Momo walked into the arena with her shirt unzipped, looking up at Midoriya. He had pushed the worn tophat he was wearing up, staring down at her. Great, he was gonna be judging her combat through this, wasn't he?

Breathing in, she stopped in the arena across from the pink haired girl from the Support Course, who was wearing a pair of large boots and a holster for the gun she had used in the last round. Momo's hair bristled as she stared at it, while Hatsume hummed and tilted her head, "You sure you don't want them? Last chance."

"No," Momo said, breathing in, "I'm fine without them."

"Kill my plans," Hatsume grumbled, making Momo all the more sure she had made the right decision.

"Ready?" Nezu asked, and both girls nodded, "begin!"

With a draw like lightning, Hatsume cleared leather, a capsule launching from the gun and exploded into a net at subsonic speeds. At the same time, Momo's hands swept down, a copy of a familiar odachi forming and hitting the net. The carbon fiber wrapped around Chiseki, pulling the blade from Momo's hands. Momo grabbed the zipper of her gym uniform and unzipped it to expose her sports bra.

Shrugging off the blue shirt, Momo tossed it at Hatsume as the pink haired girl loaded another capsule. A loud hum came across the stadium and Hatsume shot into the air.

"Nice try, but my repulsor boots let me fly into the air like I've got a jumping Quirk!" Hatsume boasted loudly, her eyes drifting towards… where… the… support companies were…

So Hatsume wanted to use her as a mannequin for showing off? They'd see about that!

Three weeks of training with Izuku brought Momo to pulling a spear from her gut, a shield exploding from her arm. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Izuku shift.

-X Izuku X-

Shields were rare among Hunters. The mobs of Yharnam used rudimentary ones often, but actual Hunters rarely saw the point. A Beast was fast enough you weren't likely to get your guard up, and strong enough to rip it apart if you somehow did. It was far more worth your time to sharpen your senses and reflexes to a razor's edge and avoid being disemboweled that way.

So when Momo pulled out a shield, Izuku immediately began to silently run simulations of how to win against it in a corner of his mind. His eyes began to take in the fight in a void, replacing Hatsume with himself and drowning out the noise as he got serious.

Spear stab over the top of the shield as he came down, would have punctured a lung. Twist to the side, use the momentum to thrust Chiseki around the edge and into her throat.

Deflecting the net with a bash of her shield, Quicken within her guard as she's exposed and plunge the blade into her heart.

Data was strong, information as complete as complete could be. Nothing to forget about like the capture tape, just a single spear maiden fighting to prove she was the best. Odds were fifty fifty he'd be fighting her or Kacchan in the finals, though part of that was him not knowing what Tokage could do. Kaminari and Kendo were possible, but odds were low in his mind.

When they fought, Izuku would be ready to defeat her. Even restricted to non-lethal, he would win the day. There was no other option, his lady was waiting for him to return with the first place medal. And on his honour as the Last Knight of Cainhurst, return with it he would,

- X Kyoka X-

Kyoka watched Midoriya rest his hands on his sword hilt, the sheathed blade resting on the ground as his eyes both bored into the fight below and seemed to stare into infinity. The fight wasn't as frantic as hers and Toru's had bee-

"How are you?" Izuku suddenly asked, not taking his eyes off where YaoMomo had just cleared space between her and Hatsume, punching with the edge of the shield and forcing the pink haired girl to repulse away as fast as she could, "That was a nasty fight you both had."

"You couldn't see us," Kyoka pointed out.

"I could hear it," Izuku returned, tapping his hands on his sword, "She's not taking this seriously."

"Who?"

"Hatsume," Izuku said, "She's using this as an opportunity to show off equipment, not to win. Not surprising, I suppose, she's a Support student, not a Hero… but it's still disappointing… it's over."

"What?" Kyoka watched Yaomomo land a strike from the butt of her spear. Her shield crashing home into Hatsume's side and sending her flying out of the arena as her repulsor boots added to the momentum.

"How," Toru breathed, "your Quirk lets you see the future too?"

"No," Izuku's eyes broke from the fight, "practice. I lost to Kendo because I didn't take things seriously and wasn't sure what she could do, that won't happen again.

Just friggin' hand him the gold already then. Kyoka had seen what Izuku did when he took things seriously at the USJ, she didn't think anyone could stop him if he was taking it seriously, "Hey?"

"Hmm?"

"Why are you taking this so seriously?" Kyoka asked, "You don't seem like the hyper competitive type."

"I made a promise to win this," Midoriya said, letting go of his sword and letting it sink into his omnipresent mist, "I need to go find Yaoyorozu. We need to talk tactics for the next big match she has."

"Think this one will go quickly?"

"Probably," Izuku said, passing them, "One way or the other. See you later, Kyoka."

"See ya later, Izuku," Kyoka said.

Then Izuku stopped, "You two never answered my question, how are you?"

"Oh!" Toru said, jumping in place, "much better! Recovery Girl healed everything just fine!"

"Good to hear," Izuku smiled, an honest thing as some of the missing luster appeared in his eyes, "I wouldn't want either of you permanently hurting each other!"

"Nah," Toru said, yawning, "it's just a bit tiring, Izuku.'

- X Denki X-

Denki stepped into the arena across from Kendo, watching her stretch as she went. Then he glanced up at where the rest of 1-A was, breathing in.

Kendo had beaten Midoriya, even if he insisted (and honestly, probably had been) he had been holding back. Could he really beat her…?

do your very best. That way, whoever has won when the dust settles can say they won against everyone trying their best.

Right. He could do that at least… Even if he lost, he could lose in a way that made himself and Kendo look good.

"Ready?" Nezu asked, before swinging his hand down, "Go!"

Kendo immediately rushed towards him, hands growing. Denki grabbed the crackling inside his chest and swung his arms to the ground, doing the one thing he knew he could do better than her.

He brought the thunder.

"Indiscriminate Shock: 1.3 Million Volts!" Denki yelled, electricity exploding out of his body and lighting up the arena. Kendo spasmed, falling to the ground and dancing across it as electricity lit up her nerves.

"The winner of that incredibly short bout," rat-man said, "is Denki Kaminari!"

Whey?

"That was a bad matchup for Kendo," home teach said, "it doesn't matter how much martial arts training in the world if your opponent has a omnidirectional taser you can't stop."

Whey.

"Yeah, but… well, what's wrong with Kaminari?"

Whey? Denki lifted his thumbs to say nothing was wrong.

"Kaminari has a limit on how much electricity he can release before he fries his own brain temporarily," Home Teach said, "he crossed it. This was a win by technically. If Kendo had any way to block that attack, Kaminari would be defenseless and out of the arena right now."

Whey…

X Katsuki X-

Katsuki cracked his joints, stepping into the arena to thunderous applause. Yeah, sure some of it was for Four Eyes, but most of it was definitely for him.

"Here we go!" Present Mic called over the roar of the crowd,in one corner, we have the Blond Bomber, Bakugo Katsuki! His Quirk, if you're just tuning in or haven't put it together yet, allows him to sweat an explosive compound from his hands! Don't ask me how he detonates it, I couldn't tell you!"

The crowd roared, as if the stupid joke was funny.

"You might remember him from when he fought against a villain made of sludge long enough to be rescued by All Might and Backdraft!"

Oh, fuck you.

"And in the other, do I really need to introduce him? The second son of the Iida family, inheritor of their Engine Quirk, it's Iida Tenya!"

"Ready to lose?" Katsuki gritted out, throat hurting slightly even as he stared down Four Eyes. He didn't rise to the taunt.

"Ready?" Nezu said, before waving his hand without really checking, "go!"

Both Katsuki and Four Eyes launched forwards, explosions coming from one's hands while the other's engines roared. Katsuki threw one hand up, micro explosions going off, as he caught the axe kick from Four Eyes and began to burn through the pants leg. Or would have, if his hand hadn't begun to ache from the sheer horsepower that slammed into it.

Fuck, this hadn't been his best idea.

Building up sweat, Katsuki blasted Iida back, sending him flipping. Keeping up the offensive, Katsuki closed into range of Four Eyes…

And early immediately regretted it as Iida launched a lightning fast kick into his side, throwing him across the field. Katsuki landed, and found himself on the defensive, deflecting kicks as best he could as Iida repeatedly launched them as quickly as he could.

"That's what you get when you go up against the son and brother of a Pro!" Present Mic yelled over the roar of the crowd. Katsuki caught a kick on the side of his arm, gritting his teeth as he did. He could feel the bones getting closer to breaking. Iida's kicks, he was forced to admit, were no joke.

And if he didn't do something fast, he was screwed. His collarbone ached as Iida slammed a kick into it from above. He wasn't gonna lose here. He had to get to Deku in the finals and get some answers out of him.

"Point Blank Stun Grenade," Katsuki growled, detonating a blast that was all flash and no strength. His vision went white, a ringing in his ears.

Reaching out, he grabbed Iida by the shoulders and began to blast consecutively and quickly. No time to build up sweat, just burn him out of the are-

"You should have used this time to clear some space between us," Iida advised. Then another kick slammed into Katsuki's side, and he felt something crack, "because all you did was show me where you were."

"Fuck," Katsuki breathed out around the broken rib, firing off enough explosions to give himself some space, "you! They're gonna have to carry me out on a stretcher if you wanna win."

X Tenya X

Tenya lowered himself, the part of his brain unique to the Iida family, the one that controlled his engines stalled. Just for a second. He had wanted to hold this for as long as possible. His ace in the hole.

No. He wanted to win this tournament. He wanted to come back to Tensei, smile at him and say confidently "I am the first Iida to win the UA Sports Festival".

And failing that, he wanted to claim to be the first one to place in the top three.

"Recipro," the torque and RPM started up as Bakugo angled his hands towards Tenya. Naught to overdrive in less then a second. Kicking forwards with white and blue flames trailing from his Engines, Tenya was within Bakugo's guard faster than he could blink. His knee slammed home, sending Bakugo flying backwards with several cracks, "BURST!"

Normally, Tenya would have pleaded for sanity to win the day. Bakugo couldn't keep up with him during Recipro Burst. But that was the thing. This was during Recipro Burst. Ten seconds of speed, ten seconds to win victory.

Tenya launched kick after kick at Bakugo, as quickly as he could within those ten seconds. Bones cracked with each kick, occasionally Bakugo would throw up an attempt at a guard. Tenya bulldozed through it like chaff paper. Finally at the end of the ten seconds, with his engines stalled, Tenya found himself facing the broken, but unbowed, frame of Bakugo.

"I didn't…" Bakugo took a step forwards, only to nearly crumple. He raised his hand, the one still usable, "I didn't hear a bell, you-"

"Bakugo," Nezu called quietly, "It's over."

"I can still fight!"

"And while that might win the day in a battle," Nezu said, "this isn't a battle. We already had one person fight beyond the point of reason and sanity today. I won't let you risk your permanent health for a victory. You'll have two more attempts at UA. You're done."

Bakugo's hand crackled. And finally he dropped it and looked at Iida, "Watch out for Deku… something isn't right in his head any… more…

Tenya rushed forwards as Bakugo's legs finally gave out, helping him to the ground.

"I don't need… don't… fuck it. Today isn't the day for this."

X AN X

So, I'm gonna end this here, because frankly 1) Setsuna really can't lose her next match and 2)... if I'm honest, I know this ending is gonna be so controversial anything I do after it will be white noise. I'm pretty sure a lot of people expected Bakugo and Izuku to be facing each other in the finals. But with the fact that Iida can keep up with Stain, and that Recipro Burst had been kept under wraps to this point… yeah, I do legitimately think Iida would win a fight during the Sports Festival. He nearly won against Shoto after all.