Chapter 24: The Rounds Continue
Izuku walked out, after his talk with Ochako's father, he joined the rest of the class who was sitting and waiting for the next match-up which was Iida vs Momo.
Iida was fast that was for sure but Momo was a quick thinker and could out wit him easily. The only problem was the fact that momo's creations took time to make and hence could be where she might fail.
The battle began with Iida running around momo in circles trying to confuse her and momo creating a small pole and a shield. Momo tried to trip Iida and make him fall off the arena but Iida would dodge it with his naturally fast reflexes. While Momo took some time to rethink her strategy, Iida began to hit her with kicks, she did defend against them with her shield but Iida had managed to get a few hits in before he had to back away.
Both took some time off to get a short rest before Iida pulled out his trump card. The 'Recipro Burst' was the first in its line of attacks and was a hit or a miss move for iida as it usually rendered him immobile for the rest of the time.
Momo's luck was cursed as the kick hit her right on her temple causing her to get knocked out immediately. She did block the kick with her shield but had miscalculated the trajectory of the kick and in the process had given Iida a small cut on his leg.
The medic robots carried the 2 away, with momo regaining consciousness a few minutes later as she was being carried. The kick had slightly disoriented her and had bruised her but it was nothing major as Recovery girl had healed her.
Kenshi saw her being carried to the back. "Poor Yaoyorozu," he said. Someone snorted. Kenshi looked up to Monoma.
"She calls herself a future pro hero, when she can't even fight?" He asked, "Some future pro!" He started laughing at Momo for her loss. "So weak," said one of Monoma's friends, "She's so pathetic and lost to a bird of all people!" A vein popped in Kenshi's head. "Did you just call her weak?" he asked. Monoma and his friends turned to face him.
"Listen here buster," Kenshi said infuriated, "I will NOT stand here and let you insult my friend!" Mineta was watching. "Oh boy," he said. "She's the strongest in our class, in fact I dare say she's stronger than you could ever hope to be. She has more strength in one finger, than you pricks have in your whole bodies!"
"Wow, it looks like the little weakling needs someone with ferocity to stand up for her," Monoma saaid. Kenshi summoned a boxing glove and socked him hard in the jaw. "Call her a weakling again, and I will SHOW you ferocity," Kenshi warned. He went down to the main lobby to check on Momo.
Momo was in the back. "I could've had him," Momo said, "But the tables turned…" Tears began to well up. She hid her face behind her hands and began to sob quietly. "How can I be a hero if I'm so useless in combat?" She heard footsteps approaching. "Yaomomo?" called someone.
She turned to see Kenshi. "Jojo, I'm sorry, I didn't realize I worried you," she said. She tried her hardest to fight the tears from coming down.
"Your match is coming up soon. You should get ready, I don't wanna distract you from…." Momo was interrupted as she felt arms wrap around her. "I may not know a lot of things due to me being autistic, but I can tell that you're hurting," Kenshi said. Those words made the tears fall down her face. She hugged him harder than he was hugging her.
"What happened?" Kenshi asked.
"I couldn't think fast enough," Momo said, "I tried to come up with a strategy against Iida, but he had the upper hand. When it comes to thinking, and books, I accel, but when it comes to combat…. I'm useless!" She cried into his chest. "And who thinks that?" Kenshi said, "I don't recall anybody saying that."
"I come from a family of heroes," Momo explained, "My entire life I've grown up wanting to honor my family's name, believing I needed to be on top of everything."
"Momo," Kenshi said. Momo was surprised to hear Kenshi call her by her first name. "You're already ahead of the class, when it comes to brains and smarts," Kenshi continued, "And you've got your entire life to honor your family as a pro hero. Why worry now?"
"Jojo, I'm-"
"The smartest woman I've ever met," Kenshi said, "Everyone has something they're good at, and something they're not good at. Like me, I used to not be good at making friends in real life, but I'm great at gaming. Now I'm good at both."
"But my knowledge means nothing when it comes to a real fight," Momo said, "It's more of a weakness in combat because I spend so much time thinking up a plan." "What about Fight Training?" Kenshi asked, "You thought up a plan and it worked."
"But that was training," said Momo.
"Well its still fighting, and if anything your knowledge isn't your weakness," Kenshi stated, "If anything it makes you strong. Stronger than any of the students here."
Momo looked at him.
"I used to be timid and shy around people, but now I'm out and open, ready to befriend others," Kenshi said, "You know who helped me with that? You did."
Kenshi smiled and held Momo by the shoulders.
"You don't need to be good at something to be a hero, you're already smart, strong, creative, and you encourage people to keep going even when they're down on their luck. Those qualities alone makes you the greatest hero I've ever met."
Momo smiled. "You cheered me up when I was feeling down, so now it's my turn to return the favor," Kenshi said smiling, "So you go out there, and show those people at U.A that you belong here. And I'll be right by your side."
Momo wiped the tears away from her eyes. "Kenshi, thank you for this," she said, "I guess I lost a bit of confidence after that match. But…. I think there's enough confidence in me to do this." She took hold of Kenshi's face and brought her face towards his.
After the Iida and Momo fight, the spectators and the students were waiting for Camie and Tetsutetsu to face off. Most people thought it would be a one-punch knockout but that was where they were wrong because Camie's illusions on a small scale did become tangible and as a result, it took a long time for Tetsutetsu to break through the small army of 20 illusion police officers that had a riot shield.
He even received some hits while he was at it, but when he finally did reach Camie, his punch went right through her. Camie reveals herself to (tetsu)x4 just as Tetsutetsu was following through with the punch, and attempted to kick him out of the arena since her previous illusion of herself was standing at a corner. Her attempt failed as Tetsutetsu hard steel-like skin stopped the punch with Tetsutetsu getting almost no damage. Tetsutetsu immediately grabbed Camie's leg and pulls it and spun around like a top before launching Camie out of the arena.
As Camie flew to the wall, her figure disappeared once again, this time appearing on the opposite end of the arena as Tetsutetsu. Tetsutetsu rushed at Camie and tried to hit her with a lariat but Camie ducks and trips him. Tetsutetsu falls short of the edge. He gets up once again and rushes at Camie, this time Camie is unable to dodge as the drawback of her quirk kicks in and she falls to her knee.
Tetsutetsu stoped right before her, picks her up, carrying her to the edge and placing her on the ground, off the arena. Thus winning the match. He then carries her to the med bots and places her on the stretcher, before walking back to the stands where the rest of his class was.
"Next we have the final fight of their prelims, on the left we have a boy who can manifest any weapon or clothing he has seen in games, Don't mistake him for JoJo, Kenshi Jotaro. And on the right is the boy who can basically copy any quirk, Neito Monoma!." mic announces.
"Fighters ready?" midnight asks. "GOOOOO!" the 2 rush at each other, Monoma aiming to touch Kenshi with his hand to copy his quirk while Kenshi manifested Harley Quinn's hammer from his inventory.
"Just gotta try and keep him away," Kenshi said. He started swinging his hammer at Monoma. Monoma evaded the hammer while trying to get close to Kenshi. He kicked the hammer out of the way and it landed out of the field. Monoma was close enough to touch Kenshi and ended up copying his quirk.
"Shit!" Kenshi said. "Time for you to pay for stealing my girl buster," Monoma said. He pulled out a staff.
"She's not your girl creep," Kenshi said, "Not after what you've tried pulling!" He pulled out his inventory and pulled out some gloves.
"Get ready for a knockout punch," Kenshi said as he put his fists up, "Little Mac Style!" Monoma rushed at Kenshi about to touch him. Using knowledge from boxing, Kenshi was able to evade him.
As soon as he was close enough he gave Monoma a few punches. Momo came up and was watching the match. "Yaomomo where've ya been?!" Mina asked.
Momo was thinking about something.
Flashback
Once Momo was at the restaurant, she was making her way through the crowd. She saw two people waving at her. They were her parents. "Hi Mom and Dad," Momo said.
Mrs. Yaoyorozu gave her a hug and playfully tapped her nose. "So how are things going dear?" Mr. Yaoyorozu asked, "Have you considered what I told you?" "Dad, I love learning about being a pro hero, I don't plan on giving up anytime soon," Momo said.
Mrs Yaoyorozu felt her husband's shoulder. "Now honey, remember what we said," she said, "We would support our daughter no matter what." "I know, i know," he said. "Besides, if she puts her mind to it, she could possibly own her own hero agency, so that could count somewhat as business," Mrs. Yaoyorozu said.
"Well, why don't you at least settle down with a nice man," Mr. Yaoyorozu asked. Momo blushed. "Well…. There is someone," Momo said. This caught her parents by surprise. "Who is it?" Mrs. Yaoyorozu asked, "Is he a pro hero? Does he have a car?"
"He's in the heroics course like I am," Momo said, "His quirk, Gamer, is pretty unique, and its almost like mine."
"What's his name?" Mrs. Yaoyorozu asked. "Kenshi," Momo said, "Kenshi Jotaro." "I see," Mr. Yaoyorozu said with concern, "I've had a bit of history with a Mr. Jotaro a few years back in school…" Momo was worried.
"But that doesn't mean his son is anything like him," Mr. Yaoyorozu said, "As long as you're happy with him then we're happy." Mrs. Yaoyorozu kissed his cheek. "Look at you being a good father," she said, "Being happy that our daughter has a boyfriend.
"Well…. I didn't exactly ask him out yet," Momo said, "I want to, but I'm scared." "I felt the same way when I confessed to your father," Mrs. Yaoyorozu said, "But one of my friends gave me the best advice ever; Just let your feelings out, and don't be afraid." Momo listened to her mother. "If you really like this boy, just let him know straight up," Mrs. Yaoyorozu said.
Flashback Over
"Um… calming myself down," Momo said. She saw Kenshi fighting against Monoma. "How is he doing?" she asked. "It looks like he's kicking Monoma's ass," Kirishima said.
Monoma attempted to hit Kenshi with his staff, but Kenshi blocked the oncoming attack. He came in close and delivered a punch to the stomach launching him back. Monoma got back up and started to charge at Kenshi with his staff. "This one's gonna hurt!" he said. Just as soon as he got close to Kenshi, the staff vanished.
Kenshi smirked. "Looks like you've reached your limit," he said. He charged up for a punch. He then released it, hitting Monoma hard in the face. He ended up launching him up in the air, and off of the stage. "Monoma is out of bounds, Jotaro wins by a knockout!" Midnight said. The crowd cheered for Kenshi. He bowed to the audience and walked back.
Izuku and Hayate walked out into the field. "Alriiiiiiiiiight, it's time for the second round!" Present Mic said, "In this corner we have Hayate, the muscle man who skips leg day!" Some of the audience booed at Hayate.
"And in this corner we have the man who works out his entire body, the power stacking future pro, Izuku Midoriya!" The crowd cheered at Izuku.
"Looks like they know who the real hero is," Izuku said as he smirked. Hayate scoffed and got in a fighting stance. "Ready…" Present Mic said, "CLASH!" Izuku launched himself at Hayate going for a right hook. Hayate blocked it and countered with a straight.
Izuku didn't flinch. "You think you can just humiliate my Ochako and get away with it?" Izuku asked. "She brought it on herself," Hayate said, "You just can't accept the truth." Izuku channeled up energy into his hands.
"I'll show you the truth," he said, "Detroit SMASH!" He punched Hayate hard in the face and he fell to the floor. "Alright," he said, "I'm done messing around. Its time you saw why I am truly superior!" He started to enhance his muscles.
"Couldn't agree more," Izuku said. He channeled energy around his entire body. "Power Stack+: Full Cowling, 10%!" Electric sparks danced around his body while a green light was shining around Izuku. Izuku launched himself at Hayate.
The two of them kept clashing at each other with punches. Ochako and her parents were watching the entire match. They were joined by a few of her classmates. "That boy certainly has tricks up his sleeves, that's for sure," Maruki said, "I hope he's able to put that son of a bitch in his place." "Iida doesn't like that kind of talk," Kenshi said jokingly. "You know what Jotaro?"
"Now this is a fight if I ever saw one!" Present Mic said as he commented. As Izuku kept blocking punches he noticed the glint of metal in his legs again. "So what's your secret?" Izuku asked. "Wouldn't you like to know," Hayate said sarcastically. He suddenly dashed at Izuku, giving him a hard knuckle. As the punch connected Izuku felt something cold touch his face. Izuku was close to being knocked out of the ring. Hayate jumped on him and tried to force him off.
"Kneel," he said. "I will never kneel to the likes of you," Izuku said. He punched him in the face and pushed him off.
"What's up with Deku?" Katsuki wondered out loud. "You feel something off too right, Bakugou." Kenshi asked. "Definitely, that muscle head should not be able to hold his augmentation for so long." Katsuki told Kenshi.
"And Midoriya should be able to beat him with ease especially with that adrenaline surge he has right now. He has done it before. I mean there was that incident when we were first at the dorms so I'm not sure what's wrong." Kenshi commented. Katsuki noticed something shining. "Hay gameboy, you got a camera in that inventory?" Kenshi nodded.
"Give it to me," Katsuki said, "I got a bad feeling about this." Kenshi pulled it out and the Germa 66's raid outfit that belonged to blackleg Sanji from One Piece, and went into stealth mode. He zoomed in and circled around Hayate and started taking a few pictures and noticed what Hayate had.
"Those look like that robot girl's gear," Katsuki said, "He's using it to void the drawback to his quirk!" "I knew something was up," Maruki said. Katsuki went to the balcony. "Come on, we gotta tell Aizawa!" Kenshi followed suit.
The two of them glared at each other. "I should've known you'd risk your body to honor your girlfriend, just like you honor All Might," Hayate said, "Turns out you're just a fanboy who copies his quirk to become his clone." Izuku refused to let those words shake him. "You might as well just give up Deku, because I'm stronger than you, and like most scenarios, the strong triumph over the weak." Izuku didn't plan on giving up.
He wanted to win. Win for himself, win for his classmates, win for his father, and win for his girlfriend. He wasn't going to give up that easily. Thankfully with the training he endured, he could hold Full Cowl longer.
He then channeled up for another Detroit smash while Hayate channeled up for a punch of his own. The two of them lunged at each other.
"SMAAAAAAAAAAAAASH/DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!" Their punches collided with one another emitting a shockwave around the entire field. Hayate got back up. "Well, you got balls to fight me this long, I'll give you that," he said. Izuku stayed in his fighting stance.
"You'll be happy to know that I carried Ochako to that room by the way," Hayate said, "No wonder she was able to land that punch, because she had such a well toned body." A vein popped in Izuku's head. "Nice boobs too," Hayate said with a smirk, "Figured you'd like to hear." Izuku was infuriated.
"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" Izuku went dashing at Hayate channeling up for a hard punch. He hit him hard sending him flying backward. Izuku refused to let up as he threw hit after hit after hit. By the time he was done, Hayate had a few bruises to his face.
Just as Izuku was about to throw another punch, his muscles became sore. He had overcharged his quirk again.. "Pathetic," Hayate said. He started beating up on Izuku throwing rapid fast-paced punches.
The crowd became horrified with Hayate's actions. Even Present Mic couldn't say anything about it.
With Aizawa in the announcers room, Katsuki and Kenshi barged into the room with the camera and the photos. "Sensei, you need to stop the match right now!" Kenshi told them. "Hayate has been cheating, you can see it here yourself." he said as he handed Aizawa the photos."
Aizawa picked up the mic and shouts at midnight to stop the match. "Midnight, use your quirk to stop that fight!" he said, looking at them.
Midnight got ready to use her quirk. Midnight immediately ripped her uniform and activated her quirk but the shockwaves from Hayate's punches kept blowing the mist midnight released away from him and Izuku. Another hard blow had Izuku pushed to the ground. Despite the pain he felt, Izuku refused to give up. "I'm not done yet…." Izuku said, "I promised Ochako I'd win…."
Hayate painfully grabbed Izuku by the hair. "It's obvious that you don't know when to give up," he said, "I didn't wanna do this, but it looks like I have no option. It's time you learned your place, Midoriya." He charged up for a punch. Before he could unleash it, his hand was caught by tape. He had been subdued by Aizawa. He took a mic.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we just discovered that Hayate has been found guilty of using unauthorized gear during the sports festival to void his quirk drawback," he said, "As such, he is disqualified from the Sports Fest. Once Midoriya is taken care of, he will advance to the next round."
Aizawa handed the mic back to Midnight and turns to Hayate. "You are coming with me to the principal's office. Now." he told him as he dragged Hayate behind him.
Izuku got up from the stretcher he was laid in and walked back up to the stage much to the annoyance of Recovery Girl. he takes the mic from Midnight and decides to correct the world's view of his girlfriend.
"Everyone, can I have your attention? This will not take long. A few matches ago the person I fought just now fought a girl, Ochako Uraraka, and berated her reason for being a hero without fully understanding what her true goal was or what her reason was.
Inko was watching from home with tears. "Oh my baby Izuku…."
"You see, Ochako is the kind of girl that wanted to earn money not for herself but for her parents. I've known her for all my life and I know that the Urarakas have had a slightly tough life, when they had almost no projects for months at end. This did cause a lot of problems for Ochako and her family. And all she wants is to let her parents live a good life, without having to worry about money or any such concerns. But that's not her only goal as a hero in training."
Ochako was listening to his speech with tears in her eyes. "Deku…" she said smiling.
"She wants to be a hero for other heroes, helping them when they feel like giving up and let me tell you she is already on her way to do that. I mean I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her. She helped me and motivated me to train day in and day out till I was strong enough to access my quirk."
He remembered the days when he was younger. He and Ochako would go to the gym and train their quirks.
"I was a late bloomer and yet I still carried on with that dream of being a hero. I figured it would take a while to get my quirk, but that girl, she helped me see my efforts till that point and helped me carry on. She even gave me ideas to better use my quirk."
All Might smiled. "That's my boy."
"That is the true Ochako, the Ochako that I know and love, and not the distorted picture that Hayate told all of you. So to all the heroes that are listening, don't take my words for it, but all of you have seen her performance in the festival till now and just because someone told you a half truth about her, exaggerating it to fit his needs, don't let that change your opinion of her. And Mr. and Mrs. Uraraka if you're watching this from somewhere in the audience, I'm sorry I wasn't able to win the fight." Izuku weakly said, before he fell unconscious.
He was caught by none other than Katsuki who took the mic from him and hands it back to Midnight and then carried Izuku back to the med bots. The crowds cheered for Ochako. "You did good Deku," Katsuki said.