"No hard feelings, Kaibara." Iida snapped, settling into a ready pose.
"You better hope Recovery Girl can heal bruised egos, engine boy!" Kaibara replied, his arms blurring.
"Get READY! GO!"
Iida blasted forwards, the flames from his sapphire blue with heat. Kaibara barely had time to widen his eyes in shock before Iida's shin made contact with his stomach. The wind was knocked from Kaibara's lungs while he gagged from the impact. The force of Iida's kick sent him flying out of the arena, he crashed into the dirt, bouncing like a stone before he came to a stop, dry heaving in a quivering heap on the ground.
"Yellow card for unsportsmanlike conduct!" Midnight cried.
"I apologise!" Tenya bowed with such rapid speed, Izuku wondered if his neck had an engine quirk too. "The way he talked made him appear more competent than he turned out to be! I overestimated his ability to match my attack!"
"Very well." Midnight purred. "That was an impressive display, but I will expect a better performance from you next time… otherwise I'll have to discipline you."
"Of course!" Iida's bowing had kicked up a small cloud of dust at that point. "I will be an exemplary participant from here on!"
"I'm sure you will…" Midnight moaned. "Tenya Iida moves on to the next round!"
Iida bowed a final time before leaving the arena. He paused when he reached the still retching Kaibara, crouching by the other boy.
"Let me know if Recovery Girl can heal bruised egos, won't you?"
He walked off, letting the roaring of the audience as well as Present Mic's voice carry him.
"Next up, Shoto Todoroki faces his classmate Ejiro Kirishima!"
Izuku watched Todoroki take the stage with the silent confidence of a man who knows he's going to win.
"No hard feelings, right?" Kirishima grinned, slamming a hardened fist into his palm.
"Ready? GO GET EM!"
Without hesitation, Todoroki freezes the air, holding Kirishima in place. He dashes forward, leaps into the air and sends Kirishima flying out of the ring with a roundhouse kick.
"Winner!" Present Mic cried. "Shoto Todoroki! And I thought he only knew that one move! Oh YEAH! Katsuki Bakugou and Fumikage Tokoyami, get to the arena, the crowd is READY! Lemme hear you SCREAM!"
"You ready for this, Bird face?" Bakugou let two explosions smoulder in his palms.
"I'm sorry that your participation in the festival has to end here, Bakugou." Tokoyami said, eyes narrowed. "But I plan on winning this fight!"
"Yeah, yeah." Bakugou snarled.
Dark shadow leapt from Tokoyami's chest screeching a battle cry. Bakugou smirked, flinging his hand forward, igniting the nitro-glycerine sweat he allowed to collect there. Dark Shadow screeched in pain, falling back to Tokoyami's side.
Twin explosions from Bakugou's hands sent him flying towards the staggering Tokoyami, who barely brought Dark Shadow to bear in time to block the explosion. Bakugou kept the barrage going, blasting at Dark Shadow over and over, watching hungrily as the entity buckled under his assault.
Damn it! Tokoyami's forehead beaded with sweat. I can barely keep up my defences, let alone counterattack! I predicted Bakugou's brutality, but his tenacity caught me off guard!
A dust scattered around the arena with resounding bang as Bakugou went sailing over Tokoyami's head.
"DIE!" Bakugou cried, increasing the frequency of his attacks.
His attacks are getting faster! Tokoyami's eyes widened. Perhaps he's running out of power!
"Dark Shadow, now's our chance!" The spectral entity whined as it twisted to grab Bakugou. The blonde boy used an explosion mid-air to dodge the attack, spinning to land behind Tokoyami.
"Hey there, Bird boy." He bared his teeth.
Dark Shadow curved to block the oncoming attack, placing itself between Tokoyami and Bakugou.
"Heh," Bakugou scoffed. "Stun grenade."
A blinding white light emanated from between his hands sending Tokoyami reeling to the ground. Before he could recover, Bakugou had him by the shirt, holding a pulsing explosion stable in his palm next to Tokoyami's face.
"Go on." He sneered. "Surrender. Or don't, I'm more than happy to keep fighting."
"H-how did you know?" Tokoyami asked with his eyes screwed shut against the light.
"That Dark Shadow is weak to light?" Bakugou barked. "I didn't. Figured it out during the fight. Now… surrender."
"I yield." Tokoyami sighed.
"Katsuki Bakugou wins!" Midnight declared. "Izuku Midoriya and Kosei Tsuburaba! You're up! Show us your talent!"
Izuku activated the Omnitrix as he walked into the arena.
Time to put my plan into action. He thought, stopping when he reached the silhouette representing Four-Arms.
"Hey!" Tsuburaba called.
Izuku looked up.
"You're from the support course, like that Shinso guy, right?" Tsuburaba continued.
"General studies actually. I'm-"
"I don't care!" Tsuburaba shouted, clenching his fists and falling into a fighting stance. "You ruined my classmates' chance to prove themselves! Now I'll show you your place."
"Yeah…" Izuku sighed. "That's what they all say. I guess I'm gonna have Four hands full with you!"
"What?"
"Never mind." Izuku grumbled.
"GET READY! BEGIN!" Present Mic crowed.
Izuku slapped the faceplate down as Tsuburaba ran at him, feeling his body warp and change. His body squared out while his legs shrunk, and his arms lengthened. His skin went from pale to a patchwork assortment of Red, Blue and White.
"Bloxx?!" He rasped. "What is with this thing today?!"
He stretched his plastic legs, easily stepping over Tsuburaba's hard air attack. He shifted his weight as he landed, sending his arms flying towards his opponent.
As he expected, Tsuburaba blew out a shield to stop his attack. Luckily, Izuku wasn't attacking. He let his body shift towards Tsuburaba, expanding his hands and arms until he completely covered the other boy in a brightly coloured sphere. Tsuburaba punched a hole through part of the capsule, but it grew back instantly.
Bloxx opened the sphere that held Tsuburaba into an inverted dome, shifting his chest into a ratcheting arm and his legs flattened into a wide base.
"What?" Tsuburaba cried, peeking over the rim of the dome.
"Lemme know if you find my place." Bloxx said before catapulting Tsuburaba out of the ring. "Be seeing ya. Seems you weren't so much solid air as you were full of Hot air. Hehe."
"Another one!" Present Mic seemed ready to burst a vein. "And such a unique vibe! Izuku Midoriya stylishly takes the win! Oh-"
"Yeah, yeah." Aizawa waved him off. "What's more interesting is the tactics he used. Izuku Midoriya not only uses his quirk to its fullest, but he also adapts and changes his strategy depending on his opponent. He's a clear favourite to win."
"You heard it here first, folks! Shoto Aizawa plays favourites! Oh Yeah! Izuku Midoriya wins and Kosei Tsuburaba goes back to the crowd! That concludes this round of the tournament! After a short break we begin with the next fight! Rest up, competitors, you'll need it!"
Bloxx disappeared in a green flash, allowing Izuku to leave the arena, glaring at the Omnitrix.
"You did well." Tokoyami said, falling into step with Izuku. "I hope I did not presume too much, but I took the liberty of ordering food for you."
"What?" Izuku startled, letting his arms fall to his sides as he focussed instead on Tokoyami. "That's very kind. You didn't need to go through all that effort for me."
"Don't mention it." Tokoyami smiled, handing Izuku a polystyrene carton with rice and curry. "I wanted you to know I will be rooting for you."
"You'd bet on someone you just met over your classmates?" Izuku asked raising an eyebrow sceptically.
"I may be rooting for you," Tokoyami smiled. "But that does not mean I believe you capable of beating Bakugou, or Todoroki for that matter."
"Harsh." Izuku laughed. "Ka-chan and I go way back. I've had years to observe him use his quirk. Though I'll admit he's improved significantly since he made it into UA."
"You two seem to have a lot of history." Tokoyami noted.
"We used to be friends, before his quirk came in." Izuku sighed. "And mine just didn't. He grew more confident, and for some reason he grew disgusted with me. Perhaps because I was quirkless, or because I wanted to be a hero."
He shrugged, enjoying his curry.
"Izuku Midoriya." Shoto Todoroki emerged from the shadows of the hallway with all the menace and gravitas of a plot device. "You have an interesting quirk."
"Thanks." Izuku said cautiously, keenly aware of the ensuing character drama. "Todoroki, right?"
"You will be my next opponent in the event." Todoroki observed. "I wanted you to know that you won't win. Heed my warning, Izuku Midoriya. Your best will not be good enough this time. I have too much at stake to lose to a general studies student."
Without another word, Todoroki left, leaving Tokoyami and a thoroughly confused Izuku in his wake.
"Is he always that…" Izuku pondered the word. "Intense?"
"Always." Tokoyami confirmed.
They sat in companionable silence waiting for the event to commence. Soon enough the next stage of the tournament was called to action.
"Katsuki Bakugou and Tenya Iida, take the stage!" Present Mic cried.
There was a strange tension between the two as they faced each other. A simmering anger. Resentment.
"What's with those two?" Izuku ventured. "I haven't seen Ka-chan like that since before UA."
"It…" Tokoyami started, seeming oddly guilty. "Have you heard about the incident at the USJ?"
"The league of villains attack?" Izuku confirmed, surprised.
"Exactly." Tokoyami replied.
"Student, are you READY?"
"We were still at the entrance when the attack started." Tokoyami explained. "The villains teleported directly on to the main floor of the USJ. As our homeroom teacher, Aizawa-sensei, engaged the villains we devised a plan where Iida would run to alert the rest of the faculty to the situation. It failed almost immediately."
"BEGIN!"
Iida blasted forward, cutting shallow furrows into the ground as he sped towards Bakugou, who blasted out of the way, using one hand to flip around in the air, and the other to fire a counterattack directly at Iida. By the time Bakugou's explosion went off, Iida had already retreated to a safe distance where the two glared at each other. The first exchange of the match ended in a stalemate.
"I've never seen Ka-chan fight with so much…" Izuku struggled to come up with the right word. "Malice."
Bakugou exploded forward, intending to use his aerial mobility to his advantage, only for Iida to flash behind him and deliver a brutal, engine-enhanced kick that sent Bakugou flying.
"This fight isn't merely about advancing in the tournament." Tokoyami elaborated. "This is personal."
Bakugou let off two explosions mid air, using the momentum to plant a kick right in Iida's face. An explosion at the base of Bakugou's foot sent Iida careening to the floor with a cry of pain. Bakugou flipped in the air, landing back on his feet.
"Iida seems so controlled and stern." Izuku noted. "What could possibly have caused this rivalry?"
"The death of Katsuichi Hashimoto." Tokoyami's voice cracked.
"The student killed by the league of villains?" Izuku asked, confused.
"The… story was altered before it was told to the press…" Tokoyami sighed. "When Iida tried to escape, to send warning, a villain with a war quirk separated our class, sending us to different areas in the USJ. We had to fight for our lives against real villains. Bakugou, Iida and Katsuichi were together and between the three of them, they defeated many villains, even helping their overwhelmed classmates… myself included."
Iida wiped the tears from his eyes and burst forwards again, only for Bakugou to dodge his attack and send Iida reeling with an explosion that took his legs out from under him. Iida recovered quickly, spinning on his elbows until he was blasting backwards, twisting to plant both feet in Bakugou's stomach, sending the shorter boy bodily into the air with a small gasp of pain.
"Katsuichi… devised a strategy." Tokoyami murmured. "His quirk allowed him to produce fireworks from ports in his shoulders. Using Iida's speed and my Dark Shadow, we would send Katsuicki up to the rafters of the USJ, where he would use his quirk as a flare to alert the teachers. Bakugou and the rest of our class would fight off the villains who attempted to interfere."
Bakugou roared, using an explosion in his palm to blast his fist forward, making contact with Iida's temple. He repeated the process with both his hands, spinning to kick Iida to the ground before an explosion from the base of his foot sent his knee crashing into the dark-haired boy's stomach.
"It went exactly according to plan." Tokoyami admitted. "Only, we did not realise the full extent of Katsuichi's strategy. When he reached the ceiling of the USJ he detonated his body, shattering part of the roof and leaving a light so bright that I could not summon Dark Shadow again for three minutes. The teachers arrived shortly after, and the villains were apprehended without further casualties. Only their leader, and the warp villain escaped."
Bakugou straddled the fallen Iida, repeatedly bashing him in the face with his fists. The crowd was silent at the display, and from the side of the stage, Izuku could have sworn he saw tears rolling over Bakugou's cheeks. A thin, Pink mist swept the arena, knocking the raging Bakugou out immediately.
"Winner, Katsuki Bakugou." Midnight called. Katsuki Bakugou and Tenya Iida were met with no applause as they were removed from the stage, carried on pale blue stretchers. "Izuku Midoriya and Shoto Todoroki, as soon as Cementos has repaired the stage, you're up."
Izuku was still lost in thought as he took the stage, his brow furrowed as he considered this new development.
"All right!" Present Mic insensitively cheered, completely oblivious to the subject matter. "Let's see if we can keep it PG-13, kids. Are you READY? Begin!"
Izuku snapped out of his stupor, eyes widening as he realised his mistake. Before he could even activate the Omnitrix, he was encased in a massive iceberg, stretching all the way out of the arena.
"Well, that was anticlimactic. Oh yeah." Present Mic whined. "The winner is-"
"Wait." Aizawa said, leaning forward. On closer inspection the ice seemed to be glowing. A green light was blazing brighter as they watched and then… the iceberg exploded. Todoroki made a wall of ice to protect from the force of the explosion, only for it to shatter. Desperately he conjured a wall of ice behind him, only for it too to shatter. Luckily, he had reduced his momentum enough to skid to a halt at the edge of the arena.
As the dust cleared, Todoroki saw red. Literally. The entire stadium was now taken up by two colossal red feet.
"Way Big!" A voice cried from far above the stadium. Clouds shifted as the massive figure crouched until its head was level with Todoroki.
"That was a cheap move!" Way Big trilled, narrowing his four golden eyes.
Todoroki stepped back in surprise, hurtling a handful of ice shards right in Way Big's nearest eye. The giant cried out in pain, straightening up to rub at the eye. Just the backdraft from Way Big standing up sent Todoroki careening to the ground a block of shattered ice nearly on top of him. On reflex alone he lights his left hand, sending forth a stream of fire to turn the ice into steam. His eyes widen in frustration before he smothers the flames, covering his left side in ice.
Way Big set his jaw in irritation before crouching again.
"You're going to want a shield." He warbled, causing Todoroki's eyes to widen in terror. He barely managed to raise a wall before Way Big flicked him like a booger.
The force from only one of Way Big's fingers shattered the wall of ice like mist and sent Todoroki flying out of the ring, skipping like a stone over the ground before he smacked into the stadium wall, crumpling to the ground.
Way Big straightened, flexing and posing as the crowd roared in approval.
"Oh Yeah!" His voice parted the nearest clouds. "Who's the best?"
"Izkuku Midoriya reveals yet another surprise transformation!"
"The most powerful one he has displayed so far, it seems. That transformation alone should have assured him a place in UA's hero course."
"Do you always have to be such a drag?" Present Mic whined.
"The winner once again is Izuku Midoriya." Aizawa continued, unphased. "Which means he will face Katsuki Bakugou in the final."
Izuku returned to human in a flash of green, his features set in grim determination.