A/N:

Hey you guys! Long time no update XD sorry yall, my vacation days are behind me and now I'm studying 24/7. I can't even believe I had time to whisk this together... I hope this wasn't too boring, since it seems like a filler BUT I had to write it so you could see how other people's fights are affecting our red haired telepath

JuggernautJJ: I almost cried after reading your review in the last chapter! Your analysis was so accurate and on point regarding the the idea of a patriarchal society holding women back. Not just with Jean Grey, but with other big female superheroes and I just loved to read your point of view so thanks!

Don't forget to lemme know what you guys think!

~

"Akano-san!" From behind, Yumi heard Midoriya speed-walking towards the front row, reappearing after he ran off to catch up to Uraraka.

"Oh, hi," She greeted back as the boy caught his breath, and she noted that he was clutching the same burnt notebook in his hand. It's one that he seemed to have with him throughout the individual battles, filled with hero information and sketches of battle strategies, and for some reason included her, as well.

"It looks like I missed Kirishima-kun's match... But ah! I heard that your prediction about it ending in a draw came true!" He rambled on with a look of awe. "Uraraka-san's match is starting soon."

"Oh..." she replied with a tilt of her head and a slight frown. "Ochako was real nervous when I last saw her. I'm glad she's okay now."

The male nodded with his eyes shining with respect and determination for the mentioned girl. "I sketched a rough battle plan for Uraraka-san to use against Kacchan, but she's determined to fight with her own strength. She really is amazing."

"I agree." Yumi said, a ghost of a smile on her lips as she watched Midoriya sit down beside her, followed by Iida who greeted her and rested beside his friend.

"Next might be the most disturbing match-up." Tsuyu stated, a pout hidden behind her stoic features.

"I almost don't wanna watch..." Jiro said with a shudder.

"The eight and last match of the first round! He was kind of famous in middle school! With a face only a mother could love! From the hero course, it's Bakugou Katsuki!" Present Mic announced as the two classmates finally walked out to the field. From the side that Yumi was facing, she could see the expression on Bakugou's face and she had to agree when she saw that weird gritting scowl that took permanent residence on his face.

'Uraraka-san... Do your best!' Midoriya wished the best for the brunette, his lips forming a tight line.

Yumi, who'd accidentally heard his thoughts, offhandedly replied to him. "I'm sure she will."

"Ah..." With a flinch, he looked back to her, feeling a droplet of sweat forming on his cheek. He didn't know if he liked having someone peering into his mind whenever they pleased.

"Versus-she's also the one I'm rooting for! From the hero course, it's Uraraka Ochaco!"

"He's gotta stop picking favorites so casually. That's borderline bullying the dude..." Akano hummed softly at the hero's blatant comment. Midoriya looked at her with slight bewilderment and she tilted her head in question. "What?"

"N-nothing, really."

"Eighth match, start!"

Bakugou's eyes narrowed as he stared at his opponent.

"You're the one that makes things float, right, Round Face?" he asked. He only recognized her because she always hung around Midoriya; there might've been a previous time that they were opponents, too, but he didn't care too much about that. He needed to win in order for him to advance to the next round, so he would never hold back. "If you're going to withdraw, do it now. You won't get off with just an 'ouch'."

The girl only glared back at him with those determined round eyes. And as soon as Present Mic announced to start, she ran towards him with her body strategically low to the ground.

"Midoriya-kun. What was the strategy you were going to tell Uraraka earlier for her to use against Bakugo?" Iida asked as watched Uraraka charging towards the ash blonde.

"It wasn't much, really." Midoriya almost shrugged once he looked down to his notebook. "Kacchan's strong. In a real close combat fight, he has almost no openings, and the more he moves, the more he sweats, making his Explosion Quirk stronger. He can use the blasts from his explosions to move around in the air, but if Uraraka touches Kacchan and uses her Quirk to make him float, then she would have the upper hand. That's why... the first thing Uraraka should do is-" And before he could finish, Akano said it for him.

"-a swift attack."

Midoriya nodded. "Mm."

"Withdrawing isn't a choice!" Ochako shouted. Bakugou raised his right palm, ready to counter whatever she was going to do. Sparks igniting on the palm of his right hand.

"Then, die!"

Uraraka neared him and zeroed in on his torso with her arms out. 'Here! If I dodge here...!'

A giant blast blew up before her and the impact threw her body back several feet as black smoke littered with fiery orange sparks surrounded her. "This is no good," She blocked the flying debris from her face with her arms as she looked around the black smoke. "Even if I knew about it, I couldn't react in time!"

'Deku-kun and Yu-chan can always turn things around when things get rough-' She thought as she pinpointed Bakugou's location. Using the smoke screen as an opportunity to conceal her body, she quickly got into action. 'I have to do the same to be on the same level as them!'

"Don't underestimate me!" Bakugou shouted as he swung his right hand towards the emerging figure within the smoke. He slammed his palm down, expecting to restrain the girl, however he was met with only fabric. Under his hand was a U.A. girl's gym jacket, but nothing else.

"Oh, she made her jacket float and sent it over there?!" Present Mic explained with an impressed tone. The girl was now behind the blonde. "She did it in an instant, too!"

'If I make him float now-!' Uraraka was yet again so close to touching the blonde to activate her Quirk, but his reflexes were so quick that he immediately sent a blast to propel her back once more. And she stopper herself from tumbling further away, but she was already trying again.

"Too slow!" Bakugo growled before dealing another explosion her way.

She then proceeded to come up at him from the other side. "Take this!"

BOOM!

One more eruption. And another.

Faces paled for Midoriya, Iida, and the majority of the students in the class A section. And although it was hard for Yumi to watch her friend get hurt, she couldn't help the smirk her lips formed once she figured out what the crafty brown eyed girl had up her sleeve. However, it seemed the rest sitting in her vicinity were yet to notice.

"Ochaco-chan..." Tsuyu choked out, her lower lip trembling in fear for Uraraka's safety. Jiro Kyoka shook her head before using her hands to shield her eyes from the fight. "I can't watch!"

Yumi heard them all complaining in their own way, but the weirdest comment by far belonged to the grape haired dwarf who'd hinted at Bakugou's supposed 'sadism'. "Bakugou, don't tell me... your tastes run in that direction..."

BOOM!

"I'm not done yet!"

Bakugou swept his arm at the incoming girl once more as she relentlessly got up after every one of his blasts to try again. His sharp eyes and ears were intently tracking her every movement as he sent more explosions that blew up both the cement from the ground to force the girl to recoil back.

And all around them, the crowd was watching with horror and dread for the 'poor' girl.

"Hey, shouldn't you stop this?!" One of them said as he called out to Cementoss, who was standing as a proctor for the battles.

"Yeah, isn't this going too far?"

"It's like he's toying with her!"

"I can't watch..."

"Hey!" Another stood up with anger as he addressed Bakugou. "How can you say you want to be a hero like that?! If there's such a huge difference in your abilities, then hurry up and send her out of bounds!"

Akano frowned at the hero sitting just a section across from them who spoke up about the battle. She honestly didn't see anything wrong with it, especially not to the extent of it being stopped. True, the blasts that kept coming Ochako's way were unsightly and hard to watch, but that was because Bakugou was wary of her every move. He saw her as a formidable opponent to watch out for. And in a way, it showed that he respected her as an individual. So, the Pro Hero's suggestion about him toying with Uraraka was absolutely preposterous.

"Is he really a Pro Hero?" She asked loudly with incredulity. Besides her, Midoriya, Iida and the rest were slightly taken aback at her outburst, and if she was being honest, so was she.

The woman sitting beside the outraged hero also stood up and gave a disapproving frown. "That guy is bullying and playing around with the poor girl!"

'Playing around? He may be brash with huge anger management issues, but he's not playing around.' Yumi continued to doubt the status of those heroes since they couldn't see how seriously Bakugou was taking Uraraka's attacks. Furthermore, it was also inconsiderate of them for thinking that Uraraka was just some helpless girl.

"They're idiots if they haven't figured it out yet," She spoke out of frustration and her words triggered the confusion of the fellow first years in her vicinity, but a string of boos surrounded the bleachers from the previous heroes' comments.

"Can't you see he's going too far?"

"Stop the bullying!"

"Seriously, why hasn't he been disqualified?!"

"There's booing from part of the crowd..." Present Mic relayed when he drew his attention towards that section. "But honestly, I also feel the-" The mic was suddenly slapped out of the Voice hero's hands as Aizawa pushed him away with his elbow. "Ow! What're ya doing?!"

"Was that a Pro saying he's playing around? How many years have you been a Pro?" Aizawa demanded. "If you're saying that with a straight face, there's no point in you watching anymore. Just go home and look into changing careers! Bakugou is being careful because he's acknowledged the strength of his opponent who has made it this far. It's because he's doing everything he can to win that he can't go easy on her or let his guard down."

The crowd humbled down at the Erasure hero's voice of serious disapproval. Awkwardly, the angered Pros sat back down.

The brown haired girl below changed her demeanor as she finally raised her body from that slouched posture. It couldn't be helped that Bakugou hadn't noticed what she was doing earlier because of his position, but it was a huge miss for many of the "Pros" out in the stands to not have noticed.

"Because she kept her body low, Bakugou responded by expelling his explosions near the ground where she is," Yumi remarked as she watched the girl draw her hands together to release her zero-gravity Quirk. "In addition, Ochako's relentless attacks narrowed his field of vision and kept him from noticing."

Following her own remark, she looked up to the sky and smirked, the rest of those sitting beside her following suit. Dozens of blown up pieces of cement were suspended in the air. Uraraka was using Bakugou's explosive properties to store up weapons this entire time. "Now, that's what I'd call using your resources." She added, and upon noticing, Midoriya's jumped up from his seat with a jolt.

"She had a desperate plan like that up her sleeve?!"

Uraraka rasped out a tired but determined breath as she stared at Bakugou. "Thanks, Bakugou-kun... For not letting your guard down..." she said before releasing her Quirk. "I'm gonna win!"

The amount of rocks suddenly falling from being released in their zero-gravity state was a sight to behold. It was a tremendous meteor shower. And with the opening that the distraction created, she immediately raced towards her opponent.

Bakugou looked up at the falling shower of debris and raised his left palm up while bracing it with his right. He let out a deep breath and focused all his energy on his one palm. There was just enough sweat gathered from continuously heating up his hands to evade and counter the girl's relentless attacks for him to pull this off.

Firecracker-like sparks traveled up his entire arm before an enormous explosion blasted from his palm up towards the debris, the force and extent of the blow immediately obliterated the large rocks into smithereens while throwing the girl back. Even those in the crowd felt the propelling force from afar as smoke clouded their vision.

"Since you're friends with that Shitty Nerd, I thought you'd be up to something..." He said as the black fog cleared slowly to reveal his smoking hand. Internally, he winced from the pain shooting up his palm. 'That was close...'

Uraraka stood back up shakily and staggered to turn back around. "You're still standing?" Bakugou got back into battle stance at her willpower and started running towards her. "All right, let's get serious then!"

Suddenly, her legs buckled, and she fell to the ground. Despite it all, she still desperately tried to crawl her way towards Bakugou, who had stopped running towards her fallen form but was still cautiously observing her every move.

'My body... But...' Uraraka bit her lips with frustration as she crawled with all her might. She had tried so, so hard, and she couldn't let this end here. 'I can still...' Alas, her body couldn't hold up. And the sight made Yumi's eyes brim over with affection for her, hands clutching into fists in her lap.

Midnight stepped once the girl stopped moving and held up a hand. "Uraraka-san's out of commission," She announced. "Bakugou-kun advances to the second round!"

The crowd cheered when Bakugou's face appeared on the big screen as the winner of the eighth match. Everyone seemed to have forgotten that just a few moments ago they were booing the blonde for "playing around". While Present Mic announced the final winner and concluded the end of the first round, Yumi watched the medical robots wheel Uraraka out to Recovery Girl and Bakugou make his way off the stage as well with the characteristic scowl on his face.

"Ochako..." Akano said regrettably for the girl. Doing the calculations, the result of the match only drew her one step closer with the possibility of facing off this Bakugou in the finals. Judging by his performance here, she could only conclude that anyone up against him was going to have a hard time with such an overpowering Quirk. "She did her best. She really was leading him by the nose for a good moment there."

Midoriya nodded as did Iida. "It's true. But there just wasn't enough time and Uraraka-kun had used her all her energy repeatedly throwing herself into the explosions. Anyone would easily run out of stamina after that." The bespectacled boy added for measure.

Concurring, Yumi looked at the male besides her. "Speaking of time, your match is up next, isn't it?" She asked the green haired boy, but all she could think of was who he will be facing this time around. The next one was a match she knew she couldn't or didn't remotely want to miss.

After the talk she had with Todoroki, Yumi had silently hoped it'd help free him of all the pain that accumulated within for even a little bit. And if she had succeeded, then she was sure it'd show a slight change in his upcoming battle at the very least.

Midoriya nodded silently and pushed himself off the chair. He had seen Todoroki from across the bleachers head into the tunnel for the player waiting room already, and that was his cue to go as well.

*

"Oh, there he is! Bakugou!" Kaminari called as the blonde stomped over to them. Bakugou growled at the noisy blond, stomping towards an empty seat.

Meanwhile, Sero looked at Bakugou apprehensively. "That match was tough, huh? Playing the bad guy..."

"Even if it was because of the match-up, you played an amazing villain, Bakugou-chan," Tsuyu added bluntly.

Hagakure interjected Bakugou's outburst at Tsuyu with a giddy demeanor, her invisible arm that was covered in U.A.'s gym uniform lifting up to clarify a point. "But not everyone thought so! Akano-san defended you when the Pro Heroes were badmouthing you! Surprisingly..."

"That's right!"

Yumi shook her head, not even acknowledging Bakugou as his intense glare fell on her. "I wasn't, really. I was just pointing out how dumb that Pro was for spouting nonsense without bothering to notice the information that was laid out right in front of him." She said, shrugging at the end, and her lax words elicited several sweatdrops from the boys and girls.

"Anyway..." Sero drew the conversation back to their original topic of discussion. "You really went all-out on her, huh?"

"Yeah!" Kaminari sighed with a pitying look, sending a flirtatious grin to Akano who'd actually checked out of the conversation long ago. "I can't believe you were able to aim such a huge blast at a frail girl! I, for one, wouldn't be able to help but hold back."

The cellophane user grimaced at the blatant exaggeration for the tall redhead's sake as Tsuyu called the blonde out. "You'd most likely try to show off with a higher wattage than you can handle, and it'd be more embarrassing because it would be a girl as your opponent."

"T-Tsuyu-chan...!" Kaminari whined with embarrassment at the truth.

Bakugou scoffed at their annoying banter. He'd like to blow them up to shut their traps, but he knew he needed to calm down. Besides, he was the one in battle, so he knew and apparently, that redheaded extra did, as well for some reason-not that it mattered. Nothing about his opponent was frail. He only did what was necessary to win. There were more matches ahead that he was looking forward to so that he can beat them all and show them his indisputable strength.

After the winner of the arm wrestling match between Kirishima and Tetsutetsu was declared, it was time for the beginning of the second round. Overhead, Akano could already hear Present Mic announcing it.

"Those two haven't started yet?" Uraraka's voice was heard in the 1-A seating section and Yumi whipped her head back to see how she was doing after losing her battle. Her heart clenched when she saw her red puffy eyes and bandaged face as she attempted to put up a brave front. "I've gotta watch."

"Welcome back." Akano softly said, noting that Iida flinched when his eyes landed on her.

"Were your eyes hurt?! You must hurry to Recovery Girl-"

"I already went. This is, you know... It's different." She defeatedly said, her voice showcasing embarrassment as she moved to sit beside the redhead.

"It's different?" Iida persisted on his inquiry, his jaw slack and that prompted Yumi's frustrated huff. "Man, just how dense could you get?" She asked, incredulity fluttering her tongue as she tutted at the obtuse boy.

"I beg your pardon?" He frowned, only to gasp in realization. "I apologize. If that's the case, then you must've been really frustrated earlier."

After the speedster's words fell through, Tokoyami who sat besides him intervened. "Rather than feeling regretful right now, you should use this next match as a source of encouragement." When he spoke, it drew Yumi's attention to him and she had realized that he was going to be her opponent in her second match. He was coolly sitting there, arms crossed in front of his chest as he looked down at the ring. After seeing his one-sided battle with Yaoyorozu, Yumi came to know what his Quirk and fighting style were like, and she was sure he knew the same about her.

"I couldn't agree more." She consoled the brunette who clenched her hands in fists in determination. "Yeah!"

"Thanks for waiting, everybody!" Present Mic's voice shouted through the intercom. "The first match of the second round is a big one!"

Indeed, the crowds were cheering even louder than before at the sight of the bicolor haired male walking towards the stage as Present Mic hyped up his introduction. On the opposite side, Midoriya was making his way up as well with a determined face. This was one of the matches that the crowd was looking forward to, and at the same time, was a bit apprehensive to watch after Todoroki's show of strength during his first match.

"Tokoyami-kun, what do you think of this match?" Iida asked the crow of a boy soon after the fight commenced, and the inquiry quickly drew both Akano and Uraraka's attention.

"It depends on whether or not Midoriya jumps in close to Todoroki." Tokoyami replied.

"Yeah. What is Deku-kun going to do about that ice?" Ochako's questioning remark only intrigued Yumi further, wondering how this would pan out with a newly found excitement.

It was amazing to see two great forces clashing at such a scale. Midoriya's powerful Quirk had smashed through each one of Todoroki's towering ice walls with a flick of his finger. However, while Todoroki's attacks seemed endless, Midoriya's came at an immediate price. Each powerful flick only further crippled him further. It was excruciating to watch as his chances were limited to the number of usable fingers.

"Man, Todoroki can shoot off powerful attacks that cover a lot of ground with no lag time!" Kirishima mused animately to Bakugou from the back of the section. "Midoriya's Quirk is cool too, but he always gets hurt. Even with my hardening Quirk, there's a limit to how much damage I can take. But you and Todoroki can both shoot off powerful attacks that cover a lot of ground. Like 'Bam!'"

The conversation between the spiky redhead and Bakugou became hard for Yumi and the rest to ignore when the ash blonde scoffed loudly. "I'm not just shooting them off. Don't underestimate me!"

"Huh?" Kirishima, Sero, and Kaminari, looked a bit confused at Bakugou's vague reply. While Yumi slightly tilted her head back, the curiosity causing the perk of her ginger brow.

"If you overuse your muscles,

the muscle fibers tear, and if you keep running, you'll run out of breath..." He trailed off, his tone of voice displayed an unusual calmness as his vermilion eyes shifted down so he could stare at his own hands. 'There's a limit to how much power I can produce, too. That's why I designed my costume so that I could fire blasts in excess of what my body allows without any risk.' He thought to himself, unwilling to share this piece of information with his classmates. However, the ash blonde neglected the fact there was a telepath sitting just a few feet away from him. "Quirks are physical abilities, too. They must also have some kind of limit."

Yumi didn't really know if that statement fully applied to her. Since in her last life she hadn't really scrutinized on her mutation's fatigue, but rather on to keep it under control. Granted, there were instances when she had been a child where she came to suffer from headaches or even the occasional nosebleed upon releasing too much of her psionic powers. But as Jean grew up, she had focused more on training herself to maintain her powers at bay, never really knowing her true limits past those side effects, until it was too late that is.

After she shifted her head and refocused on the match down below, she found that Bakugou's words were painfully applicable to the bicolor haired boy though. The biggest proof was how Todoroki was slowly being consumed with frostbite, and she narrowed her eyes at the male.

"Why are you going so far?" Todoroki let out a chilled breath as he lifted himself up with a slight tremble.

With both his right hand and entire left arm incapacitated, Midoriya was a sitting duck for Todoroki to send his final blow. But Midoriya hadn't let the blow finish him off. To everyone's great surprise, he had blasted both Todoroki and the wall away with his broken right index finger.

"There's a limit to how much cold your body can take, isn't there? You're trembling, Todoroki-kun!" Midoriya straightened himself up with great effort. His index finger looked ghastly, but so did the rest of his appendages. It didn't matter at the moment, though, because his body was pumped with so much adrenaline, he didn't feel much pain. "Isn't that something you could easily solve by using the heat from your left side? Everyone's fighting with everything they've got to win and get closer to their dream... To become number one... But you... You want to win with just half your strength?!" He curled up his fist despite the injury. "You haven't put a single scratch on me yet, you know!"

Todoroki narrowed his eyes. "Midoriya... What are you planning? Everything I've got?" Gritted his teeth angrily, he ran towards the male. "Did my damn old man buy you off or something? Now I'm angry!"

As he rashly ran towards Midoriya to get in close combat, he felt his body not being able to keep up. He was sure that everyone else noticed, too. But the moment he lifted his foot, the male came charging at him as well, and Todoroki felt the punch in his gut before he even saw it. Grazing his right hand across Midoriya's broken arm, he was thrown backward with colossal force.

Letting out a pained cough, Todoroki got back up and once he did, ice formed under his feet and trailed towards his opponent again, but it was significantly slower this time. Even so, he didn't let up his ice attacks. Midoriya long had run out of usable fingers to flick his powerful attacks at him, yet he was still able to retaliate his blows.

"Why are you... Going so far?"

"Because I want to live up to everyone's expectations!" Midoriya staggered towards him with resolve, eyes burning with relentless determination. "I want to be able to smile... And respond to them... To be a cool hero... That's what I want to be!"

"Shouto..."

His mother's voice cut through his thoughts just as Midoriya landed another punch in his gut.

'Shut up!' The effects of his ice was starting to numb his entire right arm, and soon, it was going reach the rest of his body. It would have all been solved if he used his fire side, but he won't. Todoroki gritted his teeth as memories of his harsh upbringing flashed through his mind once again. His mother always tried to stop his father from pushing him further when he was too weak to continue. It was because of him that she always got pushed around by his bastard of a father. It was because of him that she cried so much.

"No... I don't want to be like Father... I don't want to become someone who bullies you, Mother!""But you want to be a hero, don't you? It's okay for you to be one. As long as you have a future you're sure about."

"That's why... I will win!" Midoriya came up before him, his right arm emitting a powerful glow to knock him out. "I will surpass you!"

"I will reject..." Todoroki lifted himself up again. He was trembling harder than ever now. "My old man's power...!"

"It's your power, isn't it?!" Midoriya shouted in frustration.

Those simple words seemed to have snapped something back into his mind as more memories flooded back. He realized that people have been saying the same thing throughout his life, but he just never understood it. His mother, All Might, even Akano, a girl he barely knew...

Even the look in Akano's translucent green eyes reappeared across his mind and he felt a weight lift off his body. This was what she was hinting at when he'd met her for the second time near the vending machine. He didn't even know how she knew, but this was what she wanted to get him to realize. 'Before I knew it, I had forgotten...'

"You don't have to be a prisoner of your blood. It's okay for you to become who you want to be."

His mother had said those words to him that one night he came crying to her.

"There's so much to you than you think you know, not just pain and anger, or even guilt."

"It's okay. It's okay for you to be who you were meant to be."'The person I'm meant to be...?' That was all the encouragement he needed to ignite the fire on his left side. Instantaneously, all the numbness on his body melted away as brilliant flames set the stadium ablaze.

"Th-This is—!" Present Mic's surprised howl cut through the stage.

"The fire's here...!" Uraraka braced herself as the heat blew up towards the student section much like the ice had done in the previous round. Everyone was instantly sweating from the blast of heat. "S-So hot!"

"He used it..." Yumi's eyes were as wide as saucers. Midoriya actually made him use his left side... Even if it meant that he was helping his enemy become stronger...

The liberated look on Todoroki's face was one Yumi was sure she could never forget.

"SHOUTO!" Endeavor's voice boomed across the stadium. His hell flame were lit brightly as a look of victory etched across his face. "Have you finally accepted yourself?! That's it! Good! It all starts from here for you! With my blood, you will surpass me... You will fulfill my desire!"

"Endeavor-san suddenly shouts encouragement...?" Present Mic questioned. "He's surprisingly a doting father."

Yumi almost snorted, dedicating a harsh glare to the older man, wrapped in blazing arms of flames before looking back down at the two males in the ring as they got ready to send the final blow.

She smiled, glad that Shouto was able to accept his power, and she wondered if she could do that, too.

'Even if my heart is overshadowed now, there will come a time when I need to confront my weakness...'