Chapter 14: Sports Festival Part 3

Tokoyami made his way back to the center of the stadium. Leo had given him directions which he kindly listened to but cruelly didn't correct him when he started making wrong turns. He wanted to see how long it took Leo to find his way out of this place.

Recovery Girl had given him the thumbs up when she had gotten confirmation that Tokoyami had been accepted into the next round. Midnight was supposed to announce the event that took place every year.

The Battle Trials. 16 going in. Only one comes out on top.

Light shined at the end of the tunnel as he found his way back to the field. Once on, several members of the crowd noticed him and started applauding.

Present Mic then cleared his throat and announced. "It appears our sixteen remaining contestants are all here! Midnight!"

The referee gave the hero a thumbs up before speaking into her Microphone. "The final event will be split up into separate battles. If you are new then you will learn quickly what that means for here is the chart!"

The Jumbotron revealed a bracket for the upcoming fights. Tokoyami skimmed the board until he found his name and his opponent.

"It looks like I'm fighting Yaoyorozu."

He turned to the vice-president who was looking at him. They locked eyes and stared at each other for a moment. He could practically feel the intensity between them. He remembered what Leo said to him. Out of all the people that needed to lose it had to be Yaoyorozu. And since he battled her throughout the tournament, he could see why.

She may not have been cruel about it like Todoroki was, yet Tokoyami could tell she had way too much confidence in her power that she didn't think losing was a likely option.

Then he remembered about the flashbangs she made in the second round. Yaoyorozu was aware of his weakness, meaning he had to be careful around her. Fortunately, there were quite a few battles before they would go toe to toe.

For example, there were Midoriya vs…

Where the hell did Shinso come from. He hadn't even noticed the boy was still in the fight. Heck, his team didn't even attack them like everybody else.

Tokoyami heard someone clear their throat behind him before they spoke aloud. "I wish to be removed from the last round."

When everyone heard this they whipped around to see who had spoken. The bird-headed teen turned to see Ojiro was the one who had spoken. The student had a sad look on his face as he had his hand raised.

Well, this was a shocking turn of events. (Not for us)

I watched the festival from my seat in the medical ward. Recovery Girl next to me. The monitor was displayed over the corner of the room above our heads as the announcement of two participants leaving the final stage.

"Although odd, it still is within reason as to why they would want to decline." Recovery Girl stated. "Honor may not be a major part in an actual fight but it would help improve a public image if you display it in situations such as this."

"Tell that to Kirishima. That boy would not use his legs if his opponent was paralyzed from the waist down. I would bet you a thousand yen on it."

"I bet it happens in a year."

"Doubt that so deal."

We continued to watch the new arrangement go down. Alongside Ojiro, a 1B student also stood down. The two were then replaced by two members from the most active team.

While they were setting up the first round between Midoriya and Shinsou, Recovery Girl turned to me. "I was told you were unhurt from your encounter with a villain. However, you still have bandages on your arms. May I ask why?"

The bandages on my arms were fresh from a clothes beam. Everybody asked about them but it was worst when they ask about the scars. He had wanted to continue using long-sleeve uniforms but they tended to get in the way of his martial arts.

"They just cover up old scars so that no one askes about them."

"Would they just ask about the bandages then?"

"I tend to just make up a story at that point." was my response. "I only told you about them because you are the school nurse and it is inevitable that you see them."

"May I see them now?"

Knowing how she tended to get what she requested, my arms rose. She walked over and removed the bandages from my arms. I began to watch the match between Midoriya and Shinsou to try to calm my mind.

The nurse twisted his arm to get a better look around it. 'Dear me, these scars are horrible! It almost looks like burnt flesh yet it is just hundreds of scratches on the surface. These must be the result of his training, as well as his battles in his past. Leo, what horrors have you bear witness.'

"I would like to have a full inspection of your health soon. There are some cases when scars could restrict the movement of the body and we want to check to see if there are any that have that characteristic." Recovery Girl commented.

She went to the corner and got on her computer. "I recommend that you schedule an appointment sometime this week so we could get it out of the way."

The crowd roars as Midoriya receives his quick victory. Even with Shinsou's quirk getting a hold of him it had little effect on the outcome. But even so, the power-quirk user would likely take a trip to the medical ward to fix his broken thumb.

After the bandages were placed back on my arms Midoriya came walking in. "Leo! You are ok?!"

"Why wouldn't I be? You saw me at the USJ. I can handle myself."

He froze for a second before turning to the elder nurse. "Can you help me fix my thumb before the next battle? Please."

She sighed rolling in her chair and kissing Midoriya on the cheek. Then she whacked him on the head with her cane. "If you don't find a way to prevent yourself from getting injured when you use your quirk I'll stop healing you!"

Midoriya hastily agreed. I walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. His body glowed a little bit as some of my energy was transferred and after a little bit, he looked good as new.

"Thank you. Both of you. Now I'm going to get ready for my next match. Hopefully, we won't see me in this room again."

He walked out of the room and Recovery Girl and I looked at each other. "Should I run home and get some Senzu beans."

"No need. You left some at the school last time and there are two of them on the counter here."

They both knew that it wasn't a matter of if but of when that Midoriya would be back in here.

"The next two fighters are that ice guy and the tape guy. This could be over quick."

Luna was watching as the next two contenders entered the arena. The previous match was interesting but it left more to be discovered. But from what she saw from the one called Todoroki, she guessed that this match would be more of a spectacle.

The woman behind her nodded. "I think the same but it is going to determine if Sero could remove Todoroki from the arena before he has a chance to attack. It seems unlikely but we can't count him out yet."

Luna then turned to the blonde. "Let's just hope that if there is a counterattack, it's not heading straight for the crowd. Turning into a popsicle is not on my life's to-do list."

The women chuckled. "Don't worry. Cementoss down there has fast reaction speeds. And even if one does slip by there are plenty of heroes in the crowd who could shield the attack."

The girl was still unsure but she dropped the topic. She had seen some pretty quick attacks when Leo was training with Chris. But then again that was Chris and these are students.

What is the worst that can happen?

The announcer yelled at the beginning of the match and, just as the women had stated, Sero attacked immediately. Launching his tape around Todoroki and pulling him towards the edge.

The blonde looked closely at the dual-quirked user and saw a look of fury. Then a large chill went down her spine. She had experienced enough villains to know the warning signs of an attack. But this feeling wasn't a sense of fear but rather the air around her turning frigid.

Cementoss had put up as large of a concrete barrier that he could in such a short time but some nice shot over it and towards the top of the stadium. This part was mostly empty.

Except for a few, including them.

Luna yelped and crouched behind the seat that was in front of her, bracing for the impact of ice. A shadow cast over her and soon everything was quiet.

An eternity seemed to pass by. She heard silence around her but eventually, they started yelling nice try towards the boy named Sero. This confirmed to her that she was in fact, not dead.

"You can come out now, Luna." the gentle voice of the woman behind her spoke up. Luna opened her eyes and looked over the seat.

The ice appeared to go over them and hung over the side of the stadium. When she looked closely at the column, large claw marks could be seen edged into it. Said, the column was less than ten feet from them but it appeared that something had forced it to stop.

Something. Or someone.

The woman hid her left arm behind her back as it shifted back to its regular state. Then she placed her right arm on Luna's shoulder. "You can stop shaking, nothing to worry about."

"Not shaking because I'm still afraid. I'm shaking because it's incredibly cold."

The dual quirk user then began to melt the ice. The frigid air turned humid as the column disappeared.

It was safe to say that Todoroki won that.

Sero came walking into the medical bay covered in scraps. He didn't seem in the best of moods but who would blame him. It turns out in the entirety of UA history he had been knocked out the quickest.

Many thought that the nice try comment was reassuring but it was just enforcing onto the tape user that everyone believed he had no chance. Even though he performed better than they thought.

"There is always next year, Sero. You'll be stronger by then." My words don't seem to have any effect on the boy. He turns to me.

"But so would he. Dang, it. I was hoping to get good ratings to the public."

"Hey, at least you managed to participate in front of people. All I get was a battle with a villain that everyone is thinking that the credit was given to me out of pity."

Sure enough, the headlines of the attack online stated that UA said what they did to give me good publicity. But now people were assuming that I am still weak. The heroes on the scene didn't even want to support me because it would show the public that a quirkless kid beat them at their job.

We could hear the crowd roar. The 1-B student had just annihilated Kaminari and luckily for me and Recovery Girl, there were no injuries. Just a dummied-up blonde.

"Yeah, sorry you keep getting dragged into all of that. The good news is that you are still alive."

I had no comment towards that remark. Many of my classmates had mixed opinions on the assassins. Todoroki and Bakugou couldn't let their pride get in the way so they blamed their loss on Bladedge were due to Eraserhead still trying to cancel his quirk when he was injured to help them.

Bladedge had only defeated them because he had knocked them out before they could successfully use their quirks. It was understandable why they would assume that. The classmates who didn't see what happened assumed that Eraserhead had defeated the villain.

With this attack, they questioned how strong he was with him having had battled many heroes before getting to me. So that was also a bust.

His classmates knew he was stronger than average because of the exercises they see him do. But with me being older they assume it is because of my experience and that they would be able to easily do that one day, if not better with their quirks.

Well, at least they were kind about it.

Sero thanked me and Recovery Girl and left to watch the remainder of the battle between Iida and Hatsume. I got up and leaned against the wall.

He had been here for two...no...three months. No matter how much he tried to be at the same level as the others he was always classified as one thing.

The Quirkless Hero

With him currently battling his inner demons, and these assassins attacking, he was also going to have to find a way to have this world view him as someone who could stand to defend them and not someone who needs to stay behind and do better things than fighting.

"Are you alright?" I turned to the nurse who had seen me against the wall. "You look troubled."

I look at the ceiling. "How does someone like me get people to trust me to protect them."

She thinks about this for a moment. "That would appear to be the million-dollar question. We had hoped to get you noticed through this event but the assassin stopped that. Many teachers see your strength but with no way to convince the world it will be more difficult for you."

"Guess it's back to the drawing board."

Tokoyami had his head against the wall in the locker room. His breathing formed a pattern to calm him down and prepare him for the next fight. Dark Shadow remained quiet as his host continued to do mental exercises.

Image training. Leo had shown him how to do this simple yet effective method to prepare him for combat. To allow him to fight an opponent of his past in the state he was in when he battled them.

Currently, he was facing off against Leo in his head. The best way for him to defeat Yaoyorozu was to achieve victory in one on one combat. With her knowledge of his weakness, it was his only choice.

The bird-headed teen was knocked out of his subconscious by a roar. Present Mic announced that Ashido had achieved victory against Aoyama. He exhaled. This was it.

No matter how many times he battled Leo he wouldn't be able to beat him in a head-on fight. But he didn't have to. Just being in a fight with him forced you to think on your feet. Something he would need to stop his opponent from using a thought-out plan.

He started making his way down the tunnel. The crowd could be heard getting louder as he stepped into the sunlight.

It only now just hit him that he would be fighting in front of literally millions of people. And to make matters worst…

He had no idea that it was this bright out today.

There was not a cloud in the sky. Many would see that as a good thing but it means he would be fighting at his weakest. There was a lot of pressure on him to do well. He better not waste it.

"It's the crown prince of darkness, Fumikage Tokoyami!"

There was applause, with some recognizing him as the one who shielded the other students from that explosion in the second event. Tokoyami looked up towards the crowd to see Luna was on her feet waving her arms. He could barely make out her cheers yet it was obvious she was.

"And across from him, we have 1-A's class president, Momo Yaoyorozu!"

His opponent had her shirt open to reveal her bra. She appeared to have a look of concentration on her face. That meant that the president was preparing to make something big and quick.

"Let the match begin in 3…"

"2"

"1"

"Go!"

When Mic said go, Yaoyorozu created a spotlight that dropped to the ground in front of her. It appeared to have a battery installed because it turned on immediately and shined right at him.

He flinched from the bright light but decided to continue as planned. He charged his opponent. The president seemed to see this coming and created something black on the end of her knuckles.

He pulled his fist back preparing to swing when he heard a crackling noise. Then he realized what she had planned.

Tasers

Tokoyami shot to the left so the light wasn't directly in his eye. This caused Yaororozu to miss her swing with a taser. He swept his leg underneath her to cause her to trip and fall to the ground. She used her hands to catch herself and then shot a kick at Tokoyami's knee.

He grabbed the foot and swung her around him in a 180° ark. When she halted he began to pull her towards the edge of the arena.

He could do this, he could…

Then an object flew in front of his face. In a moment he processed that the president had thrown it in front of him in a last act of desperation.

In an instant, the flash grenade detonated at point-blank range in front of him. Dark Shadow lept out of his chest and stopped any shrapnel from hitting his face but because of that, it lost all of its remaining power.

His grip loosened on Yaoyorozu and she stood back onto her feet and wrapped an arm around his neck to place him in a chokehold.

"I didn't expect you to nearly take me out. But that doesn't mean I didn't come prepared. If you had been successful at keeping your weakness a secret then this would end differently."

"Unfortunately for you, when I think of a plan it always has backups. You can't defeat me, Tokoyami. Give up and accept that."

Tokoyami began to lose consciousness. But even so, he could hear the crowd around him.

"Did you see that girl's strategy?"

"Yeah, it was awesome."

"Definitely pro material."

"With a quirk like that against a bird weak to a little light, the victor was obvious."

Much of the audience began to applaud the class president on her thinking. Soon though he could only hear a roar as everything began to go dark.

Then a small Dark Shadow floated in front of his eyes. Tokoyami did what he thought was necessary and focused on the little bird. He began to hear the quirk inside his head.

"Don't give up Fumikage. It's not over yet."

"It is. My strength was not enough. All those kids way back then were right. I'm not strong enough to be a hero."

"Don't listen to the crowd. Don't listen to your rivals. And most certainly don't listen to those who look down on you for who you are."

"But what do I do? She has developed the perfect strategy to defeat me."

"Find a way! Do you remember how hard you trained to get here? Hop and Leo helped show you that even without me you are strong. I know you are, they know you are, and it is time you showed the world you are."

"The world doesn't want me. Look at this crowd. They cheer on my opponent because of her brains and her quirk."

"Not all of them."

Dark Shadow then pointed into the crowd. Tokoyami followed his finger to see Luna had somehow gotten herself a small flag with a crow on it. He could hear her yelling for him to rise and win.

"And it's not just her but even if it was. She didn't look at us as a weakling. She looked at us as a friend. So did Hop. So did Leo."

"Know if you want to show the world who Fumikage Tokoyami is...you will stand up...AND FIGHT!"

Tokoyami gripped Yaoyorozu's arm tighter.

"DID DEEP AND FIGHT!"

He started to growl. He could feel his strength returning. Yaoyorozu started to put all her effort into the chokehold.

"FIGHT!"

The growl turned into a slight yell. His body never felt more energized.

"FIIIIIIIIGHT!"

Tokoyami roared with all of his might.

I shot up to my feet.

This feeling, was just like during the Universe 9 tournament.

Could Tokoyami have actually

"What is that boy doing?"

"He did it! He actually did it! Go Tokoyami!"

"Where did you get that flag from!?"

"eBay."

The women decided to just leave it at that.

Black ki erupted from Tokoyami's body.

Yaoyorozu was blown away from the force of power and crashed into her spotlight. When she got back to her feet her eyes have never been wider.

"What is...that's...Leo's...how did you?!"

Dark Shadow, which had been the size of a cockroach, grew to the size of half the fighter's arena. Midnight yelped as a wing brushed above her head.

Tokoyami looked at his hands. Unlike when he battled with Opac, he felt complete control over this power. He turned to the class president and willed his quirk to return inside of him.

Let's show this world, Fumikage Tokoyami.

With a newfound speed, he dashed forward. Yaoyorozu threw another flashbang at him but he caught it with his bare hand. When it detonated, the shrapnel didn't even penetrate his aura. The light had been covered up by the dark ki.

His opponent materialized tasers on her knuckles again as she started attempting to box her way out. However, Tokoyami's time with Leo showed how to easily dodge attacks such as these.

He ducked underneath a punch and then grabbed her arm. Before Yaoyorozu had a chance to swing her other arm, she was being spun in circles.

Tokoyami suddenly let go and the class president flew outside of the arena and landed with a thud.

Several moments of silence followed. The crowd was stunned by what happened. One moment, the girl had the bird in a chokehold, and the next he had bulldozed his way through her plans.

Slowly, the crowd started to clap and soon it erupted into applause. Tokoyami let loose a breath and the dark aura around him vanished. However, he could feel it ready to return if need be.

Yaoyorozu stayed on the ground. She appeared uninjured but looked into the sky with a blank stare. The bird-headed teen recognized this as her being mentally broken after her plan had failed. Just as Leo said would happen.

Tokoyami gave it some thought and faced her. Then bowed to her. In different circumstances, he would have lost that battle. It was luck that he had won.

Deciding to let the robots take Yayorozu out, Tokoyami turned to the tunnel and exited the arena.

I AM SO SORRY! Not posting for about a month. I promised that won't happen again. Work has finally slowed down and my gaming addiction is slowing. Hopefully, you enjoy where the story is going. Warning: the next chapter will be extremely long and the conclusion of the Sports Festival. I hope you stick around for more.