"A phone call is here! A phone call is here! A phone call is-" All Might's ringtone was silenced almost immediately after it began, and the blond hero blushed at the looks he was receiving from his fellow heroes and teachers.
"Seriously?" Snipe asked.
"Ah, s-sorry about that! I must take this, please let me know how Young Iida's match goes in case I miss it." All Might pleaded, before standing up from his seat and walking down the hallway that was next to him. The further he went, the less he could hear of Mic's booming voice. "Hello?" He answered the call.
"That successor of yours has some talent. Where the hell did you find him?" A gruff voice asked, causing All Might's eyes to widen.
"Ah, it's good to hear from you again old friend! Are you here at the stadium or your ship? Perhaps we can get a drink!"
"Sorry Toshi, but I haven't been cleared to sit foot in Japan yet. Damn government, your team blows up a bank one time and suddenly you can't be trusted." The man on the other end grumbled angrily, causing Yagi to laugh. "But back to the kid."
"Ah yes, Young Midoriya. Due to my arrogance not once, but twice did he have to make battle with a villain I had been chasing. He showed true bravery, and his body moved before he could think. The rest is history, as you may have guessed." All Might informed. "I'm sure you've seen his skills?"
"I have, and it's why I tried calling the motherfucker this morning. He ended up ghosting me."
"You tried calling him?" Yagi questioned, realization hitting him. "Are you-"
"Nothing has been decided yet, but if he keeps it up, I am. Does that bother you?"
"No, of course not! I'm just surprised is all. What you're offering him is big, and most pros nowadays would kill for a chance at it. I have no doubt in Young Midoriya's abilities, but are you sure he's ready?"
"Bitch please, you saw the recordings from the USJ. He's the perfect candidate for my plan." The man informed, causing All Might to laugh.
"That he is, that he is. Well, I trust your judgement. Just please, take care of him if he does accept. We can't have the successor to One For All dying, now can we?"
"I've done this plenty of times and no one's died on my watch yet." The man stated. "I gotta go, lab reports just came in about that Nomu monster. I'll talk to you later."
"Farewell old friend, and good luck." All Might hung up, and smiled down at his phone as he walked back down the hall. 'But I'm sorry to say old friend, I know Midoriya well. I know he won't accept the offer, but I'm sure the training he shall receive under your care will become beneficial to his future.'
Music began to play, and All Might recognized it as his hero theme a band had made for him long ago. Pulling out the phone that occupied his other pocket, he stared down at the screen.
"Another text from Young Ashido? Who knew Young Midoriya was so popular?!"
(Recovery Girls Office)
"Why do you keep breaking your opponents?!"
"I don't mean to!" Izuku shouted back, standing atop one of the hospital beds to try and avoid the shorter woman's rampage. He used his shield to block the incoming wacks from her cane.
"Two of his ribs are broken! And he was close to developing hyperthermia!"
"Well that's not my fault! He decided not to use his fire!"
Recovery Girl huffed, and stopped her attempts from hitting Izuku. She sighed, knowing he was right about that part. Todoroki was at fault for the hyperthermia part.
"Can you at least try to stop breaking your classmates?"
"I mean, if I beat Iida I'll more than likely be fighting against Kacchan in the final round, so…maybe?"
This child was going to be the death of her.
"Just be careful and restrain yourself. You didn't exactly walk away scratch free either. You strained your leg and arm muscles something fierce, and I'm amazed you can still move as freely as you can. Your movements should be limited right now."
"I got lucky this time around, but I'll try to tone down the power."
"See to it that you do."
"AND TENYA IIDA MOVES ONTO THE SEMI-FINAL ROUND!" Present Mic shoutedfrom the TV screen inrecovery room, drawing their attention away from one another.
"Well, it appears you have a match to prepare for."
"That I do, thank you again Recovery Girl."
"Thank me after your final visit, because I'm sure you'll be coming back here soon."
(Arena: 1st Semi Final Round)
After Iida's victory, the final two Quarter Final Rounds continued as planned. Tokoyami won his match against Ashido via Dark Shadow only needing one strike to knock her out of bounds, and Bakugo won his match against Kirishima. After using her quirk too much, Eiko's hardening quirk faded and her defense fell, allowing Bakugo to deliver a final blast that knocked her out. While many were now open minded to Bakugo beating Eiko (since Eraserhead scolded them for how they acted when Bakugo fought Uraraka), some still found it unfair this fight had to happen, and others found Bakugo villainous for not holding back against a girl. Those same people kept their thoughts to themselves, however, in order to avoid yet another scolding.
"WELCOME TO THE FIRST MATCH OF THE SEMI-FINALS! ON ONE SIDE OF THE ARENA WE HAVE FROM THE HERO COURSE, THE YOUNGEST CHILD IN HIS HERO FAMILY, TENYA IIDA, BROTHER TO INGENIUM! VERSUS HIS CLASSMATE AND CLASS 1A'S CLASS REP, WHO DEFEATED THE SON OF ENDEAVOR AND MADE IT LOOK EASY, IZUKU MIDORIYA! THESE TWO ARE JUGGRTNAUTS OF THE HERO COURSE, SO YOU KNOW IT'S GOING TO BE AN EXCITING MATCH! ARE YOU READY?"
(Class 1A viewing box)
"So who do you think's gonna win?" Kaminari asked to no one in particular.
"As much as I hate to say this, this is by far the worst match up for Iida. Midoriya has the clear advantage over him with his metal controlling quirk, so the answer is quite obvious." Momo informed, feeling sorry for Iida. She too knows the pain of being out matched and being at a disadvantage, but she held no ill feelings towards her avian classmate.
"Yaomomo has a point. Midori could just flick Iida out of the ring if he wanted to. This sucks." Ashido sighed.
"What really sucks is that Deku's gonna be painted in a bad light no matter what he does." Bakugo stated, causing everyone to turn to him in surprise and confusion.
"What do you mean?"
"Think about it shitstains. If Deku tosses Four Eyes outta the ring like Racoon Eyes said, he'll be seen as an asshole who didn't even give his opponent a chance; it'd be worse than when Icyhot froze Soy Sauce Face. But if he doesn't use his shitty metal quirk, he'll be seen as holding back and taking pity on his opponent, and people will be think he thinks Four Eyes is weak or some shit. He's gonna be seen as a bad guy no matter what he does."
That…actually made sense. At least In Momo's and Sero's fights they had actually managed to fight back a little, but with Izuku, he could either lift Iida up or make him stand in place. He basically has total control over Iida, and could easily crush him. Of course if he didn't use his quirk, people would be mad at him for holding back, something he preached to Todoroki not to do in their match. So if he held back now, he'd be seen as a hypocrite.
Izuku might win match wise, but public opinion wise, he'd probably lose.
(Arena)
"I can't see myself doing battle with any more worthy opponent, Midoriya! Please refrain from holding back, and I shall do the same!" Iida yelled from across the field.
"To you as well my friend. Let's not pull any punches and go all out!"
"READY?! BEGIN!"
At the announcements end Iida was off, speeding towards Izuku like bullet, kicking up dust from behind as his feet glided across the arena. He jumped into the air, right foot held back before the engines kicked in. Iida swung his body, his right leg flying through the air at an incredible speed in an attempt to kick Izuku.
But Izuku had better reflexes, and raised his shield up to block the attack. With the kick failed Iida landed back onto the ground, and once again used his speed to maneuver his way behind Izuku before the greenette could even blink. He did the same tactic as before, raising his right foot and activating his engine mid-air. Twisting his body he kicked again, only this time Izuku jumped out of the way, causing the kick to hit nothing but air.
'He's knows he's faster than I am, and is trying to get past my defenses. Little does he know Ingenium would do the same thing when I was training under him. Which means I basically know every attack he's going to use before he even uses it.'
'Blasted shield.' Iida thought with a scowl, having yet another one of his kicks blocked. Not only did Midoriya have good reflexes, his shield made him unable to merely grab and push him out of the ring, just like he did with Ibara from 1B. 'It's as if he knows what I do before even I know what I want to do. Perhaps I should change up my battling style? He did train with Tensei after all, and I tend to model myself after him…yes, that could work!'
Much like before Iida twisted his body, and his kick was once again blocked by Midoriya. But as he landed on the ground, he didn't sprint past his class rep like before. Instead he did something that surprised Izuku; he dropped down into a crouching position, falling onto his hands before activating his engine in his right leg yet again. Before Izuku could blink Iida had twisted his body and swept at Izuku's heel, causing the greenette to fall onto his rear end.
Jumping back up Iida attempted another kick, but Midoriya laid back to dodge, before jumping up himself. Trying to speed his way through the battle, Iida raised his foot and attempted to kick the side of Izuku's body, but the greenette grabbed onto the leg with his left hand and held tight. Right hand glowing with electricity, he reached forward and smashed his palm into Iida's chest, knocking the blue haired teen across the arena. Iida ragdolled across the field for a second before turning his body and landing back onto his feet.
"AND BOTH CONTESTANTS FINALLY LAND A BLOW ON EACH OTHER! WITH MIDORIYA ON THE DEFENSIVE, IT APPEARS HE'S TRYING TO TIRE POOR IIDA OUT! HOW LONG WILL IIDA LAST, AND WILL HE MANAGE TO BREAK THROUGH MIDORIYA'S DEFENSES ONCE AGAIN?!"
"You changed up your battle strategy, a surprising move. What made you do it?"
"I noticed I've molded myself much after Tensei, including the way he fights. This made me realize you've studied him while he taught you, meaning you knew what I planned on doing before I could do it. But if I change my strategy, you have no way of knowing what my next move will be." Iida informed, causing Izuku to smirk.
"Observant as ever I see. But changing up your tactics won't be enough, so I hope you have a trick up your sleeve."
'It's risky, and it's the only plan I have. It could work, but if it doesn't, I've lost.' Iida took a deep breath, before readying himself. 'But I need to try.' He thought to himself, the fire emitting from his engines glowed a bright orange, before changing and morphing to a dark blue.
"RECIPRO BURST!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, before sprinting across the field at seemingly double, maybe even triple his regular speed. When he was close he lifted his right leg for a kick, an as he assumed, Izuku raised his shield for a block.
Instead of following through with the kick, he made himself fall backwards, twisting his body and now using his left leg instead of his right. With the shield facing away, Iida managed to get the toe cap of his shoe past the shields edge, allowing it to go under. With a powerful kick the shield was sent flying away, leaving Midoriya stunned, but more importantly, defenseless.
Using his engines to propel himself back onto his feet, Iida ran past Izuku and grabbed onto the collar of his shirt, before he started sprinting towards the white line that would grant him victory.
'Five seconds left.' Iida thought, continuing to rush towards the out of bounds line. 'Four, three, two!'
Iida felt himself being pulled back, and with a scream of surprise lurched forward and fell down onto his stomach. Izuku was tossed forward by the act, causing him to also ragdoll like Iida before him. He stopped ragdolling and landed about five feet away from the ring, and Iida looked back to see what had happened.
His stomach dropped once he saw his engines glowing green, and as the blue flames finally died down. He sighed, and turned to watch Midoriya stand up, left hands fingers glowing a similar green.
"You almost had me there." The greenette winced, cuts and bruises littered his arms and legs from being tossed. There was a change a rib may have been broken, but he wasn't quite sure. "Faking me out like that was brilliant. I would expect nothing less from you, my friend."
"Not brilliant enough, it seems." Iida sighed, before giving Izuku a smile. "I enjoyed our fight, Midoriya. Perhaps we could have a rematch in the future?" He asked, causing Izuku to laugh.
"I'd love to."
"Iida has been immobilized! Midoriya advances to the final round!" Midnight shouted, causing the audience to applaud and cheer.
With the conformation that he did indeed win, he let go of his control over Iida's engines, and helped him up.
"I'm sorry for the bad match up Iida. I wish I had faced someone else." Izuku apologized, calling his shield back to his arm. He felt bad for having the clear advantage over his friend, and would've given anything to have faced another opponent.
"Don't apologize Midoriya, you've taught me I still have ways to go before I can become a hero. There may be a day a villain has a clear advantage over me, which means I need to think of ways to overcome such an obstacle. And I thank you for showing me that." The blunette bowed, causing the greenette to sweat drop.
'Never change Iida, never change.'
"May the last two combatants please clear the stage and make room for the following fighters!" Midnight called out, causing the two to nod in understanding.
"So, I suppose this means you'll either be facing Tokoyami or Bakugo in your final match. Are you nervous?" Iida questioned as they exited the arena.
"Terrified to be honest. No offense to Tokoyami but Kacchan is going to win, and he's always changing up his battle tactics. He won't give me time to think of a counter, so I'll have to muscle my way to victory."
"If that's the case, I wish you luck Midoriya. I'm sure you'll figure out a way to win."
A buzzing sound interrupted them, and Iida pulled out his phone to see who was calling. Imagine his surprise when he saw it was his mother.
"I'll catch up to you Midoriya, it appears my mother is calling."
"Oh, alight. See ya Iida." Izuku called out as he walked ahead, leaving his friend to talk to his mother.
Neither were aware of the storm that was slowly rolling in, one that would change their lives for the worse.