The next six battles passed by like a blur, and Izuku watched and studied each and every single one of them.
Round three had Kaminari face off against a 1B student, who went by the name Ibara Shiozaki. Her quirk was Vines that replaced her natural hair, and allowed her to use it offensively and defensively. When Kaminari went to shock her, she used them as a shield, blocking the attack. The blond-haired boy went into his 'whey' mode after short-circuiting, allowing Ibara to easily grab and immobilize him. She won the round.
Round four was Iida against Mei, and everyone was surprised when Iida walked out, wearing numerous pieces of Mei's 'babies'. Izuku sweat dropped as she captured Iida, promoted her devices and herself, before stepping out of bounds, thus allowing Iida to win. He could tell his blue haired friend was definitely sour over being used as a model for her equipment, but hopefully it wouldn't affect their friendship.
He noticed Uraraka get up and leave after that, but hadn't a clue why. To cheer Iida up maybe? Or, to calm herself down? She was up against Kacchan after all.
Round five had Ashido and Yuga duke it out. Yuga attempted to keep Ashido at a distance by using his Naval Laser, but Ashido was quick to dodge each attack and skated towards him with her acid. After dodging enough, Yuga got a stomach ache, giving Ashido an opening to shoot some acid onto his belt, destroying it. She finished the match by upper cutting his jaw, knocking him out.
Izuku couldn't take his eyes off her as she glided around the field, and honestly found her movements breathtaking. Did she ice skate in the past? That's what her movements reminded him of.
Round six pitied Momo against Tokoyami, and it was one of the more depressing matches Izuku had watched. Momo created a sword and shield in the beginning to help up her offense and defense capabilities, but Tokoyami had Dark Shadow continuously smash against the shield, not allowing Momo any breathing room or time to think. She ended up being pushed out of bounds.
Izuku's dragon quirk flared up slightly at seeing how sad and disappointed the black-haired beauty looked as she exited the field. He didn't know if it was the dragon quirk or himself thinking it, but he really wanted to hold her and tell her she had done great.
Round seven consisted of Kirishima fighting Tetsutetsu. The two were similar in nearly every way, and ended up passing out at the same time after repeatedly punching each other. Hell, even the way they ended up laying on the field was completely identical.
Since that fight dragged out for so long, Izuku ended up making his way to the waiting room. She and Iida were already talking before he arrived, and the greenette offered to give her some advice on how to go about fighting his blond friend. As much as Izuku liked Uraraka, he could see she was at a heavy disadvantage, and figured with his help it would even the odds slightly.
To his surprise, she refused, saying it was her fight and she wanted to win it her way. Iida tried playing the optimistic role and said Bakugo wouldn't go all out on a girl, but Izuku shattered any hope of that by saying the angry blond wouldn't. Hell, no one would hold back regardless of their opponent since the sports festival was so important to their futures.
Round eight, the hardest fight to watch. Uraraka gave it her all, and even surprised Izuku with her plan to bombard Kacchan with falling debris, but it ultimately failed in the end. Kacchan had been watching her every movement, and knew about the attack mere seconds before it could land. He sued a giant explosion to destroy everything, and knocked Uraraka down. She stood to continue fighting, but collapsed soon after, no longer able to continue.
Izuku's dragon quirk flared more violently than before, but he was quick to suppress it. He had to remind himself no one was in danger, that Kacchan wasn't the enemy. But still, it physically hurt him seeing Uraraka in so much pain, especially as she was carried out via stretcher.
The greenette went to check on her, while Kirishima and Tetsutetsu arm wrestled to determine who would move on.
The floating girl claimed to be fine, but it was easy to tell that she wasn't. Her pride was hurt, and she hadn't gotten as far as she wanted. After all, her endgame was to make money and give her parents an easy life, but not many heroes would be impressed by her getting tossed around like a ragdoll sadly.
He respected her not wanting to say everything that was on her mind, and ended up giving her a few kind words of encouragement and praise for how well she had done against the blond. A quick hug was given, and he was off for round two to begin, for his match against Todoroki was about to begin.
He never saw how pink Uraraka's cheeks turned at their hug.
Izuku accounted for most of these things to happen, but didn't account for a hulking mass of flames to walk around the corner.
"Ah, I was looking for you." The second ranked pro commented, staring down at the greenette. Izuku was surprised to hear this, but it quickly vanished at remembering what Todoroki had told him.
'Remember, he's scum. He doesn't deserve anything from me.'
"Perhaps we can discuss another time, I have a match to get to after all." Izuku said, in no mood to talk to the flaming behemoth. He attempted to walk past, but was stopped as Endeavor moved in front of him.
"What needs to be said must be said now, not later." The hero scowled. "I saw your fight against the brain washing guy. Your power, mixed with that shield, is pretty impressive. I couldn't even see the shield after you threw it, only after it made contact and it fell to the ground. You seem to have much in common with All Might, and another hero from when quirks started showing up."
'Another hero? And All Might? Why is he bringing this up? Does he think I'm his child or something? Is stupidity some kind of gene that runs in the Todoroki family?'
"Yes, I've been told that before. It feels nice being compared positively to the number one hero, but I assume you can't relate. Can you?" He asked, smirking at the angry glare Endeavor sent him. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a fight to get to." Izuku said, finally managing to get past.
'Fucking creep.'
"It's my Shoto's duty to surpass All Might as the number one hero." He commented, making Izuku stop in his tracks. "And this match with you, will be a good testing ground for how much training he has left. So hit him hard and keep hitting, don't disgrace yourself or him by holding back."
'Ok, time to end this man's whole career.'
"I'm not some kind of punching bag for your son, and he isn't some kind of tool you can use to live out your failed dreams of surpassing All Might. I'm not All Might and Todoroki isn't use, so pull that thought out of the tiny brain you have and shove it where the sun doesn't shine."
Izuku didn't bother to wait for a reply, he walked away after that, not caring for the angry glare being sent his way. He had no time for scum like Endeavor, he needed to focus on the task ahead: defeating Shoto.
(Battlefield)
As the flames of the battlefield grew in ferocity, the crowd screamed and cheered as the opponents made their way to the ring.
"I CAN FEEL THE ANTICIPATION IN THE STADIUM, AND THAT'S BECAUSE THE SECOND ROUNDS FIRST MATCH IS GONNA BE EPIC!" Present Mic screamed over the cheers. "ON ONE SIDE WE HAVE THE GUY WHO LITERALLY WON BY A LANDSLIDE, AND LEFT HALF THE AUDIENCE FROZEN! IT'S THE SON OF THE NUMBER TWO RANKED PRO HERO WHO'S IN THE HERO COURSE, SHOTO TODOROKI! AND ON THE OTHER SIDE WE HAVE CLASS 1A'S REP WHOSE GONE TOE TO TOE WITH THE BEST OF THEM, IZUKU MIDORIYA!"
"Anger has clouded your judgement, and your resentment for your father has made you bitter and cold. And where has all of that brought you? To your demise." Izuku said, before gesturing to himself. "To me."
"I don't enjoy putting others through pain, Midoriya. But for you, this is an exception."
"BOTH OF THESE HEROES IN TRAINING HAVE BEEN FRONT RUNNERS IN THE SPORTS FESTIVAL, BUT WHICH ONE OF THESE RIVALS WILL ADVANCE INTO THE NEXT ROUND?! PREPARE FOR, MIDORIYA VS. TODOROKI! BEGIN!"
Todoroki placed a foot forward, and spears of ice began to form and grow, enlarging as they traveled across the field towards Izuku. Soon a tidal wave was flying towards the greenette.
'So predictable.' Izuku thought, winding his arm back as it began crackling with electricity. Like a spring needing to be sprung he snapped his arm forwards, launching his shield like a baseball towards the glacier.
It made contact, and the shield began slicing through the ice like butter, cracking and destroying the man-made wall of cold as it traveled through. A gust of wind had been created with the throw, knocking the ice away as it broke.
Once the shield made its way through the tidal wave of ice the gust of wind finally hit Todoroki, pushing the student back a few feet before he created a mini ice wall behind him to stop being pushed back.
The shield flew back and attached itself back to Izuku's arm.
"COMBINING THE POWER OF HIS QUIRK WITH HIS SHIELD, MIDORIYA HAS BEEN ABLE TO DESTROY TODOROKI'S INSANE OPENING MOVE! DOES THIS MEAN THE HALF HOT HALF COLD USER IS IN TROUBLE?! OR, WILL HE BE ABLE TO OVERHWELM HIS OPPONENT?!"
Todoroki scowled in annoyance, expecting for this to happen. Midoriya had done the same thing back in his match against Shinso, so to do it again and avoid injuring himself was the obvious thing to do. It didn't mean that Todoroki wasn't any less irritated by the situation.
With nothing else to do, Todoroki summonsed another wave of ice and made it travel towards his opponent.
Izuku sighed, shaking his head in disappointment. Todoroki should've known by now is ice would be useless against him and his shield. It was sad how stubborn of the boy was being.
Cocking his arm back, the same result occurred: the shield easily broke through the ice like paper, causing yet another gust of wind to attack the son of Endeavor. The boy braced himself against the wind, not allowing himself to budge.
"I can do this for as long as necessary Todoroki. If you don't change up your battle plan you'll be on thin ice."
(Announcer Box)
"LEAVE ALL ICE RELATED JOKES TO ME PLEASE, THANK YOU!"
"No no, please steal them all so I don't have to deal with them!"
"WOW, THANKS FOR GIVING MY THE COLD SHOULDER ERASERHEAD!"
"Please kill me."
(Arena)
"Such an annoyance." Todoroki whispered to himself, before following his original attack plan by summoning yet another wave of ice.
Annoyed was one of emotions Izuku felt as he watched the wall come for him again: it was like watching the same scene of a TV show or movie over and over again.
'But like a scene on repeat, a new scene will eventually show next.' Izuku thought, cocking his arm back yet again.
Todoroki was being stubborn, and was unable to see the truth. He claimed his left was his fathers' side and not his own, but that wasn't the case. Like All Might had said a long time ago: you may inherit a quirk from your parents, but it's what you make of it. It was up to you how you would use it, only you could decide the type of hero you wanted to be.
Izuku would show Todoroki how stubborn he was being, and knock some sense into him.
Literally.
The shield was shot forward like the multiple times before, and like before it chipped away and cut through the ice with ease. Soon Todoroki felt the familiar gust of wind and braced himself, but out of the corner of his eye, the familiar green and black color scheme of the shield as it fell caught his eye.
Why wasn't it flying back to Midoriya?
Lowering his arms, the boys eyes widened in surprise as he saw Midoriya rushing arm, legs crackling with green electricity, maniac grin on his ice. The greenette jumped, twisting his body while mid-air and kicking his right foot forward. As the shield fell it lined up perfectly with Todoroki, its bottom faced down and sides facing either fighter.
The kick connected, and the shield was sent flying into Todoroki's stomach, sending the ice user through his barrier of ice and towards the ring of the arena. Bile escaped the students mouth as he as thrown through the ice, his back cracking with powerful force. His body was tossed against the ground as he was sent towards the rings edge.
He summoned a wall of ice at the rings edge that stopped him, but it also caused further pain once he smacked into it.
"AND MIDORIYA FINALLY GOES ON THE OFFENSIVE! WITH A DROPKICK TO HIS SHIELD, CLASS 1S'A REP HAS MANAGED TO FINALLY DEAL SOME DAMAGE TO TODOROKI!"
"You were too focused on the backlash my shield makes when it destroys your ice, that you never even saw me coming." Izuku called out, shield flying back to his arm. "When the shield destroys your ice, it creates a big enough opening for me to squeeze through. I used my shield not only to destroy your attack, but to also draw your attention away from me. Pretty smart, right?"
'The bastard…he's better than I thought. My ice has no affect.' Todoroki thought sourly as he rose to stand, parts of his body developing patches of ice. 'But I refuse to his use power.' He growled, slamming a foot down onto the ground, creating a smaller wave of ice.
Izuku watched it, his eyes widening slightly as he merely jumped out of the way as it sped past. It wasn't like the previous attacks.
'It's slower, and weaker. Possible side-effect of not using his fire side? It would make sense if his powers regulated his body and kept each other in check. Ice keeps him from overheating, and fire keeps him from freezing. Is he sostubborn that he would willing let himself get hyperthermia in order to not use his fire?'
Izuku realized that question was dumb because the answer was simple.
Yes, yes Todoroki was.
"That attack was slower and weaker than before. What gives? Are you taking it easy on me?"
"Be quiet!" Todoroki ordered, doing as he did before and sending fourth an ice attack. But like before, Izuku jumped out of its way.
"This is a drawback, isn't it? From not using your fire? The more you use your ice and the less you use your fire, your ice attacks weaken, and you start freezing." Izuku asked, accepting the way his opponents' eyes widened as an answer. "Do you really think you'll make it as a pro with only using half of your power? Is your plan to depend on nearby heroes to protect you as you weaken yourself? You need your fire Todoroki!"
"Why are you so determined to make me use his quirk? Did he put you up to this?!" His opponent spat, anger rising to levels he'd never felt before. He saw no other reason why someone would care so much about him using his fathers' power. They were bastards. All of them!
Todoroki's foot met the ground once more, but instead of attacking, he took this opportunity to slide over to Izuku, much like Ashido did against Aoyama.
'If I can freeze his arms, he'll be defenseless. Just have to get close.'
But Izuku had a feeling this was Todoroki's intention. After all, if the roles were reversed, Izuku would do the same thing. That's why when Todoroki reached out to swipe Izuku's arm, he transferred One For All energy to jump back from the attack.
'Not only are his attacks slower, his movements are as well. Does this mean his reaction time has been affected as well?
Only one way to find out.
With his legs still filled with energy, Izuku shot forward, appearing in front of Todoroki before the man could even blink. His shield arm was pulled back as it danced with lighting, fist balled up, ready to deliver a devastating blow.
'Keep the percentage low, no need to break anything now.' Izuku reminded himself, punching forward and making contact with Todoroki's chest.
Todoroki was sent skidding across the field as a gust of wind was whipped up at the sudden impact. Several cracking sounds could be heard throughout the stadium as he slid back and smacked into a wall of ice he created to stop himself from flying out of the ring. Todoroki gasped, clutching his chest in pain. From the training the old man put him through, he knew at least one rib was broken.
Todoroki wasn't the only one hit, mind you.
Izuku flinched, noticing his right arm felt heavier than before. Looking down, he realized the whole thing, from his hand to his shoulder, was covered in a thick layer of ice. With his armless for the time being, he and Todoroki were about evenly matched.
But with bad news, comes good news. Izuku looked down to his other arm, and smiled with glee as he balled his fist repeatedly. While his arm wasn't broken, it still hurt.
He had to make Todoroki use his fire soon, before he pushed himself past five percent and before he started to break anything.
Time to hit him where it hurt. For his sake.
"How would your mother feel if she saw you like this?" Izuku asked suddenly, causing the other boys' eyes to widen. "How would she feel if she saw you slowly kill yourself? And over what? Your pride? Your ego? Perhaps your hatred for your father not allowing you to use your left side? Tell me! How would she feel?!"
"Shut up!"
"How can you aim for number one for you refuse to use your quirk to its fullest potential?! You don't deserve to be number one if you don't use your full power! So stop screwing around!" Izuku shouted, trying to dig deep and hit him where it hurt, to hopefully open his eyes to the truth. He couldn't rely on his ice forever; he'd probably get killed in the real world if he continued down this path.
Izuku was faster than before, emotions getting the better of him. He felt anger towards Todoroki, hatred for Endeavor, hatred towards the whole situation Todoroki was forcibly born into. He appeared before the half hot-half cold user in a flash, ice encased arm pulled back before it was swung forward, smashing into Todoroki's side and sending it bouncing across the arenas floor.
Izuku flinched, his legs and arm screaming at him in pain. While nothing was broken still, they hurt worse than before. He accidentally went above fix percent, to six percent.
Diablo was right, he did need to get in check of his emotions.
Todoroki struggled to get up, body trembling and he gasped for air. His breathing was deep and shallow, eyelids blinking rapidly to get rid of the tears that slowly started to form as he was hit with memories of a happier time. Of times where his mother was in his life, where she would always comfort him and save him from Endeavors brutal training.
Of times where she told him he could be the kind of hero he wanted to be once he finally grew up. Of times where All Might was allowed on the TV with his bright and assuring smile.
He missed those times, before his mother had snapped and hurt him, before she was sent away, before he was left alone with the monster he sadly had to call father and his brutal training.
His mother hated his fire side, all because of that creep!
"I-I refuse to use my left side! I refuse to use his quirk!"
"It's your quirk you dumbass! Your quirk, not his!" Izuku finally shouted, knuckles turning white as he gripped the curve of his shield, anger reaching a boiling point for the hardheadedness of his classmate.
Todoroki remembered one of the few happy memories he had as a kid. It was of All Might, obviously, as he was being interviewed. He had said it loud and clear, with no hint of hesitation in his voice.
"You may inherit a quirk from your parents, but it's what you make of it. It's up to you how you would use it, and only you could decide the type of hero you wanted to be."
That, mixed with his mothers' kind and reassuring words, made him realize something. He wasn't a prisoner of his lineage. It was okay to use his power, to grow up and be who he wanted to be.
Izuku watched, grin forming and growing wider as he slowly watched the steam and smoke rise from the boys left side. As fire steadily grew and grew, until there was a sudden burst that engulfed his half of the arena. The flames rose and rose, growing hotter and actually making Izuku flinch from the heat.
(Throughout the arena)
"WHA-IS THAT-"
"He's using his fire!" Uraraka shouted over the loud sizzling sound, also flinching from the heat.
"Incredible." Iida whispered.
"Fucking dumbass! He could've won this so fucking easily with Icyhot weakening himself from his ice, but noooooo. He just had to go and play the damn hero like always!"
"And that's why we voted him as class rep and not you." Kaminari informed, yelping and jumping back behind Eiko as Bakugo turned to glare at him.
"YES SHOTO!"
'Young Midoriya…don't tell me you did all of this to save Young Todoroki!...Why are you so much like me?!'
(Battlefield)
"You're helping your opponent…even though you want to win this battle." Todoroki said, flames melting his ice and regulating his body temperature. "Who's the one screwing around now?" He asked, entire left side covered in orange and yellow fire. "I want to win as well. I want to be a hero!"
"Then you'll have to get through me first. So come at me with everything you've got!"
Todoroki's fire began to change, flicking from orange and yellow to blue as he raised his hand, causing an entire wave of fire to engulf his side again, before he sent it crashing onwards towards Izuku's side.
But Izuku still had a trick up his sleeve, a way for him to deal with these monstrous sized flames.
"I thank you for going all out Todoroki, but I'm sorry for getting your hopes up. This match was one-sided from the beginning!" Izuku exclaimed, right arm crackling with green lighting, just like before.
He pulled his arm back, but unlike reaching forward for a punch, he swung it forward while raising his shield, fits smacking right at its center. The blow resulted in a shockwave that rattled the whole stadium and kicked up a powerful wind, now only stopping the fire but making it turn back towards Todoroki.
The half hot-half cold user summoned more flames, pushing back against the original wave of heat and resulting in a stalemate. But between the yellow and orange was a flash of green, and before Todoroki knew it, Midoriya was rushing through them, body covered in a breathing taking hue of green and yellow, almost gold.
Midoriya had his fist pulled back, and he was too close for Todoroki to really do anything to counter him. So the boy did the only thing he could do.
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and had a small smile.
'Thank you, Midoriya.'
And then the hit connected. From the sea of flames a body was shot through, and smashed into the concrete wall of the stadium. The form was implanted into the wall, leaving a body shaped whole. The stadium gasped at the sight.
"WHA-WHAT?! IN A COMPLETELY SHOCKING TURN OF EVENTS-" The cameras zoomed in, showing a head full of red and white hair dangling from the wall. "TODOROKI HAD BEEN KNOCKED OUT OF THE STAGE!"
"Todoroki is out of bounds, the winner, and moving onto the semi-final rounds is Izuku Midoriya!" Midnight shouted, gesturing to the field, just in time as the flames began to disperse. It revealed the boy in question, clothing singed black and burnt, but seemingly uninured.
The crowd around him cheered louder when compared to the previous matches, but it fell on deaf ears as Izuku stared down at his arm, smiling when he saw it had no damage from hitting his shield. He used well above five percent for the plan to work, but everything seemed fine! Mei was right after all, the thing she used to make his shield did have shock absorption!
Now, the sky was the limit.
(Hey for it taking SO LONG to update, but I started college again on august 21st, which has been eating up my writing time. I'll try to keep updating more, but school comes first after all. I hope you guys and gals enjoyed, and I'll see you in the next chapter! Don't forget to fav, follow, and review!)