Chapter 26 - Winners and Losers

When the two got back to the stands, Matthew and Leila went their separate ways: Matthew went to sit with the students who were still in the competition, while Leila sat with those who were eliminated. The 'East and West' band were also there, as they had decided to sit with their fellow students, and there was a better view from where they were originally seated.

As Matthew joined the other competitors, they congratulated him for his win, and gave compliments about his new sword. Matthew thanked them, reminded them to thank Leila when they saw her, and then sat beside Milo.

"Ashido's match is up next, right?" asked Matthew, as he sat down with Milo.

"Yep." Milo replied, his tone focused.

"You nervous about your girl fighting?"

"No, I have faith that Mina will win. Not only is she a breakdancer, but she's athletic, and has complete mastery over her quirk. Plus, we did some training together for the past couple of days, so she has some new attacks in her arsenal."

"That's nice. But you do know that if the two of you make it to the finals, you may end up fighting each other?"

"Not exactly; one of us will encounter and lose to you, so the only question here is who is it going to be?"

"Good point." said Matthew. "Hey, looks like they're coming up now."

The match between Ashido and Ruby was fairly short, mainly because Ashido was able to keep out of Ruby's reach by surfing around on her acid. Because of this, Ruby had to put all her energy into hopping around, which caused her to become winded quickly. Then, when Ruby stopped to rest, Ashido was able to surf up and push her back, causing her to slip on some non-melting acid that had been laid down. Ruby slipped on it and spilled over the white line; she lost the match.

"Ruby Dundee is out of bounds." Simba announced. "The winner, Mina Ashido!"

The crowds cheered for Ashido (especially Milo, who was ecstatic that his girlfriend won), while she smiled widely and did peace signs with her fingers, giggling cheerfully at her victory! As for Ruby, she got up and came back into the arena.

"Good on ya, mate." said Ruby, her tone good-natured, as she extended her hand. "Best of luck on your next match."

"Thank you!" Ashido replied, her tone cheerful and kind, as she shook Ruby's hand. "You did a great job leaping around!"

Ruby grinned and said, "Thanks for the compliment!"

Despite her lost, Ruby had no hard feelings towards Ashido; she made it far in the Sports Festival, and had proven herself to everyone watching, so she was pleased with her own performance.

The next match was between Simon Cooper Garcia and Hanta Sero. Both were evenly matched, with Sero using his 'Tape' quirk, and Simon using his 'Strings' quirk. Because he had lost to Todoroki under thirty seconds during last year's Sports Festival, Sero wasn't going to be fooling around; no one was going to be saying 'nice try' to him this year. However, Simon Cooper Garcia was nothing like Todoroki, and he was also looking to win, no matter who stood in his way.

The opening of the match had the two of them dodging each other's attacks, and firing their quirks at each other with hopes of ensnaring their opponent. When that didn't work, the two moved in and tried trading blows against each other. Unfortunately, that's where things went wrong for Sero; he mostly relied on his quirk for combat, so he was somewhat unprepared to face an opponent head-on, as he was a long-range fighter. Simon, on the other hand, had trained in hand-to-hand combat, so he knew how to hold his own.

Using quick strikes and dodging Sero's tape attacks, Simon was able to get close and deal damage. Sero tried to block to the best of his ability, but had to go on the defensive in order to be eliminated. He began dodging around the platform, eventually getting well out of range to fire a stream of tape at Simon. It wrapped around Simon's left arm, and Sero pulled with all of his strength, sending him flying!

But as he was flying, Simon fired a string from his right index finger, which rapidly flew through the air and wrapped around his left leg! Simon pulled as hard as he could, and Sero tripped, making him pull Simon in another direction, away from the out-of-bounds area. Simon then landed back on the fighting platform, and pulled as hard as he could, spinning around several times like he was in the hammer throw at the Olympics, and with Sero at the end of the tape and string! Simon then stopped spinning and sent Sero flying, cutting the string so that he wouldn't be dragged along. Only problem was that the tape was still attached to his arm!

"That's not good…" Simon muttered, right before he got pulled along with Sero.

As Simon was dragged along the ground, he began firing sharp strings from his fingers, into the cracks in the platform, so that he could stop himself from being pulled over the out of bounds line. He then was able to stop, but he looked back and saw that Sero was retracting his tape, so that he could come back over the out of bounds line! At which point, Simon came up with a strategy, and quickly cut the strings, pulling him towards the out of the bounds area. He then leapt into air, as Sero came right at him, and double-kicked Sero as hard as he could! Sero cut his tape in that moment, so he was separated as Simon hit the ground. Sero, on the other hand, flew from the platform and into the dirt, where he rolled for a couple of seconds before stopping.

"Hanta Sero is out of bounds." Simba announced. "The winner, Simon Cooper Garcia!"

The crowd cheered for Simon, who didn't bother responding, as he wanted to make sure that Sero was alright. He quickly made his way down from the platform, and found Sero, who was getting up.

"You alright?" Simon asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Sero replied, his tone somewhat bitter. "At least I went a lot longer than thirty seconds."

"You still did good; you held your own." Simon spoke. "You had a nice try."

Sero let out a yell of annoyance and pain after hearing Simon say that; but Simon didn't know about his lost last year, so it wasn't his fault. Still, he was a little shocked at Sero did that, and pulled back a little.

"Introducing first, from Justice High, and representing Team America, Milo Shiloh!" Present Mic announced over the loudspeakers. "And his opponent, from U.A and representing Team Japan, Eijiro Kirishima!"

The crowd cheered wildly for the two competitors, to which Simba raised his hands to quiet them down. As Present Mic was readying to do a play-by-play of the battle, Simba raised his left hand into the air.

"Let the battle commence!" Simba announced, throwing his hand down in a knife motion.

Kirishima used his quirk to harden his body, and charged at Milo, who began rapid firing globs of orange slime at him! Kirishima was able to dodge and tear through most of the slime, but the globs that hit him made him feel weighed down. Kirishima then remembered when Milo first came, and how he was trapped in his slime, and he knew full-well that he needed to avoid that. He leapt forward and slashed at Milo, who dodged back, but now had a large horizontal gash in his tracksuit top. Milo landed, and fired a large and quick stream at Kirishima, who was able to dodge it and come at him.

"Red Gauntlet!" Kirishima yelled, landing a massive punch into Milo's chest, which caused him to be sent flying back.

Fortunately, Milo had his arms up, which protected him from getting hit in the chest! Unfortunately, the force from Kirishima's blow, plus being in his hardening form, broke Milo's right forearm, causing it to turn dark red and purple! Milo landed on his feet, and collapsed to a knee, holding his broken arm.

"Aw, dang it." Milo groaned, before coating his broken forearm with slime.

Kirishima waited until Milo was done mending his wounds; he would never attack an enemy when he was down. Once Milo was back to his feet, and he took a fighting stance, did Kirishima ready his assault.

"No hard feelings, right, Shiloh?" Kirishima asked.

"No hard feelings, Kirishima." Milo replied, a somewhat sly smile on his face. "Because I'm gonna be the won who wins this."

Kirishima grinned and said, "We'll see about that!"

Kirishima charged, and Milo raised his left forearm at him. Suddenly, five orange slime tendrils shot out from his forearm and at Kirishima, who was able to dodge them! The tendrils retracted into Milo's arm, but he was ready to fire again.

"Little something that Midoriya, Asui, and Sero taught me." said Milo. "Let's see you get out of this one."

Now Kirishima was on the defensive, as Milo ran after him, firing the slime tendrils from his left forearm! The tendrils suddenly wrapped around Kirishima, constricting him and preventing him from moving! However, he used his hardened feet to dig into the ground, which stopped Milo from swinging him around or throwing him out of the arena. Milo pulled, but found that Kirishima had really dug himself in, and was putting all his effort into not being broken! Kirishima broke apart the slime tendrils, which quickly retracted into Milo's arm!

"Here's my ultimate move!" said Kirishima, his entire body hardening as he spoke. "Unbreakable!"

Kirishima charged again at Milo, who jumped into the air and did a quick blast of slime from his feet, which caused his shoes and socks to fly off! He landed and fired tendrils from both of his arms, which made him wince and grit his teeth in pain, since his right forearm was broken. But Kirishima was able to cut through the tendrils, and Milo was back on the defensive, quickly dodging his advancing attacks. Milo then did another quick slime blast, which propelled him away from Kirishima, and landed a good distance away.

But when Milo landed and turned to face Kirishima, a hardened and battle-ready look appeared on his face, and he took a boxing stance. This surprised everyone who was watching; Milo was usually easygoing and cheerful, so seeing him with a serious look on his face was a rare experience.

"I was planning on saving this surprise until the finale, but if I have any chance of defeating you, I'm going to have to show it now." said Milo, his tone serious.

The orange slime began to coat around Milo's hands and forearms, and then, much to the amazement of the crowd, it solidified into hard crystal, which was colored orange-white! Then, the orange slime began to grow crystals! The crystals were also colored orange-white, and they looked tough and spiky! Milo could now grow crystals from his slime, and he could also crystalize his slime!

Unbeknownst to Team America or Team Japan, Milo and Ashido had been training together in their spare time, in the ruins zone of the USJ. Aside from doing some exercises and some light sparring, they had also been working on some new special moves.

Ashido had two new special moves: one called 'Acidic Angel', in which she used her acid to create the illusion of wings, and one called 'Acid Geyser', which was a more powerful version of her acid spray, which she did by putting her hands together. Milo had his 'Slime Tendrils', which Midoriya, Asui, and Sero taught him to use, and he also had another trick up his sleeve.

While they were taking a break and resting from training, Milo asked, "You want to see something kind of weird?"

"Am I going to regret it?" Ashido asked, her tone innocent and confused.

"Don't worry, it's nothing bad." Milo replied, his tone assuring. "You know I never do anything like that to you. What I mean by 'weird' is that it's the 'where did this come from?' kind of weird."

"Weird because?" Ashido asked.

"Because this happened to me last night, when I was asleep in my bed. I had this weird dream that I was fighting one of those Nomus, like the ones that attacked the stadium during the concert. I was using my slime, but that wasn't stopping him, so I pushed myself to the limit. Suddenly, my slime began to sprout crystals, which did more damage to the Nomu. Then I snapped awake, and I found that I had accidentally activated my quirk while I was asleep. Globs of slime were all over the room, and orange-white crystals were growing from them. I don't know how, but I think I unlocked some long-dormant part of my quirk, like how Joshua unlocked that 'Pinball' portion of his quirk."

"Wow! So you can create crystals now?"

"Sort of. Watch this…"

Milo shot a tendril of slime at a ruin building and concentrated. Suddenly, orange-white crystals started sprouting from the slime, and the slime eventually hardened into a crystal itself! Milo then broke off a crystal from his slime, and then handed it to Ashido to look at.

"Wow!" said Ashido, her tone amazed. "How long do the crystals last for?"

"While my slime dissipates after a couple of minutes, depending whether or not I've had jello, these crystals last as long as normal crystals." Milo replied, his tone proud.

"That's so cool!" Ashido cheered. "It's so awesome how you unlocked a new part of your quirk!"

"Thanks." Milo replied, admiring his girlfriend for her cheerfulness. "I just hope we don't end up having to face each other off in the finals; I'd hate having to fight you, my love."

Ashido's expression turned to one of concern, and she said in a kind tone, "If I comes to that, you know that I love you, and I know that you love me. Don't think of it as the finals; think of it as a friendly sparring match."

Milo nodded and replied, "Okay, I will."

Ashido smiled and took Milo's hand, before kissing him on the cheek. Milo smiled at this, and kissed her back on the lips. If they ended up going against each other, there was going to be no hard feelings.

Milo, now having slime and crystals around his hands and forearms, charged at Kirishima and began attacking with fierce boxing jabs, hooks, and uppercuts! He blocked and dodged while delivering his own hits, which were amplified because of the crystals and slime!

Thanks to this new addition, Milo was now on the same playing field with Kirishima, who wasn't getting hurt all that much, thanks to his 'Unbreakable' form. But he was getting worked back from where he was standing, as Milo was forcing him to go on the defensive again. Not to mention that he didn't know Milo could grow crystals from his slime, which confused him all the more!

Then things started to go bad for Kirishima, as his power was starting to run down. Having put all of his energy into his 'Unbreakable' form, and with both him and Milo trading blows, he was starting to get tired. But, he took breaths and kept pushing, hoping to break through Milo's crystal defense and knock him out.

Eventually, Milo's 'Crystal Knuckles' started to wear-out and break, so Milo jumped back, and he broke the crystals off his hands and forearms by smashing them on the ground. But Milo wasn't done, and he used his slime tendrils, to create several makeshift maces, which he began swinging wildly at Kirishima, who went onto the defensive as his 'Unbreakable' form began to wear out.

Suddenly, Kirishima's power gave way, and Milo took this opportunity to fire several streams of slime at his legs and knees, constricting him to the ground. Kirishima fell back, and Milo coated his arms with slime as well!

"Do you admit defeat?" Milo asked, standing over Kirishima.

Kirishima tried to break free, but found that he couldn't, as the slime was really sticky. For some strange reason, Milo's slime got stickier, stronger, and more in quantity whenever he ate jello, despite the fact that he absolutely abhorred it. Judging from how sticky and hard it was to get out, he must've eaten a whole lot of jello. Kirishima fought like a wild animal, and tried activating his quirk again, but he was now tired. Eventually, he wore out and was left panting on the ground, as the slime was still stuck to him.

"Answer truthfully, Kirishima; can you move?" Simba asked.

Kirishima let out a groan, and replied in a low tone, "No, I can't."

"Kirishima is immobilized." Simba announced. "The winner, Milo Shiloh!"

The crowd cheered for Milo, who was trying his hardest not to look like he enjoyed his victory. He was doing that, as he was on good terms with Kirishima, and didn't want to make it look like he was being prideful about his victory.

Over the roaring crowd, Milo yelled to Simba, "Get some peroxide and pour it on my slime; it'll dissolve it after a few seconds!"

Simba nodded, and Milo went over to Kirishima, knelt down, and said, "You're going to be free in a couple of seconds; you did really good battling me."

"Thanks." Kirishima replied. "How were you able to grow crystals?"

"Long story; I'll explain it to you after you get free."

"Okay. Since those crystals were a part of your quirk, you didn't cheat, and you fought to the best of your ability; it was a good fight."

Kirishima then put arm up as high as he could, without the slime holding him back, and put out his fist. Milo understood the gesture, and he returned the fist-bump to him; a sign of good sportsmanship between the two. After a couple of seconds, a medical robot came out with a bottle of peroxide, which it poured on Milo's slime. The slime dissolved, and Kirishima was able to get back to his feet, to which he and Milo gave each other a proper handshake. The two then walked off the platform; their match was done, and Milo was moving on.

"Interesting…" said The Architect, as he watched the TV with Shigaraki. "Very interesting…"

"What do you find interesting?" Shigaraki asked, his tone somewhat annoyed.

"The students of Justice High, and the students of U.A." The Architect replied, his tone thoughtful. "They're all quite unique in their own ways. Although Fearless is my main target, there are others that warrant observation. For instance, the girl who defended his win, the one called 'Dark Angel'. I find it unusual to see that, even though she was defeated by him, she stood up for him. And she fought him on an equal level, as she did not use her quirk in battle. There is a level of influence that our quirkless hero has on people."

"So he inspires people." Shigaraki spoke, his tone annoyed. "Who cares?"

"Who cares? Influence is a powerful thing to have; it's how heroes are able to get people to change who they are. If we learn a couple of tactics from him, and add our own little villainous touch to it, we could really improve ourselves as villains. Plus, if he wins the Sports Festival, and we are able to destroy him, it'll show that we are to be feared."

"I've had an encounter with a charismatic villain before, and it wasn't befitting for our group. Besides, your target isn't out of the woods yet; he still has a long way to go before he wins…"

"Don't worry about that; I put some of my minions around the stadium. If our quirkless hero has trouble with some tough opponents, they'll be more than happy to give him some help."

Author's Notes: Special thanks to 'bluebarnowl' for giving the idea to see the Architect's reaction to Leila's speech.

R&R,

Heroboy005