonn was flashing in front of him in quick succession, each one generated within Neito's body by Izuku's tremendous power output.
Cells began stitching themselves together, tissues recombining, charred sections getting broken down and remade, muscles sewn together, capillaries flooded with fresh blood from reconstructed bone marrow, nervous system reconnected. Electrical signals firing up and down the spinal column, reaching for the brain. A spark fired down from the hippocampus kick-started the heart, sending fresh oxygen coursing through the body. Another spark, the diaphragm contracts and the body inhales a deep breath. Waves of warmth and light sends more signals up to the brain.
Izuku saw the pieces going together like a watchmaker assembles a fine watch, each piece in its place and with a purpose. He smiled as he put the finishing touches on his new creation, and killed the beam. He admired his work with pride.
Neito Monoma had, in all classical definitions, died. But before Izuku laid a completely regenerated Neito Monoma, with smooth blonde hair and not a single burn to be seen. He was breathing softly, but he didn't stir.
Izuku nodded and looked towards the entrance, where a shocked All Might and bouncing, ecstatic Mei was watching.
"I told you I could do it." Izuku said softly before collapsing to his knees, the world going black.
"ATTENTION ALL STUDENTS AND GUEST: YOU MAY RETURN TO YOUR SEATS. ALL MIGHT HAS RESOLVED THE SITUATION. PLEASE SAFELY RETURN THE ARENA FOR THE REST OF THE TOURNAMENT."
President Nezu's voice over the intercom made everyone stop as they were exiting, and a cheer ran through the crowd as everyone reversed gears and started the long process of getting back inside.
Momo turned to look back at the class, and directed everyone back to their booth. She give Ochako a worried look, the brunette only showing wide eyes. Silent understanding passed between them.
Nezu only said All Might.
As they worked their way back to their seats, Ochako kept fidgeting with the hem of her shirt and clenching the pendant around her neck, the worry building.
"Don't worry about Midoriya, Uraraka," Tenya said as he walked up to the group, "All Might was with him. And he can do just fine on his own."
Ochako looked up at him as he approached, the young man had a confident smile on his face.
"If anyone could handle something like that, it's those two." Katsuki said from behind Ochako as they walked into the hallway for the booths. He had a scowl on his face, the confident smile missing.
Ochako looked at him with concern, "Yeah, but wouldn't they have said anything?"
Katsuki just shrugged and stopped to look at Class 1-B's booth, prompting the others to stop and look as well. The booth was taped off, several of the students milling around the entrance. Cementoss walked out a second later, tearing down the tape.
"It's all good now, go ahead and have a seat. Your classmates will join you when they are ready." He said calmly, before turning to walk towards Class 1-A.
He looked at everyone, stopping on Momo, Ochako and Hitoshi, before addressing the rest of the class.
"Please go to your seats. Shinso, you need to get ready for your fight. Present Mic will make an announcement soon."
Hitoshi nodded and glanced at Ochako, giving her a single nod and a slight smile as he walked towards the locker rooms.
Cementoss looked down at Ochako and Momo, "If you would like to come with me, I will take you to Recovery Girl. Midoriya is there."
Both girls nodded, a spike of fear shooting through them as they turned to follow Cementoss towards the infirmary.
"SORRY FOR THE DELAY, LISTENERS! NOW THAT WE GOT THAT EMERGENCY TAKEN CARE OF, EVERYONE IS ALL GOOD TO GO, SO LET'S GET ON WITH THE REST OF THE TOURNAMENT!"
Present Mic's voice echoed through the halls as Cementoss, Momo, and Ochako walked in silence.
"IT'S TIME FOR ROUND TWO! THE SILENT MARTIAL ARTIST FROM CLASS 1-A, HITOSHI SHINSO VERSUS THE ALSO SILENT MAGICIAN OF SIZE FROM CLASS 1-B, YUI KODAI!"
"I hope Shinso wins." Ochako said hopefully, glancing at Momo, "He needs a good win."
Momo nodded, smiling slightly at Ochako, "I agree. He needs the confidence boost. Izuku definitely helped, but to win on his own will really help."
"He is gonna be upset to know that he is missing Shinso's match," Ochako said, a smile peeking out on her face. "He was really excited to see everyone fight."
Momo laughed softly, "That's Izuku for you. Helping everyone and taking an interest in everyone else's battles."
Ochako nodded and the silence took over them again as they rounded the corner, the door to the infirmary in front of them.
Cementoss knocked softly and opened the door, gesturing for Ochako and Momo to enter.
They each took a breath and walked in to see Izuku laying on one of the beds, eyes closed, but otherwise fine. Mei was holding his hand, sitting next to the bed, with Recovery Girl sitting at her desk, working on paperwork. All Might was standing against the wall, looking at the newcomers with a smile.
The five others in the beds next to him were resting as well. Ochako looked in surprise to see Neito in perfect shape, evidently resting.
"Recovery Girl, I have two more visitors for you." Cementoss said calmly and softly.
She turned in her chair and nodded, gesturing for the girls to enter, directing them to the chairs beside Izuku's bed. Cementoss closed the door quietly behind them as he left.
"He's fine, just resting," she said at Ochako's questioning look. "Whatever he did to help those four really took a lot out of him."
She turned to look at Neito, "Still not sure how he did it. Even my quirk can't undo damage like what All Might described."
All Might nodded, his face grin, despite the forced smile on his face, "Young Midoriya worked a miracle, that's for sure."
"What about the others?" Momo asked cautiously, glancing at Kaminari with concern.
"They're totally fine, just resting. Except for Monoma. He's going to need some serious care, if I'm right."
Ochako looked over at Neito, studying him before turning back to Recovery Girl.
"He looks fine, like he's asleep." She said shortly.
"That's because he's in a coma." Recovery Girl said, a slight crack in her voice.
"One that I can't get him out of. Whatever Midoriya did definitely healed him, but I fear that his brain was too far gone. Only time will tell." She said, a grim look on her face. She turned back to her paperwork.
"He'll pull through. Midoriya wouldn't have gone through all of the trouble if he knew it wouldn't work." All Might said confidently.
Ochako looked up at the pro, doubt in her eyes, before she glanced back down at Izuku.
"No, I think he would have tried anyway. He doesn't give up, no matter what." she half-whispered.
Ochako reached out for Izuku's hand, and looked up at Mei, who was smiling softly. Mei glanced at Ochako and her smile broadened.
"You should have seen him, 'Chako. He was amazing." Mei said, awe in her voice. "He took all of Sparky's power and used to heal the others, then he turned and used a light I haven't seen him use before." Mei looked up at Momo, "Avalonn says that he used Creation to make the compounds he needed. That without it, he wouldn't have been able to help much at all."
Momo felt a surge of pride and happiness, then a sudden fear. "But Creation takes so much power out of him, how is he still okay, especially after that?"
Mei tilted her head to the side for a second, as if listening, before her smile faltered slightly. She looked back down at him, and frowned.
"He came close. Izuku used over 90% of his power to heal them. He's at the red line for his fail safe."
She stood up, and looked at Momo and Ochako, "I'll be back. I need to get something for him."
Ochako looked surprised for a split second, then smiled, "Just as long as it's not the metal."
Mei looked at her, "Huh?...oh, was that a joke?" She waved her hand dismissively, "No no no, that's not ready yet."
She spun on her heel and walked out quickly, leaving the other two girls with questioning looks.
Ochako sighed and gripped Izuku's hand a little tighter, basking in the warmth that it provided.
Kaminari jolted up from his bed with a shout, making everyone else jump in fright. He looked around the room, eyes wide.
"The spiders told me not to get the candy, but I didn't listen!" he said, a terrified squeak in his voice, before his head hit the pillow again, falling back asleep, a light snore drifting from his nose.
Ochako and Momo stared incredulously, then glanced at each other and burst into laughter, All Might and Recovery Girl chuckling along with them.
Hitoshi dodged another massive steel ball that was hurtling towards him, side stepping as fast as he could, before taking another couple of steps forward. He had to dodge again as an enormous hex-nut collided with the concrete, right where he was just at.
Yui was giving him no quarter, launching and expanding metallic items from the pouch around her waist at an impressive rate, enough to keep Hitoshi from making any appreciable ground.
He had tried the initial attempt at getting her to respond at the start, but she didn't even blink. It was like she was a blank slate.
'Time to bring out the big guns, I guess.'
As he dodged the next projectile, he started mentally flipping through his list of bad jokes, and settled on one.
He smiled slightly, and called out, looking right at Yui's focused eyes, "You know, I never like Russian dolls. They're so full of themselves!"
At first, he wasn't sure if it would even work, but then he heard her snort. She had an ever so slight smile on her face.
'Gotcha.'
He activated his quirk and slid the control into place.
Yui's eyes became unfocused and glazed.
Hitoshi sighed, catching his breath, before standing up.
"Glad I got you with that one. Now, take a bow, turn around, and walk off the stage." He said, carefully placing the instructions into her mind.
Yui bowed, still wide eyed, and then stood, turned around, and walked off the stage.
"WHAT IS THIS!? CLASS 1-B YUI KODAI JUST WALKED OFF! UH, I GUESS HITOSHI SHINO WINS!"