"Izuku Midoriya, please report to the principal's office."

Izuku, in typical Izuku fashion, froze and started to panic. The sports festival was only a few days out, and he didn't think he did anything wrong. Sure, he had been coming to school with a bit less pep in his step recently, but that's mostly because of Guile's hellish sparring sessions. Did they assume things were unwell at home due to the minor injuries he received? Did they call his mother?

Izuku's mind already ran a mile a minute, and he didn't even realize when he got up and started walking. He may or may not have muttered his whole way there, but only stopped when he bumped into someone.

"Oh, sorr - "

"I really thought we curbed that habit of yours, Izuku." It was Ryoya, who seemed to be heading to the same place. He looked just as mildly annoyed as he always did when Izuku started his muttering, so the green haired boy laughed nervously.

"Heh... I thought so too." The two met with a fist bump. It had been a while since they last spoke, or really saw each other, but neither minded. A friendship like theirs didn't need constant interaction to remain strong.

Ryoya gave him a flat look. He seemed to just give up entirely on wearing his hair in a pony-tail, and as such, it just fell wildly around his head, ending at the nap of his neck. "Anyway, you get called to the principal too?"

Izuku nods. "Yeah, no idea for what though."

"Probably having something to do with our quirklessness, if I'm being honest."

They couldn't continue their speculation further, since just then, the door to Nezu's office opened, and the rodent himself waved at them from atop the shoulder of All Might. The Symbol of Peace smiles at them like he usually does, and Izuku returns the expression. Ryoya does not.

"Greetings, students!" Nezu chirps. "Do come in, we have much to talk about!"


"So, I'm banned from competing?" Ryoya looks and sounds surprised. Izuku is floored.

"Not quite, Harushi!" Nezu raises up a paw. "It's more delicate than that. Due to your anomalous status, the Powers That Be were rather against your inclusion. Both of you, actually. They just pushed a bit harder for Harushi due to the events of the USJ." The chimera explains.

Ryoya's eye twitched and Izuku frowned deeply. He knew what took place at the USJ, of course. Ryoya begrudgingly told him a few days ago.

"Ah, but fear not, young ones!" All Might interjects. "We have come up with something of a compromise! It's unfortunate that we have to do it this way, but the HPSC is a bit... 'on the fence' about your inclusion in the Hero Course."

Nezu takes a sip of tea and chuckles behind his paw. "That certainly is a very nice way of putting how they feel, All Might. But personal biases aside, the compromise we have come up with largely depends on you two. Do you two know how the Sports Festival works?"

Ryoya shook his head no. "I know some stuff, but I'm not super caught up into it."

Izuku raised his hand. "I do, sir. The members of the support course, business course, general studies and hero course are all thrown together. We're grouped by grade level, First-Year, Second-Year and Third-Year, and compete in a series of preliminary competitions. The winners of those move onto the main event, a round-robin like tournament for each grade level."

"Exactly!" All Might flexed. "The compromise we reached is both for you to show them your true merit as heroes-in-training and to gain a mass appeal for yourselves!

Both boys shared a look of confusion.

"I believe I can better explain, All Might." Nezu steps in. "The main idea was that the HPSC felt as though you, Midoriya, wouldn't be strong enough to handle the load of being a quirkless hero since you were one of two students severely injured at the USJ. And you, Harushi, have been seen in a more negative light, with them believing you to be a threat towards hero hopefuls due to the ease with which you can destroy." As Nezu explains, the boys frown deeper and deeper. "So! As you know, we here at UA are behind our students fully and wholly, and you two are no different. The compromise is that you two must make it to the final stage of the entire Sports Festival, the round-robin. If you do, the HPSC will lay off and concede that you two have what it takes to remain here at UA."

Izuku raised his hand again. "Does this mean that Ryoya will be allowed back into the hero course?" He looks hopeful.

"No." Nezu shoots down immediately and Izuku deflates. "They are unmoving on that particular decision, but if Harushi places high enough, they cannot ignore him any longer and maybe, we can come to another agreement."

"Indeed. After all, it is a bit of a waste to have such a talent and power not being cultivated, is it not?"

This whole time, Ryoya simply listens with a mostly passive expression. "So, we just have to make it far enough? That sounds a bit too simple." He frowns, "What's the catch?"

"There is none!" Nezu says gleefully.

"...I get it," Izuku suddenly says, gaining everyone's attention. "I'm just honestly not sure how to process all of this after what we went through. And if I'm being honest, my motivation to do well at the Sports Festival was at a bit of a low point given that All Might is already my ment - teacher." He looks over to see if Ryoya caught that little slip up, and is thankful that he doesn't seem to. "As it is now, it didn't even occur to me to make a grandiose showing. Just like with the strength tests."

All Might and Nezu share a look. Then All Might bursts out laughing. "There's no one more dedicated to the world of nonsense than you, kid!" He wipes a tear from his eye and slowly regains his composure.

"World of... nonsense...?"

"Usually, there's a small difference between those who always aim at the top and those who don't. But, that molehill will become a mountain once you emerge into society. I can understand the mindsets, really. We're not here to force you two into doing well, but we'd just like to remind you both of the drive you both had to attain the level of power you do now."


After school, as 1-A prepared to leave homeroom, they heard the sound of chatter on the other side of the door. Ochako, being the closest to the door, slid it open and gasped at the sight. "What's going on!?"

A group of students, large enough to block the exit entirely and most of the hallway.

"Whoa, no way out. What're they here for, Ocha-chan?" Himiko asks while giving the crowd a once over.

"Scoping out the competition, duh." Bakugo says rudely. "We're the kids who survived a villain attack. Makes sense they'd want a look before the Sports Festival."

Izuku could only sigh at Katsuki's attitude, though he knew he wasn't really wrong.

"No point though," Bakugo carries on with a mean scowl. "Move aside, extras."

"Can we please not resort to calling people we don't know 'extras'!?"

"It's true, they came to take a look." A very familiar voice speaks from the crowd. "I know all of you aren't like this, but really Bakugo?" It's Ryoya in all of his lazy glory, walking towards the front of the crowd. "They came to look, I came just to see how people are doing. Looks like you haven't changed."

The sound of shuffling feet in 1-A get his attention, but Bakugo maintains a straight, vicious glare. "Fuckin' Piss-Eyes. About time your sorry ass showed up."

Ignoring that, Ryoya looks over to see several students rushing to the door with smiles.

"Dude! Harushi!"

"How've you been man!? Sick hair!" Kirishima raises two finger guns.

"Fang buddy!" Toga all but lunges at him, but is stopped when Ochako removes her gravity.

"So, this is the quirkless kid I replaced?"

Silence.

Ryoya's expression goes sour as he looks for the source of the voice. It's some weird, tired looking kid with purple hair.

"Gotta say, I'm a bit disappointed if you're the one everyone's been hyping up." Shinso has a completely straight and serious face and speaks somewhat condescendingly. Ryoya scowls at him, but says nothing, so Shinso takes a different approach. "Those who didn't make it into the Hero Course are stuck in general studies and other tracks. There were quite a few of us, but you know that now, don't you? Depending on the result of the Festival, they might consider transferring one of you to the Hero Course." He pauses to gauge reactions. People are muttering and he inwardly smirks. Good, those would be easy to catch. This Harushi guy hasn't said anything yet, which is a bit annoying. Maybe his tick will be a bit harder to get. And so he presses on. "I do understand that the reverse is also possible for you. You came to scope out the competition? I have friends in Gen Ed still and they've told me a lot about you, Harushi. This'll be a good chance to knock you off your pedestal. Consider this a declaration of war."

Another wave of completely overwhelming silence. Rumi, of course, tries to kick Shinso in the back of the head, but Ochako is fast and removes her gravity before she can.

"I'd kill you." Ryoya says simply. There is no malice in his voice, nor any underlying threat. Just a statement of fact.

For those who knew what happened at the USJ, like Toga, Tsuyu and Rumi, there was a swift change in tone. For those who knew Ryoya, like Izuku and Momo, there was a surge of panic since they knew he was being completely and utterly serious.

Shinso mentally smiles. Gotcha.

"Let me kick his ass, Anti-Grav!" Rumi says, now floating towards the ceiling. Ochako conveniently ignores her.

"Hey! I'm from class 1-B next door!" A loud, gruff voice shouts, trying to barrel through the crowd. "Heard you guys fought some villains. Wanted to find out more, but all I'm seeing is this arrogant bastard!" Tetsutetsu points dramatically at Shinso. Then he turns to Ryoya. "And you there, Harushi! Don't think just cause you're not in the hero course anymore that means I'll go easy on you! You owe me a fight!"

"Believe me," Ryoya says coolly, before turning and starting to walk away. "I'm not going there to play around. I've only been gone for a few days and you people seemed to have forgotten what I'm capable of. I'll gladly give you a reminder." The Satsui flares at the very end there, and his voice distorts with it. People immediately give him a wide berth as he walks away.

Shinso and Bakugo start to shove through the crowd as well, only for Kirishima to shout at them both. "Wait you jerks! What're you doing!? Because of you two, we've got a whole mob of haters now!"

Bakugo pauses, and gives Kirishima a side-eye. "I don't give a shit. I'm aiming for the top. Why should I care what these extras think of me?"

"Tch, so straight-forward and manly...!" Kirishima responds, suddenly on the brink of tears.

Kaminari pats him on the back. "Don't let him play you! All he's doing is making us bigger targets!"

Izuku finds himself in a weird mental space now. He somewhat agrees with Katsuki. Not by being rude of course, but the idea that he doesn't care what people think of him while he's aiming for the top. He only partially agrees with him, since Izuku will never not care, but he understands the idea.

With him and the rest of 1-A determined to give it their all, the remaining few days fly by. Everyone prepared in their own ways, and oddly enough, Ochako refused when Izuku offered to train with her.

"I just, uh, feel like it'd be better for me if I train by myself. If I keep training with you, I might pick up some of your habits..." She explains, but Izuku can tell by the way she's not looking him in the face that it might not be the whole truth. Was she still feeling inferior to him? He feels amusement at the very idea that someone with a quirk, one of the strongest in the world, would feel inferior to him, a quirkless nerd. He only responds with a nod and wishes her well. Him and Ryoya both train alone and separately, having vowed to show the world and the HPSC that they deserve to be where they are. They were thinking with pride, and not with their brains. But hey, they were warriors regardless.


"Man, the security check is taking forever..." A female reporter complained.

Her sound guy slumps his shoulders and sighs. "No helping it. They're on guard after that villain attack. Hell, lots of people were against this event this year."

The female reporter perks up. "Controversy sells! And at the center of it all, Class 1-A!"

"Usually the third-years take center stage since they always put their experience to good strategic use and give it their all one last time. But this time, all the eyes are on the first-years."

Kamui Woods crosses his arms. "I would've liked to do a bit more scouting. I heard they have two quirkless students this year."

Death Arms just shrugs carelessly. "What can ya do? They asked us to take security detail."

Mt. Lady walks ahead of them both, eating from her box of Thirteen branded Oreos. "Looks like they called heroes from all over the country." She looks over to see unfamiliar faces. "This year anyway."

Unbeknownst to them, a woman clad in dark purple with two hair buns sneaks by.


Ochako is conversing with everyone else in the waiting room. Iida yells something about being ready, which she can only partially nod to. Her attention is split on paying attention to Tsu telling herand Usagiyama something about her training for today, and stealing glances at Izuku. He isn't doing anything particularly eye-catching at all; he's mostly just a bit off to the side with his eyes closed and taking deep, measured breaths. She watches him closely simply because she finds herself enjoying that simple act. He is easy to look at, even when he's doing some weird breathing exercise. She is watching him so closely in fact, that she notices the small twitch of his eye when Todoroki walks up to him.

"Midoriya."

Izuku opens his eyes slowly and looks at the dual-haired boy. "Todoroki?" Ochako can see and hear his surprise. Todoroki has been far from vocal since the year started, with him only making declarations of disdain on Harushi's name whenever prompted and when he got removed, he seemed to clam up entirely. "What is it?"

Sitting at the table on Izuku's left, Bakugo perks up.

"Objectively speaking, I'm stronger than you." Todoroki says plainly and Ochako has to stop herself from laughing him out of the room. There is simply no way Todoroki can say and believe that with a straight face. His was strong, and she could concede that; possibly even stronger than her given her limits with One For All. Hell, he was likely one of the strongest students in UA in general. But to her, he was still far, far away from Deku-kun. While All Might and her had several conversations about her self-confidence and putting Deku on a pedestal, she firmly believes in what she thinks.

"Arrogant prick, aren't ya?" Rumi chimes in. "Didn't the whoop ass you got from Harushi teach you anything?" Todoroki gives her a dirty look, but chooses not to respond.

Izuku raises a brow at this. "Hm? Sure...?"

"But regardless of that, All Might's got his eyes on you, doesn't he?"

Izuku is a bit taken aback by this revelation. Todoroki turns his sharp, cold stare to the Zero-Gravity user. "You as well, Uraraka." Ochako nearly chokes as she drinks her water. "I won't pry into why that is but," He turns back to Izuku. "I will beat you. Both of you."

"Oh? What's this?" Kaminari smirks nervously. "A declaration of war between the top three students?"

Bakugo doesn't comment, but he does growl to himself.

Kirishima steps up in an attempt to diffuse the situation by placing a hand on Todoroki's shoulder. "Hey man, why pick a fight now? We're about to go on."

Todoroki shrugs him off. "I really don't care. I'm not pretending to be anyone's friend here. As far as I'm concerned," Todoroki turns and glares at Shinso of all people. "The real challenge for me isn't among us anymore." His unspoken message is said loud and clear. Shinso glares hatefully at him.

Izuku takes a second to gather his thoughts. Then he puts on a blank stare, the kind Ryu-sensei taught him when he wants to read his opponent and doesn't want to read back. "Todoroki. I'm not sure why you felt the need to tell me you'll beat me and Uraraka-san. You're strong, I won't lie. Probably stronger than me, objectively speaking. But," Izuku's eyes narrow and takes on a moderately dangerous edge. "Everyone, even kids from the other courses are aiming for the top." Nezu and All Might's message passes through his mind. "All I will say is this, don't expect for me to just roll over. I'm going on there with everything I've got." As if to emphasize his point, he pours some of his ki into his voice to make it boom around the room.

Todoroki is completely unafraid and unmoving, while others take a step back. "Right."

Bakugo scowls.

"The first year students are coming out!"


"It's the UA Sports Festival! The one time each year that when our young heroes-in-training compete in a ruthless grand battle!" Present Mic is having the time of his life, like he does at every sports festival. It's one of the few times he's allowed to let his quirk run free, and it feels good on his vocal cords. "First up! You know who I'm talking about! The miraculous rising stars who brushed off a villain attack with steely willpower! The First-Years of the Hero Course! It's Class 1-A!"

Izuku's calm composure falters but it doesn't break. After all, he has fought in front of crowds before during his formative years at the dojo. None comparable to this size, but it isn't as hard as breath as he assumed it would be.

Iida keeps himself calm. "Indeed. And we're expected to put on the best performance we can in front of so many spectators. I suppose this is merely one more skill we're expected to acquire as heroes."

Kirishima looks to the person nearest to him, Rumi and looks back and forth at the crowd nervously. "They're really giving us a lot of credit... but we won't let it shake our spirits, right Usagiyama?"

Rumi grins wide. "Are you kidding? I live for high pressure moments like this!"

"Following Class B, it's Class C! Then D and E of General Studies! And here come the support courses, F, G and H. Then the business course..."

Mic trails off just as Class C walks out, with one Ryoya Harushi walking ahead of everyone else. He looks like he always does, calm and impassive, but Izuku knows better. He can see it and sense it. Ryoya is ready.

A whip cracks to get everyone's attention. It's Midnight, who's reveling in the limelight. "Now, for the Athlete's Oath!" In the crowd, she can vaguely make out a light conversation between people in the front row, but she pays them no heed. She does however, pay heed to the student who questions her status as the Rated-R hero teaching at a high school. "Whoever said that, shut up!" She snaps, then cracks her whip for extra emphasis. "Pipe down! Your student representative is from Class 1-A, Ochako Uraraka!"

Izuku's eyes snap open. "What? Uraraka-san?" He looks for the girl, but she's already started walking towards the podium. She looks nervous, but her strides are getting more confident.

"Must be because she placed first in the Entrance exam."

A girl from another course scoffs. "The hero course entrance exam, you mean."

Ochako shakily grabs the mic. "Ahem, I don't really have much to say here." She starts honestly. "My fellow first years, let's just go out there and enjoy our first Sports Festival. Don't be discouraged if you're not from the Hero Course and see this as nothing more than a showcase for us. It's for everyone. Who's to say a student from another course can't do well? Who's to say one of us in the Hero Course doesn't do well enough to keep their spot? Everyone! Show the world that you are here! Prove that you're all UA students aiming to be the best!" She says into the microphone with a wide smile coming to her face.

The audience goes wild, and soon after, so do the students from other courses as well.

Midnight chuckles. "Truly inspiring, Uraraka-chan! Now! Without any delay, let's get the first event started." She has to hold in her giggles when she hears Uraraka mutter 'everything at UA is always without delay.' "These are the qualifiers! It's in this stage that the most upsets happen and most people leave with broken hearts! And the faithful first event this year is..." She pauses for dramatic effect and gestures to a screen behind that slowly lights up, showing the words Obstacle Course Race. "This!"

"An obstacle course!" Izuku's mind races at the possibilities. He might not be the most mobile, but he is really, really fast.

"It's a race between every member of all eleven classes! The course itself is four-kilometers long and goes around the stadium itself! Our school preaches freedom in all things, so as long as you don't go off the course, anything goes!"

Everyone starts to shuffle over to the starting line. "Racers, to your positions..."

Izuku finds himself somewhere in the middle of the pack. He hunches over somewhat and lets his ki start to spiral around him as it always did before igniting Denjin Renki. The sparks and low humming makes people give him some space, but he doesn't notice.

"START!"

Like lightning, Izuku darts out of the gate ahead of everyone else. He notices how narrow the gate is, and a thin sheet of ice forming on the floor and jumps over. He isn't the only student who thinks of this, it seems as he hears Usagiyama's mad cackling behind him.

"Gonna need something better than that, you icy prick! It's not happening a second time!"

Momo creatively uses a pole to vault over the ice while Bakugo launches himself with his explosions. To his surprise, Uraraka removes her gravity and runs along the ceiling before clasping her hands together and landing in a combat roll.

"As if I'm letting you get ahead that easy, Half n' Half!"

Izuku and Momo seem to be the only two prepared for the absolute freight-train that is Ryoya as he tears through everything in his path. Heat Rush blazes around him and with an impressive amount of control, people are singed, but no one is burned.

Shinso is riding atop a group of students who so foolishly responded to him. 'Hm, so that guy is pretty handy with his quirk.'

Todoroki looks back, surprised. "I expected it from our class and Harushi, but more people made it through than I thought."

"Ahha! Remember me!?" Mineta pops out of nowhere. "I knew it was a good idea to stay two steps behind Todoroki! Now, it's my turn! Grape - !" Mineta is promptly sent flying by a robot he doesn't see coming.

"What? The robots from the entrance exam!?"

"Every Obstacle Course needs obstacles of course! Starting with the first barrier! The Robo Inferno!"

"It's the Zero-Pointers from the exam!"

"I take back what I said. The Hero Course fought those!?"

Todoroki stands before the wall of Zero-Pointers, looking determined. "So, these are the villains they took down during the entrance exam. The video doesn't do their sheer size much justice."

Momo just shakes her head. "Is this where the funding money goes?"

Izuku doesn't slow down. He keeps going head on, Denjin Renki flaring as he uses his magnetism to run up the side of the Zero-Pointer's leg and jump between them like they were stationary walls.

"Whoa! And just like that, our resident Super Mario fan has taken the lead!"

Todoroki scowls and crouches down. 'Can't let Midoriya get ahead of me, though I kinda wish they had something a bit more challenging. Especially because dear old dad is watching.'

With a single swipe of his hand, several robots are frozen solid, and Todoroki continues his advance, unopposed. Some students celebrate at the opening he created, while he inwardly scoffs. "Bad idea. I froze them in some pretty unstable positions. So they'd fall." Just as he explained, the ice started to crack and the robots started to tip over. They were about to fall entirely until Todoroki hears a war cry he wishes he could ignore.

"POWER GEYSER!"

Harushi, because of fucking course it's Harushi, uses that technique that Shouto was growing to loathe and it completely shakes everyone and everything on the path. The Zero-Pointers are forced outwards as his geyser erupts sky high and land safety away from everyone else. Without waiting, the tan student barrels down the strip, bypassing Todoroki entirely at a speed he believes he frankly shouldn't be capable of, and after Midoriya. If he remembers correctly from the first day, Harushi is the faster of the two, so he'll likely catch him sooner rather than later. And he'd be damned if he loses to him, let alone both of them.

"Whoa! An expected turn of events! 1-A's Todoroki! Bursting through and attempting to sabotage everyone else, only to have his plans foiled by the disgustingly powerful Harushi of 1-C!"


Katsuki Bakugo will never be outdone by anyone. He knows this and he lives by it.

As soon as Deku, Piss-Eyes and Half n' Half all make it through, Bakugo doesn't think twice about his decision to take to the skies. Threading a thin, imaginary line with Explosion, Bakugo just opts to travel over the entire obstacle. As he reaches his apex, he can vaguely make out two shapes in the distance, bathed in lightning and fire. Harushi seems to have caught up already, which is begrudgingly impressive, and he and Midoriya are now clashing as they run. He can see those weird-ass energy balls they throw from here, and it only spurs him on as Todoroki approaches them from the rear, appearing to freeze them both to the floor.

It doesn't hold of course, only a fool would think it would've. They break out in short-order, but it has slowed them down enough that Bakugo feels the victory in his bones. He redoubles his efforts, using Explosion the best he can to make up the distance.

'I'm not letting any of your fuckers get ahead of me.'


With the Power Geyser clearing a wide enough path, one albino bunny takes the opportunity she's been given. She leaps and bounds higher and faster than she's ever had before, and it feels absolutely euphoric to finally let loose. Rumi has never known the meaning of hesitate, so she rockets from robot to robot, crushing those she can, and just jumping over those she can't. If she had learned anything from training with Harushi over the last week, it was that picking your battles is crucial. Before, she would've lunged at every robot giving her the stink eye, but now? The Zero-Pointers were little more than an eyesore.

Moving with grace and dexterity, Rumi barely slows down at all throughout the entire Robo Inferno. She is confident that she's pulling ahead, but then her ear twitches and she allows herself a glance back. It's High-Class and Anti-Grav, both of whom seem to be more than willing to rise to her challenge issued early this year. The taller, raven-haired girl is like a ballerina, looking less like she's avoiding the robots, and more like she's dancing around them. There's a moment where she has no choice but to fight, and her right hand glows with the light of Creation, and out pops a black sparring glove that Rumi knows she's seen before. The force with which High Class decks the one pointer is impressive, since the thing folds immediately. People are stunned, but Yaomomo doesn't stop nor slow down.

Anti-Grav is a different beast altogether. Wrapped in the chaotic, pink lightning of whatever the fuck her quirk was, she just touches some robots and either lets them float harmlessly away, or ruthlessly uses them as a club against other robots. Rumi is impressed with them both, and shows it by cackling again.

"Try to keep up!" She taunts with a smile.


The Sports Festival is chaotic and entertaining and has people all around the world at the edge of their seats. Over at I-Island, a father and his daughter are watching the event closer than most others.

"So, those are the two quirkless kids Uncle Might was telling me about?" A pale, pretty young woman with blonde hair, blue eyes and glasses says to no one in particular. The camera pans to them as they battle it out for first, looking as far away from quirkless as you could be. Had Uncle Might not explained to her what ki was, and she hadn't spent weeks looking into it, she wouldn't have believed him.

"One of them caught your eye, Melissa?" Her father, an older man with brown hair and a lab coat, chuckles behind his hand.

Melissa makes a sound just as she watches the tanned one, Class 1-C's Harushi breathe fire at 1-A's Midoriya. According to Uncle Might, these two were the best of friends, but right now, fighting and competing as though they were bitter enemies. It gave her an idea...

"Both, actually."

Her father snorts while Melissa moves towards her laptop and starts making notes.


Across the world, in an unknown area, a group of people are watching the festival in a grandiose ballroom, decorated in a Canterbury-like cross, with three lines instead of two. Most people are wearing a brownish frock, and a white monastic scapular with a cowl.

A woman with short mint-green hair, sharp eyes and a green hood on, is watching the event with disinterest. "Sir, these cannot be the quirkless students our sources told us about."

Her leader, a tall, slim man with luminescent, pale blue skin, a shaved head of dark blue hair and a mustache goatee combo leans back into his seat. Flect-Turn regards Beros with the raise of a brow. "Now, now." He says slowly. "These are the students. What you're witnessing is simply a visualization of Humarise's goals."

Everyone in the room is confused by this, so Flect-Turn continues on.

"You see, these boys have only proven our message, no? Quirks are a disease that need to be cured. The pure, natural human body is capable of so much without them, though the world at large would have you believe otherwise. These boys are only the first step towards humanities salvation." Flect-Turn explains while pausing the video feed on a particularly intense clash between Izuku and Ryoya with an unfortunate three-pointer caught in between. "We will watch how they proceed with today, and move on from there. Whichever one of them is the strongest, that is the one we target."

"Why not both of them, sir?"

Flect-Turn seems to regard this. "One would be enough. Indoctrinating one will be easier than two, after all."


A/N: Well, about time I revealed it. Ryo's whole antagonist is Shadaloo, Ochako's in a legacy battle against the League, and finally, Izuku's has been revealed. Humarise, the quirkless cult. After all, it wouldn't be Street Fighter without world travel, right?

I'll be going on vacation for a while, so don't expect updates for maybe two weeks? Or around there. But while I'm gone, feel free to join me at Jade's Discord server so we can at least keep up the theorizing and keep the ball rolling while I'm gone. discord. gg /pkmgFzUkBu

Thingy: Thank you for that. I like writing Ryo, and I'm glad you enjoy him. As for his ship, Rumi will be involved yes.

Obcorbino2146: That is technically correct yes. They can't be arrested for that since they don't have quirks. You also aren't the first person to bring this idea up to me, so who knows? I did somewhat intend for it to pop up later.

Planar-Walking-Entertainment: Yeah, Bison wants the Satsui since he hates Akuma lol, and yeah, not a lot of people call it the Kyosui. They should since it's just shorter.

Acosta Perez Jose Ramiro: Thank you, I really liked writing that scene between them. They have such good chemistry, it's fun.

Ryuujin96: Thanks. Guile's inclusion basically came from me realizing that Izuku would have the canon weakness of being too stylistically stiff. Like how he copies All Might, the copies Gran, Izuku is a direct copy of Ryu, and Guile took notice and told him to stop that lol

Born-From-Black-Lightning: Your answer is in this chapter, at the very beginning. So yeah! He can! They just didn't want him too.

Zacker1590: I feel like everyone is waiting for the Ryo vs Izuku fight. Its coming! I promise!

HyperNova5.0: Yeah, Guile probably trained a lot with All Might on an air based. Kicked his ass too before he really hit his prime. Ki is no joke.

Marbled Gold: Honestly, to hell with Guile in the games lol, one can only get Sonic Boom'd so many times before hating the world. And yeah, we had a back and fourth about this on AO3, the Ryo/Rumi dynamic is really a good time.