A DAY AHEAD OF SCHEDULE BUT I REALLY WANT TO HAVE THIS CHAPTER OUT BECAUSE IT'S HILARIOUS, SUE ME ABOUT IT [actually please don't, I'm too poor to financially recover from this]
Trixuny - Indeed, he has a lot of interesting contacts in places normally hidden from the world. And yes. There'll be a sudden uncle/aunt mobilization, once Izuku hits his darkest moment :P
PLPanda - Read this chapter. Endeavor only gets truly murdered here xD
Crimextar06 - Yep, the timeline doesn't matter, Asa will always be Izuku's beloved little brother. While being his beloved older brother that he wants to be more like. Also incorrect! Toxic is right, yes. But it's not Juggernaut but Zealot, and not Mastermind (though he will be mentioned as going to attend the UA Rehab Course in a year or two, once he gets old enough, as in this AU Zealot actually knew about his existence and escaped with him).
Raw666 - Actually, what you said makes perfect sense. Alas, I didn't think about it. Damn.
Detrametal - Yes, who might have been the thief, I wonder :v
(***)
Mr. Compress is watching the school festival in his little gang's unofficial hideout. He is officially a fan of Miss Uraraka and he finds her fierceness in combat - and the oh so familiar creative use of clothing - truly admirable. It is a shame that she didn't get further than that, but she still has so much room to grow, especially if Izuku helps her…
Suddenly, his phone starts to ring. He recognizes the number, so he picks it up.
"Asa, my precious boy!" He says. "How can I help you?"
"Uhm… Uncle Sako, I have a… errr. I need your help." Oh he certainly does, especially with the anxiety that's a serious issue of Asa in Mr. Compress opinion. It's kind of adorable, but also very, very bad for the kid.
"I'm here for you, Asa!" Mr. Compress announces with a wide smile. He loves the kid. He has a soft spot for every person that's THIS gifted with thievery and sleight of cards. The fact that he is Inko's son is an icing on the cake. If only his dad wasn't the scariest person Mr. Compress ever knew… and his step dad is only slightly less intimidating. "What seems to be the problem?"
Did Aiko steal his organic carrots again? Mr. Compress isn't stealing them back, he isn't suicidal.
"I… might have stolen Endeavor's credit card." Asa replies and Mr. Compress inhales deeply. Did he just… "And wallet. And phone. And car keys. And house keys. And business cards. And a hero license. And…"
"Asa, wait for me!" Mr. Compress replies a bit more forcefully than he wanted and he can hear Asa gulp in shock. "I need some more context for this."
"I w...was following Izuku around!" Asa almost yells. He took the order to explain a bit too… orderly. "But he was talking with Endeavor and Endeavor was being a meanie to him so the Rabbit was fierce! And brave! Like Miruko! So I took things from him, but, uhm… I don't know what to do now." He ends, clearly waiting for help.
It is at this moment that Mr. Compress realizes that despite all his love for Izuku and Eri (and Aiko too, just… slightly less and preferably from a safe distance), Asa is and forever will be his most favourite member of the Midoriya family. After Inko. Okay, he might have actually reached her level now.
Because knowing what sort of sneaky thief Asa is when he wants to, Mr. Compress knows that absolutely no one, including Izuku and Endeavor, noticed that something happened. Quirk-wise Asa was probably Mr. Compress equal if not more, at this point. His quirk was truly a thing to behold.
"Asa. You beautiful, beautiful child." Mr. Compress says with all the love he can find in his heart. "I'll have a friendly warp quirk user pick them up from you, just send me your GPS coordinates through an SMS, alright? And then phone me again and explain what exactly you heard Endeavor saying." His warper can only take non-living things, but… he is practically made for moments like this.
Oh this will be a glorious day to Mr. Compress and the entirety of Japan.
(***)
"The agile kid with an atomic punch from the Heroics Course, Midoriya Izuku!" Present Mic announces. "Versus… the boy who has given Midnight the cold shoulder, Todoroki Shoto from the Hero Course!"
"Are you going to use your fire?" Izuku asks Shoto before the fight starts. Young Todoroki flinches a bit.
"No." He answers. He is clearly avoiding eye contact with Izuku.
"Unfortunate." Izuku replies after a second. "For you. Because if you wanted to use your fire, I'd throw the match. But since you're still an absolute dumbass, I'm going to do it the hard way."
Todoroki's eyes widen briefly. Then the match starts and he instantly attempts to freeze Izuku.
The attack is repelled with a blast that breaks one of Izuku's fingers, and instantly breaks the soon-to-be glacier. Instead of waiting for another attack, Izuku leaps sideways, to the edge of the stadium. Todoroki unleashes another glacier, but this time Izuku dodges it by stopping himself randomly.
Todoroki predicted his movement when targeting his blast. He didn't predict the random cessation of it.
"And that's one blast of ice that I didn't need to counter with my finger." Izuku says with a mocking tone. "You're doing a splendid job, Todoroki!"
"I might not be very involved in the way our class works." Shoto replies, before he makes Izuku lose another finger to block another ice blast. "But I don't remember you acting like that."
"I'm just particularly angry right now." Izuku replies, running to the other side. Shoto thinks that he is simply trying to make him waste another shot, but then he suddenly leaps towards the ice user, forcing him to expend a shot. Creating another pointless wall of ice that might be slightly limiting Izuku's range of motions… but isn't doing much to help Shoto win the endurance contest. "Someone told me some rather nasty things about someone else, and I didn't believe them. Today I realized that they were right all along. But it's way too late. Add me hearing way too many explosions for a single day…"
Another ice blast and another finger.
"... and you get me having a bad day." Izuku says, completely ignoring the fact that some of his fingers are broken. "So excuse me for this, but I'm going to beat you up until you stop half-assing the tournament and being a dumbass in general. And then I'm going to beat you some more, and defeat you before you even get to the semi-finals. Way to piss off Endeavor, don't you think?"
Shoto tries to freeze him again, but he uses another finger. This is just a slugging match at this point. Whoever tries to get close, gets interrupted with a blast strong enough to damage whatever remains of the ring.
"Didn't you listen to me at all?" Todoroki is growing angry. "I'm not going to use his fire…"
"Did you even bother to look at Uraraka's fight?!" Izuku stares at him with a thoroughly intimidating furious glare on his face. "She fought to the bitter end, despite being outmatched. Ojiro did the same. The tail kid, in case you didn't bother to remember his name. And what about Jirou?!"
Another blast. Another finger.
"And all that you are doing is half-assing it." Izuku is clearly furious. "Life handed you a wonderful quirk that every quirkless person in the world would have killed for, and you are crippling yourself by using only one half of it out of what? Daddy issues?!" Todoroki can feel the frost slowly overtaking him. He can't keep doing that for long. But, hopefully, neither can Midoriya. "Use your father's credit card to fund research into quirk transfers and give your quirk to someone else because you don't deserve it! Neither your ice nor your flames!"
"Did your father pay you to do this?!" Todoroki actually shouts back. "To try to make me use his flame?" His classmates on the tribune have no idea what the shouting is about (too much ambient noise to hear anything), but they realize that this isn't something normal. For the first time ever they see Todoroki being emotional, and it's clear that he is furious.
"You know who my father is and you still think that yours could pay me to do something?" Izuku says with a nervous (and pained) chuckle. "No, sorry, you're right. There is something that he could persuade me to do for him. Namely, prepare his own funeral. I'd do it even without getting paid. As a community service."
Another blow, another finger.
"What are you going to do when you'll be a pro hero and you'll be the only thing standing between some children and a villain that just happens to be immune to cold?" Izuku shouts at him again. "What are you going to do, Todoroki? Are you going to explain to some grief-stricken parents that you didn't save their child because you had a grudge towards your dad? Is that how much your desire to become a hero is worth?!"
"You have no idea what he did to my family!" Shoto shouts back and makes another blast. He doesn't care if Midnight hears what they are talking about. "I'M NOT GOING TO USE HIS QUIRK!"
Another blast, and another counterblow. Midoriya is panting heavily, bleeding all over. Todoroki is almost frozen. Midnight seems to be talking with Cementoss about something with a worried face, probably thinking about ending the match.
"IT'S NOT HIS QUIRK YOU FUCKING DUMBASS!" Izuku shouts at him. "IT'S YOURS! BOTH SIDES OF IT!"
Todoroki freezes. Izuku doesn't take advantage of that. Instead he is facing him with a face that's… just sad. No longer angry. Just sad.
"You heard what I told you about not trying to become a hero alone." Izuku says, his tone of voice almost solemn. "About how everyone but you is giving their best and how you are a disgrace to them by half-assing it. It's not too late for you to stand with them. You just need to ask yourself a question." He pauses for a second before smiling faintly. "If you truly want to be a hero… then do you want to be a hero like your father? Or like All Might?"
For a few seconds there is silence on the field. Then comes the fire.
(***)
Endeavor's happiness at his son using his flame is short-lived. No one noticed that Midoriya kept breaking the fingers of his left hand - just twice or, in one case, thrice. Despite all the pain, he remembered Mr. Compress teaching him some simple tricks on how to focus the attention of people away from certain things.
His right hand was untouched. The strength of a hundred percent One for All channeled through it - together with Todoroki's large scale explosion - shattered the wall that Cementoss tried to erect between them. And then it triumphed against the explosion.
There was also the part where he was using Full Cowl to keep his feet grounded against the impact.
When the smoke cleared, Todoroki was out of bounds, his back resting on the ice he conjured unconsciously to stop himself from being flung at the wall of the stadium. He was awake, and frankly enough, not much hurt.
Midoriya was barely standing. But he was barely standing on the field.
Midnight announced his victory. Then came the paramedics.
(***)
"You're not going to say 'out of my way'?" Endeavor asks. Because of course he is there. Waiting for him when he left the Recovery Girl office after a brief check-up.
Shoto Todoroki stares at his father in silence.
"Your control of your flames is still lacking." Endeavor continues. "You lost your fight because of that. Though I'm willing to overlook this because you finally used them. You've finally become the perfect upgrade for me. You've stopped with your whining. Come to my agency for your internships, I'll..."
"I won't." Shoto replies. "I didn't use my flames for you." He is tired. He lost. But he thinks that it gave him more than a victory would.
"What?" Endeavor is clearly taken aback.
"He told me… he told me that you are never going to become a Number One Hero not because you are weaker than All Might… but because all you have for people are scowls and angry looks." Shoto says and he can see something nasty on his father's face. Oh, the irony. "While he is actually making them feel safe. Because he is a hero for them, not for the ranking."
"Shoto…" Endeavor tries to say, but Shoto doesn't let him.
"He told me that everyone but I are giving it their best, while I'm just half-assing it." Shoto continues. "He asked me if I want to become a hero alone… or if I want to stand with the others. He asked me… if I wanted to become a hero like you or like All Might." Shouto's eyes meet his father's. "And I choose All Might."
Seeing his father's face at that very moment was worth losing the match. That much Shoto is certain about.
(***)
The fight between Ibara Shiozaki and Inasa Yoarashi is surprisingly close to being an endless one. Ibara's vines keep her anchored to the floor, rendering the majority of the Inasa's winds utterly useless. Inasa, in the meantime, can simply float outside of her effective range.
To the surprise of absolutely everyone, Ibara manages to grab Inasa by an ankle (taking advantage of him getting a bit too… passionate with the fight) and toss him out of bounds. Or, to be exact, rams him into the ground (as merely tossing him would just end with him returning to his floating routine).
Inasa proves that he considers every defeat an occasion to learn more things (or perhaps he is just happy that he lasted for at least as long as Todoroki Shoto did), and he (loudly) congratulates Ibara on winning against him. Prompting Midnight to let out a comment about how she loves passionate youth.
(***)
Tenko Shimura is fast. Tenya recognizes it. He has no idea if it's born from training or if it's some odd part of his quirk. There are WEIRD quirks out there, Tenya knows that much, and he knew that even before Midoriya treated his friends to a few of his rambling sessions about the super interesting quirks he just heard about. So it might be this.
But, while he was extremely fast and Tenko touching you with four fingers triggered an automatic loss (Present Mic explained it after Yaoyorozu's defeat, there was a sort of support item in play here), Tenya was still faster.
He engaged him with a Recipro Boost right off the bat, and managed to suppress him for long enough to drag him out of bounds. Tenko mumbled something about 'the damn speed builds' and left.
(***)
Ayako Nakahara was a brilliant girl with a quirk that allowed her to detect the quirks and their general power level at a distance (she had no idea why Izuku Midoriya was walking around with a Class-Six quirk absolutely identical to All Might's, or why did she saw several similar quirk signatures on the audience, and she wasn't going to ask), plus some things about them if she saw them up close.
But she still had no start to Bakugou Katsuki. The explosions were something simple yet hard to counter with tools she was allowed to take into the field. Sure, she could bring a riot shield. But how was that going to stop him from detonating his sweat in front of it, generating enough of an impact to probably break the hand behind it?
It was a bad match-up. And she knew that. So she immediately announced that she is withdrawing.
Bakugou genuinely looked like he was about to murder her for it. But with Midnight there, he had no occasion to do it.
(***)
Tsuyu Asui might have as well be Neito Monoma's natural predator. She is faster and stronger than he is, she has an ability for ranged attacks, and he can't copy her quirk. Unfortunately, the rule for the copycat quirks in tournaments like this is that they are allowed to bring some quirks to the battle.
Neito Monoma chose Miyuki Tagawa. Who could as well be Tsuyu Asui's natural predator. She discovers that when she grabs Neito with her tongue only for him to touch it with his hands.
His skin irritated and burned her tongue. When she lets him out, he runs towards her, shouting at her (and thus making the vocal component of his quirk kick her sense of balance off).
She tries to jump away, but she fails. And he gets close enough to breathe into her face. His breath right now is pretty much a sleeping gas. She falls unconscious and Midnight calls the match.
(***)
Since Izuku Midoriya was still in surgery, and the number of contestants for this round was uneven, the referees decide that he is sitting this one round out. The next fight is between Ibara Shiozaki and Tenya Iida.
While Ibara Shiozaki's quirk did wonders against Inasa Yoarashi, she can do little against Tenya's rapid attacks from the side. He doesn't have to force the attack through her vines, he just needs to approach them from the side.
Unlike Inasa, doing so doesn't force him to get close enough to get grabbed. Or, to be exact, it forces him to get even closer, but for a much shorter period of time.
Ibara Shiozaki is soon out of bounds, and Tenya Iida proceeds to the next round.
(***)
"You know, you're kinda pissing me off." Neito Monoma announces. Bakugou glares at him from the other side of the field. "You still act like you are oh so much better than me, despite being from a Rehab Course."
"Shut up." Bakugou isn't buying it. Oh, well.
"The boy with the explosive temper… Bakugou Katsuki from the Rehabilitation Course!" Present Mic announces. "Versus… the scheming tactician and class 1-Bs last hope, Neito Monoma of the Hero Course!"
"So what did you do to get into the Rehab Course, Ba-ku-gou?" Neito decides to keep digging. "Indulge my curiosity!"
"I taught someone where their place is." Bakugou replies, with venom dripping off his tongue. "Apparently someone else had a problem with that."
Well, that should be enough. He certainly does sound like he doesn't regret whatever he did, and it was certainly something pretty bad, right?
Gear Two.
Neito Monoma doesn't understand how Maki can NOT love using their quirk. The feeling of power that floods him is simply… addictive.
The look on Bakugou's face when Neito isn't even wounded after taking his explosion to face (okay, it hurts a lot, and he isn't doing that again, but he isn't in any notable way wounded, and he is still standing as if nothing happened) is almost addictive as well.
"Maki didn't get to show his quirk." Neito smiles. "So I'm doing it for him. Power, speed and endurance amplification proportional to how much I think I'm morally superior to my opponent." He chuckles. "And considering that I naturally think that I'm morally superior to you class 1-A rabble, even without you doing some mean things and not feeling even a bit regretful… it's kinda an overkill, you know?"
It's still a rather close fight. By the time it ends, Monoma is barely standing. But Bakugou, clearly beaten up (and torn between being furious and emotionally vacant) is out of bounds.
(***)
The 1vs1vs1 fight between the three remaining contestants is called off, because the Recovery Girl announces that Izuku Midoriya cannot participate due to medical issues. According to the judges, he takes the official third place.
The last fight of the tournament is between Tenya Iida and Neito Monoma. Tenya Iida looks through the list of class 1-B participants earlier and decides that the most logical quirk for Monoma to copy is Honnenuki's softening, in order to limit Tenya's mobility.
Neito didn't pick the most logical one. Tenya realizes it when he gets close and tries to kick Monoma, only for his leg to meet a solid steel. He doesn't end up breaking a leg, but he does sprains an ankle.
He then discovers that Neito did pick the most logical quirk. It's just that he could copy two quirks at once, but purposefully kept that part hidden until now. To use it at the right moment.
With a sprained ankle, Tenya has no ability to escape the softening of the ground beneath him in time. And with his engines submerged, he can barely fight back. Especially not against Neito Monoma with Tetsutetsu's quirk.
The fight is over, and so are Eraserhead's hopes for free coffee from Vlad King for a while. The worst part is that his class would have crushed the 1-B remnants in almost every alternative configuration of fights. Instead, half of 1-A heavy hitters pretty much knocked each other out. And Midoriya got to the podium de facto by technicality. Mostly by the virtue of how devastating his last attack was.
Hell, Eraserhead is certain that if Izuku could fight, he would beat Neito Monoma in the finals. Easily. What rotten luck.
The award ceremony comes next, and the fact that two of three medalists were from his class just isn't enough to improve his mood.
(***)
Endeavor notices that he was robbed by the time he (still absolutely livid) returns to his car. Once he finally gets back into contact with his agency, he starts being bombarded by news that only makes his mood worse.
1. Someone with access to his credit card and phone ordered ten thousand All Might's posters to his agency's address, specifying that the delivery must be as fast as possible. The company in question did its best (it was the Number Two Hero who hired them, after all, and they had some useful quirks) and during the last one and a half hour has actually managed to deliver it.
2. Someone has also ordered fifty tonnes of organic carrots to either his house or hero agency (from several companies at once). This was accompanied with a message that could be summed up by 'if you'll eat a lot of carrots, you'll grow big and strong like All Might!'.
3. Said someone has also bought a billboard visible from his office and had it replaced with a large banner claiming that Endeavor can never be as cool with All Might. Worst of all, someone has actually replaced the billboard (and nobody was sure who, since it happened in a matter of minutes) and rolling the changes back might take a few days. At least. Even if someone manages to prove that the cash was technically stolen. So he was going to be temporarily forced to see this abomination from his office window.
And if that wasn't enough, someone has used Endeavor's phone to contact an on-going - and very popular - talk show about heroes. Endeavor sometimes phoned it for various reasons, and he was a relatively common 'sight'. So they pitched him in without asking questions.
The result was Mr. Compress pretending to be a drunk Endeavor phoning Burnin (and mistaking the numbers) from the UA, and going on a long rant on how despite all that he is doing, All Might still doesn't notice how much Endeavor is in love with him.
Mr. Compress managed to temporarily persuade a big part of Japan that Endeavor's signature scowl is born of his sexual frustration towards All Might. And that Endeavor is a bottom, to add insult to injury. The dirty talk accompanying all of that was… inspirational, according to people that heard it. Especially the particularly kinky parts.
While Mr. Compress eventually stepped forward a few days later and announced that it was all just a prank of his, there were still people who thought that he merely took the advantage of the situation to call it his own master plan. Or that Endeavor paid him to take the blame. And that the Number Two Hero's words from the talk show were genuine.
Besides, Mr. Compress just admitted to stealing Endeavor's wallet and phone, and in a way that made the hero not even notice it until more than an hour has passed. That alone was a blow to reputation.
Endeavor was fuming for days. Even after his things were returned to him. Minus the business cards, because Mr. Compress signed those and sold them through the internet (save for the ones he gave to Uraraka Ochaco and Asa Midoriya, and the one he kept framed in his hideout), forwarding the earnings to a charity organization helping the victims of fires.
Needless to say, the day of the UA school festival was one of the worst in Endeavor's life.
(***)
Asa Midoriya was happy about Rabbit standing up for his brother until his family heard about the organic carrots prank. Then they immediately realized what happened and his brother gave him a solid scolding about stunts like this (while totally awesome) carrying a possibility of him not becoming a hero in the future.
Mr. Compress was happy about what he did to Endeavor (who turned out to be a bigger trash bag than he thought) until Inko Midoriya figured out that Asa was involved. Then Inko had him kneel on frozen peas while she was busy delivering him world's most intense scolding, occasionally highlighted with some well-timed hits with rolled newspaper.
Tenya was happy about getting so far (even if sad about losing to Neito) until he got a phone call that his brother was attacked by the Hero Killer in Hosu. And that there was a high risk that he would never regain the ability to walk.
Izuku Midoriya was happy about getting so far (even if sad about not winning) until he got an sms from the Hero Killer who was thoroughly freaking out about hearing about what happened to Ingenium. Because he was pretty certain that he wasn't even in Hosu at the time.
Overhaul was, frankly, pissed off about life in general, especially as he couldn't shake the feeling that the green-haired kid from the festival was somehow similar to the kid that cost him the Shie Hasseikai. But only until the Council meeting, which outlined the next step of the Paranormal Liberation Front's grand strategy. Which was going to happen in Hosu.
(***)
Contrary to the popular opinion, despite spending many years in an active service as a hero using his flames to the best of his ability, Shoto Todoroki has never delivered a greater burn than the one he did to his father in this chapter.
And yes, after seeing Todoroki half-freeze Midnight in canon fight against Sero, I just had to make the cold shoulder joke. I'm hilarious.
Also, let's be real. We all know that Compress is Asa's favourite uncle.
Also2: NO ONE EXPECTED MONOMA TO WIN THE SPORTS FESTIVAL, HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHA! I decided to throw that guy a bone, I mean he is (almost) always treated as a joke character while being a highly intelligent tactician that's literally second in wits to Yaoyorozu among the first years.