"I'm just going to get to the point. You are clearly much closer to All Might than the rest of our class." Todoroki said, leaning against the wall of one of the hallways while they waited for scores to be tallied in the field. Midoriya gulped, gritting his teeth as the heterochromatic teen continued. "If you're somehow related to the number one pro…. Well that's exactly why I chose you specifically. You made me break a promise I've held for a long time, just for a moment during the cavalry battle."

"A.. promise?" Midoriya questioned and the stoic teen before him nodded.

"A promise to never use my left side in battle. Have you ever heard of quirk marriages? Where two people are forced together only for their quirks and nothing more?" The boy asked and the Omnitrix bearer nodded, looking down as he did. The very concept made him sick. "My parents were part of one. My father, endeavor is a bastard."

"Huh?"

"When I was a child… Since I could remember he's been training me to be the next pro, to surpass All Might. He wants me to be the next him, to conquer everyone no matter who gets hurt. Everyday was at best a fight I could barely hold out in, at worst nothing but constant beatings."

Midoriya felt his blood run cold at that. Somewhere in the back of his mind, the idea of 'introducing' Endeavour to Goliath began to sound pretty enjoyable. "That's….. horrible."

"You get used to it." The heterochromatic teen shrugged, and Midoriya hated how easily he seemed to just disregard it, as the boy reached up for his burned eye. "You see this? This is a constant reminder every day of why I can't ever be like him. My mother…. She began to suffer worse, mentally as time went on. She couldn't even look me in the face… eventually, just because I reminded her to much of my father, she ended up pouring a boiling kettle atop of me."

Midoriya felt sick.

"I don't even know what she actually thought she would accomplish by doing so, just that she wanted so badly not to have to see my father she attacked me." Todoroki explained, finally standing up again and beginning to walk away. "I plan to make it clear to the bastard once and for all today I will be a hero without using his damn fire quirk. I will reject him today, and if your related to All Might… then your my next step towards doing that."

Todoroki had reached the end of the tunnel, walking out towards the stadium again. Midoriya had nothing to say, at least not right away as he stared at his watch, just processing all he was told.

Todoroki had almost left when he finally thought of something, turning on the spot and calling out to him. The boy stopped, turning back with a curious yet bored look.

"Todoroki…. I won't pretend I've been through as much as you, or that I can really understand your situation fully. I can understand and appreciated your motivation though. I can't just stop because of it though… You remember what I told you all about the USJ? About JJ and Roller?"

"What about them?"

"Roller…. Gave his life to save us. To save me. I can't ever not put my all into everything from now on, to do the absolute best I am able to do. I owe him that at the very least and… JJ… she's watching from somewhere. I know it… she's seeing all of this and she's lost… everything." Midoriya said, looking down as he balled his fists tight. "Her home, her family, her friends… She seems so happy sometimes but If I catch her at the wrong moment, I can't stand the sadness I see in her eyes. So for her… I have to be as strong as I can be, to make sure she knows at least someone is there, who won't disappear on her. That's why… I still will be coming at you with everything I have. The third stage of the festival is always one on one fights of some kind so… I'll see you there!"

Silence followed after that, as the ice teen took in what the greenette had said. Then he sighed, simply walking off, Midoriya soon following behind.

"ALRIGHT SPORTS FANS! WE ARE IN THE THIRD STAGE OF THE TOURNAMENT SO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS! IT'S THE ONE V ONE FIGHTS!" Present Mic announced excitedly, prompting cheers from the crowd louder than there had been throughout the entire day. "GO ON MIDNIGHT AND TAKE IT AWAY WITH THE EXPLAINATION!"

"Thank you Mic!" The sultry woman said into her mic as the students crowded around her once more, watching a holographic screen flick to life behind her. "This year we have decided to go for a very straight forward no holds barred fight! No implements, no other challenges, all they have to do is either knock out their opponent, make them unable to move OR throw them out the ring! As straightforward as can be. I have here with me a pile of numbers for all our competitors so why don't you all come on up and see who you will be fighting?!"

"Um… excuse me!?" A voice called out, garnering everyone's attention. To the greenette's surprise it was Ojiro who had called out, tail drooping as he held up his hand. "I want to withdraw."

"What?!" Hagakure exclaimed, jumping back in surprise.

"Dude, what are you doing?! This is a huge opportunity you're throwing away." Kirishima pointed out, frowning.

"It just…. It wouldn't be right. I can't remember… anything from the second round. It was like I wasn't even in control… I can't go forward like this in good conscious." The boy explained, tightening his fists. "You guys can't change my mind on this, my pride won't let me go through."

"Um… Nirengeki Shoda, From class 1-B ." Another voice said, belonging to a somewhat short and rotund student with blue hair. "I'd like to withdraw for the same reason…"

Muttering erupted amongst the students and spectators as Midnight debated what to do about this unexpected development. After a moment she grinned, adjusting her mask. "Alright then! We'll need a replacement for you both. This is an incredibly naïve decision my boys, it's hot!"

Midoriya decided he didn't even want to know what someone like Midnight was into as he deadpanned, everyone else somewhat surprised by her comment. After a couple of moments, two 1-B students called TetsuTetsu and Shiozaki were picked.

The people who passed the second round and the substitutes all lined up, Midoriya taking a spot near the back as they moved forward. Realizing he'd completely missed hearing the score to talk with Todoroki who looked to see who was part of the group.

Bakugou, Kirishima, Yaomomo, Todoroki, Uraraka, Iida, Tokoyami, Ashido, Aoyoma, Sero, Kaminari and the two students that had been picked. There was also a girl with almost tentacle like pink hair, kitted out in odd gear and a boy with tired eyes and messy blue hair.

Midoriya picked up his number and ended up with the number eight on his slip, which he showed to Midnight. Once he got the thumbs up from her, when she wrote it down he walked off, one of the final few to have their number picked and looked up to the projection showing who was fighting who.

Izuku Midoriya vs. Hitoshi Shinsou

Shoto Todoroki vs. Hanta Sero

Denki Kaminari vs. Ibara Shiozaki

Mei Hatsume vs. Tenya Iida

Yuga Aoyama vs. Mina Ashido

Fumikage Tokoyami vs. Momo Yaoyorozu

Eijiro Kirishima vs. Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu

Ochaco Uraraka vs. Katsuki Bakugo

Midoriya frowned for three different reasons as he read that. The first was simply Uraraka's bad luck, the second was the fact that pretty much all his close friends from class were in the final round.

As a friend he was happy for them, but also sad because it meant he definitely would end up fighting at least one of them. They all knew it was nothing personal but it didn't mean he had to like it.

Finally….

"Who's…."

"Izuku Midoriya, right? From class 1-A?" A voice asked and Midoriya turned to see the blue haired boy behind him, hands in his pockets.

"Uh, ye-MMMPGHH!" Midoriya was suddenly cut off as a ball of fur forced it's way into the boy's mouth, cutting him off. Behind him, he heard Ojiro.

"You can't talk to him." The blonde said, and who Midoriya presumed was Shinsou grinned.

"Just want to say, I think I dislike you the most of your entire class." The tired eyed teen shrugged, before walking off. 'What the…'

"Ojiro, what the heck?!" Midoriya asked when the boy's tail finally got out his mouth, turning to face the taller teen while massaging his throat.

"Sorry about that but… We need to talk about that guy. I think he… I think has a sort of brainwashing quirk." The boy explained, making Midoriya's eyes go wide. 'But aren't those…' "I know it's not exactly common but… Come on, let's talk somewhere we won't be overheard."

"Uh… yeah.. ok."

It took twenty minutes for them to get around to finalizing the stage for the third round, in which time everyone tried to calm their nerves or come up with plans. In Midoriya's case he'd spend the first fifteen minutes just talking possibilities with Ojiro about Shinsou's quirk and in the end, he had only one solid conclusion to work with.

'DO. NOT. TALK!' He repeated in his head like a mantra. He knew he had a habit of running his mouth when he got into his fight, just to focus on anything other than the impending threat of injury and or death but that would not do him any favors this time.

At the moment he stood in the dimly lit hallway out into the stadium, watching as Midnight and Cementoss set up the last free bits of equipment they needed to start.

"Hey, there you are!" A voice called and Midoriya looked back, seeing All Might walking towards him in his skinny form. "Not had a chance to talk to you yet. You've been doing amazing so far. Nervous about what's coming next?"

"Kind of? I'm facing someone I've never seen in combat before, or even know anything about." Midoriya said, scratching the back of his head. "Normally I know something I can use to pinpoint a good alien but in this case all I can really use is don't pick goliath so I can actually stay on the ring."

"Hm, well I suppose that would be kind of frustrating." The blonde nodded, placing a hand to his chin. "My advice would probably just be to see if you can't figure out any information before you transform by using one for all. Still I don't know how effective that would actually be."

"Thanks…. Actually, that does give me an idea of my own." Midoriya said, pulling up the watch and going through the selections, stopping on his splixson form. "If his quirk works the way I think it does…."

"Oh, by the way kid, your girlfriend told me tell you she and everyone else wishes you good luck." The lanky man said, laughing when the greenette went beet red.

"YAOYOROUZU ISN'T MY GIRLFRIEND!" He shouted, turning away and only getting more laughter from the man.

"And yet you know exactly who I was talking about." All Might teased. For a brief moment, Midoriya wondered if any of his aliens could punt someone into the sun.

"ALRIGHT SPORTS FANS! IT'S TIME FOR OUR FIRST MATCH!" Present Mic announced, and a hand landed on the greenette's shoulders.

"Seriously, young Midoriya. Good luck, I know you'll do great." The man said, giving him a thumbs up and a light shove forward. Midoriya nodded as he hurried out onto the stage as people cheered.

"FROM THE GENERAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT, THIS KID HAS COME OUT OF NOWHERE, IT'S HITOSHI SHINSOU!" Present Mic introduced the blue haired teen.

'Ok, don't hesitate, don't respond. Just go alien straight away and go at it!'

"AND FROM THE HERO COURSES CLASS 1-A, HE'S SLIMY, FREAKY, FAST AND STRONG! HE'S EVERY SHAPE AND SIZE! HE'S IZUKU MIDORIYA!"

The two teens eyes met, and Midoriya lifted his arm in preparation. Shinsou cracked his neck.

"I'll step in if things get out of hand!" Cementoss reassured the two from his seat.

"BEGIN!" Midnight commanded and Midoriya immediately pressed in the watch. He disappeared in a bright green flash, before it dissipated and Duple took his place.

"Hm, cool trick. At least you worked hard to get this far." Shinsou said, with a shrug before he glared at the alien. "Still, even you got lucky, getting a thing like that that could let you in while people like me are thrown to the sidelines. Maybe you of all people can at least understand how gifted you are to possess powers like yours."

Midoriya didn't say anything as he began running at the teen, grinning. Maybe this would be easier than he thought!

"But that idiot in your class definitely doesn't! A hero can't care what others think of them if they want to succeed, yet that monkey doesn't seem to understand that! Do they need teach you basic lessons like that in the hero course?!"

Midoriya's grin immediately fell away as he stopped, taking that in. He started to glare himself as he gritted his teeth, balling his fists. 'Come on, Izuku! Don't react! He's just trying to get a rise-"

"Didn't I see another one like you right now by the way?!" The blue haired teen asked. 'He saw… JJ?!' "What exactly are you even going to do? She seemed pretty pathetic when I saw her."

The second the words left his opponents mouth, Midoriya felt a switch turn in his mind as his blood began to boil.

"DON'T YOU EVER TALK ABOUT HER THAT WAY-"

The world went hazy.

"There, It's over. I win."