A Hero to Their Core
Chapter 7
I am so, so sorry to everyone who has been waiting for this. I have been stuck for months on this one. But now I think I have some new ideas flowing for this story. And where I can go with Izuku and the rest while learning from Joey and Lina. So on with this long awaited show.
(No POV)
Bakugo snarled as he looked over at Izuku's team. 'Damn! I can't take Deku down directly like this! Fine. I'll just make sure he can't get any further!' the bully thinks before ordering his teammates to charge the Tokoyami team.
With that group, Izuku charges up OFA at the 5% he could handle and sprints away. "Whoa! Easy Deku-kun! I wasn't ready!" Ochaco shouts while trying to hold onto Izuku's arms. Mei though is excited for the speed though because it gave her a chance to stress test some of her gear.
"Alright! Get us closer to some of the other teams Midoriya!" Tokoyami says before commanding Dark Shadow to attack some of the teams. Namely the team of Shinso Hitoshi, Shoda, Ojiro, and Aoyama. The creature lashed out toward them only to be repelled by Aoyama's navel laser.
While running alongside the Shinso team, Izuku noticed something. 'Huh? Something seems off. Even with that blast fired, Aoyama doesn't seem focused. Wait maybe?' Izuku thinks this and realizes he can probably only understand it due OFA enhancing his perception of time.
Unfortunately, it's imperfect. As he doesn't realize that he's running right towards a wall. "Hey focus green bean!" Dark Shadow shouts before pulling Izuku's head to the side. And away from the wall he was charging towards.
"Oh man! Sorry about that! Listen; I think we should avoid that team for the time being. Something is off." Tokoyami nods and tells Izuku to keep his distance from the rest of the teams. "We need to keep your headband safe given it's the highest point value."
Back in the break room the teen heroes observe what was going on. "Huh? What happened? It looked like he spaced out for a second there." Lina says with a raised eyebrow. Joey hummed for a second before saying, "he did. But it wasn't because of an outside force. He's having trouble linking his new speed with his thoughts. And it's distracting him."
"You didn't have that problem though. And Tenya doesn't have that problem." Joey looks to Lina and agrees with her. Before noting that it was more of an inexperience factor with Izuku. "He's not used to it. He'll get better with time. For Tenya though, he's not really fast enough. His speed is frankly pretty slow compared to me or what Izuku might be able to do."
While they were analyzing, Izuku was doing all he can to keep his distance from some of the most aggressive teams. Namely Bakugo and Todoroki's teams. While also swiping the 190-point headband from Tetsutetsu when they charged him.
Izuku feels a funny tingle and shouts to Mei to start up the jetpack. And like that they take to the air. Before they started falling back down, Izuku asked Ochaco to remove all of their gravity's. "But Deku-kun! I can't do that for very long!"
"You don't have to! We just need to wait out the others for a little bit!" he exclaims while looking back at the girl. The determination burning in his eyes resonates with her and the gravity girl nods before removing all of her teammates' collective gravity.
Bakugo and Shoto run to where they assume Izuku's team will land. Only for them to not float downward at all. The jetpack wasn't even pushing them upward anymore and yet they weren't coming back down.
"Umph! Oh I don't know how long I can hold this!" Ochaco looked sick but she was holding it as best she could. Izuku looks to the main screen and notes that they just have five more minutes left. "Just hold on a bit—Tokoyami!"
Right as Izuku was saying that, Bakugo blasted himself up ward with his explosions. The bird headed boy sent his shadow quirk out to intercept him. But Bakugo was able to maneuver around the claw swipes with ease. And he was barreling right toward the group.
"Hatsume!" Izuku shouted and the inventor girl fired up the jetpack once more to send them much higher. Avoiding Bakugo's explosive attack. 'This is gonna hurt!' Izuku thinks before telling Mei to uncouple him. And once done, he brings his hand down to point at Bakugo. Charging up all of his power into the flicking of his finger.
The shockwave impacts Bakguo and sends him careening to the ground. And this time Sero can't save him. Because he and the rest of the teens were buffeted by the air blast shockwaves. Thus, Bakugo landed face first on the ground. He and his team were out of the competition.
Joey and Lina whistled at the attack and the aftereffects. "Damn. Didn't see that coming. Definitely clever." Joey said with a critical eye on the green haired teen. Lina noted that Izuku was injured.
"He used too much power though. It looks like he broke his finger." Both heroes thought it over before wondering why he went that far. Until Joey remembered what he said at the start of the festival. "I told them, 'push past what may limit you' to inspire the students. Izuku took that more to heart and was willing to push past the pain to fight on. Hopefully he doesn't keep it up."
After everyone had shaken off the effects of Izuku's attack, most chose to focus on going after their group. Shoto though wants to take him down. Now more than ever. But they unfortunately can't given the height and the fact they were running out of time.
'I guess I'll just have to wait till next round to beat him.' Shoto thinks before telling his team to focus on the rest of the students. Ochaco can no longer take the strain of her quirk and releases it as they start to float downward.
Izuku winces as Ochaco takes his hand once more and he feels even more pain from his injured finger. "Oh! How much time is left!?" he asks aloud before running again. Seeing that there was only a minute left, Izuku did all he could keep away from the others coming at him.
Even when Ida used his new technique Recipro Burst, Tokoyami's Dark Shadow was able to protect the headbands. Namely by retracting quickly and surrounding the bird headed boy. Leaving nothing for Shoto to grab onto as they burst past Izuku's team.
Right as they were about to try again, the horns went off in the stadium. Signaling the end of the round. And Team Tokoyami were still at the top of the rankings. With Team Todoroki in 2nd, Team Tetsutetsu in 3rd, Team Shinso in 4th, Team Monoma in 5th, and Team Hagakure in 6th.
The rest had been eliminated either due to losing all of their headbands or being knocked off their horse like Bakugo had been. Meaning they now had their combatants for the last round of the Sports Festival.
"Nicely done Izuku. Now comes….. actually what is the last round of the Festival supposed to be?" Joey says with some confusion. Lina just shrugs until Nezu steps in to explain. "The final round is the one-on-one round. The students who made it through the first and second rounds will face off in battles of various types."
Nezu noting that the previous year had the students fighting in sumo matches. Or there would be some years where they had a boxing match with a set number of rounds. "This year we went with an old favorite. An older style of match where you win if you can knock your opponent out of the ring, they surrender, or you knock them out."
"That… seems somewhat cliché if I'm being honest sir." Lina comments with a complicated look on her face. Nezu shrugs and says it has worked many times before. Joey meanwhile stands to go talk with Izuku.
Who is currently getting healed and berated by Recovery Girl. "Don't think I'll keep healing you all the time boy! You found a way to use OFA without hurting yourself so use it!" the old woman says while whacking Izuku over the head with her cane.
"OW! I know, I know! But in that moment I couldn't think of anything else. I… I just followed a bit of what Jones-sensei said to all of us. As well as what All Might suggested before today." Izuku says with a slightly sheepish look.
The old hero sighs before telling Izuku, "you shouldn't try to rush so much. I know Toshinori is running out of time, but that isn't a reason you should barrel through your training. Take things slower and more deliberately. Otherwise, you might end up like Bakugo when he attacked your team."
Izuku nods and thanks Recovery Girl for healing him. Before he leaves though, Joey is just outside the door. "Oh Jones-sensei! Um…. How much did you hear?" Izuku asks with some anxiety. Joey just smiles before saying, "a bit, but nothing that really warranted more investigating. I just wanted to talk with you Izuku."
The slightly younger teen is surprised and asks where they should talk. Recovery Girl lets them stay in the treatment room so they could have some privacy. "Don't take too long boys. The next round has to be announced as well as the participants."
They both nods and thank the hero as she waits outside. "You took some of what I said to heart didn't you?" Joey starts as he sits on one of the beds. Izuku blushes and agrees with the other world hero. "I chose to be smarter about the competition in the beginning. Especially since I've only just figured out how to use a small portion of my power."
Izuku goes on to say that he panicked a bit when Bakugo rocketed toward them. "So I went with the first thing I could think of. But I didn't expect it to knock him out of the competition." Joey chuckles a bit before saying it wasn't a bad thing. "If anything it'll be good for him. This will be an experience he can learn from. But you should still be careful."
Joey mentions that having too much power is as much of a crutch as not enough. How if you use or have too much power it would be easy to cause devastation that could threaten millions of people.
"I saw and experienced some of it during my last fight with the Skrug. I put out enough power that I was putting some serious hurt on Gogorr. But it would have killed me and could have hurt others. As much as we have to be willing to risk our lives, we shouldn't throw them away. Or hurt ourselves enough to where we can't save anyone. Aizawa apparently has been trying to get that lesson through to you for a while."
Izuku laughed humorlessly before agreeing. "I just….. I need to get stronger with what All Might entrusted to me. I know you overheard that part. Because if I don't… then I won't really be the successor to him." Joey rolls his eyes at that and tells Izuku that he is wrong.
"It's not about being worthy or capable or anything like that. You aren't his successor or whatever because of the power. Its because of something that has nothing to do with power. And everything to do with who you are." Joey says before telling him that he needs to get back to the arena.
As the green haired boy ran off, Joey stood next to Recovery Girl. "Do you think he understood what you were talking about?" the old heroine asks with a look to the young hero. Who just shrugs before saying, "who knows? It's something he has to realize on his own. He made a stride with figuring out how to use that power. But that is just one step."
Recovery Girl nods and hopes that Joey is correct. In the arena, the students were doing a lighter set of challenges with the Recreational Games interlude. "These are normal for Japan?" Lina asks while taking over for Aizawa in the announcers booth.
Mic coughs a bit before asking what they usually did for Sport Festivals and the like in America. "Yeah we don't have those at the High School Level. Instead we have weekly games for some sports. Or we have track meets or similar where all the students compete in specific events. We don't do things like this over there."
"Huh. That seems a bit boring but I guess where you're from not only are powers uncommon, but plenty of them probably made careers out of the Sports they competed in!" Mic announces with some confusion. With Lina admitting it was something like that.
During this though, the girls of 1-A surprise everyone by appearing in cheerleading uniforms. Courtesy of Momo after some manipulating by Kaminari and Mineta. "Oh this part isn't unusual though. Though we often did this for more popular sports like football or basketball." Lina comments with a little chuckle.
Since the girls seemed so uneasy Lina decided to do something a bit fun. She excuses herself from the announcing booth and quickly makes her way down to field. There she tries to bring up the girls, but most of them are a bit too embarrassed.
"Ha. Okay then. Momo. Listen can you make one more uniform?" Lina says to the bashful girl. Taking out her phone to show a picture of her own cheerleading uniform. The raven-haired girl blushes before nodding and making the outfit based on the image and specs Lina gave her.
Lina excuses herself once more to change, and then flips into the arena with the uniform on. Finishing with a land into splits in the center of the stadium. Surprising everyone but also giving everyone a smile that makes their own grow.
Joey smiles and chuckles a bit from the observation room. Especially as she pulls in some of the more excited girls from 1-A to join her in an impromptu routine. Finishing up with a set of flips before landing atop the trio of Mina, Torru, and Tsuyu. Eliciting cheers from the entire audience.
As she flips down from the point, she addresses the shyer girls. "Its not about sex appeal, or anything like that. A cheerleader is supposed to build up excitement and support in the crowd. To get them all hyped up and ready for the next score, the next event, the next victory. Even if it seems further away."
This seems to strike a chord with some of them, but they aren't sure about how it could work. But before she leaves, Lina quickly runs over and kicks Mineta in the face before punching Kaminari in his. "That was for obvious reasons," she says with a wink back to the girls before walking out of the arena.
With that done, Midnight takes to announcing the members for the final round of the Sport Festival. That being the one-on-one fights. As she goes over the rules for the battle and who will be participating, someone surprises the rest.
That being Ojiro, who withdraws from the tournament. Noting that he didn't remember what happened during the second event so he didn't feel right advancing. With Shoda agreeing with him and withdrawing as well.
"I understand! So with that, we will the two highest ranked members from the 5th place team!" Midnight announces before calling up the two names. Those being Tsubarabara Kosei and Kaibara Sen. And with a crack of her whip the names of the participants are randomly funneled picked.
Midoriya Izuku vs Hitoshi Shinso
Todoroki Shoto vs Tsubarabara Kosei
Ibarra Shiozaki vs Denki Kaminari
Tenya Ida vs Hatsume Mei
Aoyama Yuga vs Awase Yosetsu
Honenuki Juzo vs Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu
Tokoyami Fumikage vs Yaoyorozu Momo
Uraraka Ochaco vs Kaibara Sen
With these matches set, each of the students prepares for the next round of competition. Though Izuku keeps a close eye on his upcoming opponent Shinso. The baggy eyed boy comes over to talk with Izuku, but he doesn't respond right away.
And then Ojiro arrives and says he wants to talk with Izuku for a moment. Once away from the general course student the tailed boy brings up what he was worried about. "His quirk. I think it brainwashes you. But only after you respond to his words."
"That explains what I saw. When I rushed you guys, it didn't seem like you were really thinking. Even Aoyama's laser seemed off. That explains how he got past everyone during the cavalry battle." Izuku says while confirming his suspicions.
He then asks if there was some way to break free from the brainwashing. "I'm not sure. My best guess would be that it could be broken by pain of some kind. But I have no idea how much. And in a one on one-"
"There's no outside force to force you to snap you out of it. I'll be careful. Though I'd be willing to bet that he's going to push my buttons to make me lose control." Ojiro agrees with Izuku's assessment and questions if he has some kind of plan. All Izuku says is that he's working on it.
After a few minutes had passed, Izuku walks up to the arena with Shinso opposite of him. With Present Mic coming up with nicknames to give the two, while Lina comments on the silliness of said nicknames. The green haired teen keeps his eyes focused on the other. Barely noticing as Midnight announces the beginning of the match.
And right out of the gate, Shinso starts mocking Ojiro to get Izuku angry and respond to him. But the boy keeps his cool and blocks it out. 'Can't respond. No matter how much I want to, I can't respond!' Izuku thinks as he takes a few steps forward.
Shinso starts getting more desperate and takes a few stabs at Izuku's other classmates. But he still doesn't snap. It is then that he decides to mock Joey and Lina for their strange status. As well as the fact that Lina wasn't really a hero because she didn't have a quirk.
This does make Izuku snap. But not in the way Shinso wanted. Izuku charges up OFA and then dashes at Shinso as fast as he can. Startling the boy and making it to where he can't focus on his quirk as Izuku throws his punch and says, "you're wrong. Fool."
Shinso takes the full force of Izuku's punch to his face and flies backwards. Impacting on the wall of the stadium. "That's it! Midoriya is the winner!" Midnight announces while the audience applauds.
Some comment on the strength and capabilities of Shinso's quirk while also noting that he was probably going to be in trouble later. Others compliment Izuku for keeping calm and focused on the task at hand rather than bragging up or similar during the fight.
But the proudest looks came from All Might, Joey, and Lina. The former was impressed by his successor's resolve and growth in the control of OFA. And the latter two were glad Izuku could keep his cool. 'And he gave that rude kid/boy a smack for what he said about Lina/me!' the two think as the next battles can begin.
Sorry if this isn't as action packed as some of you might have hoped for, but I felt it would be better to have a different focus in this moment. Especially with this version of Izuku having others to be inspired by. Also, Joey and Lina won't be able to do much the same way given this fight is more about the students. But I hope this at least was a good way back into this story. Please review!