Taking a moment to clean himself up again, Izuku stepped out of the waiting room as Manami headed up the stairs to the student booths, he turned a corner and was surprised to see a tall man standing in front of him. "You," Endeavor said as he folded his hands and glared down at Izuku. "Will make an acceptable test for my son's current growth."
"What?" Izuku questioned as he tried to step around the number 2 hero. "I have no idea what you are talking about." he honestely said. "Can you move?"
"Make my son use his fire, I have seen your power, you may be one of two students in your year who could push him far enough to the edge that he has no choice," Endeavor said he turned away.
"Is that why Todoroki wanted to talk to me about All Might," Izuku figured out as he put together the pieces that Todoroki was hinting at, in addition to what he knew of the Number Two hero. "He's some way for you to finally beat him? God, what the hell is wrong with you," Izuku hissed in disgust. "He's your son, not some, tool to make you look better."
"He is what he is because he was made that way," Endeavor shouted at the insolent child.
"You know what? I'll get him to use his fire, not for you, but to prove you wrong, if you think I'm so much like All Might, then I'll be All Might, I'll help him, because it's what heroes do," Izuku declared as he stomped out onto the field.
"Finally the second round is underway and currently there is a non-zero chance that Izuku Midoriya seduces his opponent," Present Mic teased.
"Oh can you not." Izuku rolled his eyes at the implication. "Nuh-not that you're ugly or anything Todoroki, just that, you know, god how do I reject someone who wasn't even coming on to me," Izuku sighed as he realized he let the sports festival commentary get in his head.
"Please do not make any advances on me, I do not want to be in a harem," Todoroki said making it perfectly clear his feelings towards Izuku.
"Really," Midnight asked with a pout. "I think you could manage a small one, you got that natural mysterious, bad boy charm."
"Oh yeah and what do I have then?" Izuku turned to Midnight.
"You're the cute boy every girl wants to settle down with," she shrugged.
"I can be a bad boy." Izuku puffed out his cheeks at the insinuation that he was cute.
"No you can't, last time you tried, you cried as soon as you saw a three legged puppy," Manami shouted down as she and the rest of the stadium listened to the conversation.
"Well how is it going to keep up with it's friends, it's so small!" Izuku protested.
"Can we get on with it," Todoroki asked tiredly as he prepared himself to attack.
"Yes, begin," Midnight said loudly, annoyed that her fun was cut so soon..
In an instant a massive glacier rocketed towards Izuku,
"SMASH!" Izuku shouted as he plunged his hand into the ice. "Uh," Izuku said in confusion as his hand was encased in the ice. "It didn't smash?" Izuku questioned as he tried to pull out, something he was doing for the first time this day.
"I figured you go for a frontal assault so I sent the hardest ice that I could make at you," Todoroki said as he walked around the block. "That way I can get you on the second shot."
"Crap," Izuku grunted as he pulled on his arm, hoping to dislodge it from the block quickly before Todoroki froze him out.
"This will sadly be the longest fight I have today," Todoroki sighed as he pulled his arm back.
"100% Smash!" Izuku slammed his left arm into the glacier, exploding it into a shower of glittering powder. The explosion of force sent a massive burst of cold air all over the stadium, causing the spectators to shiver as the temperature dropped quite a number of degrees in moments.
Todoroki formed a plume of ice behind him quickly to stop himself from being blown out of the ring by just the pressure of the air.
Izuku huffed in shock as he flexed the fingers in his right arm now free of the ice that entrapped it. "Well that worked." He mused to himself before an overwhelming feeling of pain racked his body. It would seem his earlier prediction of using all the quirks power without being boosted by Manami was correct as the quirk proved too much for him to handle as his left arm hung loosely, a sickening purple limb that swayed free.
"I-Izuku Midoriya, has, destroyed the glacier, in one strike," Present Mic gaped as the stadium took in the event that transpired. Then he noticed the discoloration in the fighters other arm. "At what cost though?" he pointed out so the camera operators could capture that image.
On the massive monitors the crowd hissed as they got a high definition close up of Izuku's broken limb. Manami gasped in shock as she looked at his arm. "It's just like last time," she whimpered as tears formed in her eyes. "Why, why is he doing this?" she softly said as she looked away from the fight.
"You're going to need to try a lot harder than that Todoroki, if you want to defeat me." Izuku said as he formed a fist with his only good hand and charged at Todoroki, decreasing the space and thus the time his opponent had to use his quirk. Down a limb Izuku was slower due to the pain, but he was still faster than his opponent who was struggling to land any kind of hit on Izuku.
"This would be easier if you used all of your quirk," Izuku pointed out as he landed a backhanded fist into Todoroki's ribs.
"Did he put you up to this?!" Todoroki shouted as he assumed what must be going on. "What did he offer you!?" he spat on the arena floor as he glared at Izuku.
"Nothing," Izuku said with a smirk. "And that's what you should be doing." Izuku looked directly into Todoroki's eyes as he stated this.
"What do you mean?!" Todoroki roared as Izuku nimbly dodged around the block of ice he had just fired at his opponent.
"You don't have to do anything for anyone," Izuku said as he raised his good arm. "You don't need to let him dictate your life, so what if he has plans for you. You don't have to go along with them."
"It's his quirk," Todoroki hissed angrily as a thin layer of ice started to cover one side of his body.
"No it's not!" Izuku shouted as he punched Todoroki in his jaw. "It's yours. I thought the same thing about my quirk, that I didn't deserve it, that someone else more worthy should have been given it."
"But someone, very special to me, told me, that it was mine, I made it mine." Izuku informed as he thought back to the time under the pier with Manami, when he first discovered his Full Cowl form. "It may have come from someone else, but it's mine now, just like you got your quirk from your parents, it's what you do with it, that's what makes it yours. And if you let him control you, then it's not just your fire that belongs to him, you do to."
"Shut up!" Todoroki shouted as he burst out a massive nova of cold from his body blocking all vision of him. "You think you are the first one to say these things to me. Well you aren't, my sister and brothers tried for years after they saw the way I was being raised. They knew it wasn't healthy," Todoroki said in his little world of ice, closed off from the rest of the people, where no one could see the tears. "I couldn't give in, and let him win Midoriya, I can't become him." Todoroki said as he placed his hand on the wall of ice.
"Then don't!" Izuku shouted as the ice exploded when he slammed his leg into the frozen block of water, shattering both of them. Todoroki saw Izuku standing heavily favoring one side as the most ferocious set of sparkling green eyes looked at him and for a moment, he felt as if there were dozens of eyes all looking through him. "Be the hero you want to be, be the man that you want to be."
"It's not that easy," Todoroki tried to find an excuse.
"Nothing worth having is, I speak from experience," Izuku said as he looked up at Manami. "It takes time, it takes work and sometimes it takes pain, but when you come out the other side and see what you are, you will be so glad you did it."
"Are you sure?" Todoroki said nervously.
"More than once I bet my life on it," Izuku smiled. "And I have yet to be proven wrong. So Todoroki, what is it going to be?"
"I want to be a hero!" Todoroki chose as his fire burst forth and started to warm the area.
Izuku woke up in the infirmary of the stadium, with a groan he slowly sat up only to wince as a sharp pain coursed through his body. Suddenly an even sharper more sudden pain took over his face as Manami slapped him across the cheek. "Ow." Izuku moaned as he rubbed his cheek.
"Don't you ever do that again," she said as tears streaked down her face before she lunged at him, hugging him tightly.
"How bad was it," Izuku asked as he genuinely didn't remember how the fight between himself and Todoroki had ended.
Recovery Girl slowly hobbled over towards the pair. "Well besides the frost bite, broken bones, torn ligaments, shredded muscle, potentially ruptured organs. You're perfectly healthy," she smiled for a moment before she smacked his leg with her cane. "What were you thinking, throwing yourself into an attack like that, huh?" she demanded to know.
"Todoroki, he, needed help," Izuku softly said. "I had to do it."
"Oh sweetie," Manami sighed as she gently stroked her boyfriend's hair. "What is it?"
"I just," Izuku shrugged.
"It is okay Midoriya, I never expected to tell anyone so it being a secret isn't that important to me," Todoroki said as he as pulled back the curtain revealing the rest of the room to him. "I too would like to know why you pushed yourself so hard in our fight."
"Are you sure?" Izuku questioned as he looked at how many people were actually there. What did confuse him was Uraraka laying on one of the beds with her eyes shut. A question for later, Izuku realized.
"It's just, your dad stopped me before our match," Izuku answered. "He wanted me to be his, I don't even know what, in this situation and what you told me earlier. I just knew that you needed help."
"You are a strange person Midoriya." Todoroki said as he laid back down in the bed. "Thank you."
"It's no problem," Izuku smiled. "So I guess you'll be battling Iida soon then?"
"What are you talking about, you won," Manami questioned.
"I won?! How?" Izuku gasped in shock.
"Apparently and I swear this was one of those idiots ideas," Recovery Girl said in disgust as she pointed above her where the teachers were seated. "If both participants are knocked out at the same time. The winner is decided by a cheer off."
"That's so dumb." Izuku stated as he took a moment to comprehend that.
"Aizawa okayed it because he thought it more accurately represented how the hero ranking system is built," Manami sighed. "Nezu agreed. You also barely won."
"How do they determine that though?" Izuku asked.
Momo sat dejectedly in a corner of the 1-A booth after Nezu had her make an Applause-o-meter. It was the single most degrading request she had ever received.
"We aren't sure," Manami shrugged. "But he's supposedly really smart so it must have been really scientific and junk though."
Nezu marked off a box on a list. "Make student use powerful quirk for something stupid each month."
"So who am I fighting?" Izuku inquired as he sat up.
"Iida," Manami said softly. "I think you should drop out though, Todoroki can fight instead of you, you need time to recover."
"I'm fine, I just feel a little sore," Izuku said as he gently set Manami on his lap. "What happened with Uraraka? I must have missed her match when we were, you know."
"She suffered a serious concussion during her fight," Recovery Girl answered.
"Should you be telling us this?" Todoroki asked confused that the nurse was giving out information.
"Anyone watching that fight could tell at least that," Recovery Girl sighed. "She needs her rest, that Bakugo boy was far too rough. Nemuri should have ended the fight before he got his hands on her."
"She, she fought Kacchan?" Izuku said as he slowly got out of the bed he was in, unsteady on his feet. He slowly shuffled over to the sleeping girl. "Is he still in the tournament?"
"Unfortunately, while I say he went too far in the fight with her, and some of the other teachers agreed as well, he didn't break any rules set forth by the tournament." Recovery Girl answered.
"He should be fighting Kirishima right now I believe," Todoroki said as he turned on the monitor which showed the stadium arena.
In the ring Katsuki was laughing maniacally as he kept slamming more and more explosions on to Kirishima. The 1-A boy just doing his best to keep his quirk up and protect himself as Katsuki keep up his mad assault. Fortunately or unfortunately Ms. Midnight ended the fight as soon as she saw Kirishima's quirk slip, unwilling to let another student be brutalized. So Katsuki ended up coming out of that fight the victor by judges determination.
"Seems you are up next," Recovery Girl said as she prepared to examine Kirishima when he came up. "I don't believe you could be convinced to drop out now, could you?" But she saw the look of determination in Izuku's eyes. "Fine, take a few of these and as long as you don't push yourself too hard, you will be able to at least fight Iida, he doesn't seem to go to great lengths to cause massive damage."
"Welcome back to the First Year Sports Festival," Present Mic announced as the camera's came back online. "We are finally ready to begin the Semi-Finals. And after quite an interesting set of matches, how will 1-A's class president win this fight, it's Izuku Midoriya. And his opponent, the man who set the record for the fastest and longest matches in the first year history."
"Are you certain you are okay to continue fighting Midoriya?" Iida asked as he saw his opponent wincing from some lingering pains as they both stepped up onto the platform. "There is no shame in admitting you pushed yourself too far and need a break."
Izuku sucked in a breath as he started to stretch. "No, I think I'm alright Iida, but thank you for asking. I think for the most part I'm just going to be very sore for the next few days." Izuku slowly crouched down low in preparation to sprint at his opponent.
"If you are sure, Ms. Midnight," Iida said as he placed himself in a sprinters position. "We are ready to begin."
After taking a glance to Midoriya who nodded. She started the semi finals of the final event, less worried that these two would be overly violent, and in an instant both competitors collided in the center and skidded past each other.
"Oh my god I'm so sorry!" Midoriya and Iida gasped as they shot off the ground. "I didn't mean to trip you, that was so," they started to say before pausing as they realized the other was apologizing at the same time.
Slowly the two started to laugh at the humorous situation. "That's, wow." Izuku slowly wiped a tear from his eye.
"You are too nice of a person Midoriya, I could have taken advantage of your kindness," Iida warned.
Izuku sputtered a laugh. "You, no way, you care about the rules too much to do something underhanded like that."
"Well we'll just have to have a good, honest and clean match then." Iida smiled as he was glad to have such a nice battle after some of the others that took place earlier in the day, meaning this might be the one he would be most proud of.
"That sounds nice." Izuku said as he squared up and blitzed his opponent with a flurry of punches.
Iida responded with his own barrage of kicks as they traded and blocked blows.
After a moment it would seem like Izuku was putting more pressure on as he was able to punch faster than Iida could kick while still keeping balance. Iida grit his teeth as he took a few hits to his ribs. "You're fast, you showed that during the cavalry battle when you were catching up to me. But, I cannot lost in speed, not to anyone," Iida declared as his engines burst blue flames. "Recipro Burst"
"While doing this I have only a few seconds before my quirk locks up from the heat, however." Iida said as his kicks came faster than Izuku was prepared for, each one knocking him further and further back as the unrelenting blows rained down on him as he had to stop to guard his body from the assault. "I think I can win this if I push myself to go further beyond. It's what you and everyone else has been doing since the beginning and I will not fall behind."
Izuku grunted as he weathered the blows, slowly feeling numbness spread through his arms while his knees grew weak. "That's," Izuku started to say as he sucked in a breath. "Impressive, and you are doing a great job Iida. But you aren't the only one pushing yourself. I was weak, for so long," Izuku said as his sparks grew more rapid. "And now I have my chance to tell the whole world. I AM HERE!" His voice loud, proud and filling the stadium over the roars of the crowd.
Iida's eyes opened in surprise as Izuku took a hit straight to his ribs only to tightly grab onto his leg and start to spin him around. "And you, are outta here," Izuku declared as he tossed his opponent out of the ring.
"Good match," Izuku said as he extended his hand to Iida to help him off the grass.
"Yeah, it was an honor to fight you," Iida smiled as he grasped his friends hand. "I'd love to do so again some day."
"I'm sure we'll find some time to do just that."
"Take care of yourself Midoriya," Iida warned. "I mean it, if Tokoyami cannot stop Bakugo, then you will be up against him and he has been most cruel."
"I know Iida, I know him more than anyone else," Izuku said as he thought back to everything he was made to suffer at the hands of his bully.
Seemingly like an unstoppable juggernaut, Katsuki took the stage and devastated his opponent. With the shock of showing that he had more than just brute force backing him, he completely nullified his opponent's quirk with an explosion of light before placing his crackling hand inches from Tokoyami's face, forcing Midnight to end the fight before waiting to see what he would do after he got his opponent in that defenseless of a position.
"He's like a monster," Kaminari shivered as Katsuki left the stage laughing his head off.
"He's unstoppable," Hagakure squeaked.
"Baby please, don't fight him," Manami said as she grabbed onto Izuku's shirt sleeve.
Izuku sighed as he looked at her eyes. "I have to, this has been a long time coming. And if I run now, I don't think I'll ever stop running." leaning over he kissed Manami. "So I'm sorry, I'm going to fight him." Slowly Izuku shuffled off to find a waiting room to mentally prepare himself for this fight.
"Hey uh, didn't those two have history," Mina asked as she recalled the first day of class.
"Bakugo was my baby's bully," Manami sat on the seat by herself. "He and his crony's nearly murdered Izuku back at his old school," she answered as she went to explain the dark history that someone as sweet as Izuku had with someone like Bakugo. To the horror of the rest of the 1-A students who hadn't heard much of Izuku past when he told them on the train ride a few weeks ago.
